And the secret judge has spoken (a lot - isn’t he fantastic??) -
You can see the photos in this thread
bcafs7
Nice shot, well framed.
The photo overall is a little plain, probably because of the light at that time of day. It’s a good idea to take dozens of shots of the thing, especially if it’s a moving target, so you can pick out the best one after. Many times, what you planned on doing in your head isn’t as exciting as one of the variations shot moments before or after.
cajebo
Good framing again. The eye is drawn right to the subject, which is bright and clear. Good idea to blur the distracting elements. Would love to have seen it done in camera, but this works too.
capescafe
Interesting bus. Very fruity looking.
I like the leaves up top, but the tree trunk on the left is bugging me. Try cropping it out.The bus needs a place to go, and it’s like the strong vertical line of the tree is blocking it.
Datura
That is adorable!
Wonderful subject you chose. Nice framing in thirds and beautiful light and shadows!
Even the surfer in the background giving context to the surfboard on the taxi. A happy accident? I like this a lot.
emeryswanson
Try filling up the frame with yout subject next time.
You don’t aim a camera like a gun; That is, you don’t point the middle of the camera at what you’re “shooting”. You need to keep the sides of the frame in mind, and position everything pleasingly into that frame. That same thing you did in your previous photo, where you filled the frame with the words you made.
gryffyn
This is a quite interesting photograph.
The postbox looks lonely, out there on the road. Nothing but bushes around. It was achieved by having so much empty space on all sides of the frame.
jcwacky
Good going finding an exciting way to shoot something mundane, which is what this contest is all about.
I like it, good job.
KamiQuasi
Nice, looking down a line of schoolbuses. Nice colour too; You chose a good time of day.
Well done.
mdowden
Good idea to shoot vertically to have the subject fill up the frame. I’d have preferred that corner on the bottom not be cut off.
mikemgb
You found an interesting subject here. You got in nice and close.
What’s killing you here is the strong, overhead, midday sun. This could look really awesome at sunrise or sunset, when the lights coming in from the side and making long shadows. I know, from your story, you mightn’t have had much control over that.
Nice find in any case.
Mittineague
Good timing to shoot the target on the move.
Try squatting down lower next time, to make the bus look bigger and more menacing.
ParkinT
Good subject, the row of post boxes. I like the shallow depth of field. Good going.
pixelfuze
This is striking. I’m not sure though if it’s the photography or the post-processing. In any case, you got good light on the boxes, I like the orange highlights, you got down low, and the wide angle is nice.
rderego
Nice shot. A little dark and a little plain. Try coming in closer or moving around the box shooting different angles to find the one that works the best.
sbarrat
That is one weird looking post box. What country is this?
I like the dappled light on it. You could try squatting down lower to get a more interesting perspective on it.
I know a lot of people like shooting diagonal like this, even many professionals, but for me, I find it bothers me. It works for some things, depending on the subject or the feeling you’re going for.
simonnz
Nighttime long exposure. Cool.
I like the streaks of the passing car.
It’s a nice photo overall, but I don’t know if the idea of “taxi” is strong enough for me.
WarpNacelle
This is cold and interesting. I like it.
For shots like these, keeping your vertical lines straight is essential. You want to create a strong pattern. It needs to look like a perfect grid.
Step one is to try lowering your height to about midway, so crouch down to the third row of doors. That alone would change things a lot. Step two would be to make final tweaks to the perspective in an image processor if you can (or if needed) and you might consider bumping up the contrast quite a lot to bring out the strong lines you created.
wenchbabe
That’s an interesting bus. I would have liked to have seen more of it in the photo. This looks like a happy snap, and I’m sure you can do better than this.
A number of photos here which stand out.
Good going jcwacky, KamiQuasi, ParkinT, pixelfuze, and everyone else for putting out the effort to take part. Someone mentioned feeling embarrassed about taking photos of buses and post boxes, that’s what it takes. Good job for doing it.
The prize today definitely belongs to Datura. Adorable!
Maybe I can arrange a meeting :D, he is bound to pop up again…
I wasn’t embarrassed as much as I was wondering what anyone might think I was doing with a camera aiming it at random stopped passerby’s getting focal distance.