[CT]

I think that while the entries were few, the standard was very high for this round and there isn't much at all to pick at, but as the critique and feedback is the main value of this competition, I think it's worthwhile to keep it going. As always - it's only my opinion, and it's meant to help.

DJW

I really liked this shot, It's almost monochrome apart from the subtle browns, and the wide range of tones in the shot has been well exposed for. I think I'd like to have seen the whole plate in shot and the biscuits pushed over to one side of the plate to get them in shot is perhaps a lttle contrived? There's some sharpening halos visible around the rim of the mug and the plate mainly due to the increased contrast in those areas. However, I'm being really picky which I think you have to be with work of this standard - it's an excellent shot.

CT

This was taken with the 17-85 EF-S tripod mounted. The Smarties were posed on a piece of plain paper back lit with daylight from a window. I used bounce flash bounced off the underside of the detached lid of my scanner held aloft over the top to get even illumination without killing the shadows from the window. I wanted the Smarties to look nice and shiny, which they do, but the white underside of the scanner lid being so large and relatively close to the subject has resulted in bigger highights than I really wanted. It's a close call whether the highlights are tending towards burn out or whether it's the reflected lid giving that appearance, but if someone tells me they're burned out, I wont be arguing. I tried arranging the Smarties more evenly but they ended up looking too uniform - almost pattern-like, so in the end, I put them back in the tube, and just dumped them on the paper. Oh and yes - I did eat 'em.

MILOU.

The usual high standard we expect from Milou. There's obviously a lot of thought and preparation gone into this shot. I know Milou is a monochrome enthusiast, but speaking personally, food smacks of using colour unless there's a very good reason, and I'm not sure it was really appropriate for this shot. The loss of detail in the highlights lets it down a little, but it's a classy and very ambitious shot nonetheless and the arrangement of the elements is excellent..

DOD

Peppers is an obvious choice for a colourful subject perhaps, but this shot has been handled really well, and with a real attempt to make it different. I'm guessing Doddy was trying to emulate the food shots you see in the glossy mags, in which case he's done rather well. Lovely clean 'zingy' colour.

EOSD

I loved the lighting on the egg in this one. The shadow on one side and the light on the other is just right and really makes you feel the shape of that egg. It's a very simple shot with the egg, the spiral egg cup, and of course the shadow, playing an important part in the overall shot and composition. It's such a shame that the shot was taken on the rather busy patterned work surface which detracts from the simple elements. A plain neutral colour would have been so much better.

Well done everyone.