Hawaii Palm Trees

I am considering entering this image in a print competition. Please share any comments or criticisms. Thank you in advance.

I hate to say this, dude, but I don't think this will win any competitions. They're nice trees, but there's nothing compelling or really interesting here. It looks like late morning or afternoon light, and the shadows are just too harsh on the underside of the leaves.

Better light, and maybe moving closer to one of the trunks may have helped.

Sorry I couldn't be more upbeat.

whats the subject of the competition? or can you enter any subject?

That photo doesn't show off any skill or creativity of a photographer for a competition photo.

What else ya got?
Sorry if I am to honest in my opinion...and if you do enter it and win..."well I'll be damned"...heh

Unless you're doing this on purpose, I thought it's a little too dark. And to be honest, I don't think the pix is unique enough to be in a competition.

I played with it a little....but I'll be stunned if this wins...but I've seen some crazy unbelievable things in photo contest....

IMAGE LINK: http://www.mynetimages​.com

Firstly, love your signature.
Secondly, like the pic. May not win a comp but something you should stand by.
I prefer the original than the re-touched. Perhaps a mix of both. Slightly lighten the first but no much as near as the second.

I'd go with the first one. You never know what might hit any particular judge on any particular day. I have seen many times I have seen images in National Geographic that were chosen as photo of the day that were pretty but not remarkable.

Enter it. Who knows. I once entered a contest so I could get free admission to the show itself. It was almost a throw away photo.

Took first place.

Go figger...............

I think the compositional element is repetition/pattern. Also, we naturally go to the points of contrast in an image. Here, there is one trunk (center) that seems to be slightly more dominant (and is okay). Also, there's also a "weakening" in the upper right corner as the tree density fades. Shifting to the left just a bit would fix the upper right corner, and still keep the dominant trunk in the middle. As a composition exercise, I think it's good work. Contest winning material? I wouldn't assume so.

Thanks for the honest replies. This is a case where the photographer lost objectivity and needed some outside, unbiased opinions.

gibbit1 wrote in post #15288719
I hate to say this, dude, but I don't think this will win any competitions. They're nice trees, but there's nothing compelling or really interesting here. It looks like late morning or afternoon light, and the shadows are just too harsh on the underside of the leaves.

Better light, and maybe moving closer to one of the trunks may have helped.

Sorry I couldn't be more upbeat.

I'll add to that...it's a pretty scene, but compositionally speaking, it needs more. There's a lot of repetition here. repeating trunks are forming a pattern, same with the leaves. But the whole image is just too...uniform. There are lots of repeating shapes, which is fine. But it needs something to work against. This is like...one element of a great photo, but it needs something to play off of. Either something to break up the repetition, or some kind of contrasting element for the trees to play off of.

I agree with the comments about the lighting. But even if this was lit perfectly, I suspect that I'd still feel like there was something missing. I think that would still come off as just "lots of trees". It's definitely pretty, I like it (even though I agree it could be lit better). Definitely a nice attempt, and a hell of a lot better than much of what I shoot. But it just doesn't feel complete to me. It feels like it's missing something.