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Reflections in Calm Waters

Challenge #145 in the Life in the Natural World series. Hosted by RuthC.

Challenge has finished

In this nature challenge, show us your pictures of reeds, bulrushes, plants or tree branches reflected in the calm waters of a pond, lake or river. There should be an element of serenity and peacefulness in your entry. No evidence of man, man-made objects or structures please. Size of entry: 1,600px MAXIMUM on the larger side. I am indebted for the idea of this challenge to the host, ConanFuji who had two similar challenges a few years ago: http://www.dpreview.com/challenges/Challenge.aspx?ID=3746&View=Results&Rows=25 and http://www.dpreview.com/challenges/Challenge.aspx?ID=5114

Show full rules

Announced:

Saturday, 28th March, 2015 (GMT)

Submissions:

Saturday, 4th April, 2015 – Friday, 10th April, 2015 (GMT)

Voting:

Saturday, 11th April, 2015 – Friday, 17th April, 2015 (GMT)

Processing rules:

SIZE: Longer side of entry, MAXIMUM 1600px.
FULL colour only.
No glaringly obvious HDR or extreme post-processing. If it hurts my eyes, it's out!
TITLE: Give your entry a title or name, not just a file number.
NO watermarks or forms of identification, or personal website reference

Capture date rules:

No restrictions.

Additional rules:

Photos from previous DPR challenges can be entered in this challenge, but no photos which have won previous DPR challenges, please.
Two (2) entries per person allowed, but each entry should be a different subject.
PLEASE vote on other entries, to counteract the sandbaggers.
Entrants who cheat by sandbagging, vote manipulation, or with multiple DPR accounts will be banned from my challenges.

Maximum number of entries per user:

Maximum number of entries in challenge:

submission
phase has

ended

57 entries

voting
phase has

ended

1307 votes

Voting results: 57 entries Slideshow of 5 1 Page: 4 Rows:

1^st

(winner)

2^nd

(runner up)

3^rd

(runner up)

4^th

Entry has been withdrawn

5^th

Entry has been withdrawn

6^th

7^th

8^th

9^th

10^th

11^th

Entry has been withdrawn

12^th

13^th

14^th

15^th

16^th

1 / 5

Sample entries

These entries were provided by the challenge host(s) as samples and cannot be voted on.

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Challenge comments

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Oldest first

mdbinasif

How come the limit of this challenge is 70 but I see 71 entries :)

Apr 9, 2015permalink

RuthC

If you read my note below, you'll see I allowed some of the entries I had DQ'd previously, to remain in the challenge. I returned about thirty such entries if I felt there was at least some attempt to reflect reeds, grasses or plants. When I had finished that little exercise I found that the total number of entries was 74. Since then three entries have been withdrawn by the members. Hence we arrive at the total of 71.

Apr 9, 2015permalink

mdbinasif

Sorry, I was not trying to tell it in a rude way.. it was in a humorous way.. through there was some bug.

Apr 10, 2015*permalink

Gallopingphotog

I think what may have tripped some of us up is the description of "reeds, bulrushes, plants, branches etc." That etc. can cover a lot of stuff. Trees, clouds, mountains... As opposed to buildings, fences, any man-made objects, which were clearly excluded.
I don't envy you or any host having to come up with a description that is specific enough without going to a ridiculous point of exactitude!

Apr 6, 2015permalink

RuthC

The 'etc' was not written in the theme of the challenge, but in my comments below, after many entries had been received.

Apr 6, 2015permalink

RuthC

Folks, I've spending a lot of time checking every entry in this challenge, and disqualified over fifty of them for not meeting the guidelines I had written.
However, I have decided to allow a number of the DQ'd entries to remain in the challenge, even though their pictures did not align with my ideas of the subject matter. After all, the challenge is for members, not me.
So when it comes times to vote, I suggest that you consider the sense of serenity, simplicity, and quality of the reflected plants in the water, rather than the distant landscapes or busyness of the pictures.
Ruth

Apr 5, 2015permalink

gfa5775

The sad part is the off topic entrants will likely give lower votes to more on target entries.

Apr 5, 2015permalink

anisah

An examination of the results might suggest that you are right that those who adhered to the original rules have been disadvantaged by the belated change in the rules when it came to voting. Hopefully this will not happen again.

Apr 18, 2015permalink

RuthC

There are a few excellent entries so far in this challenge. However, it appears to me that many entrants have not read beyond the title of the challenge.
1. The theme of the challenge is reeds, bulrushes, plants, branches etc which are reflected in the calm water.
2. It is NOT about distant views across lakes or rivers to trees, mountains etc with their reflections.
3. It is NOT about reflected man-made constructions such as bridges, houses.
4. There MUST be an essence of serenity and calm in the picture. Busy landscapes are not required here.
See my sample entries below the challenge or refer to ConanFuji's two previous challenges.
I will disqualify all entries which don't meet the above criteria, to be fair to those who read the theme and abided by it. This may take me a while. :-(
Message me if you have any questions.
Ruth

Apr 4, 2015permalink

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