The birds need to be slightly repositioned on the rings, their feet are too far in front, making them look pasted in front of, rather than on the rings. Also, the "sparkle" brush highlights are bit too obvious, reducing the opacity slightly will make them seem more natural.

Amazing. They don't seem real, the edges and speckles are so wonderous!

The expressions on their faces looks more predatory than friendly...

A bit too horizontal and "flat." A little more vertical, by either balancing the banana on the apple, or facing the pear the opposite direction, would have lessened the "left to right" movement of the composition.

The yellow cast of the incandescent interior lighting could have used a bit of color correction, and the tilt to the left would have looked better evened out on the horizontal to make this a more powerful image.

A singular building isn't really a landscape...

Wonderful overall composition. Great visual movement, value, balance, color, and unity. Good job!

The stairs don't appear to be the main focal point here.

The lens distortion, combined with the camera tilt gives this an almost surreal perspective...A vertical perpendicular off the center of the triangle would have given this a better balance.

Timing is everything, excellent capture!

Excellent focus, the texture of the surface the fly is on really adds to the picture!

The poppies are more the focal point than the bee...

A bit too much "negative space." This would have had more impact with a tighter crop. All the excess grass around it adds nothing to the bug's visual impact.

Too bad you didn't level the shot out. The downward tilt to the right detracts from a powerful photo.

A good start, but the nose and mouth are still too large, and the chin not angled enough to look very "manga-ish".

The eye on the right (as viewed) is misshapen rather than round in the iris area and the side edge by the head. But a nice source image to work with.

NEVER enough Life!!!

If this is a video game (which I doubt), I want to know the developers who made it! The detail of the field imperfections (scuff marks and sod bits pulled up), and the physical positioning of the players' hands (one on an opposing player's elbow, one on the goal side post, one with his wrist bent behind him) make this one of the most realistic game engines I've ever seen - and honestly, one I've never seen any game come even close to...

Great clarity and wonderful timing!

THe HDR is a bit excessive, with the whites too bright, almost like it has been over-sharpened.

Without a High Resolution, the face is so small within the image, the wrinkles are hard to clearly make out. I would suggest cropping off all the excess stuff except for the man and the cake.

The "green" sand looks odd, perhaps a bit too much saturation of the blues.
Perhaps you should have selected the sand area with a Quick Mask, so that it would not have turned green.

The lighting and shadow on the chair do not correspond with the lighting of the background. Consistency counts...

Your water horizon is uneven, tilting down to the left slightly. Otherwise, this is a very nicely balanced and composed photo.

Just curious, was this image post-processed at all? The colors and contrast are so intense as to seem adjusted, rather than just the camera.

If not, again just curious, what type of camera are you using? It's remarkably powerful.
Thanks!

Exquisite color, great capture.

The black and white does this image no favors. It looks highly HDR, emphasizing every subtle skin tone variation, which detracts from wrinkles, and overly accentuates a very mottled skin instead.

Great composition, the angle really adds to the visual interest with the foot in the corner!

Fantastic macro. The visual textures are truly stunning.

The bokeh colors are alright, but the spider's colors are even better! Almost jewel like, and a beautifully focused shot. Very well done!

That is the strangest bug I have ever seen. I too thought he had a little green photoshopped coat, with VERY decorative spiked accents. Fantastic find, and a great photo, with excellent color and clarity!

Great mood and lighting, it reminds me of a classical painting. Beautiful.

Author: Not just you, there are MANY entries NOT following the contest description.
Friiswiki, if you read the contest description, it CLEARLY states:
"landscapes which have a dark area on the outside..." That does NOT mean a nightscape with an illuminated area inside. Outside means OUTSIDE.

While I can well understand the desire to not exclude submissions, there is a very clear description of the contest, along with some very clear descriptions of an example:
"For instance a photo shot from the inside of a cave or through some bushes."

Nightscapes do NOT have "a dark area on the outside."
Contest descriptions are put there for a reason, and should be followed. That is why the suggestions page clearly requests:
"Please describe your theme idea as detailed as possible, with proper grammar and syntax, so misinterpretations are reduced to a minimum."

This misinterpretation of what constitutes a landscape with a dark area on the OUTSIDE is evident.

Mucho gooder! This is now a very dramatic and beautiful shot. Well done!

I agree, black and white does this image no favors, since the background dissects the picture plane, with the plum then melding into the top part, rather than standing alone as part of the Still Life. It is only after studying the image that I realize the two shapes on the right are sliced fruits. I thought they were odd mushroom caps...

The focus is too small, with only a portion of the bug sharp. Considering how small it is, it would look better if the entire bug were sharp, rather than just the head...

Although the fish eye effect gives the horizon some curvature, it still tilts down to the right too much, you should level it out more, so that the edges are equidistant from the top.

Nice composition, good visual movement and balance.

Wonderful mood and color, nice composition. Good find!

The edges of the mushrooms are also very ragged looking and poorly cut out in the stem area. The line along the top of the breast is particularly choppy looking and rough edged. All of the elements show a dark outline of 1-2 pixels, except for the top front of the woman's headdress, which shows a very disconcerting white edge on the face side, and a strange dark "blob" on the back. This visible extraction outline can be corrected if you contract your selection by 1 pixel, invert your selection, and then delete.

Congrats on a well deserved win. Wonderful story behind the memento.

Beautiful focus and depth of field. Well done!

This needed words to explain what is about, and what makes it a memento...

Love the beard, adds just the right touch!

LOL Love it! NEVER would have thought that was you!

Aarr! Great portrait, showing attitude and personality, details be damned!

There are no light reflections on this, just transparency. It looks more plastic than glass.

Excellent piece. The colors are saturated to just the right point that the eye is captivated. Very well done!

The green dirt road looks a bit odd.

Great capture, good setting.