Contest 6: Seasons [Discussion]

[Saknika]

This is where you post any discussion or questions. Please place all entries in this thread

Right now, we are in the midst of changing seasons, no matter where you are on the globe. For some, this means that snow has already begun to fall, or the stars are always out. Others are seeing the leaves change colour, and yet others are merely seeing everything turn brown. Those in the Southern Hemisphere are instead getting ready for summer, and so things are turning green. No matter where you are, things are changing. And so for this contest, your goal is to capture the essence of the seasonal change in your area.

Because it has to pertain to your area, you must provide two things when you post your entry.

First, you need to state, generally (ie Midwest US, Mid-Canada, Eastern Europe, ect) or specifically (Huston, Texas) where you are, and what the seasonal change currently is.

Second, you need to post your image.

Rules:
-The image must be created for this contest, and must be your own work.
-You may submit a single image, or three images combined into a triptych. Note: You will not score higher for submitting a triptych if it is not done well.
-No photomanipulation allowed, except for minor retouching or to place a border around the image or images.
-If you submit a triptych, they must be combined into one image with borders between them, so that you only submit one image technically.
-One entry per person.
-Once you’ve entered, you CANNOT edit your post for any reason! If you make a mistake, please PM an administrator to fix it for you. This way we can make sure no one cheats.

Deadline: December 31st 2009 at 11:59pm EST (that’s GMT -5. In California, or PST, it’d be 8:59pm, and in England it’d be 4:59am)

[Saknika]

Papsta:
Creative- 20
Technical- 10
Composition- 10
Colour- 25

Total: 65/75

The choice of how to portray the winter season was good, but probably could have been better if done in the day instead, where it'd be easier to see the snow and capture it falling, rather than streaking and blending in with the noise a bit. Still, the long exposure and choice of aperture and ISO was spot on for creating this shot. The composition is well done, and aside from the road that begs to be shown more, there's a fantastic quality of objects and placement in this photograph. Chooising to share it in black and white instead of colour is also wonderful, because it gives it the quiet feeling of a snow filled silent night.

Wjwladyka
Creative- 25
Technical- 7
Composition- 10
Colour- 20

Total: 62/75

The idea behind the shot is a good one. It portrays the snow, the death of the vegitation, and the freezing of the streams. However, the exposure is a bit poor, and the composition is weak. If we could see more of the stream cutting through the snow, and if the trees were not as flat-looking, then this would be a much stronger shot. The use of colour in it also doesn't make it very powerful in this case, because there's so little. The snow is white, the sky isn't too terribly visible, the trees are grayish brown, and then there are orange leaves that never fell. All in all, this shot probably would be more powerful in black and white, since it'd bring out the backlighting and the shadowing more.

ScottWood
Creative- 25
Technical- 10
Composition- 10
Colour- 25

Total: 70/75

This one pushed the boundaries of the contest to the max, but I cannot deny that football is done in a season. As such, I did allow this photograph in the contest. And I have to say, that's a creative season to choose, and very out-of-the-box kind of thinking. For a lensbaby shot, this is well done as well. They're hard to capture as it is, and this is just making great use of it. The only thing about it is the composition, the stuff at the bottom takes away from it all. But because of the intense blurring, the centering works. This is also a shot that has intense colour, and the colour gives it power. Overall, it was very well done.

As such, the winner of the contest is ScottWood! Congratulations!