Brilliant, this one stopped my breath and made me say...."now why can't I take a photo like that!" ....a winner!

Looks better

Stark this one,think I would crop a tad either side just to make it starker

Clever this,shows imagination

Totally disagree. I love it the way it is. Some photos don't need to follow "rules"

Swans gives it that bit extra, great photo

I love the minimalistic touch to this very arty and well-rendered image. When images are sliced in the middle giving equal visual weight to the top half and bottom half the brain interprets that as boring. I do feel if you crop down, giving more weight to the land leaving some sky in situs it would be the stronger image.

I think you have heard of the phrase "pretty as a picture"? This is what your upload reminds me of and it oozes a feeling of calm, serenity. It has a meditative quality which I find most appealing. It would look wonderful on a calendar. You have taken the time to frame this between those trees. It is a photograph made not a snapshot taken!

The play of light and dark works well, it is "photographia" (painted with light) from the Greek! I like the haunting shadows beyond the pillars giving your image depth. Very nice.

Congrats Patty

Thank you.

CONGRATS PATTY!

I like this photo petty much, but looking at the sky, you kept it very dark. I know, the splashes are more intens. But looking at your histogram in the levels, you don't loose any data in your white areas when dragging the white-level (the one on the right of the three levelknobs) to the left to gain more detail of the surrounding buildings. And it looks like a sunny day again.
And it will not affect the intensity of the waterdrops. It will, in fact, gain more real white in the waterdrops on top, where the sun was.

Tone mapping on this piece is great gives a good pull on the eye. Well balanced as well.

The focus is on the ice and that is what this contest is about. Nice that you also have kept a piece of the background information in place to flush out sense of place.

thanks for letting me know

Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome

Certainly looks a great building and you used a good perspective,where was this.

Bravissimo Patty

well done for winning

Congrats to you for number two !

Big Congratulations on this win, well deserved.

Pretty shot of an interesting place

Interesting view of alleyways,youe eye wanders all over to take it all in,interesting.

Good sense of depth in this.

I agree,although a good tourist type photo,it has been thought through,nice one.

As viewers we can see that you thought about this image before you clicked it...it is a photograph made, not snapped. Like the artistry of this piece.

The tonal dynamic ranges on this are excellent.

I like that play of 3 anchor points and how they visually tickle me. The three doors embedded into gray stone which gives a great textural feel, exposed perfectly for this diffused light kind of day. And even tho' the sky was very uncooperative for you this day it matters naught! Lovely.

Italy is such a beautiful photogenic country. ............best of all it is filled with gregarious lovely Italians!

I have a feeling I have this same photo somewhere in my stock. This is Croatia, Dubrovnik perhaps. Two doors with a history. Have you tried a tighter crop just to accentuate the doors a bit more as the walls speak loudly to our eyes?

Well stone me lol,was not being critical,just an observation

Maybe this should be called walls rather than doors,just a thought

Sky, smooth as butter, sharpness on focal pop in the grid line and the colour palette cool and comforting. Couldn't be any better if you tried!

I checked this one out in high res and it really looks better there. To my eyes the negative space up top is a bit much and if you bring it down just a touch lower the poppies would be more in our eyes, but that is an artistic decision. You also have a few hot spots on the leaves, sometimes you can eliminate or darken that with shadow/highlight adjuster which I think is allowed because you are affecting the entire image.

Wow Patty this is a wonderful photograph, very creative. Thanks

Little is more - a cliche I know but definitely true with this composition.

Hey congrats a triple crown.

Well done Patty for all 3

Brava !

Congratulations, Patty. A clean sweep!

Congrats Patty, 1, 2 & 3 terrific shots

Thank you, appreciate you saying that coz I'm never quite sure.

Professional looking through and through...a winner.

Certainly a most eye catching post, worth framing!

Hi, I think you can alter it and re-upload....but you are the mod. and would know better!

I believe a closer crop would have done justice to this sparkling and exciting image...with a tighter crop and composition to give him room this image would jump out at us with greater strength.

My God ! Eyes of Raving Rabbids! it's just missing their stupid smiles :p

Ohhhhh Patty Patty, how wrong you are....I have MUCH to learn that is why I am here. Yes, Brian I agree with your comment.

yes I agree with olga,the more we comment on here,the more we learn