December 07 - Voting Thread

[odklizec]

Another contest finished! Sorry for delay with uploading voting thread..you know..end of the year

As always, the voting will be open next 7 days and you can change your vote if you want. You can now select up to 3 photos! In case of too low number of votes, I reserve the right to select the winner myself. Please, be fair and vote for competitor's photo! Thank you!

NOVEMBER 07 contest photos:
htgx100 "dentist surgery" GX100

lrcphoto "Chips at Night" GX100

leews2001 "The Twilight Zone" GRD

butter71 "ace parking" GRDII

joao731 "Rock´n´Roll" GX100

pung "Number 26" GRD

yavaro "light bulbs" GRDII

KaRoy "A most hygienic arrangement..." GRDII

lensman "lovers by candle light" GX8

silvio "macro" GX100

wildeone "the crystal ship" GRDII

Wouter "Glowing trees" GX100

rossalford "Velvet Gecko" GX100

mrmachine "Graffiti Revolution" GRDII

jooon "Jesse and Hanna" GRDII

ikasumi "Ginza" GRD

gazwright "Louvre" R6

forward "Enjoying the water" GX100

ralphB "carts" GX100

sizifo "Bergamo at night" GRD

jorgeAD "Ella" GRDII

VladimirV "London Eye" GX

tommy "Light Foot" R6

 

[VladimirV]

I voted for "Number 26" as I like the grain and motion blur around the person. The composition is very good and I like it that the 26 is the central element of the picture. I think cropping it slightly on all sides would've worked even better.
My 2nd vote was for "Jesse and Hanna" as I really like the colors and think the exposure is very good. It would be better if the people on the ground would not be there.

 

[odklizec]

This month contest is really though. The number of participants again increased and interestingly, in the contest theme, in which the Ricoh cameras should not be really useful (says some reviewers and other brand users) It was really hard to select the best 3 images from all these nice photos! Well done all!

My personal favorite is "Jesse and Hanna" for its special mood and color reproduction. Great atmosphere!
My second choice is "Number 26" for it's rough street atmosphere and colors. The man is sharp while the background is somehow blurred, which is a nice contrast. And finally, my third choice is "ace parking" not only because of well processed ISO1600 shot (I assume DNG?). But it also reminds me of my favorite movie TRON

 

[joao731]

I voted for Jesse and Hanna - My favourite.
No 26 and the velvet gecko shot - These are very good and I think Geckos are funny animals...

I Think this is good fun and the quality of the shots is once again improving - Once again I congratulate and thank Pavel for putting this together

 

[jorgeAD]

I voted for "Jesse & Hanna" as well. It has a challenging no formula composition, the use of color is very suggestive and the instant captured is very expressive.... a gorgeous shot indeed !

And here is an OUT OF CONTEST all too late comer:

A minute long exposure at F4 and ISO 200. Using the GRD2 with seriously low light levels is more akin to Zen Meditation than photography. Nothing visible on the LCD (now I am positive why a need a external optical viewfinder) and the looooong exposure is followed by an equally looooong dark frame substraction (all for an overprocessed JPG ). Anyway the DNG raw was very sharp (Bless that GR lens) and Selective Color in PS again helped helped me warm up the shadows and wooden floor, clean up the blue metal an enhance greenery outside the house.. look ma no curves!... not even a Levels adjustment !

 

[tommy]

I've commented on the pictures that made me think of something to comment on, which does not necessarily mean I like the uncommented pictures any less or more.

I first singled out "macro", "Jesse and Hanna", "ace parking", "Number 26" and "Rock'n'Roll". Out of these I finally could not decide between "macro" and "ace parking", so both of them get a vote from me.

macro
I'm fascinated by the pleasant color and light, and the intricate pattern of the flower in this light, in what is still a simple and elegant picture. I think the picture is also very carefully constructed.

ace parking
This is one of those pictures that sucks me in. I feel like I'm at the place. On top of that the place to me feels both safe (in a familiar way) and dangerous (in a twilight zone freaky way), so it's an emotionally turbulent picture for me.

Number 26
I feel a lot of presence in this picture. Hm, actually I feel like I'm out on the town drunk. ;-)
The big blue and yellow "anchor" of the picture also works very well. (It helps me keep my balance).

Jesse and Hanna
It's a great pose and a very stylish and charismatic couple. But then I start getting bugged by the surroundings. What are those two people on the rug doing there? And the place as a whole looks rather chaotic (in contrast to the couple). But it's still a very good picture.

Rock'n'Roll
To me this picture is so much about the face of the singer. Everything else that looks good is only competing with that face. The guitar player for example has a great pose, but in my head he doesn't play together with the singer (visionally). It's more like a competition between them, and I don't think this picture is at all about competing members of a band. There are also a few high-contrast objects that interfere a lot with the picture, like the microphone coming in from the left and the rod extending upwards from the other players eye. So while I unfortunately don't think the picture works as a composition, it has a very good atmosphere and "low light", and certainly there's a rock'n'roll expression in it.

dentist surgery
I like the exposure and sharpness of this picture. The dynamic range covers everything from the black hair of the dentist to her white mouth protection. The skin tones look good. And the texture of the jeans jacket, protection costume and wrinkled examination gloves are all sharp and detailed. But this picture just doesn't speak to me. I don't know what to think or feel when I look at it. It's just a dentist and her patient (and a mysterious hand holding the suction device). Perhaps some dramatic shadows or colors could spice up the picture. But the picture would probably do very good as a documentary picture, say in a school book.

Glowing trees
I like the mode in this picture, but to me it feels like two pictures in one, the "leafs" below and the "path" above. The "trees" are not so prominent to me, and not the thing I look at in this picture.

Louvre
I didn't like this picture at all at first. But the more I looked at it the more I got to like it. The people in front of the building looks somewhat like they are performing a theater play. Together with the tilted horizon it makes up an unexplainable comedy (or a dream play), that makes me feel relaxed and amused. It however takes some good will on my account to see all that, and I would have liked if this aspect of the picture was stronger. Now this may of course not at all be what the picture is really about.

lovers by candle light
Nice picture with warm color and effectfull vignetting. What puzzles me is the very strong and thick shadow separating the couple. Is this intentional?

Chips at Night
I like the great display of personality in the chip selling guy in this picture. But the sign behind his head makes him look silly. Anyway, the picture feels very coherent and the framing works grate.

 

[odklizec]

Ha..I completely forgot to announce the winner! Sorry guys! And the winner is!..wait a minute..who is the winner??? And I thought the multi-voting will help you with decision and with more collected votes? Apparently not with decision

OK, as I stated in my initial post under this discussion, the "Jesse and Hanna" photo is my personal favorite. And because I reserved the right to select the winner, "Jesse and Hanna" shot is a winner of Decomeber competition! Congratulations!

I'm really sad the winner could be just one of you guys This month was even tougher than the previous competitions, especially considering the theme, in which Ricoh should not success (based of some reviewers and Fuji users ). Thank you all who participated!

 

[tommy]

Now that the voting is over I hope I won't upset anyone by uploading a second version of my contribution. This is just to show how I intended my picture to look, but I didn't have any software to pp it at the time. I've gone a little further than I would normaly do for a contest contribution, by mirroring halve the background.