TDMMC Photo Contest: Chapter 1 - VOTING!

[Guru-In-Vegas]

I think I know which one is STL's. 

I also think I know who took my fave. 

DAMMIT! I WANNA KNOW NOW!!!!

[Philly Fin Fan]

^ Which was your favorite?

[Guru-In-Vegas]

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.

[Frimp]

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

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. 

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

[StL FinFan]

I think I know which one is STL's. 

I also think I know who took my fave. 

DAMMIT! I WANNA KNOW NOW!!!!

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

[Philly Fin Fan]

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.

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

[Guru-In-Vegas]

^ 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.

[Brian Fein]

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....

[Philly Fin Fan]

^ 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.

[fyo]

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

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.

[Brian Fein]

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

[run_to_win]

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).  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!

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!

[Frimp]

#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. 

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.

[run_to_win]

I looked at the EXIF data on it,

Can you tell us how to do this?

[SportsChick]

#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)