2026 January Entries

Topic:  Best of 2024-2025
Judge: Virginia Stranaghan

(Double Click on any image below to start slide show)

ALL ENTRIES

 

JUDGES Comments:

Title Score Comments
Sculpted by time 10.0 Wow – wonderful image so much texture, rythym and movement in this image.  Technical aspects and compositional ascpects all handled very well.  The muted tones work extremely well in this image.
Street Musician 10.0 Beautifully done portrait of the Street Musician, it has an almost painterly feel.  DOF is perfect blurred enough so there is no distraction from the background, composition works well, colour looks natural, great detail and lighting of the subjects is spot on.
Cuurly Coco 9.6 Very well done portrait.  Good lighting, position of model.  The only slight observation is the dark border on the wall with the little beige spot on it behind the model is distracting if trying this again it would be better is the beige wall came all the way down to her left arm.
Cowboy Work is Dusty 9.5 Love the soft ethereal feel of this image.  The rim light outlining the cowboy and horse is quite effective.  Well done.
Caddo Lake  in BW 8.9 Great choice of B&W on what appears to be a dull day.  Good tonal range well done.  Composition is well balanced.
Haleakala 8.7 Nice landscape shot, lighting has been handled well,  good contrast between the sky and the colours in the earth and rocks.  A little more DOF would have provided more detail in the rock structure at the rear of the image.  Colours are very interesting in this image.
Natures streaks 8.5 In camera movement, the maker has done well to leave just enough of the foliage detail so the viewer knows what they are looking at in this abstract view, the colours work well and the implied lines from the zoom effect draw the viewer into the image.
Bruce – Cathedral Gorge NV 8.2 Well exposed great detail in this image which is very sharp.  Including the human provides scale for the viewer.  The line of the hoodoos receding on the right side is quite effective.
27 Umbrellas 8.0 Nicely composed image it draws the viewers eye into the image.  Colours are well saturated but not over saturated, image is sharp and well exposed for the overcase conditions.
Liverpool Love Locks 7.8 The locks which I assume are meant to be the subject of this image are sharp, placed on an nice angle in the frame.  Sometimes less is more, in this case the maker might consider including less of the background as the locks seem to be the subject or adjust the DOF to either make the background as sharp as the locks or use a shallow DOF to blur the background.  As is the background competes with the locks for the viewers attention.
Catch the Splash.jpg 7.5 Good timing by the maker to catch the action just as the fellow hits the water.  The white trunks are a bit over exposed, something that is difficult on bright days.  Good detail.
Contrasting skies 7.5 Good eye and play on the contrasting and complimentary colours in this image.  There are several small white areas that are a bit of a distraction, I am assuming they may be flowers but there are so few the maker might consider cloning them out.  Placement of the path leads the viewers eye the the lovely old tree which sits well between the blue and the yellow hues in the sky.
What Did You Say 7.5 Cute image of the children, technical aspects handled well.  Composition works for the subject matter.  As the subject is the children the maker might consider cropping the sky down to just above the line of tree away so the emphasis is on the children.
Edible flowers 7.0 It appears this was taken in an eating establishment.  While the subject being the flowering plant which is sharp, fairly well exposed considering the brightly lit area.  There are several distractions like the sauce bottle  lower left, the cake to the right and the food item below.  It can be difficult to take an image of a subject in such a setting.  The lights in the ceiling are also a bit distracting.
Chapel in the Ozarks 6.5 Image is sharp, good colour representation.  Composition works well.  Assuming this is sunset the sky is lovely warm colours.  The maker might consider selecting the area from the sky edge to the bottom and brightening it up a bit either with burning or another PS tool. As is the sky commands all the attention and takes the viewe away from the church and surrounding area.
Christmas Magic 2025 Too 6.0 Lovely overhead shot of Christmas lights, which are well exposed.  The DOF lets the focus fall off as you go further back into the image.  The maker might consider either retrying this and making the entire image sharp or deliberately increase the areas that are out of focus so that the main area of lights is the main attraction in the image.
Winter Hawk 5.5 Good attempt by the maker to capture this raptor.  It is hard to say if this is a windy day the raptor does not appear sharp, it a windy day that could be dur to feathers ruffling which could have been captured sharp with a faster shutter speed.  Or it could be an ISO adjustment would have let in more light so there was better detail as it is appears quite grainy.
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