A light week with respect to entries, but certainly not quality. I want to thank everyone who participated for joining in a very busy time of year for many of us.

This challenge is entirely subjective on my part - so please bear with me if you felt your entry deserved higher accolades than it may receive.

Without further adieu...

Peter Zack:
- A late entry, but a wonderful representation none-the-less. I think the pen and ink interpretation emits a stronger representation than the original. I definitely think you should play with this some more, especially with landscape/architecture type shots! Awesome

The rest - in order of appearance:

Atupdate:
- Crop makes the image, as does the the bleached look to the snow, bump in contrast, and increase in clarity. Extensive work in cloning out the many branches in the sky and in the snow round out this excellent entry. This entry went from drab to fab! Well done

tpeace:
- What was once a mistake has been turned into a great photo of movement. I love the bump in contrast and saturation and the flow of the image - I definitely think you are on to something. A tighter crop that would remove some of the clutter from the pp'd image on the high right side would possibly improve the image a bit, as I find the focal point to be a bit too centred. Excellent pp and work though! Impressive

smf:
I'm not seeing any other pp aside from the crop (maybe a slight change in exposure to the right on the pp one??). I think both images are pleasing and both crops work well - I'm in agreement though that the original works a bit better for me. Having a moth/butterfly of a complimentary colour to the flower would be a boost as this one gets a bit lost in the photo. Having this kind of patience to take this kind of shot is worthy of applause in my books! Very nice work.

K McCall:
Vintage Keitha work going on in this photo! Extensive work in pp to isolate the image (like it's been shot with a snooted light source), dark, rich and vibrant. I couldn't possibly come up with any feedback for Keitha than she hasn't already heard - she's very talented and has a vision that is unique and intriguing. A bland photo that was turned into a gallery piece for all to enjoy. Excellent and consistent work that is admired by many of us here at Pentax Forums. I love it!

jheu02:
I'm not familiar with John's work, but his signature talks about coffee...so I'm sure we'd get along great A foggy image almost devoid of anything has been transformed into a compelling and mysterious image. The amount of detail you were able to bring out is nothing short of spectacular here! This is simply excellent work - I'm suitably impressed!

m8o:
The updated sky and texture in the water is perfect - wow! A touch of straightening was the only thing missing and was subtly added. A beautiful image all around that really benefits from the compression of a longer FL lens. Fantastic!

Bramela:
Birds aren't normally my thing, but this image really benefits from the tighter crop, increase in clarity and bump in exposure. I can almost feel the detail in the feathers on this one. Fantastic shot!

SWEngineer:
A change in WB for the better, subtle increase in sharpness, and some of the best cloning I've ever seen in an image. I can really appreciate the amount of time this must have taken you to get this to look so seamless. I'm awestruck on this one!

seacapt:
I'm not familiar with this artist or this work, but the tight crop and change in perspective turn a snap-shot image into an abstract work of art. I'd really like to see this image larger and not on my screen. Very pleasing work on this one!

xs400:
A shot in need of some WB correction, and marred by a finger (??) on the right side of the frame has been cropped and turned into an image of strong emotion. Not only has this image been saved - it has been transformed into something entirely different. What a wonderful transformation!

drum role please....this weeks winner is:

xs400 !


A big thank you to everyone who participated and who made this a very difficult decision.

I hope you enjoyed the challenge...and would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and happy holiday!

c[_]

[seacapt]

Thanks for the kind words Coffee and yes I liked Frank's best too.

[m8o]

A winning photo indeed. I bet a lot of people thought like me after seeing xs400's transformation... well there's the winner!

So what you have in store for us for the next challenge xs?

[jheu02]

A winning photo indeed. I bet a lot of people thought like me after seeing xs400's transformation... well there's the winner!

So what you have in store for us for the next challenge xs?

Yeah, I know I also thought that about Frank's pic. Anywho, about the sig line, that's just my current roast, I'll have to roast again tomorrow, maybe Wednesday. Just one of my hobbies. Another I have to get back into is homebrewing, and as I'm finishing my basement remodel, I'll have the time.

[smf]

Congratulations to all and thanks, Coffee, for the comments on my moth-and-flloral photos.
Stu

[K McCall]

Thanks for all the detailed feedback, Coffee! Once again, another challenge difficult to judge, but you did an excellent job. Congrats to xs400!

[xs400]

I am honored to be chosen the winner. My shot of the old woman was an idea of my wife. She saw the old woman and asked me to get her picture. I wanted to get a candid shot. So I got the shot by putting my wife between me and the subject and shooting the pic at 200mm just over my wife's shoulder. The blur on the right of the 'before' pic is the side of my wife's face. With my wife's encouragement, I did a lot of PP to get the 'after' B&W image. The after image was accepted in the PPG.

I'll post a new challenge tomorrow.

[tpeace]

Great challenge Coffee, Thanks for picking this topic. Hope we do more like this one in the future. There are so many options that PP brings into play.

Congrats to Frank and the rest!


Regards,
-t