Kitchen Macro

There have been many kiwi shots submitted to this competition, but this image is the best I've seen. The first thing I love about it is its minimalistic look: just one bright fruit against a black background. It's simple. It's bold. It's all that's needed. The kiwi's beautiful circle of seeds, the obvious focus of the shot, is pleasingly sharp and contrasty. It's so well-captured, in fact, that it makes me feel like, as the image title suggests, I have likely not paid enough attention to this fruit's innate beauty. Last but not least, the tiny highlights on the black pips add even more definition to them as well as character to the entire image. This a very well executed kitchen macro shot. Well done!

This is certainly one of the most macro shots I've seen in this competition, and I like it. This image truly draws the viewer in, portraying a mundane subject from a perspective that makes it unique and fascinating. I appreciate the technical setup needed to capture this shot. From the macro extension tubes to the flashgun used to obtain backlight: it all pays off. The backlight shows us the beautiful veins within the cabbage leaf, at the same time enhancing the brightness of all the different shades of green. And the super macro point of view allows us to step right inside, to get a sense of the leaf's texture, every small ridge a mountain to explore and get lost in. A fantastic capture - well done!

I love how different this shot is from most other kitchen macro images, which typically featured raw fruits or vegetables. This capture is inventive, pleasingly abstract and technically well executed. It takes a good eye to spot the beauty in the mundane. In this case, the eye must have been excellent in order to spot the beauty in a piece of frying dough! The webbing dough, orange against the near-black background, is interesting as it is, but the many little bubbles add further character to the shot. The use of flash is a very clever choice. As said by the photographer in the image description, the flash created highlights on every bubble as well as overall contrast and sharp definition. This is a unique image that has immediately caught my eye and that I'll remember for time to come. Well deserving of first place. Well done!