415th Show & Tell Competition: YOUR BEST!

[ee66]

Hi,
I would like to bend the contest subject just a little bit...
I give you no subject, but I am looking for the pictures you think they are your masterpiece: everyone has at least one!

A "masterpiece" for me is a picture having the perfect combination of technical skills, light and emotion or perfection in proportion making the picture the one I could stay to look at for hours...

I am also very keen to have your explanation why you believe they are in your top list so I can try to see things as you see them.

As an example here you have 3 shots of mine I am very keen of:

I love the light and the diagonal through the page and the way the light moves from darker to lighter.
The monochromatic color helps to stay focused on the shape of each single page.
Also this is one of the book I love the most... The Lord of the Rings.



Everything seems suspended in this picture.
The almost white sky and the metallic color of the sea makes the location like to be of another world, but the ship reminds you that there is always life outside in the vast emptiness.



The picture is well balanced, the model position looks natural and the red veil adds a touch of color to the almost monochromatic background.
The location and the side light build a strong contrast with the smoothness of the body.

Hope you will enjoy the Contest!

E.

Submissions will be closed on Sunday the 9th of October 2016 at 8:32:05 UTC

Posting Photos for a Contest
1. Photos must be hosted on pbase.com
2. Maximum of 3 photos per contest.
3. Photos must be embedded in your post. See the following link for how to do this http://forum.pbase.com/viewtopic.php?t=18022
4. Post only medium versions of your picture using the PB-Image button
5. The host is not eligible for their own contest.
6. Any picture you've taken is eligible, regardless of date taken and camera, as long as it hasn't already won another contest.
7. You can do all the post processing you want.

Winning and Running a Contest
1. If you enter the Show and Tell Contest, please note the closing date and be sure to check back to see if you won.
2. If you win the Show and Tell Contest and cannot run the next one, please notify the person running the contest immediately, so they can notify the second place winner.
3. If you decide to run the next contest, please post the new contest within 24 hours.
4. When the contest ends, please post the winners within 24-48 hours. (If you keep an eye on entries during the week, you will have a good idea of your favorites by the time the contest ends, and be able to more quickly post your winners.)
5. If you know you will not be able to post a contest, judge it, and post winners, within these timeframes, please do not start one. Instead, notify the person running the contest, so they can pass it on to the second place winner.
6. Pick first, second, and third place winners. You may include up to 5 honorable mentions.
7. Include these rules in the body of your contest.

Competition History available at http://form.pbase.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=42757

[gillk]

I guess we have to stick to the policy that we cannot enter a shot that has won before ??
Gill

[jarekm]

That's hard, to get around the problem I am posting my three images with the highest number of hits.

[ee66]

Hi,
I honestly do not mind if the picture has been already a winner in a previous contest: the spectrum of the subject is so broad that it is unlikely that a previous winner will be winner again.
Anyway, rules are rules so I think that will be better if we stick to them.

Please remember I am interested in why you think your pics are your masterpiece, so do not forget the explanation!

Thanks!

[gillk]

This isn't easy - so many photos - some forgotten about.

The old wharf on Francois Lake, BC. I drive by this scene regularly and it's always different. This day,
it was gorgeous - the low light and the quietness of the day, which I think I captured quite nicely:


My "Greek Tree" taken on the Island of Lesvos near the village of Ypsolmetopo - a town that died after
the plum trees caught a disease and destroyed the village's plum industry. This is an HDR shot in which
I tried to catch a dark mood of foreboding.


Hans' House. I took this when I returned to the house of an old friend who had passed away and found
the place just as he'd left it. I think it was after taking this shot, a long time ago, that I fell in love with photography
and the thrill of opening up a shot that I felt captured the moment.


Gill

[amoxtli]

With over 14,000 images on my PBase site, plus the fact I have little objectivity when it comes to my own photography, this is a difficult task. I purposely decided against choosing the images with the most hits, because that is what others liked best. I also did not go through all my galleries, but only my Photo a Day where I have posted an image a day since January 1, 2008. All three of these images have specific memories attached to them for me.



I was shooting time exposures of a fountain when a group of girls walked by. I asked them if they would pose for me and they did this.



It is illegal to take photos at this mall, but I could not resist placing my camera there with the fisheye lens.



Off Shore Winter Storms cause high surf, but also irregular surf. The perfect wave. He was the only surfer and I was the only person on shore.

[bibigarf]

my best ? i don't it is too big for me to decide (especially that i like my photos otherwise i will not publish them )
so i will put here several photos that i especially like from the last year
yaron

[luxun54]

Shooting from down low with the grass as foreground allowed me to capture this fairy-tale fantasy scene of Haystack rock, the clouds, and the mist in that beautiful, warm pre-sunset light.


Last photo taken at the end of a very photographically-productive two-day workshop in Taos, NM, with almost perfect twilight sky behind the Mission church, from over the adobe wall.


Peaceful night-time scene, perfect reflection of the pagoda, weeping willows, the string of lights and bright starburst light in the pond in Nara, Japan.

[viveksg]

I took this minimalistic photo on a red eye flight a few years ago. The simplicity is powerful and invokes a peaceful feeling. The North star in the distance provides the perfect touch to the composition. While not my best, it is definitely one of them. I could stare at this image for ages.

[the_microscope_tuell]

Some of my "best" so far:



I liked this one a lot because you can just tell that this isn't going to end well for the caterpillar... I also didn't realize until getting a good macro shot up close, is just how beautiful immature female western black widow spiders really are.



I really enjoy this shot because it has beautiful color, especially considering it is a small drop of clear liquid (99% isopropanol) which is in the process of rebounding due to rapid evaporation, but in this picture, the very edge of the initial wave can be seen, which was a very lucky thing to happen when looking through a 5x microscope objective. The contrast and colors come from the technique of differential interference contrast (DIC).



And finally, a technically challenging photo of sunflower pollen in 100x reflected light (with Disco Lights Illumination). This one was difficult to pull off, so I'm proud that I got anything useful at all with this subject.

Thanks for looking!

Microscope Mike

[allen_hart]

Thank you for the competition topic. It is a challenge to choose what I think are my best images. I have a lot of favorites, but trying to choose my best is tough. This is a very interesting exercise.


I like this image for a number of reasons. I like how there are crossing lines at two of the power points, one formed by the antenna and the shape of the body, and another formed by the top of the wings and the structures in the wings. I like how there is an oval shape formed by the eyes and head and another formed by the body, also on those power points. I think the simple set of colors adds to the strength of the image - just a few greens and black.


I like the peaceful feeling I get from this image. I like the high contrast of the silhouettes of the two egrets against the bright water, but I also like the layers formed by the different shades of grey in the landscape behind the two birds. It is not really a characteristic of the image itself, but I enjoy how this image always takes me back to the memory of the early morning watching the wildlife that day.


A lot went in to the creation of this image. I built the electronics and the mechanism to produce the drops and to trigger the flash and the shutter. But I also spent a lot of time trying different timings, lighting and colors. I like the simple color palette in this shot. But I think what makes it for me is the circular disk with all the small drops flying from it and the waves in the surface of the disk.

[mardoli]

It's difficult to choose only three photos for which I have a special liking.
I'm sure in advance that I would change my mind several times, if I thought over for a too long time.
So I'm following my instinct of the moment....

This one is a photo I took in Venice, in a sunny and strangely calm day.




This photo was taken in the little port of my town during an unusually cold winter




This fairy tale-like small house is just around the corner of my street

[larpman]

.

This my most viewed image. I was ready to snap the photo when I heard the two men passed me on my right. I waited until they were in the right place.

.

As I set up this shot, I wished the workman wasn't in the picture. I soon realized that not only was a painter appropriate, but that he and the diagonal of the ladder added life to the composition.

.

I got to this spot early and waited for the lights to come on. They came on later than scheduled. The task then became timing the passing of a number of the vessels that passed by as I took several shots.

[jcdefreitas]

These three photos are favourites of mine because they "capture the moment".


My grandniece sharing a secret.


My mother enjoying her great grandchildren at play.


Focused on the perfect lightning for a photograph in the cathedral, I did not realise a funeral ceremony was about to begin.

John de Freitas

[sylvester]

Neighbors' Windows 6

"Painterly" is one of my goals. I took a series of night-time photos from my balcony of the windows in a nearby apartment building, using my point & shoot, handheld, at its Night Scenery setting. Then I exaggerated many processing effects: saturation, blurring, contrast, etc. Of the series, this one looks most like a painting.