Opened RAW image in CS2
Adjusted saturation, curves, exposure and sharpness.
Saved ast JPEG
Opened in Elements 3.0
-adjusted levels, bright/contrast, saturation
-cropped to square
-Burn and dodge highlights and shadows to bring out more contrast and to remove shine on a few logs.
Selective sharpening on tree rings
Resize to 600x600
Added border
Save for web
Open and USM 85,0.3,0
Save to <150kb
Statistics
Place: 114 out of 283 Avg (all users): 5.5909 Avg (commenters): 6.2500 Avg (participants): 5.4337 Avg (non-participants): 5.8571 Views since voting: 939 Views during voting: 200 Votes: 132 Comments: 7 Favorites: 0
Positives:
Color, general sharpness and content are good. It is a study of circles for this challenge and works well for that purpose.
Technicals:
Texture is well achieved and necessary for this image. Though the sharpeness is generally good it might be slightly oversharpened. There is just a hint of 'jaggies ' in some of the lines and an annoyong white halo over the bottom log at top the of the central opening. Ironically, yours is better focused than my entry in this challenge. :)
In photography there is a lot of discussion about the need for a central focal point in every image. Most suggest there should be. Your image really doesn't have one despite the central oppening and that might hurt it in some people's view.
The challenge:
Meets the challenge in a very direct and unmistakable way. It may be a bit stereotypical for some voters and they might vote you down for it.
Some voters might just plain think this image is boring.
Suggestions:
I'd recommend working the sharpness a bit more. Not a lot, but a bit. Any hint at digital effects should be reduced to nothing in every submission.
In the area of a central focal point you might consider a re-shoot where you find a particualarly interesting log end and try composing it at one of the rule of thirds intersection points.
Even though this is something I've seen before, the clarity, color and contrast really make this photo stand out - very dynamic, and the see-through bit in the centre makes it
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