The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

First off, thanks to all for the great entries.  We had a pretty good turn-out for the first edition of the photo contest, which was not an easy subject.

Please note, voting will be completely anonymous. 

We have 9 entries in the first edition.  Please review the photos below, and vote for your favorite based on creativity, beauty, and overall appeal.  You know - just pick which one you would most like to hang on your wall at home.

So, without further adieu, in no particular order, I give you...the entrants:


Entry 1:
(http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c69/b-rock19/TDMMC%20Photo/Entry1.jpg)

Entry 2:
(http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c69/b-rock19/TDMMC%20Photo/Entry2.jpg)

Entry 3:
(http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c69/b-rock19/TDMMC%20Photo/Entry3.jpg)

Entry 4:
(http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c69/b-rock19/TDMMC%20Photo/Entry4.jpg)

Entry 5:
(http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c69/b-rock19/TDMMC%20Photo/Entry5.jpg)

Entry 6:
(http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c69/b-rock19/TDMMC%20Photo/Entry6.jpg)

Entry 7:
(http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c69/b-rock19/TDMMC%20Photo/Entry7.jpg)

Entry 8:
(http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c69/b-rock19/TDMMC%20Photo/Entry8.jpg)

Entry 9:
(http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c69/b-rock19/TDMMC%20Photo/Entry9.jpg)

Voting will continue for 1 week.  During this time, please review the thread for the TDMMC Photo Contest: Chapter 2 (http://www.thedolphinsmakemecry.com/forums/index.php?topic=11839.0)! 

Good luck to all participants!

Great job by all!!  These are much better than I thought they would be. 

Mine sucks but thanks anyway.

I'm torn.  I am stuck between a few different ones.

I voted for mine, but there is one that I like better.  ;D

Same with me. I voted for my own, but there are actually two I like better!

if there's ones you like better than your own, why not vote for them?

Because I'm biased towards my own!

I voted for one that I thought best captured the subject.  But, there were some others that exercised creativity in a way that I think should be recognized.  Also, certain photos had aspects that I liked more than the others, but in the end, you can only choose one.

Will the photos be revealed and open to discussion at any point?

I have the poll scheduled to stay open for 7 days but I'm considering reducing that to 3 or 4.  I will leave it up to the photo owners if they want to reveal their own, or if they want to maintain anonymity,

In the end, I hope people would help each other to improve their skillz.

Well, I've decided I won't vote for my own...

Brian, what would be the problem with NOT voting anonymously? (The integrity of the vote would be more easily assured - and we could outlaw voting for ones own photo).

Due to my expertise in pictures and / or photography on the web, I will chime in with my thoughts. There is one picture in this group that is by FAR the best picture (it's not even close). All the others were taken by amateur hacks. This one photo is outstanding in terms of quality, content, and vibrancy. Clear winner here.

Why should it be outlawed to vote for your own? Is it forbidden for Obama and McCain to vote for themselves?
As far as making it public- If your photo gets absolutely zero votes, will it discourage you from partaking in the next contest? Will you just give up and say "forget it, I'm out of my league here"? If you read messages like Joe's calling all but one of the photographers a "hack", and you knew which photogrpaher he felt was the best, will you say "screw it"? I think there would be some people who might do that, and then the contest is down to 4 or 5 people. Where's the fun in that?

Edited to add: I trust Brian completely as far as the "integrity of the vote".

I voted for someone else.

You're an "expert" all right.  ::)

Hold your hand in front of your face.  Hold out your thumb and pointer finger so there's just a tiny bit of space between them. 

That's why.

 ;D

I'll re-phrase my statement. There were two other entries which I felt were on par with mine, so I voted for mine.

As a non-participator (other than voting) I like the idea of no knowing whose pictures any of these are. Let's just see the pictures.

You mean we're not even going to get the results? Hell, I don't entertain any delusions that I'll win, but I'd love to know if I get a vote in one of the categories...


I know I suck. For me, there's no difference between getting ZERO votes and getting ONE vote knowing that it came from myself. And, let's face it, I'm doing this 'cause I thought it might be fun. And, you know what? That first category was. It really was. I was running around town like mad in the middle of the night (well, not quite "middle") setting up my tripod getting some truly weird looks from people. It was fun to do and it was also fun to think about "composition", trying to frame the photo... all that stuff. OK, so my pics tend to come out "slightly" different than what I pictured in my head, but still...


Well, he's already saying it and if I can't even tell which one is so obviously better than the rest... well, then I must be completely stupid, right? That would be even worse. And if I COULD tell, then it wouldn't matter whether or not jtex told.

I agree with that sentiment. I don't want to know who took the photos while the vote is on. And if someone doesn't want to admit to their photo (and I wouldn't rule that out for me at some point), that's cool. I have no problem with that. Also helps that there are more people in the contest than there are submissions. That way there's an extra bit of anonymity ;)

It wouldn't matter to me if we knew who voted for which photo, though.

I'm really impressed with the contest, and would like to take a larger part in coming up with categories.

I have no idea if we will get the results. Its not my contest.

The results will be posted.  The anonymous part comes in in not knowing who voted for who.  The final tallies will be posted once voting is over.

Dave, you're welcome to submit photos for judging too, you know.

too bad i live in CT now, otherwise i woulda won this contest by going to the riverfront in NJ and getting a killer photo of downtown manhattan and the bridges!

I don't even own a functioning digital camera anymore.  Chrissy has one that I use for when we go on vacations, but even then, it's just a point and shoot for casual pictures of people.  ...nothing with settings or anything like that.

I'd like to get a camera, but I don't really know what I'm looking for, and I'm turned off by the large price-tags of a nice camera.

I don't have a nice camera and I am in the contest.

Werd - most of the participants of the contest only have a point and shoot camera.  And most newer point and shoot cameras take just as good if not better pictures as the big price SLR's.

I have to admit, I'm torn between the one I like the most,and the one I think is the best..and the one I like the best ....

I've tried to account for photography skills, there's one standout which looks pretty professional, and others which look a little less so.  So I've tried to vote for the one which I think would be best if all skills were equal.

^^^

I took a similar approach, and tried to think of composition, and best use of the subject.

Do we have to be veiled in talking about our favorites and what we like about each one until the voting ends?  Is that so we don't inadvertantly influence the voting?

There were a few I really liked but one totally stood out. 

I have to admit, My favorite picture is the School house picture....It's size tends to hamper it though....I voted with with the best over all though....

I voted for one of the 9 listed...but my favorite photo of all the night shots isn't one of the ones I can vote on here. Brian posted a night scene of a rural field that I currently am using for my desktop wallpaper, and if that was one of the options, that one would get my vote.

I think he grabbed that one elsewhere.

Yes, and it was also heavily photoshopped.

I have no clue who took that picture, Its on Google Images if you search for "country nightscape"

Doesn't show up for me... Not in the first 400 images returned, anyway. (Safesearch disabled).

It did give me a chance to try "TinEye", though. That's a new "image search engine" where you upload an image (or give a link to one) and it will find other occurrences of the same image (or, so they claim, "alterations" of the same image). TinEye produced the following (single) result:

http://jnleblanc.canalblog.com/archives/la_poesie_du_lundi/p20-0.html

(Or, rather, the top-most page of the blog - I had to dig in the archive to actually find it). Clearly the same image, but since the resolution is LOWER, it's almost certainly not the source.

oops, i just double checked.  it was "country night photo"

here's the source...
http://pointsoflight.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html

If you read below the pic, the author says he blended two exposures to create that image.
. I blended two exposures - an underexposure of the sky and slight overexposure of the rolling hills - to capture what my eye saw as I stood where the edge of day meets the night.

IOW an HDR image (as someone previously speculated), although apparently done manually.

Brian, how long will the voting run?

I voted #4.

the Poll is scheduled to end Friday, but there are 34 votes right now.  If there's still 34 votes by tomorrow, I'll assume everyone who's gonna vote already has and end the poll.

Before we reveal the results, I'd like to hear from the masses...

Since this was the first go-around, I want to make sure the focus of this contest (no pun intended) remains on fun, and not on competition.  How can this be improved?

Maybe there should be no voting in the future, but just a showcase of what people came up with? 

Maybe the types of topics should be changed to ensure more entries and more consistent entries across the board?

What I don't want is to discourage people from participating based on poll results.  I wanted this to be fun but still educational for the participants, and I'm worried its going to turn into something terrible.

I'd love to hear from the group what can be improved to make this better...

This was great.  I can't imagine anyone getting offended.  Maybe if Frimp celebrates a bit excessively or something.  If that happens you could always dock him 15 votes in the next round. 

Not to pick on Lil b- but here's a question:
If that pic was your favorite, why did you vote for another? Isn't the point of a competition hoping that your "favorite" wins? Don't we cheer for the Fins because they are our favorite, even though they aren't the "best overall" team?

I think that I get what Lil B was saying.  I voted kind of the same way.  I liked two pictures because of their quality, but I voted for another one because the subject matter was more appealing to me.     

I hope everyone comments on the photos once Brian releases the results. Part of the reason I'm in this is to get better at taking photos. (The main reason is just to have fun, though). Getting better is a lot easier with feedback.

Then it sounds like you did the opposite of him.

You're right, I did.  I was just saying that I think there were a couple of ways you could go with it.  I think he went with quality over subject matter and I did just the opposite because I had a couple that I was stuck on and you can only vote once.

Humm... Polls are scheduled to run to remain open until Friday, but they might on whim they may close a day early.

Let me guess this election is being held in Florida. 

on a whim?  Its because there haven't been any votes in 2 days and people are impatient and want to see the results. 

Because all elections take 7 days to get everyone to vote ::)

^^^ I should have added a smiley face to the end of the post. 

I was just bust'en ya.

All good - I'll probably just let this thing run its course.  It'll open up tomorrow morning.

First I'd like to thank my Crack staff for doing the research,and verifying that the one is an HDR Photo...I was 95% sure it was...I rarely would lay money on something unless I'm real sure....In an odd twist when I read that,I had done a version of an HDR photo,but couldn't remember why....Till I was looking through my old emails on Gmail,Tonybod's Trip to Italy he had a couple of photos that he asked me to see if I could fix.One When I fixed it,the Sky disappeared,and I cut the originals sky out,fixed the rest of the picture,then put the Sky back in....(I would have fixed it totally different now,but that was then...)


Not at all Philly,I don't mind....

First off I have to come Clean,There's a Glitch in the software every once in a while,When I open a Poll on the Off board topic,I'll see the results of the Poll,and haven't voted in it yet....I'll refresh the page,then I get to vote...That happened here,a few days ago,when I posted...There's another little Glitch,with the Polls,but I'm not going to mention in this thread....At Work I've had to change my log in,so I'm not logged in,(apparently) My office when I'm not here gets used by everyone...I got sent out of town for 3 days,Came back I had a different Wallpaper,half my favorite book marks were deleted....My office,my Work computer,but have Zero contorl...Go figure...and I didn't want some of the Dick heads here in my Office to Spongebob the Board....I've discovered a couple of these glitches...

Sorry for the ramble...
They're all Awesome Pictures Imo...
I love the school house picture,(using my high school diving terminology) Being the only Dusk picture,I thought the Degree of Difficulty was lower than the rest,which were "Night " pics.Also as I mentioned earlier,The Size hampers it,It's hard to tell the true quality of it versus the rest of the pictures....So I voted for the one,that for me had the Subject matter that I liked the best while balancing the best technical aspects...

I admit I voted for Number Two...(I saw the Voting results,but I'm not going to give anything away)..While not the Most technically the best,There were 3 city shots,which kind of devalued each other IMO..and The Pier with the Fisherman just appealed to me...to have the best of all the things....

^^^
The voting results appeared for a few minutes yesterday to everyone. I PMed Brian and asked him if he knew they were showing, and he corrected it.

I accidentally opened the poll yesterday but it still wouldn't have been showing if he hadn't voted yet.  I wonder if its cause he's the Off-Topic Moderator.

Yes, I too saw the results, which is why I'm just biding my time to call .... link (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6568623633556573478&ei=wt22SPieDJSgrgP8m5TMDA&q=south+park+shenanigans&vt=lf&hl=en).

Kinda what I expect from a Florida election. 

Everyone's hanging chad was out of full display.  Sick. :)

I think that's it ..It happened on the 25th,when I posted about not knowing who to vote for....

I don't expect to "win" because I don't consider myself a photographer, but I would be interested to know if anyone actually voted for my photo.  Maybe we should have more in depth discussion of the entries.  I don't think anyone here is going to be swayed by the opinions of others.  We are all pretty opinionated!  :)

I have been able to see the results all along, and I assumed all of you could, as well.  I would also like to discuss the photos, and say what I liked of each.

I can't see the results.  Care to share?

Nope. I'm assuming this is a moderator thing...

There have been 2 more votes today so I'm leaving the poll open until tomorrow morning, as scheduled.

I would also like to critique everyone's photo, as well as receive critique on my own.  Of course all comments are constructive, and not intended to be demeaning, at least from me (I can't speak for others).

Ahhh... I cannot wait!

Not just the votes... also who did what... Is Brian's #4 or #5?

So many questions!

I will never tell which one is mine.  Muahahahaha!

Just curious- why do you think one of those two is Brian's?

I doubt I'm winning this one. The one from a tall building city scape isn't mine.

My guess would be the statues one is frimps,I think I remember him posting that pic before,The high rise one I think is buddha girls for some reason....For some reason I think Number 3 is Stl's, Brian's stalker,or maybe Philly's...Those would be my guesses,but then again I don't think everyone that signed up,entered...So they're all guesses...

Me either. :P

Do we suddenly have two Stl Fin Fan's?

Haha!  No, I was on another computer and I logged in wrong.  Or, that could have been my evil twin.  >:D

I think I know which one is STL's. 

I also think I know who took my fave. 

DAMMIT! I WANNA KNOW NOW!!!!

^ Which was your favorite?

NUMBER 2!!!!!

It was also between 3, 4 and 5. 

WHO WAS IT?!?!?!?

Edit to add-

Since Philly isn't going to spill the beans I'll share why I picked #2. 

I LOVE how it's black in the top left corner and how the bright lights on the boardwalk (pier?) light up brightly like stars and reflect off the water.  The moon behind some clouds is a very sweet touch. 

I liked #3 but I think it was a bit common.  It's simple and very high quality which I liked but I've seen too many views from that angle.  Great pic nonetheless.

#4 Was very good.  What ruined it for me was the parked car on the side.  Otherwise it would have been a total coin flip.  The lights and simple view along with its quality made it a top notch.

#5 Was my shoe-in at first glance at all of them.  I love simplicity but the more I kept reviewing them the more I leaned and ultimately chose #2. 

Honorable mention to number 8.  I would bet 20 bucks that I know who took this one.  At first glance I thought a third grader took it (HEAR ME OUT!) who just likes Porches.  I failed to notice the puddle and the eye it took to notice such play with light.  Real nice.

In the one with the statues, in the top right corner, could it be...a UFO?  :o

I know its an airplane going by a slow shutter speed, but I found some in a fireworks photo last year, and thought it may have been a UFO.  ;D

Look to the left of the fireworks, in the lower middle are of the photo.

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2208/2472320678_70b56a7a7d_o.jpg)

Oh yeah?  Which one is mine?  I won't tell you if you are right or wrong, though.

I think you flip flopped #3 and #4.
I also think that in #8 its reflecting off of a car, not a puddle.

^ You're right, I did flip them. 

I also want to say that I do like the aerial view of the city.  I just think that it was a bit easy of a choice.  Don't get me wrong it is a fantastic photo and placed on any other site or thread and I would think that it is professionally done.

That's off a car?  I tried seeing it but I can't see what part of the car that is.  After you mentioned it, it does seem too clear a reflection to be off of water.  I like it the more I see it.

Not sure if its off a car or not but I'm second-guessing now.  It seems to be off a wet ground, but it looks funky on the edges, so it could be a roof of a car.  Wierd....

^ Its not my pic, so I'm just guessing. But if you look at it, there is what appears to be a squared off corner.

Because they display the tell-tale signs of a Digital Rebel, which I believe is what Brian uses.

EDIT: I'm being annoyingly cryptic here... I just looked at the EXIF data on the pics. Most of them still have it, including mine (on purpose) - if anyone wants to snoop the EXIF data before voting... well, that's just... *shrug*. The EXIF data reveals 2 Rebel XTi's, assuming no one spoofed the EXIF data, which (while cool) would be amazingly paranoid. About half of the remaining don't have EXIF data, but it's cool that they do. It usually also tells you stuff like exposure and ISO setting. The grainy XTi image (#5) was taken at ISO 1600 / 10 seconds. I'm thinking a lower ISO and longer exposure might have produced a less noisy image... but I still voted for it.

The EXIF data also reveal that someone is using a Nikon D70s and Photoshop CS2. One of the two XTi's modified his/her photo in Photoshop Elements 6. The other XTi doesn't contain program info, so presumably it's been resized in something like ACDSee or IrfanView. There's also a Panasonic DMC-FZ8 (again modified with Elements 6). The only other two photos with EXIF data were taken by ultra-compacts, a Canon and a Casio.

I have locked the poll and unveiled the results...

Let the commenting begin ....

Congrats #4 - 60% of the vote is decisive!

1) has color but little else.  Seems off-balanced - the green building/image should be centered.  A bit blurry and not a great job of attempting to duplicate this image (link (http://bophoto.org/travel/portland-nightscape-23_1_53.html)).  The explosion/blob in the middle is distracting and appears to be the focus of the picture.

2) very nice!  The moon behind the clouds is a great touch!

3) the lights being both red and green, and the motion of the cars, is awesome.

4) spectacular! Crystal clear!  If only it had a bit of color.

5) beautifully framed!

6) Majestic!

7) Lots of color and a great subject!  Go 'Fins!

8) Nice!  I still can't figure out how the image is clear but the reflection is rippled! 

9) The contrast of the white church against the dark sky is striking!  This picture could be looks like it could be used as a poster for a horror movie like Dracula or the Prince of Darkness!

#3 is mine. I wanted to get the slow shutter effect, which is why the traffic lights have green, red, and yellow in them, as well as the car headlight motion and the ghostly look of the Lincoln Town Car. I wanted to go out again, but it rained every single night after that.  :P

I shot it in Downtown Columbia, SC. This is less than a mile from William Brice Stadium.

Congrats to whoever took #4. That is a beautiful photo. I looked at the EXIF data on it, and it was shot on aperture priority. I did mine on shutter priority on a 30 second shutter speed.

Can you tell us how to do this?

#7 is mine, a random shot  from last week's Dolphins game - just an impulse to throw it in there. Really no effort on the photo (and mine is the Lumix DMC-FZ8, only editing in PSE6 was to resize)

I would like to offer my own comments on the field.  Constructive comments all around!

1.) Great composition, great subject, but execution seems a tad blurry.  Not sure why - I think the ripples in the water take away from it.

2.) I love the shot of the pier and the moon behind the clouds is a great touch, but I wish the frame had more of a foreground, and was cropped in from the left a bit to put the moon in more of a contrasting position from the pier.

3.) The car in the foreground corner was distracting, IMO.  A little croppy-crop would have made this one a lot better.

4.) Boring subject and lacks color and pop, but no disputing execution and clarity.

5.) Most interesting subject of the group, I think.  Would have liked to see it from a slightly different angle with the gazebo and statue not centered over each other and perhaps a wider aperture to make the gazebo more blurred in the background.

6.) Love the subject, love the dusk and the framing, but like Lil B said, could have been a tad bigger.

7.) Hard to comment on #7, since I see that view all the time.  Might have benefitted from a panoramic view but not for this contest.

8.) Surprised this didn't get more votes, really.  This was probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite.  Love the colors, and the reflection makes it prefect.  Only comment for improvement would be to crop out the distracting (and overexposed) lit up sign on the left.

9.) A great shot but its blurry.  Would have been a beautiful shot had the camera been on a tripod or stabilized against a tree or something. 

Using one of those flexible-mini-NON super grip tripods that come free with a camera bag ... balanced on a round hand-railing and "stabilized/secured" by hand, with a hyper 6 year old literally jumping all around. 

We "experts" just like to add a bit of challenge to our crazy endevours.   ::)

I had other shots but I went with this one due to the color.

The white blob in the middle is the big screen "jumbotron" behind the stage at a religious revival.  Damn them Christians for screwing up my shot!  (http://209.85.117.199/1250/23/0/e842//e842.gif)

Sure. If you're using Windows XP, just download the image and "right click" on it, selecting Properties. Go to the "Summary" tab and the info is there (you might need to click "advanced" the first time).

If you use IrfanView, you can do it directly there as well, although I don't recall the exact key-combo (it's probably in the menu, though). IrfanView is an AWESOME (and totally free) image viewer for Windows.

#8 - The Porsche Sign w. Reflection.

This one was mine, so I assume Guru is $20 out of pocket ;)

The photo was actually a real hassle to get because of the reflection. It's not a car and it's not a puddle on the ground. It was a cable box or something with a slightly sloping top - like a roof, although clearly a lot flatter. The surface was quite wet (it had been raining heavily all day). Basically a small puddle on the cable box "roof".

The problem was getting to the reflection. I couldn't get it with the tripod, so I wound up having to place my camera on the (slightly sloped) cable box and shoot it from there. Because of the slope, I had to rotate the image in GIMP afterwards and crop a bit (although apparently not enough).

I quite liked the overexposed Porsche sign to the left, although I admit it does "unbalance" the photo somewhat.

Ideally, I would've taken the image from another angle, so the reflection lined up better and the building/show room was better framed, but I just couldn't get the reflection from ANY other angle.

fyo - that was just my opinion, it is in no way the law.  to make that shot better, you could go back there and try to shoot the same shot, but expose for the sign (so its not all blown out), then copy/paste them in photoshop.

(of course this is against the contest rules, but would make for a wall-hanger picture, IMO)

Philly and I were talking about your picture over IM and we agreed that your shot could be a 2-page Porsche ad in a car magazine.

I like Irfanview alot. It also reads RAW images, so you don't have to wait 30 seconds for Photoshop to start up for each image.

I would like to thank the person who voted for my picture.  :)

The Porsche-shot was at iso 80 (!), 2 second exposure. Just fyi.

No one fessing up to #5? Brian, did SportsChick sneak out with your Digital Rebel?

Edit: Hmm... I see she did #7.

Its not my place to say who shot what.  I'll let the person who owns it jump in (if he or she wants to).

#2 was me. Taken of the Kure Beach Pier. I had taken another picture from the pier looking at the beach, which I actually thought was a better picture, but I liked the moon in the one I submitted, and I let my family vote, and they picked the one of the pier. Here's a pic of the one I had originally picked:

(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u275/megalicia03/offpier800x540-1.jpg)

BTW- thanks Lil B and Guru :)

I voted for #2.

I disagree with Brian that it should've been cropped, and I liked that it was off-center.  Plus, in terms of nightscapes, it best captured the subject, had the moon, as well as light flare from the dock.  The nature in the foreground (somewhat out of focus) was a nice touch.

It got my vote, because it best captured the topic, from an artistic standpoint.

-----------------

Side notes:

Props to #3 for the setting that blurred the lights.  I like the creativity.  Unfortunately, I thought the framing was off.  The whole shot looks crooked, and there is some half-objects (like cars) off to the side that distract from what's going on.  This almost got my vote.

The clarity and quality of #4 is undeniable, but I thought it was too safe of a subject.

Also, a quiet props to #8, which I knew wouldn't get more votes, but I liked that there was courage to shoot something unlikely, and not just a skyline.  The reflection of the sign was a nice touch and took advantage of the subject.

^well then I owe you a thank you too Dave :)

Just to give my (totally amateurish) 2 cents:

#1: There were a lot of things I liked in this shot, but it's quite blurry. It might just be suffering from being WAY too compressed. The jpeg artifacts are really hurting it. I also would've liked to have the whole building to the left in the frame.

#2: Cool, but unbalanced sorta. (I really liked your alternate shot!) For some reason the sign (left) bothers me ;)

#3: I liked the streaking effect of the long exposure, but the image seems blurry (and tilted). As with #1, the blurring might, at least partially, be due to compression artifacts.

#4: Really nice, clean, crisp image. I think the reason I didn't vote for it was that my first thought was that someone just stuck their camera out a window at took a shot. It really is my second favorite, though.

#5: This is the one I voted for. I love the colors and the gazebo in the background is nicely positioned. The two (light) trees in the background serve to frame the photo very well, making it overall extremely pleasing. If I had to say anything negative (and apparently I do) it would be that the image is quite "grainy" and a bit fuzzy. Compression artifacts probably play a small role, but I can't help but wonder if a lower ISO setting and a longer exposure would've produced a less noisy image. (For reference, the shot was taken at ISO 1600, extremely high, and very few cameras have decent noise at that level). The only thing in terms of composition is the shadow of the sculpture.

#6: The size definitely hurt it and the framing with the trees probably could've been better. It was also taken at dusk, so not quite comparable to the other photos.

#7: ;) Nice stadium shot, although hampered by the seat position.

#8: Mine. No comment.

#9: I think the motif here had a lot of potential, but long exposure and no stable tripod result in a blurry image.