Old Mill At Reems Creek Falls
by CNovack

Comment:
I agree that this appears to be way over sharpened. I disagree about converting it to B & W. I like all the blue and white with the contrasting red wheel. I'd like to get my chainsaw in there and remove a lot of the branches, not most, but a lot of them as well as some of the trees. But that's probably not something that you can realistically do. Yep, I would definitely like to see this reworked without as much sharpening.

The tree in the middle
by Rino63

Comment:
Wow, Gennaro. You've really come a long way over the years and are mastering many aspects of photography and post processing. Very nice image. I love your use of the fisheye lens and the not too over the top use of Topaz. Congratulations on placing so high in this challenge.

Innocence
by denbote

Comment:
I can just imagine that you did the same thing that I did on my seventh challenge entry. I completely forgot that it was a basic editing challenge and applied advanced editing steps to my enty. Just like you, I even detailed the steps in the Photographer's Comments box.

I'm sorry for your DQ, but as has already been mentioned, it is still a great shot.

Luxury
by Rino63

Comment:
Congratulations, Gennaro, on your first red ribbon and a new personal best score!

Daffy
by pixelpig

Comment:
Very cool overlay application here that did a good job concealing the imperfections in the closeset flower (only noticeable in the original). I like how it appears that you erased or reduced the opacity of the overlay so that the center of the second flower back is revealed in just enough detail. The background works well here.

Lily of the Valley
by TCGuru

Comment:
Nice, nice, nice. I like the soft focus that you've achieved with the Lensbaby. Great composition along the vertical line of thirds with the main subject as well as with the complimentary background. The wrapping around and framing of the foreground leaf is a perfect touch as it appears to be revealing it's treasure to us.

Orange Tango
by Kelli

Comment:
Yes, the TopaZ adjustment does make it look like there is a sprinkle of sugar on the petals. I am considering getting that program. I can see past the Topaz post processing to see that you captured a nice, sharp image. I agree with the consensus, however, that the border is very distracting.

May flower side challenge #2
by Denise

Comment:
Perfect exposure and saturation. I like the leading line in the arrangement of the tulips.

May 02 - Bird Cherry
by hajeka

Comment:
Very nice amount of detail in this image. It looks like you sharpened this image just enough without going overboard. I like your control of depth of field so that the left side is out of focus and leads the eye from left to right to the perfectly focused foreground. Good background colors and bokeh as it seems that the bright area of the background nicely frames the focused part of the image.

Daisies and Darkness
by Paul

Comment:
I'm glad that you mentioned the use of a Lensbaby before I commented because I was scratching my head trying to figure out why the focus was unusual (not bad unusual). I really like how the Lensbaby draws the eye to the yellow part of the flower and nicely blurs out the background, especially the upper part of the photo. I think that I would have cloned out the bright points of light in the bottom half as they are a little distracting. Also, there is something odd about a small white area just above the focused yellow part that seems to be not quite right. It's almost like the focus was extended to one of the petals in that area only and it shows up a little brighter. Otherwise, a great image.