Musical Instruments

This is a technically stunning capture with a lot of soul. Shooting with f1.2 was a clever choice. The soft bokeh (of outstanding quality) entirely separates the subject from the busy street behind, adding a strong sense of intimacy to the image. In turn, the intricate detail on the harp, remaining incredibly sharp and well lit, gifts the eye plenty to feast on. The musician, looking pleasingly concentrated in the music he's playing, is captured in a good pose and well positioned in the frame following the rule of thirds. An excellent shot that thoroughly deserves first place.

Plenty of character and vibrant colours in this one-of-a-kind portrait. The first thing to catch my eye is the perspective: being captured from above confers this image a unique and more playful look that certainly suits the subject.
The high contrast works well in increasing the colours' vibrancy and enhancing the detail and texture, especially on the subject's face. The cherry on the cake is the contrast between the red of the man's turban and the turquoise of the water behind him - a pleasure for the eyes of colour enthusiasts like me. This is indeed a great, unique shot that caught my eyes the moment I saw it.

This joyful capture easily stood out from the rest. There are so many things to love about it: from the subjects, to the vibrant colours, to the contrast between the movement in the foreground and the sharpness of the subjects in focus just behind. The composition is thrilling and creative. The musicians in the front, motion-blurred, cut pleasingly diagonally across the frame, creating an interesting foreground for the much smaller focused subjects at the back. It's rare for a large blurry foreground to work well in an image, but it does here because it's relevant, interesting and well thought-out. What a beautiful, happy capture!