I have to say , I had a very hard time judging these.They are all really great images. I'm just a hobby photographer myself so bare with me as I try and do these images justice.


First Place...
ChristianRock.

Christian, Its a Beautiful image and you captured the weeks theme perfect. So many curves, even down to the flag. I like how you centered it and the angles lead you to the Flag. The stonework there is just spectacular. I would think that this would also make a great long exposure shot with a ND filter, the water flowing over the walls would be something. Nice Image! and Congratulations.





Second Place...
Assa1

Assa1, I love the image, its simple, but reminds me of cooling magma with Lava just underneath. The contrast between the red and gray is perfect. I would really like to know how you did this one.




3rd Place

Tessfully

Tessfully, Its a beautiful macro image, The way you captured the swirls in the wood, the conifer needles and moss placed off to the side give it a reference to the scale. I've always been a fan of woodland shots and their intrinsic beauty if captured well. You nailed that image.



Honorable mention...
SD_Bob
Nice image Bob, The way the road Curves in to the badlands, and the capture of the rounded rock formations contrasted against the ridges in back and the sky. What I like about the image is everything is layered. Its a very cool image.




Slowpez, Susan its not easy working with whites like that.. Its an interesting image. I like the way you framed the texture in the center, with little texture at the margins.

Tamia, I am huge fan of nature shots and that one is a really nice image. maybe if you have the chance again with it, try to get a bit more depth of field on those wood patterns, maybe try it again under different lighting too. I think there is much to be done with that interesting old relic.

Noelcmn... Great use of the umbrella, against the wall. Like the way the colors of the bricks complement the umbrella's. Only thing missing was the rain!

JensE.. You did a nice job on image and I can see where you may prefer the bigger image. Offsite hosting.. Flickr has been working well for me. I noticed in your EXIF data that you shot it F5.6 I'm wondering if maybe closing it down a few stops would have helped bring out the Cows details a bit?

jcdoss....Jason, very cool looking image. Would love to see more of it. That was a challenging shot I am sure.!

ramseybuckeye.. Tom, as a birdwatcher, I can appreciate the effort in taking a shot like that ! Really like the perspective and colors. Turkey feathers have such a wide array of patterns and colors. That was nicely done.



Thanks to all of you for entering, I have really enjoyed looking at your images here and I have to say it was a hard judging.

Thanks also to Noelcmn for running this one.

Best always,
Al

[assa1]

Congratulations to Christian for the 1st prize and to all of you for your effort. Al, warm thanks for judging. I belive it wasn't easy.

[noelcmn]

Congratulations ChristianRock, what a beautiful image-Beam me up there Scotty, on the double- comes to mind. So much to explore there and so beautifully composed. Congrats too Assa1 and Tess. I am with our judge about that image Assa1- would love to know your technique on that one. Congrats too to our HM SD Bob. Thanks to our Judge- appreciated all the comments. And seems Project 52 is attracting more and more entries- makes me glad.

[slowpez]

Some really great shots in this challenge. Glad I didn't have to pick a winner. Congrats to Christian, Assa, and Tess for three remarkable images. Congrats also to SD Bob for the Badlands. I know exactly where that road is too. Good job on the judging too Brewmaster. Looking forward to the next challenge.

[assa1]

There is nothing special you need to create such photo like mine. All you need is a paperback book, a piece of thin rope and bike tail light. First I took a book and bent it then tied with a rope. Then, this it is important, I had to loosen pages a little bit to create thin spaces between them. When "subject" was ready I put it on a table, place a bike tail light right behind it and light it up. It is important to use really bright light source because gaps between pages of the book are really narrow. I didn'n use any additional light source to light up the front of the book I decided the ambient light of early dawn coming in through the window will be enough. I took the picture with my K-3 on a tripod in M mode and hd dfa100wr macro at minimal distance of 35cm. I decided to underexpose the frame slightly cause I know my K-3 tends to horribly overexpose bright red light sources. I took 5 or 6 frames then the ambient light become too bright. Exif data of this particular frame ar as follows: lens HD Pentax D FA 100 macro WR, f8.0, at 10sec, ISO100, M, MF. Done with 2s selftimer. Thats all. And then very slight PP using DCU5. Thats all.

[ChristianRock]

Thank you Al (brewmaster) for the kind comments. With so many great images this week, I wasn't expecting this at all, and was planning my "lines" picture already... congratulations to assa1 and Tess and everybody else for their beautiful pictures! You guys (and gals) are very inspiring

[noelcmn]

There is nothing special you need to create such photo like mine. All you need is a paperback book, a piece of thin rope and bike tail light. First I took a book and bent it then tied with a rope. Then, this it is important, I had to loosen pages a little bit to create thin spaces between them. When "subject" was ready I put it on a table, place a bike tail light right behind it and light it up. It is important to use really bright light source because gaps between pages of the book are really narrow. I didn'n use any additional light source to light up the front of the book I decided the ambient light of early dawn coming in through the window will be enough. I took the picture with my K-3 on a tripod in M mode and hd dfa100wr macro at minimal distance of 35cm. I decided to underexpose the frame slightly cause I know my K-3 tends to horribly overexpose bright red light sources. I took 5 or 6 frames then the ambient light become too bright. Exif data of this particular frame ar as follows: lens HD Pentax D FA 100 macro WR, f8.0, at 10sec, ISO100, M, MF. Done with 2s selftimer. Thats all. And then very slight PP using DCU5. Thats all.

Thanks so much. Kudos to you for high creativity. May try it sometime. When I get a bicycle light

[brewmaster15]

There is nothing special you need to create such photo like mine. All you need is a paperback book, a piece of thin rope and bike tail light. First I took a book and bent it then tied with a rope. Then, this it is important, I had to loosen pages a little bit to create thin spaces between them. When "subject" was ready I put it on a table, place a bike tail light right behind it and light it up. It is important to use really bright light source because gaps between pages of the book are really narrow. I didn'n use any additional light source to light up the front of the book I decided the ambient light of early dawn coming in through the window will be enough. I took the picture with my K-3 on a tripod in M mode and hd dfa100wr macro at minimal distance of 35cm. I decided to underexpose the frame slightly cause I know my K-3 tends to horribly overexpose bright red light sources. I took 5 or 6 frames then the ambient light become too bright. Exif data of this particular frame ar as follows: lens HD Pentax D FA 100 macro WR, f8.0, at 10sec, ISO100, M, MF. Done with 2s selftimer. Thats all. And then very slight PP using DCU5. Thats all.

Excellent information thank you! I need to give that a go.

[Tamia]

There were really superb images in this contest. Congratulations Christian on the win from your beautiful photo. Such lovely colors in addition to the many curves and excellent choice in composition. Janek/Assa1, congrats to you also. Your photo delighted me while it also had me mystified -- thanks for letting us know how you did it. Very imaginative. Kudos to you also, Tess. I love the detail and intricacy of your picture. Can you tell what wood that is? Cedar or hemlock? SD_Bob, welcome to the forum and a big thumb's up for your photo -- well done! Lots of curves there, natural and manmade. Lovely country.

Thanks very much Al/brewmaster15 for a tough judging session and for your cogent assessment of contestants' photos, including mine, with which I was not at all happy. Lighting and colors were terrible, I was short of time, and I'd like to have been able to try different points of view. I shall return and see if I can produce a picture that better captures the beauty of that old tree.

[ramseybuckeye]

Congrats C-Rocky, great photo! And to all of the other winners too. Great job Al, I'm sure glad that I did not have your job. Many excellent photos all!

[assa1]

Thanks you all for so positive feedback.

[tessfully]

Congratulation Christian! That is a superb image!! Also congrats to Assa1 for an incredibly cool photo and to SD_Bob --- very interesting and compelling composition. Thanks so much for judging and for 3rd place Brewmaster! It is an honour to be among such beautiful photographs.

Tamia, I think it is Cedar.