I used to be amazed by these shots, I thought that to be able to get a shot like this you had to have a ton of training and be a pro. I had no idea it was just a tripod and a slow shutter, and now seeing who this author is I know it doesn't take any talent

Seriously though I do still love these long exposure shots, excellent job Author, nice capture!

I'm not sure that I agree with the last two comments completely. I like the way HDR looks on older peoples skin, the background is too busy for B&W, if you converted it the woman would be lost amongst the crap behind her and make the whole image very flat. I think this photo could stand to be cropped a bit nicer but other than that I like it

Wow what a perfect shot, not only did you capture an awesome action shot but it's framed rather nicely to boot! The guy watching it all happen in the foreground really makes this shot.
Excellent job Author!

Author did you REALLY HDR your dog! lol

That's immediately where my mind went!

I don't think I'd go as far as to say this isn't pleasing secretsather, I actually think this is a very nice photo I was just trying to give a bit of constructive criticism. I see your new here so I'm sure you don't know yet that not all of our members are pro photographers so if you see something is off rather than just point it out its nice to leave a tip on how to correct it.

You might consider using some fill light to brighten those shadows, you're losing too much detail there.

Wow, even more impressive then

Very nice work Author! Is this HDR?

This is both well thought out and well done, very nice job Author

Very nice Author, I like the DOF and the detail in the dominos, also the wooden box gives this shot a nice touch.

The top of the wall may in fact be white but that doesn't change the fact that it is overexposed a tad, if you look at the wall to the left it's the same color but not as much detail is lost. Unfortunately if you had exposed the top of the wall properly it would have made the shadows underexposed. This is a prime example of where HDR should be used. '

Now all that being said this is a very nice find Author, and you captured the refraction well.

Very nice entry Author

I really like the lens flare in this, it really adds to the overall effect.

It a reminds me of something from war of the world! Very creative

Now that's a neat idea

Ok Mark from now on I'll vote 25% instead of 20% on your entries

I've never heard that expression, you get a higher vote just for teaching me something

very cool

Nice shot Author, but try something out. Up your clarity a bit and boost the contrast, you're losing the detail in the gravel and the equipment will stand out more if your lighten the highlights

It certainly isn't selective color, I see green, magenta, and brown, in addition to the pink. Nice entry author

There is nothing in the guidelines that say that it has to be created from multiple images. HDR is merely an image that has a high dynamic range, the final result turns out better if you have separate images but whether it's a single exposure or multiple exposure doesn't matter as long as the final result has a high dynamic range.

I would crop out the concrete at the bottom but otherwise nice shot

Not bad for a first attempt Next time though try setting your smoothing higher so you don't get the halos. Good luck and keep trying different things and you'll be cranking out great HDR's in no time.

WOW! Superb image

Very nicely done

If you build it? Lol, nice idea.

Great idea and execution, I love the DOF

My opinion is that the boats are the focus here, sure the sunset is prevalent but as a background, not as the subject. If this were entered into a sunset contest someone would say that the boats were the main focus not the sunset.

This is stunning, and color defiantly was the right choice here!

This is sweet, I love how the light makes it look almost like liquid metal.

Nice perspective and I love the DOF here, and the contrast between the road and the grass is beautiful. Excellent job author!

Absolutely wonderful!

Simple, elegant, and beautifully done.

First off, great shot author. Second you are a very sick minded person to leave us with that thought Thank God for iquraishi's obsessive nature, now I can rest peacefully.

I'm definitely funny but I still like it this way

Sorry friiskiwi but I believe your mistaken on this one, windsurfing is when the sail is connected to the board like a sailboat. This is a shot of kite boarding or kite surfing depending on where your from.

Check this out for more info. www.kiteboardingaustralia.com.au

Oh BTW nice shot Author

Wow I can be dense, when I first looked at this I was like WTF it's all squares and rectangles!

@ Author, LOL Nice reply

I had wondered the same thing but the rules didn't say anything about it having to be real cows

Lol, this is awesome! It's nice to see that someone found something funny but still took the time to make a nice picture out of it

Very nice, but I wonder about the cows in the background, it looks almost like you brought the highlights down too far or desaturated one channel? I don't think it really detracts from the shot at all, it just caught my eye

Nice shot Author, but it could use just a bit more contrast. GL

I think you cropped more than the top if there's a forklift here! All I see is roller-compactor

How true

Believe it or not kyricom in a recent blind taste test McDonald's coffee beat out Starbuck's, Duncan Doughnuts, and Seattle's Best! That being said there's still something wrong about going there when you want a "good" coffee

Excellent! I love the detail in the hair and the contrast here!

Sigh.....

@Mekun what I said to ziggy was was a result of a conversation she and I had where we both agreed to call each other out on this subject, if I misinterpreted her than I was wrong. The only reason I said anything to you was because you directed a comment at me.

What good did your comments serve? You simply repeated what other people have already said, hurled insults at a mod, and for some unknown reason brought me into your tirade.

The subject has been beaten to death, obviously it's going to be allowed to stay so vote it low and move on. How would you feel if you spent time thinking about, setting up, taking, editing, and posting a shot only to have people attack it, it's not like the Author tried to get around the rules, he felt that this was a good take on the theme and decided to shoot it. Maybe your right and it isn't on theme, but that's why we have the red flag system.

Now if the mod IS in fact Ade than your calling him bias is more than laughable, Ade would probably pull his own mother's entry if he felt it was off topic

@ Everyone else. The arguments for both sides have been made, this has gotten completely out of hand now I propose that out of respect to the Author we keep any further comments about this being on topic or not to ourselves.

Well in that case I'll just stick with the first part of my last comment and say it's an excellent shot then

But of course, how silly of me
Well it's an excellent shot of a "planet", but I would try to fix the lens flare above the "star"