Winner Chosen - January 2014 - Admin's choice - Image of the month

**Marko** · 02-07-2014, 02:12 PM

Hi members,

In case you are new around here this is where the Admin (me) chooses one excellent photo each month from all the photos nominated by other members during that month in the Member's monthly choice forum.

Just so it's clear, the photo I choose is not necessarily the best one of the month. I've come to realize it's not really logical to pit images from totally different genres against each other. That's why there are categories in photo contests.

My goal is to simply choose an excellent photo and talk about why I think it rocks.

This month, congrats to Michaelaw for capturing The Center.

I chose this image for several reasons:

1 - Colour/contrast/tones - The colour grabs my eye in this image big-time. The yellow ring around the central part of the flower makes it look like it's glowing. The colours are deeply saturated and it feels like the flower is at its peak of 'ripeness' The reds, yellows and greens work well together. Lovely highlight detail and decent shadow detail are present here.

2 - Sharpness - Love the sharpness here especially around the perimeter of the central part of the flower and in the petals themselves. This image uses focus stacking and the result is striking for sure.

3 - Composition - The repetitive circular shape from outer edge to flower innards is fun for my eye. I like the fact that the circles are part of the overall rectangular shape.

For all these reasons, this is my choice for image of the month. Since we all have opinions, some members may disagree with my choice. That's cool but THIS thread is not the place for debate over my pick, NOR is it the place to further critique the image. The purpose here is to suggest strong elements in the photo that we may learn from.

Congrats again to Michaelaw for capturing The Center!