Every month on our¯¿½pho­tog­ra­phy forum mem­bers nom­i­nate images that they like. Then at the end of the month I choose an excel­lent image and talk about why it rocks. The photo I choose is not nec­es­sar­ily the best one of the month. I¯¿½ve come to real­ize it¯¿½s not really log­i­cal to pit images from totally dif­fer­ent gen­res against each other. That¯¿½s why there are cat­e­gories in photo con­tests. I just choose a photo that has extremely strong ele­ments that we can learn from.

Swirls by Edg

I chose this image for sev­eral reasons:

I love the sharp­ness here and over­all depth of field choice here. Lovely sharp fore­ground flower (the focal point) at left.

The tonal qual­ity of the flow­ers is very unique and well done. It’s a bit darker than I’m used to see­ing, but it adds to the unique tonal qual­ity and mood of the pho­to­graph. Gor­geous palette of pinks and reds. Great high­lights in the flower at left and nice sub­tle high­lights on the right flower as well. I like that the left flower is slightly brighter than the right.

My eye is skill­fully guided around the image and rests on the focal point. This is due to some fine focal point selec­tion and lens selec­tion dur­ing expo­sure and some lovely post pro­cess­ing. The post pro­cess­ing (espe­cially the dark­en­ing of the back­ground) refines the over­all com­po­si­tion here and it totally works.

If I have one small nig­gle, I’d clone out/burn the bright­ish white edge of the petal on the main left flower at lower left, but that’s it.

For all these rea­sons, this is my choice for image of the month. Since we all have opin­ions, some mem­bers may dis­agree with my choice. That’s cool but THIS thread is not the place for debate over my pick, NOR is it the place to fur­ther cri­tique the image. The pur­pose here is to sug­gest strong ele­ments in the photo that we may learn from.

Con­grats again edG for cre­at­ing this gor­geous image!

I¯¿½d also like to include these 3 images as hon­ourable men­tions as they also came close to being picked.

Yum­m­mmm — I Love Pollen by Matt K.

Wad­ing Pool by Jas Photo

Descend­ing by Barefoot

Every month on our¯¿½ pho­tog­ra­phy forum mem­bers nom­i­nate images that they like. Then at the end of the month I choose an excel­lent image and talk about why it rocks. The photo I choose is not nec­es­sar­ily the best one of the month. I¯¿½ve come to real­ize it¯¿½s not really log­i­cal to pit images from totally dif­fer­ent gen­res against each other. That¯¿½s why there are cat­e­gories in photo con­tests. I just choose a photo that has extremely strong ele­ments that we can learn from.

A Black & White Foray by Mad Aussie

I chose this image for sev­eral reasons:

First off, it’s a WOW image. A lot of the ‘wow’ comes from the incred­i­ble sky and the way it’s processed. It’s dark­ish, some­what omi­nous and sets an incred­i­ble mood. Had the sky been bor­ing, this shot would not be the same, so good on Mad Aussie for notic­ing the amaz­ing sky.

The tones in this image are very nicely ren­dered and the higher con­trast used here works extremely well to my eye. It’s very dra­matic and makes me think of the Greek Myth involv­ing Atlas. If I have one teeny nig­gle I’d have toned down the brighter rock just under the main boulder.

Lead­ing lines — The rocks at lower left lead upward toward the big rock at cen­ter right which is the focal point of this image. This is NO acci­dent and is the result of care­ful in-camera com­po­si­tion. In terms of over­all com­po­si­tion — just friggen fab. Inter­est­ing fore­ground (jagged rocks) midground (boul­der which is the focal point) and back­ground (awe­some sky) ele­ments. The split between rocks and sky is also inter­est­ing and well thought out with 2/3rds sky and about 1/3rd rocks. Although we often have the dis­cus­sion about the rule of thirds being a mere guideline…that rule is rock­ing this image

For all these rea­sons, this is my choice for image of the month. Since we all have opin­ions, some mem­bers may dis­agree with my choice. That’s cool but THIS thread is not the place for debate over my pick, NOR is it the place to fur­ther cri­tique the image. The pur­pose here is to sug­gest strong ele­ments in the photo that we may learn from.

Con­grats again Mad Aussie for cre­at­ing this strik­ing image!

I¯¿½d also like to include these 2 images as hon­ourable men­tions as they also came close to being picked.

Moun­tain Stream by Bambi

Drift­wood and clouds by Michaelaw

Every month on our¯¿½ pho­tog­ra­phy forum mem­bers nom­i­nate images that they like. Then at the end of the month I choose an excel­lent image and talk about why it rocks. The photo I choose is not nec­es­sar­ily the best one of the month. I¯¿½ve come to real­ize it¯¿½s not really log­i­cal to pit images from totally dif­fer­ent gen­res against each other. That¯¿½s why there are cat­e­gories in photo con­tests. I just choose a photo that has extremely strong ele­ments that we can learn from.

I chose this image for sev­eral reasons:

The eye is tack tack sharp and that’s hard to do on a sub­ject this small, because focus­ing (and dof) is a chal­leng­ing task at this size and dis­tance to sub­ject. Sharp­ness is lovely in many places; leg hairs, tho­rax, abdomen. Blurred back­ground shows no distractions.

The sub­ject has a def­i­nite impact on the viewer. It’s likely very creepy for many view­ers, prob­a­bly because of sharp­ness. My eye is focused on one thing, that fly.

Good com­po­si­tion all around which can be chal­leng­ing at this size as well.

Nice high­light con­trol on what­ever the fly is rest­ing on and the over­all expo­sure is well han­dled with sup­ple­men­tary lighting.

For all these rea­sons, this is my choice for image of the month. Since we all have opin­ions, some mem­bers may dis­agree with my choice. That’s cool but THIS thread is not the place for debate over my pick, NOR is it the place to fur­ther cri­tique the image. The pur­pose here is to sug­gest strong ele­ments in the photo that we may learn from.

Con­grats again OWLP for cre­at­ing this strik­ing image!

I¯¿½d also like to include these 2 images as hon­ourable men­tions as they also came so so close to being picked.

Col­or­less Beauty by Kat

Din­ner time by Richard

Power At Sun­rise by Mad Aussie