"Frankfurt Dawn," "Midway," and "Summer" were chosen as our May winners. Congratulations to Hans F. Daniel, Robert Buckley, and Tun Aung!

Without further ado, here's the three monthly winners for May, and comments from the judges on what made them so great. Clicking on any image will open a larger version in a new window.

First Place
Frankfurt Dawn , by Hans F. Daniel
(Hans won a Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Printer.)

Wow, what a great shot, great exposure, and great timing! Often, the measure of a good photo is whether it would stand up equally well in black and white as it does in color. Hans' shot of the Frankfurt skyline would certainly still be a strong image in black and white, but the shadings of red and blue are really an integral part of the composition here. (So it isn't *always* just about tone.) The gentle horizontal striations in the sky detail help sharpen the contrast between the sky and buildings, and having the darker streak in the sky just kiss the tallest buildings was an excellent compositional choice: It helps divide the image, and to have had it cutting across behind the buildings would have been an undesirable distraction, while having it floating higher in the image would have left the separate areas of the image more weakly defined. The judges liked very much that there was visible detail in the shadowed buildings, yet not so much as to constitute a visual distraction. At the same time, that shadow detail contributes to the impression of verticality in the buildings, increasing the tension between the structures and the soft, horizontal detail of the sky. The third layer of silhouetted foreground detail adds nicely to the depth of the scene, but again without creating a distraction by drawing too much attention to itself. Beautiful shot, very well done!

Second Place
Midway, by Robert Buckley
(Robert won a Canon PIXMA MP970 Printer.)

Wow, what a dramatic, strongly-composed shot, and what a great job on the exposure, too! Robert really framed this shot perfectly: The detail of the aircraft carrier is great, and its lighting highlights a lot of interesting details for the viewer's eye to explore. While the aircraft carrier is clearly the subject of the photo, the center of the overall composition is actually the ship in the background, across the bay/river: Everything in the image draws your eyes there; the downward right-to-left slope of the carrier's superstructure, the framing by the carrier's overhanging flight deck, the vertical lines formed by the lights reflecting on the water, and the bright light atop the other ship itself. This is a shot of enormous contrast, not only in the tonality of the main subject, but in the strength of line found in the various elements. Robert may write in to correct me (Nah, I just pointed the camera and pushed the button :-), but I'm pretty confident that this photo didn't just happen: I'm sure there was a lot of walking back and forth, forward and back, zooming, squatting, etc, to get just the right alignment of elements in the image. Really beautifully done, a shot to be proud of!

Third Place
Summer, by Tun Aung
(Tun Aung won a Canon PIXMA MP610 Printer.)

If ever there was a photo that evokes its caption, this has to be it! You can almost feel the sun beating down on you as you view it, and the bone-dry dust suggests it's been a long while since the last rain. While Hans Daniel's Frankfurt Dawn above benefited from its use of color, this shot is clearly better in black and white (kudos to Tun Aung for recognizing this). Here, color would only be a distraction in the composition, and might in fact reduce the contrast considerably. (If they're brown or reddish cattle and the dirt is brown or reddish as well.) The judges loved the dynamism in this photo, the way the tracks in the road lead into the shape of the herd of cattle, with everything flowing toward the lower left-hand corner of the frame. The billowing dust contributes a lot toward the sense of flow and movement as well, helped by the fact that the wind is generally blowing in the same direction as the cattle are moving, so the lines in the dust billows reinforce the same movement as is present in the rest of the photo. The herder on the right side of the image is a great inclusion as well. His/her presence there provides a level of explanation for the action, and the wide angle perspective magnifies the cattle and diminishes the herder, producing a nice counterpoint. Very well done, excellent composition, use of tonality and perspective!

Honorable Mentions

Calafurias castle	Lizzie Is Back
by Cristian Torracchi	by Terry F. Piotraschke

As always, 31 great daily winners made it hard to select the three very best, but that's a happy chore here at IR. Congratulations to all the daily winners, and thanks to everyone who submitted photos for May's contest. The consistently high quality of images submitted to the Photo of the Day contest are what makes it the success that it's been!

So - what are you waiting for? That could be your photo up there this time next month! Dig through your digital shoe boxes, pick your best and join the fun!