Let me just share a few remarks about my choice of the contest photo. My aim was to take a photo that is not really strong or good enough for serious PP improvements, that will rather invite some creative fooling around. In the last contests the focus went very much mainly in the direction of overall improvement with few creative attempts. So taking a shot where I did not have a raw ruled out the possibility of working with a better source than the jpg.
I was shaking with laughter when Lyle's entries popped in. Wow, full success, you had taken the clue, Lyle. And I was so happy others followed in this line. I had to cool down myself to give likes (and not wows or winners which I would have preferred) in order to not influence the entries to come. And I was surprised to get almost as many PPs as were in the last contest.
So now to your posts (in the order of the entries):
• Lyle: What a stunning surprise, two very creative entries with beautiful colours.
#1 this "surfing" version has the absolute wow-factor
#2 what a beautiful paper-serviette this would make
thanks for giving me a really nice start into the day, a good laugh in the morning keeps the sorrows away
• Robert: nice crop, good colours
• Rolf: gave me another fit of laughter, disturbance yes ... but not mental (luckily)
• Alan: warm colours, nice paint-brush frame, a bit dark
• Ken: #1 good colours as well, close to my own rendition
#2 the b&w version has the same problem as mine when I tried it: the background is too "noisy"
• Colin: #1 the portrait format comes out well, the colours are a bit on the dark side
#2 with the colour dissolve gives it nice structures, I like this one better than #1
• Bo: #1 with a nice slight crop and the best colours in this contest
#2 I didn't think it possible, but you made it Bo: what a wonderful b&w rendition
really fantastic how you get rid of the "noisy" background and what shades of colours and greys you get
• David: another superb creative rendition, the heavy crop suits it and the reindeer are just hilarious
• Rastid: #1 and #2 the leaf alone looks a bit lost, I would have reduced the background almost completely
the background colour would improve the overall impression if you took complementary colours
The winner is: Lyle #1 for superb art-work
1st follower-up: Bo for wow colours and b&w
2nd follower-up: Ken #1 which comes closest to my own attempt as to colour rendition (see below)
honours mention: Rolf (cute disturbance), David (reindeer invasion), Colin #2 (colour dissolve) and Alan (paint-brush framing)
Thanks to all of you who took the bait and followed the creative path and to Bo and Ken for doing better than myself. I thoroughly enjoyed hosting this contest and hand over the baton to Lyle.
Just for a comparison: my own attempt (and this is the one with better composition, posted today
#5)
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
P. S.: Does anyone know how to get the "winner announced" on the front page and would do this for me?