Total judging points: 26
Judge's Comments:
1. I love the mood of this photo and the level of detail that is captured in the mushroom. However, the large expanse of moss below keeps pulling my attention away from the mushroom, which is (I presume) the intended subject. The moss is interesting, but in this composition it almost seems like it should be a picture by itself.
The photographer has identified a really appealing scene here. One way to strengthen the portrayal might be to zoom in or crop more tightly to show just the mushroom and a more limited portion of the surface on which it is growing, perhaps with a vertical composition that captures just a smidgen of the moss. Failing that, I might darken and/or blur the moss in post to make it less conspicuous.
2. This photographer took advantage of the overcast day to let the colors in the image do the work. The out-of-focus background creates separation and gives a 3-D effect to this image, but there is too much background. It also draws the viewer-s eye away from the center-of-interest and out of the image on the right. This judge suggests cropping a bit down from the top and in from the side(s).