Results and Feedback for the "Reflections" Weekly Photography Assignment

[keithsnell]

Thank you to everyone that participated in the "Reflections" assignment.  I apologize for the delay in posting the results.  Rebecca and I were teaching a wildflower photography workshop in Crested Butte and returned home late last night.  I'll post more about our workshop in a different thread.  

The guidelines for the "Reflections" assignment were to compose your image to "include physical reflections, like those from a mirror, or conceptual "reflections" such as a the act of 'careful thought, especially the process of reconsidering previous actions, events, or decisions.'  Or both, if you can manage to create an image that includes the metaphor."

There were many wonderful images submitted for this assignment, and as indicated by how "spread out" the votes were, it was very difficult to chose a favorite among all these great images.  Congratulations to Becky Jenner, Sheila Ancheta (burzilai) and Joyce Donaldson (csrdrunner) whose images tied for "People's Choice."

Becky's Reflective Beauty was a well executed image of a scene found while hiking.  Becky composed the shot beautifully, with the grass in the foreground framing the reflection.  The effective framing and perfect exposure of the beautiful sky colors reflected in the water are what make this image.  This image effectively captures the mood of a quiet serene moment that "makes me want to be there."

reflective beauty
Tied for People's Choice
Photographed by Becky Jenner

Sheila's Outdoor to Indoor image was a fun and playful image that indicates a "good eye" for even seeing the possibilities in this "everyday" scene.  The tilted verticals and dynamic diagonal lines in this image reinforce the feeling of playfulness.  The clouds and sky are a bit over-exposed in this image, which could have potentially been fixed by under-exposing a bit during the initial exposure and then bringing up the shadows in post-processing.  However, the somewhat surreal colors in the sky and clouds don't really detract from this "playful" image, and so the image is still successful.  Very well done.  

Outdoor to Indoor
Tied for People's Choice
Photographed by Sheila Ancheta (burzilai)

Joyce's Pond Sunrise Reflection is a wonderful creation by the artist.  While the starting image is a great image of the Kissing Camels rock formation in Garden of the Gods, it is Joyce's Photoshop work that transitions this image to the "extraordinary" image that it is.  Very well done.

Pond Sunrise Reflection (Garden of Gods)
Tied for People's Choice
Photographed by Joyce Donaldson

I thought Rick Pepin's Upside Down Tree image had potential, and wanted to propose a different crop.  From this:

Upside Down Tree
Photographed by Rick Pepin

To this:

Upside Down Tree
Photographed by Rick Pepin (cropped by Keith)

I'm going to deviate from my "normal" practice of awarding separate "Editor's Choice" awards for Artistic and Technical merit, and instead award two images "Editor's Choice for Artistic Merit."  It was just too hard to choose from these two images, and so I'm "copping out" and awarding it to both.    

I've awarded the first "Editor's Choice for Artistic Merit" to Lars' Mirror Expression image.  In the assignment guidelines I challenged participants to compose an image that included both a physical reflection as well as incorporating the concept of reflection, meaning "the act of careful thought, especially the process of reconsidering previous actions, events, or decisions."  Lars was the only participant to successfully compose an image using the metaphor of a physical reflection to reinforce the concept of reflection.  Very well done Lars.

Mirror expression
A "Foggy Thoughts" Selfportrait
Editor's Choice for Artistic Merit
Photographed by Lars

I've awarded the second "Editor's Choice for Artistic Merit" to Rick Pepin's  Grass in Water image.  

Grass in Water
Editor's Choice for Artistic Merit
Photographed by Rick Pepin

I loved the simple and elegant design in this image, but thought perhaps it was a bit soft and "flat."  I've posted an alternate version of this image below with a "levels" adjustment to increase the contrast (I pulled in the black point and white point to the edges of the histogram) and just a very slight amount of selective sharpening (using a layer mask) on the grass.  

 
Grass in Water
Editor's Choice for Artistic Merit
Photographed by Rick Pepin ("levels" adjustment by Keith)

Viewers are encouraged to respond to this thread describing why you like a particular image, or think it was particularly successful at meeting the guidelines of the assignment.

Thank you to everyone that participated in the "Reflections" assignment.

Keith

[RebeccaSnell]

I thought Rick's 'See what I See" was also very creative and 'out of the box' for a reflection--and very unique 'self portrait' as well.  Great job to all who participated, as I mentioned before, this was a HARD one to vote on.  So many great shots!

[Becky Jenner]

Thanks to all who voted! I know I've been "out of the loop" for awhile,but have been real busy with the kids this summer! The Lawton Carnival is underway also and set up of tents & electrical wiring takes days for us! Hope the rain holds out as I see from Intellicast...it may be a very wet one! I have helped Mike with the Instant Bingo tent for 9 yrs. now! Hope the Rush Firemen make out with their donations! A new and beautiful memorial was built next to the fire station to dedicate honor to those who served and have passed away. When & if I get the chance with camera in hand,I will get a shot of it! take care all!

[TrvlRick]

Thank you for all the suggestions, I do think they were improvements. Since this assignment I have been seeing reflections everywhere I look.