Hi Guys,

Thanks for the honour of judging this week's comp. It's been very tough, with plenty of great shots.

Without further ado.

Honourable mentions:

Seacapt's Son with



Great bird shot. I can't see the exif data so I'm not sure what lens you were using, but I know from experience that shooting birds that small is tricky.

Sheela with



I love the sky in this shot. Did you use a polariser or some other sort of filter?



3rd Place!

PinarelloOnly with



I wanted to rank this higher because artistically I think it's great, but you focal point seems to be around the second set of flowers which, I think, detracts from the shot a little. Unfortunately your judge this week is a manual lens shooter and a bit obsessed with focus.


2nd Place!

Stratman with



Great Shot. Good balance, good bokeh and my favourite thing is the grain (noise). Instead of trying to hide it, you've got just the right amount to give the shot a bit of feeling.


1st Place!

Rockmaster1964 with




I was having a difficult time coming up with a first place until this shot was posted. What can I say? I love it. Just the right contrast between the flowers and the background. Colours pop, but are not overpowering. Great focus with nice bokeh.

This picture jumped out and grabbed me from the second I saw it.

To all the other entrants for this week, great work. I'm sorry I was so biased towards flower shots but here in Sydney there's no such thing as snow so these shots really captured the theme for me.

[KrisK10D]

Well done folks! Lots of great shots around.

Stratman... you didn't post the Weapons of Mass Pollination?

[daacon]

It was an interesting theme to see spring (and one fall) shot from all over. Congrats to all and especially the top 3.

[Rense]

Congrats to the winners!

[MrApollinax]

Great week of entries! The little Mink from my entry sends his congratulations along with mine!

[sheela]

congrats, very nice variety

I dont rememeber if mine was shot with polariser I think not, there was a fantastic day with very warm weather and the sky/clouds were so nice

[seacapt]

Great bird shot. I can't see the exif data so I'm not sure what lens you were using, but I know from experience that shooting birds that small is tricky.

.

Thanks, He'll be thrilled to have gotten an Honorable Mention! He was using my ist DL with a Tamron 103A ,at only 210mm and only 6 megapixels the crop made it pretty grainy . He had some closer bluebird shots with better color but there was something in the composition of this one that we liked. Congrats to all.

[rockmaster1964]

Thanks, I can't believe I got first with all of those great photos posted. I took the photo with my new FA 43mm ltd. It makes every photo look great.

[PinarelloOnly]

I'll take 3rd place no problem....thank you!!!!

What you can't see obviously, was what was going on behind me when I shot it.
My 4 and 6 year olds were wrestling and I was losing light by the second, when I
got back to CT from PA I saw the Spring Theme and entered it. I did however,
realize that the distractions cost me the focus in the front of where it should be.
I have nobody to blame but myself.

The DA 35 Ltd isn't forgiving as a lens but its an honest lens!!!


Scotty.

[Stratman]

Wow, thanks for the 2nd place !! I don't know what to say, hehe. The "grain" is just somewhat high ISO ( 640 ), and no noise removal applied And the bokeh,,,,well, it's a Pentax lens, nuff said BTW, that was with the DA 18-55 V1

[gawan]

Congrats to all winners!