This was a challenging P52 this week for all, photogs and judge alike. There were many good shots, but as I sat down to judge this one, I went back to the tutorial, and the objective of this challenge bokeh
HIGHLIGHTS, and a few really stood out. That doesn't make the other shots any less good, just they didn't quite fit the theme and challenge as I saw it.
So here's how I looked at the topic...most shots have some form of bokeh in them, since most shots have a portion which is out of focus. The challenge here was to make some of that portion, specifically the highlights, play an integral role in the shot.
So this week's winner is
mtux. Mehrdad's shot used the dots of light to create orbs which the mantis looks like it's dancing on. Clearly they're integral to the shot, as without them, the mantis would have had no reference point. I would have preferred that it was shot wide open for perfect circles, vs seeing that the lens has a 7 bladed diaphram, but that's a nit.
robmitchell's shot also featured prominent highlights, but as he admitted, it was a little cliched, and just didn't have the appeal of mtux's.
I placed Tess's shot in third as the highlights gave a nice feel to the shot, summery/sunny, but I wouldn't call them a prominent feature that the shot couldn't really do without, more a byproduct of the focal point.
Again, all the shots were good, but these three stood out to me as best fitting the objective for this P52.
Post #4 by jheu02
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