Here's mine--
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America and TBH
I hope this is my first one for the contest.Attached FilesComment
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Texas Horned ToadAttached FilesComment
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My first entry also. Royal Gorge Colorado 6-24-12
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[ATTACH]356785[/ATTACH]Comment
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[ATTACH]357288[/ATTACH]Comment
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Contest entries must be posted no later than 11:59pm tomorrow night. Post 'em if you got 'em.Comment
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Homemade, heart shaped, lens cover for bokeh hearts.Attached FilesComment
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Wrong side of the tracks.Comment
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Man, Yalls photos are AMAZING !!!! THEY should ALL win!!!!Comment
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For the sake of paticipation, learning. This was a good exercise.Comment
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BeachinAttached FilesComment
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Cool pics, y'all! Great job! For what it's worth, I'll comment on my thoughts about each pic. Not that my thoughts are any better than yours were when taking the pictures, but I'll throw them out there anyway. Then we'll name the winner. Here we go.....
There's a lot of them, so just skip to the bottom to see the winner if you don't care to read all the critique stuff.
jdma...VERY nice shot, and excellent use of distance between your main subject and the background to get bokeh. That really separates the butterfly and flower from all the grass and flowers in the background that are blurred out. Really focuses the eye where it should be. Good job! The only thing I can think of that might improve it a little bit would be to crop out the green leaves and stalks on the right side of the frame. That would make the butterfly and its flower bigger in the remaining frame while getting rid of the stuff that is almost in focus that's a little bit distracting. Just a slight tweak. Definitely a contender here.
Jeremy7306, that's a cool pic even if it wasn't taken in the contest period.
Bowhica....This is another shot that puts distance between the main subject and the background. Brook trout are gorgeous fish too. Lots of potential with this one. I'd like to see it either show the entire fish or crop it a little closer and cut out the bit of finger that's showing. EXIF data shows it was taken at f/7.1. If it had been shot at a wider aperture like f/4 or f/2.8, the background bokeh would be even creamier looking. But it's still very nice the way it is. If only it was a dry fly sticking in the trout's mouth instead of a treble hook and earthworm! Kidding! That's a great shot and another contender.
Tmag....nice bokeh at f/5 and a distant background. It makes it very easy to see the little bug on top of the flower when the background is totally blurred out.
Yellow flowers are the hardest ones to shoot, as it is very hard to get them exposed right without overexposing them and blowing them out completely. You got a little bit of detail blown out in the sunniest spots of the flower, but most of it shows good detail. I wish the barbed wire wasn't in the picture, and it would be nice if the background was darker green or something that wasn't so similar to the color of the flower so it would contrast better. But still a very nice bokeh shot.
yellowcat....another one at f/5 with a distant background. Interesting depth of field with just the left side of the post in focus and "front bokeh" (if that's a term) on the right. I would prefer to have more of the post in focus and less blur showing, but that's just me. I might like it better if the rope was in focus instead of the edge of the post. Not sure. But it's a cool shot as is.
Bud's Darlin...Beautiful shot. I like the colors and the contrast. The subject flower's yellow petals are surrounded by darker green, really setting it off. And the yellow isn't blown out. Great detail throughout. And then the only blue in the shot is the eyes. Really cool. I wish those two yellow petals on the right edge weren't there, but not that big of a deal. Definite contender here.
Cottonwood....yet another beautiful shot. I love the hawk and the wheel it's sitting on. Irrigation system? I can't get the EXIF data on this one, so I'm not sure what f/stop it was shot with. I'm guessing f/8 or so?? If the background was even more blurred out, the power line tower or whatever that is behind the hawk wouldn't be discernible. Not that big of a deal, but that's the only thing I can think of that would improve upon this awesome shot. Maybe level the horizon too. ANOTHER contender for sure.
Are you starting to see how hard this is going to be to pick a winner?
HunterBug....A boy and his dog. Doesn't get much better than that. Very nice shot at f/4.5. If only there was more distance between the subjects and the background, then it would be totally blurred out and they would stand out even more. I think if you would have dropped down a little lower to get eye level with them, then the background behind them in your frame would have been even farther away from them and more blurred. That would make them really stand out even more. Pics of dogs and people almost always look better from eye level rather than from standing over them too. You might crop it to fill the frame with just the faces too. Might be cool?? Just an idea. Still a very nice shot. Good job!
agtex42...I like this one too. Great contrast in color and shade between the shooter and the trees in the background. At f/6.3, the background isn't quite as blurred as it could be with a larger aperture like f/4 or f/2.8, but there's enough distance to blur the trees. If that one branch wasn't hanging down right in front of her arm, it would be perfect. Break that sucker off before you take the picture next time. Nice shot still! I like it.
j944....This is a really beautiful scene, and in another contest it would probably do even better. But at f/8 with just about the entire scene in focus, there's just not any bokeh in there anywhere. But it's a VERY nice looking shot still. I love the starburst lights and the reflections in the water.
dustoffer....f/3.2 gave you a nice, creamy background that really sets the butterfly off. Very, very nice. If you cropped it a little so that the butterfly wasn't in the center of the frame (think Rule of Thirds), I think that would be about the only thing you could do to improve on it. Other than that, it's awesome. Another contender.
iamntxhunter....Great shot! f/5.6 and a distant, contrasting background work well for bokeh. 1/320 shutter speed wasn't fast enough to stop the wings of the hummer, but the blurred wings look cool too. If you had shot it at f/2.8, then you could have had a shutter of 1/1250 for the same exposure. That would have stopped the wings and blurred the background even more. But it's still a definite contender. I'd crop out the flowers in the lower left corner so that there's nothing to look at except the bird and the flower she's drinking from. Cool shot.
eaglegolfj....very interesting shot, and who doesn't love the TBH logo? Here's where a larger aperture and a more blurry background would have worked against you. You kept just enough focus to see what the logo was. Pretty cool!
-Super-Dave-....I like this one too. Man, y'all all did well. Great job getting down eye level with the horned toad. It takes some doing to make a horned toad look like he's standing tall. I like it! f/9 required ISO 800, so it is just slightly noisy. Had you used f/4, then you could have gone to ISO 200 probably. Might have made it a little bit sharper with an even blurrier background. Just a thought. Of course, you probably would have lost some focus in the body and tail of the lizard, so it might look better the way you have it here. Regardless, I really like this one. ANOTHER contender.
Y'all are killing me.
outlaw38....it's hard to get good bokeh with a 14mm wide angle lens, but you pulled it off. f/4 instead of f/7.1 (if your camera has that) would have blurred the background even more. But that's a pretty creative shot. Good job!
Hafernick....Nice bokeh! Nice composition too. Again, the yellow flower is very hard to not over expose. A faster shutter or a higher ISO would have toned down your exposure here. I can't see the EXIF data, so I don't know what your settings were. A little less light is the only thing this one needs. Great job in isolating the flower from the background in both focus and color. Contender.
EastTX.... I love it! Honestly, I think this shot would be better in a "non-bokeh" contest. If you could get both the frog and the pup in focus, it would be even better. But for a bokeh shot, it's still pretty interesting. Cool picture!
Henry....VERY creative. I'd never thought about doing that. You made me google "heart shaped bokeh" to learn how you did it. I'm gonna play around with this technique. Thanks for posting this shot. Definite contender for the creativity.
TUCO....you're killing me, man. ANOTHER great shot. Great use of depth of field, showing the shift between focus and gradual loss of focus into the creamy bokeh in the distance. Very cool shot. Another contender.
brshcntryhntr...Same thing here. Interesting gradual loss of focus. I think I'd like it better if the post in the foreground was in focus instead of the 2nd one. But that's just me. Very nice shot!
jbird77... Another great use of the TBH logo. The bokeh would have been more creamy at f/4 instead of f/8, but I do like still being able to tell what the background is here. Nice one!
WHEW!! We're at the end. Time to pick the winner. Like I said, and as you can see yourself, this is a TOUGH choice. There are lots of shots that could be picked. In the end, it comes down to color, contrast, composition, and best use of bokeh to isolate the subject.
To me, Bud's Darlin edges out the competition with this shot. Just beautiful. Congrats, Jennifer!
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What a great contest...so many fantastic entries!!!
Congrats Bud's Darlin'
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