Shell is from my honeymoon. The tone, textures, and fading light, made me want to use this one. Played around with lots of shutter speeds and natural light. Just as fine an entry as any for me. :)
Statistics
Place: 65 out of 164 Avg (all users): 5.4822 Avg (commenters): 7.8333 Avg (participants): 5.1200 Avg (non-participants): 5.7049 Views since voting: 799 Votes: 197 Comments: 9 Favorites: 0
Almost, almost ... my questions would be: cropping - why so much negative space (or alternatively, why so little)? Why so little contrast range ... I understand what your title implies, but would a touch more light and shade really hurt it so much? the curves and planes of these objects ought to allow for a wonderful range of shade, and I think you've bleached that out of it a little with the lighting.