DSS 76 Do any of these Wow?

WhatSheSaw

It looks like Mom is pretty well covered. So I am going for Wow. Do any of these hit the mark?

1. Hanging On


2. Hanging On (more processed)


3. Hanging On (even more processed)


4. Hanging On (B&W)


5. Hanging On (different view)


6. Reflections on a Spring Afternoon


7. No Lifeguard


8. No Lifeguard Needed


9. A Duck!

sapphire73

I think 2 and 4 are my favorites from this series but I find it difficult to judge what is and isn't wow. I like shots of reflections and 4 has a nice abstract quality to it. I also like 8 but wonder if it would fit the mini-challenge better?

lkbart

The tree looks cool, but doesn't jump out to me as a big wow - I'm guessing it's one of those things that looks really WOW in person, but trying to capture that wow 2 dimensionally is freakishly hard. I do like the processing of the 2nd - I think the lichen looks more defined. Otherwise, unless you could find either WOW or MOM "written" somewhere in the roots (which you might be able to do, depending on angle or light, & if so, that would be awesome & very WOW!), I'm afraid this one might be weak for the theme.

I really like the reflections - like the waves/curves of colors in #6, but am a little distracted by the fingerish thing in the upper middle - my eye keeps being drawn to that instead of the pretty curves & colors of the rest of the shot. I kinda like the floating head in #7 but not sure about the rest of the shot. I really like the repeated pattern in #8 & the pattern with the distortion in #9, but in #8 I think the duck looks too much the part of the decoy (it is a decoy, right?!). In #9, the duck looks more natural, but for some reason, I keep wanting to look at it sideways to see if there are some hidden words there in the curves. Even without finding words there, I think #9 is my fav of the bunch. Not sure how helpful I've been though. Good luck

sapphire73

lkbart wrote: »

I really like the reflections - like the waves/curves of colors in #6, but am a little distracted by the fingerish thing in the upper middle - my eye keeps being drawn to that instead of the pretty curves & colors of the rest of the shot. I kinda like the floating head in #7 but not sure about the rest of the shot. I really like the repeated pattern in #8 & the pattern with the distortion in #9, but in #8 I think the duck looks too much the part of the decoy (it is a decoy, right?!). In #9, the duck looks more natural, but for some reason, I keep wanting to look at it sideways to see if there are some hidden words there in the curves. Even without finding words there, I think #9 is my fav of the bunch. Not sure how helpful I've been though. Good luck

Good point about the fingerish thing in #6. Looking at them again, I do like #9. Good luck with it!

WhatSheSaw

Thanks for the comments, Gretchen and Lillian!

The duck was making circles into my shot of the reflection of the No Lifeguard On Duty sign. I don't know that I'll have a chance for a reshoot before the challenge ends. These were taken on one of our rare sunny days. I will try to clone out that annoying finger sticking out of the lake in the abstract.

In the meantime, I have 2 others for consideration.

#10 Reflections on a Duck



#11 Skagit River Sunset

sapphire73

I think the sunset is great. Not sure if it has enough wow factor but the fiery reflection of the sunset is gorgeous! You might try darkening the lower edge of the image just a tad but it is lovely as is. Did you crop the tree on the right? (In other words, could you include more of it in the frame if you wanted?) I prefer 11 to the duck shots, and favor 9 a bit more than 10. Hope that helps.

WhatSheSaw

Thanks, Gretchen! I am seeing some landscapes in the gallery now, so I may try something else.

Removed the annoying object. Is it better?
#12 Reflections on a Spring Afternoon - take 2


And now for something totally different.
#13 Kaliedoscope

sapphire73

I'm a big fan of your most recent photo, Kaleidoscope. The colors are rather different on my macbook from the Dell monitor - more subtle on the mac and lemon yellow & deep orange-red on the Dell. I suspect the mac is truer to what others will see. If that is true, wonder how it would look with the orange deepened just a bit. I think the reflections shot is better now but personally prefer the new shot. Hope you get input from others as well!

WhatSheSaw

Thanks again, Gretchen! I decided to try kaliedoscope and see how well it does. I think it pushes the envelope on post processing, so it is worth seeing how many people respond to it.

I also tried another bit of PP in B&W on the tree. What do you think? Is this better than the original?

Original #4 followed by #4A

sapphire73

I am such a novice with b/w processing that I hope someone else jumps in here!

lkbart

Regarding the b/w - me too. Although I really really like the kaleidoscope shot! That is a WOW!! Nice effect!

WhatSheSaw

Thanks, Gretchen and Lillian! Abstracts lose a lot of people. It is good to have confirmation. Maybe I will ask about B&W processing in Street & PJ. I think those folks are masters at it.