IPC Honorable Mentions

Hope you all had a great weekend and an enjoyable 4th for those from the US!  Well I did promise that Gayle and I would be giving our honorable mentions in our last challenge posting.  That would normally mean that two more photos would be singled out for recognition but, in this case, there'll be only one.  We don't discuss this before selection so that's just the way this one worked out.  We both thought to give recognition to Roy's European Skipper.  

Gayle:   I chose Roy's moth on a tall grass stem image because it had very good clarity showing wing patterns and other details....the way he framed the shot gave an appealing diagonal to the composition....the DOF (depth of field) was excellent blurring the BG to keep focus on the moth.....nice perspective,too,which included full length of the moth...

Doyle:  I liked the superb use of depth in this one because it accented the moth quite well and the blade of grass, crisply providing us with scale and a great diagonal line through the composition.  The clarity is very nice, providing texture too. 

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Well, Gayle, my talented co-moderator, and I have gone through all these images and have tried very hard to make certain each received some sort of critique or a word to let you know we were there.  While we do try to give some serious, very intensive critiques there are times where an image might get a seemingly passing critique and other times where somebody gets this real, lengthy, detailed analysis. 

Some might wonder why this is.  Well...umm...I can tell you that it has nothing what-so-ever to do with who posts the image so don't feel singled out.  It really has to do with the image.  Can someone see a way that it can be improved?  Can someone suggest a way to get over some stumbling block?  Maybe a reminder about the importance of rule of third compositions?  The idea is to provide the guidance (kindly) that you think might help improve the shot.  Keep in mind, these are all opinions.  You need not agree.  If it makes you feel easier to give a critique, you could start with a brief encouraging intro and then explain how you "might have done this shot if it were mine" or "did you consider trying...?" and then remind them it's just your opinion.  Critiques aren't all about how a shot can be improved.  They're ALSO about what works in a shot.  Or both.  It's all about what works for YOU and how YOU would improve it if it were yours so there's no wrong or right. 

So we'd like to see you all give and accept critiques.  Try not to be defensive.  It discourages honest critiques.  Suggesting ways an image might be improved is not even close to the same thing as saying the image is poor.  When people react defensively to a critique it makes other people want to avoid critiquing and you end up with a string of "nice shot" comments which won't help growth and growth is what this group is all about.  There's LOTS of those other kind of groups out there.   

We'd ALSO like to recognize a critique each month because we KNOW that's a lot of effort, a lot of putting yourself "out there".  This month we'll mention two since there's only the one HM.

Bobbi K.'s critique on Roy's European Skipper.   

Roy H.'s critique on Heather W.'s Stink Bug.

July 2008 Intense Photography Challenge

Shoot a "Still Life"

• The still life shot needs to be items selected AND arranged by you not something you see sitting on the shelf at the local grocery store on the canned food aisle.  ;P
• The still life also cannot include flowers (unless they're dead).  Note that dried flowers would be considered dead while cut flowers would be considered dying!  Ok . . . Heather admits to a bit of a morbid thingee going on.  :)
• These photos must be Black & White.

The deadline will be the last minute of July 31st, Gather time.  Do NOT do any editing after that as that will change the date even if it had been in earlier. This deadline is final.  :)

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Gayle and I have greatly appreciated the effort we've been seeing from such enthusiastic participants and the fun the members of this group have been having is encouraging.  Really, we'd like to recognize all you guys and do . . . The honesty from the submissions and the ability of people to respond to the various challenges is very cool.  Keep up that good work!  :)

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So shoot, post, review others, critique, learn and have fun! 

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