[ivoire]

Cool barondla... the annual launching of the xmas tree!

[Anton Magus]

Here's my three:

Lights and Reflections - HTC Phone


Sparkles in a pool - HTC Phone


Shining dew drops on a washline - Pentax x90


And I wish you all a great 2012!

[Bart]

Very creative use of the phone, Anton.
& a good find of the dew drops!

A great 2012 for you as well!

[Jacquot]

One from the archives to be in the game:

With a Casio EX-23, definitely a point and shoot by any standard:
David

Attached Images

 

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

But let me start with explaining what I was looking for and then go over the submissions.

With the theme of "lights", what I basically wanted to see are combinations of multicolored lights and their reflections.

ivoire: #1 - great first entry - I like the composition, the sharp focus on the side of the bench and the tree lights.

Bart: Great set of entries here too:

#1: I like the lights and reflections, but the lower part of the frame does not provide any information.
#2: Very nice; however, it is a single source of light rather than multiple ones. This is my favorite of the set, but I feel it doesn't quite fit the theme.
#3: Good shot, but again, I feel that the top third of the frame is not being used, with the results that the lights end up in a central place in the frame.

ivoire: #2 Very cool version, but given that the colors of the first shot were perfect, I prefer it to this one.

Immunogirl:

#1: Interesting reflection, but it is tilted. I also find the people at the middle right of the frame to be distracting.
#2: Nice shot and perspective and I like how the blue ceiling lights seem to continue into their reflections. Great fit with the contest theme.

ivoire: #3 Very nice entry. The only suggestion I would have here is for the framing to include more of the reflections on the table, since the upper part of the frame is mostly dark.

jheu02: #1 A very nice abstract shot. The only critique I have is with it fitting the theme - while these are the leds of a flashlight, it looks more like they are lit than that they are sources of light. That aside, it's an outstanding shot.

woof: #1: I like such abstract shots, but I think this one lacks an interesting movement to generate more intriguing patterns.

G.T.: #1: This fits the theme all right, but for me it has two defects: the white balance is off for the lights and the lights themselves are not very interesting.

jheu02: #2: This is nice. I would suggest adding more sources of light in the background to spice it up even more.

jheu02: #3: I love this, but again, I don't think it quite fits the scene. There are more lights technically, but only one of them is powerful enough to lit other things and to create reflections, so practically there is a single light - that of the monitor. I really like this shot though - the light on the hands is beautiful and I like the framing too.

kyteflyer: #1: This would be great if it would have also included reflection on the water (since it's a wharf shot, I suspect there might be some water nearby.

woof: #2 - This feels a bit tilted and there is also something entering the frame in the top left.

frission:

#1: Light sources are too light and they are overshadowed so to speak by a strong room light. This also looks out of focus.

#2: It's not clear to me that these are light sources as most of the light I see seems to be reflected of the bottles. A nice image otherwise.

#3: Interesting image, but the lights are at the bottom of the frame, rather than the focus of the image, so it doesn't really fit the theme.

chubasco: #1: Good composition and the shot includes reflections of lights, but I would have wished to seem the lights themselves too rather than just their reflections.

chubasco:

#2: Great shot: I like the framing, the lights, and the reflections.

#3: Nice one too, but I feel the street is the subject here, not the lights.

monochrome: #1: Lights in light doesn't really work for this theme.

G.T.: White balance and tilting work against this submission.

samtr87:

#1: I think this would need a different crop - the space on the upper left is wasted

#2: Great reflections. I wish the light sources were part of the frame and less of the lower part would be just black, but this is a nice entry even despite these issues.

#3: Nice image and great reflections. I would have framed this a bit more to the right because the tall building draws the eye to close to the edge otherwise. The blue reflection on the bottom right also draws the eye to the side of the frame.

barondla: #1: I think this would work better if only the lights and their reflections would show up - I realize that with a longer exposure that becomes hard to do, but seeing the tree and most of the wall behind it make this look too much like a regular shot of a tree.

Anton Magus:

#1: Lights, reflections. Check. But they don't add up to a very appealing shot.

#2: Not clear if there are more lights involved here or all reflections come from a single one.

#3: This also involves a single light source. Interesting shot otherwise.

Jacquot: #1: I think this is just too dark and the lights and their reflections are too minute. The WB is also off.

I hope I didn't miss any submission - keeping tabs on everything is harder than I thought.

First, an honorable mention for jheu02 who provided two superb submissions whose only fault was that they did not quite fit the theme:





I love them both, but they don't quite show multiple light sources.

Next, the podium:

#3: chubasco:



Very nice composition. I like the lights and the water reflections.

#2: immunogirl:



Very nice interplay of lights and reflections. There's no lighting like casino lighting.

And finally, the winner is:

#1: ivoire:



While this does not include many reflections, I find it a striking shot: it's a great composition with a nice sharp front element and lovely background, all coming together in an appealing shot. Furthermore it would be very hard to get such a shot from another camera than a P&S.

Congratulations to ivoire, immunogirl, chubasco, and jheu02 and many thanks to everyone who participated in this contest!

Happy New Year everyone!

[Bart]

Congratulations to chubasco, immunogirl and especially to ivoire!

Many thanks to Laurentiu Cristofor for such a detailed report and judging.

Looking forward to your contest, ivoire. for more than one reason



And a Happy New Year to you all!

[Anton Magus]

Congratulations to Ivoire, Immunogirl and Chubasco. Your entries were excellent and Ivoire's winner is the kind of photograph we all aspire to.

Thanks also to Laurentiu Cristofor for taking the time and effort to constructively critique the entries. It helps us learn.

May all on this forum have a wonderful 2012.

[ivoire]

Wow! what a surprise and great start to the new year. These competitions have been fun for me and i enjoy the entries and different perspectives presented in them. Congratulations to Immunogirl, Chubasco and all who entered and thanks to Laurentiu Cristofor. His judging and critiques have added new dimension to the contest. Best wishes to all for a wonder filled New Year!

[chubasco]

Congrats to Ivoire for winning and Immunogirl getting 2nd place! So, if something happens to them I'd be the winner, right? j/k

My congrats to all who participated, Happy New Year!

[samtr87]

Congrats winners and thanks for going through and critiquing each picture LC.

[barondla]

Congratulations to the winners. Great job Ivoire. Everyone entered strong images. Can't wait for the next contest!
thanks
barondla

[jheu02]

Congrats to all, and a nice job with the judging. Some very cool shots all around.

[kyteflyer]

Congratulations to Ivoire, Immunogirl and Chubasco... can't say I am surprised at the choices, the shots were great

Looking forward to the next contest

[frission]

Laurentiu Cristofor thanks for taking the time to comment on our submissions. Your judging was right on. Congrats goes to immunogirl, chubasco and ivoire. All the winners are so well deserving for this month's competition. Wish I had the time to comment on each submission, as there were so many great photos
Looking forward to ivoire's Jan. point and shoot competition and all the submissions for 2012. Happy New Year to all.

[Immunogirl]

Congrats Ivoire & Chubasco!

I must confess to being suprised at having placed, given all the great entries that were submitted this month.