Now that the 2015 themes are posted I'm going to share a few images that I am NOT going to enter. Mostly because they aren't eligible - either they were not taken by me or they are too old - but thematic nonetheless. This one was taken in my workshop (I'm doing the work) while I was having a friend shoot pictures of a motorcycle restoration I was doing.
My own critique is that my hand isn't very sharp. On the plus side, there are several interesting (to tool afficionados) tools there, some are being used, colors are accurate and lighting is pretty decent. There is a focal point to me; the wrench on the bolt head, and I think the composition is pretty good also with peripheral items surrounding the focal point.
Like the lighting. You might want to try getting very close to the tool and hands with a wide-angle lens, which will show more of the shop surroundings and those dirty fingernails nice and super close! :-)
So i took this photo in a well visited place (Walt Disney World) and people still didnt know where. I realize it has cropping and other technical issues. I wish i would have spent more time getting a better photograph but hard to do when there were so many other things to see and do.
I am curious what other photos people have gotten that fit this category that they like but either are not competition worthy or dont meet the criteria.
The tools aren't a prominent part; I think that is my main concern followed closely by the direct lighting. It looks like mixed light which is a pain to deal with.
Gerry, the lighting in my photo was a real challenge. The main lighting in that work area is fluorescent, although they are very good 90 CRI 5000K bulbs. For those shots (and there are hundreds) we played with flash a lot, bouncing off the ceiling, using a rear reflector, custom WB, lots of stuff. In a different area of the shop there are HID overheads, with spillover light from the fluorescents and daylight from the windows. Plus flash. Arrgh. We shot on several days and tried to recreate successful lighting schemes with limited success.