Fall photo poll wannabee

[Ms. Toad]

**Edited to modify the title, since the poll thing didn't quite work out.**

Here are some of my leftover path ideas (which didn't make it into photo form until after the October contest was full) and fall contest wannabees. I was going to post a leftover path thread and a poll for the fall contest - but since my path pictures are also fall pictures I decided to post them all in one thread

I've narrowed my likely entries down to three - but feel free to vote for the others if they strike a chord. The three I am thinking seriously about for my fall entry are the first three. I'm partial to the first. My daughter is partial to the last, and we both like the middle as our second choice.

The last picture (Pathways) is what I envisioned as my entry for the October contest, although I still didn't get the early morning lighting I was looking for. The picture was taken on the path I patrol for the local park system - there are four pathways visible (bike/hike path, canal, railroad, and perpendicular to these three in the distance is a road), and fifth (the river which the original inhabitants of this county used for travel) to the left of the path which I couldn't quite capture simultaneously with the first four.


1. Fall Tango



2. After the rain



3. Until Next Year...



4. Nature's Frame



5. Tinged with Fire



6. Into the Woods



7. Lurking Below the Surface



8. Fire



9. Pathways

[Ms. Toad]

1. Oh Darn...I THOUGHT I made a poll

Every time I try to make a poll here, something goes wrong (The first one ended up in GD....)

Don't want to redo it, so just let me know which one(s) you like (or feel most like competing against :) ) by number or title. Thanks!

[F.Gordon]

2. I'm with your daughter on this one

That was the one I was drawn to before I bothered to read what you typed in your post. Though... I really suck at pickin' pics for these contest things and any of these would work. Partial to Natures Frame.. Lurking....and yes Tango is very very good.

I would try to explain why I like Until Next Year in photoemgraphicalum terms but my brain isn't working at the moment and I'm terrified what nonsense my typing fingers might peck. Let's just say... the sense of motion..point of eye contact... stuff like that.
:dunce:

[Ms. Toad]

3. Interesting

When I asked my daughter for a title, she suggested "Windy." Although it was kind of windy the day I took the picture (then spitting ice balls at me, then sunny, 60 degrees and absolutely still, then drenching rain - all in the space of an hour), the sense of motion both you and she noticed isn't created by physical motion. (Even when it was windy, the feather things mostly keep the feather fronds from moving separately.)

[F.Gordon]

4. The composition creates the "motion"

Where is your eye first drawn? And then where does your eye go after that? Your eye "moves" --- "flows" -- with the ...the feather fronds... that look like they are moving. See. I told you that I feared what my typing fingers might spit out. :crazy:

[Ms. Toad]

8. I agree -

I just think its interesting that these absolutely still puff balls conjure up "motion" in a variety of senses (compositional and physical, for two).

I just thought they looked cool (and since they were right at eye level while I was tearing apart the tree that the wind blew across the path I had to take their picture.) Wasn't sure what I was going to do with them - I think there were at least four and some interesting tree vines in each picture I took.

[ConsAreLiars]

7. I agree that #3 is exceptional.

Nothing wrong with the others (although I would crop out the top half of #1), and predicting votes isn't part of my skill set, but we often see photos that are "like" the other 8. Whether you choose it or not, you ought to make a largish print and hang it on a wall at work or home or somewhere so more can see it.

[Ms. Toad]

9. I think you're right about #1

I discovered that accidentally, but didn't change it for posting here. I was playing around with adding frames in Paint Shop Pro and put the frame inside the picture (which cropped it all the way around) and it was a much more striking picture.

#3 will get seen by a bunch of other folks, as it is already destined to be added to my notecard collection (which I end up mostly giving away as gifts, but occasionally sell at fundraisers or local craft shows)

Thanks for the suggestions.

[JeffR]

5. 3 may be the (slightly) better photo, but I think 2 would get more votes

Please note: it's generally best not to take my advice on anything.:silly:

[Ms. Toad]

6. Thanks.

My daughter and I both agreed on #2 as our second choice.

From a technical perspective I'm not as happy with #2 as I am with #3. There are some severely overexposed areas that I couldn't coax any contrast to appear in no matter how much massaging I did with Paintshop Pro. From a composition standpoint, I would rather not have some of the leaves in the foreground (or have them positioned slightly differently), but I just took the picture the way they blew down from the trees.

[JeffR]

10. I based my (likely valueless) opinion on the idea that

most people voting in the contest won't worry about issues of contrast or even the overall composition. They'll see it as a richly colored example of a classic autumn scene. And I'm not meaning that their basis for judging will be wrong. They'll be weighing entries against the stated theme and reacting to pics on a visceral level.

I love 3, a work of art that would get plenty of votes too.

[Eurobabe]

11. I like #2,3,7

All close-ups. Very good. Nice compositions.

Mental note to self: buy a macro lens!! What are you using?

[Ms. Toad]

12. Thanks.

The macro is the one built into my camera Olympus Camedia Z-4000 - one of the many reasons I bought the camera. It can focus at a distance of around an inch.

[Cobalt Violet]

13. 2, 3, 5 are my favorites.

If this were a poll I would've voted for 3.

[Ms. Toad]

14. Thanks!

I like 5, too, but I couldn't quite get the composition I wanted. There were other trees nearby that kept getting in the way and it was across the canal so I had limited options to move around and get a better view.