Thanks to rod_grant for hosting #538, and choosing my image as the winner, and giving me lots of work . Thank you all for your entries, and a veritable wad of inspiration for me. What a pity I have to choose winners from this bunch. Pardon the lateness of this submission, but I had pastoral duties to attend today, with a congregant that lost her husband to Covid this morning.
Aaacb-Tulip with drops- getting us off to an excellent start, a beautiful Tulip, What an appealing color, and those drops only add to the beauty of this flower. Nicely composed, and lovely Bokeh to boot! Good employment of a shallow DOF, to highlight the flower and the drops!
Bruce Clark-Drop Macro- How cool is this image, heading in the direction of an abstract. I just want to touch that drop. Once again, a shallow DOF has brought the focus on the drop itself. Those colors! Excellent photographer’s eye! No issues with composition. Great shot!
Atupdate-Spider drops- You got me counting them drops and the eye roving all over this image. Very appealing shot, all the drops in focus, thus the opposite of the previous entries, excellent DOF. Not easy, but you pulled it off!
Djb47- Drops with reflections of flowers- Stunning! Excellent colors and composition. Sharp and a shallow DOF confronts you squarely with these beauties! It will be worth your while to clone out those reflections of the light that appear in all 3 drops. And that dust spot should be removed .
Michail_P- Drops on the Shower head- Well I’m assuming that is a shower head. What an interesting image, part abstract and part documentary. And an ever so interesting composition. I like the blue tones to this, and the titbit of reflections does get me pondering! Looks like a church? In any event, wonderful shot!
Cooks333-Drops on the Lupine- And another stunning image, well spotted, opportunity well taken! Love the colors to this, and as with atupdate’s image, my eye is roving all over this image. Especially like those hair-like strands all over the image!
Vaskebjorn-Drops on the Daisy- Lovely, though my mind immediately thinks a square crop would enhance the flower even more. Beautiful complimentary colors, a shallow DOF and a dark background makes this very appealing! Apropos Cooks333 comment-if your eye roves over this image, it looks like it is moving!
Turbo_bird – Melting frost- It sure has sparkle! And those 2 starbursts have massive appeal. I get the impression that this is a very well controlled shot, of light and technique for a wonderful backlit shot! Shallow DOF, a dark background and some hexagonal Bokeh adds a lot of interest. No issues with the composition, though I would personally remove the shaft of Bokeh and make the background darker, to highlight the leaf some more! But that is a personal preference. Excellent stuff!
Jacamar- Drops in the cemetery- Wonderful shot, the only non-macro shot of the challenge. Beautifully composed, some very nice Bokeh and no issues with the composition. I’m thinking a jewel tree, with sparkling jewels to be had! Well worth having a look at this enlarged, (via the Flickr page). Nice one!
Jchorst-drops on the grid-As far as drops go, this is a very interesting almost abstract image. Some mystery here- what, where, why? Very nice in B/W, and the selective focus works well. Nice textures too! Fill us in on the details.
Phyllis-Precarious drop- Excellent! Shallow DOF has worked magic here, to get the eye focused on the precarious drop. Great eye, super technique and composition. Those pentagonal Bokeh are a treat!
Finntax-drops on the Spiders Web- I’m envious! Lots. Hardly ever see anything like that here in South Africa, and I have looked for it. Perhaps I get up too late in the morning . Those Bokeh colors are wonderful, and the selective focus I reckon is just right! A very nice fill-the-frame image! Enchanting pearls!
CedrusMacro- Drops on the leaf- Little gems to be discovered. Good spotting. I like the almost spotlight effect on those drops- was that deliberate or just the luck of natural light? Nice Bokeh, though I do think lightening this will enhance it more. Good shot!
Charliezap-Intergalactic space bodies - Another B/W image in the challenge, and it’s fabulous. Some wonderful PP done here, to highlight those drops. They do look like space bodies heading for who knows where. I love the textures to this, and an excellent abstract!
AstroDave-Water drop collision-I can but echo the sentiments of other entrants –WOW, you nailed it! And I’ll add- I’m VERY ENVIOUS! It would be wonderful if you can share your technique with us for this as well as the settings. And the original even if it is red! . Cannot get any EXIF. I’ve tried too many times, and failed. Excellent composition, with that extra wide crop and the angle of the drops. B/W works really well, and the titbit of reflection and those four drops to the side is a boon to the image! One of those image that would be a delight to play around with colors.
Ramseybuckeye-Dew drops- And I’m glad you have given it a go, it’s an excellent image, even if it makes me feel wet . Lovely complimentary colors. Lovely composition. And ever so sharp! I love the view of the power of nature I get from this- that flower looks like it has been wrapped for a special occasion.

No easy exercise this one! But it has to be done!

1st spot to AstroDave- making us all envious!
2nd spot-djb47-tA very close 2nd place.
3rd place to Turbo_bird-wonderful delicate starbursts!
HM’s to Ramseybuckeye and Phyllis
Thanks you all! Over to you AstroDave!

[aaacb]

Thanks Noel for commenting on each entry, it's always helpful to know what others see in a photo.
Congrats to the winners, looking forward to the next one

[ramseybuckeye]

Wonderful challenge Noel, I did not envy your judging, but I think you nailed it as much as Astro Dave, djb47-t, and Turbo-bird nailed their photos. Well done guys, those are all winners!

[CedrusMacro]

Excellent choices Noel, Astro Dave truly nailed the submission! Thanks for the feedback, always a pleasure to hear the thoughts of others .

[cooks333]

A wonderful, comprehensive summary of a very fun challenge. Congrats to the winners. Looking forward to the next one already!

[Bruce Clark]

Congratulations to all on an excellent challenge. Well hosted with great feedback and some excellent images. I am looking forward to the next one.

[rod_grant]

A great challenge (I had nothing to offer) and well judged Noel.
It might be the most power-packed group of entries that I have seen.

Interestingly, I can't seen the movement in Vaskebjorn's daisy when I move my eyes over it.
But it certainly seems to move when I scroll up or down the page!! (and I don't mean it just shifts to a higher or lower position on the screen!!!)

[Vaskebjorn]

Thanks for hosting Joel and congrats to the winner.
I am a bit surprised my photo got so many mentions (about movement), but you won’t hear me complain
Maybe i just stumbled upon an optical illusion.

[jchorst]

What a great challenge, thanks Noel. And congrats to the worthy winners. Really stunning pictures!

[djb47]

Congratulations to AstroDave and Turbo_bird, great photos,Thanks Noel for the second place nod and thank you for all your great feedback. Well done everyone.

[turbo_bird]

Thanks Noel, and everyone else. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be the judge for this one, lots of great shots. As far as mine goes, thanks for the comments, I might have to revisit it. When I shot and edited it last fall I was pretty new to the processing end of things, aside from just some basic stuff and getting rid of dust spots. I agree that the hexagonal pattern is distracting, but didn't realize how easy it would probably be to remove it. I'll give it a go and see what happens, as I do like that photo otherwise. I got very lucky, it was just something I noticed in my yard as I was on my way out to take photos elsewhere, and it turned out to be my best shot of the day.
Kristian

[CedrusMacro]

Thanks Noel, and everyone else. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be the judge for this one, lots of great shots. As far as mine goes, thanks for the comments, I might have to revisit it. When I shot and edited it last fall I was pretty new to the processing end of things, aside from just some basic stuff and getting rid of dust spots. I agree that the hexagonal pattern is distracting, but didn't realize how easy it would probably be to remove it. I'll give it a go and see what happens, as I do like that photo otherwise. I got very lucky, it was just something I noticed in my yard as I was on my way out to take photos elsewhere, and it turned out to be my best shot of the day.
Kristian

I'm going to be controversial and say the hexagonal speculations add to the image Kristian- of course eye of the beholder and all that entails. It does pull the eye, but creates a dreamy design quality to it.

[djb47]

Thanks Noel, and everyone else. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be the judge for this one, lots of great shots. As far as mine goes, thanks for the comments, I might have to revisit it. When I shot and edited it last fall I was pretty new to the processing end of things, aside from just some basic stuff and getting rid of dust spots. I agree that the hexagonal pattern is distracting, but didn't realize how easy it would probably be to remove it. I'll give it a go and see what happens, as I do like that photo otherwise. I got very lucky, it was just something I noticed in my yard as I was on my way out to take photos elsewhere, and it turned out to be my best shot of the day.
Kristian

FWIW, I did not find the hexagonal pattern distracting either. Great image as is Ktistian.

[pacerr]

Well done. An amazing collection of 'drips'. The droplet theme always seems to attract excellent images.


A sidebar tip: Should you ever feel the urge to add a l'il extra to plain old water droplets, or generate durable artificial drops where none exist, glycerin (available over the counter at drug counters) makes interesting clear droplets. The viscosity and refraction is somewhat different and can be tweaked with water and tinted with food coloring. Explore fat blue drops on yellow roses?

[noelcmn]

Well done. An amazing collection of 'drips'. The droplet theme always seems to attract excellent images.


A sidebar tip: Should you ever feel the urge to add a l'il extra to plain old water droplets, or generate durable artificial drops where none exist, glycerin (available over the counter at drug counters) makes interesting clear droplets. The viscosity and refraction is somewhat different and can be tweaked with water and tinted with food coloring. Explore fat blue drops on yellow roses?

Thank you for this- I'm hooked! Pharmacy here I come