Weirdness

This picture looks like a scene straight out of a movie or a dream, and is especially convincing in black and white. It has a very nice, careful composition and a crisp look.

I like the extreme sharpness combined with the slight blur on both the person and the background trees. The whole feeling is surreal, and the dramatic sky works well with the soft lighting on the landscape. I'm sure a fair amount of Photoshop work has gone into this. Well done!

I love this shot because it is so simple. At first, I couldn't figure out whether it's real or not. It almost looks as if the statue was subverted and made to steal the two babies. There is something very lively about the statue - probably a mix of the smile and the unexpected, strange fact that it's holding two babies under its arms.

The black and white suits it well, as does the sunlight – nice, graphic lighting – and the fact that the environment has been cropped away leaves me guessing as to where we are. Please mister, bring our boys back!

This is a lovely little installation. I enjoy images that work by creating new shapes. In this case it's a face hiding in the greenery, and I adore how the greyish brown of the twigs creates the main structure without being too intrusive; the vibrant green showing through and making it hard to figure out what is foreground and what is background.

The shape is also imperfect enough to be organic and subtle, but still visible at first glance. Good craft, especially as it seems to be an actual handmade installation. I would love to know if this was found or created by the photographer.

I quite like this shot as it is weird, absurd, geeky, but at the same time very direct and charming. The washed out colours suit the blurry, dreamy montage and are a nice juxtaposition to the slightly strained camera smile.

On the other hand, it seems to stop just short of telling a story and leaves me a little confused as to whether the different elements and the retouching are just that or part of a concept. This also makes it harder to say something about the image.

This is a great mix of atmospheric lighting with a self-made monster. The graininess of the shot and the blown-out light through the windows manage to hide the details of how this particular creature has been brought to life, and the atmospheric lighting and dark tone and look are a good contrast to the tongue-in-cheek humour.

But maybe I'm misinterpreting it, and in fact someone had the nerve and presence of mind to keep their cool and press the shutter to document this otherworldly creature before being devoured!

I'm a big fan of urban interventionism and like the minimal but humourous addition of the wig. The golden hue is reminiscent of a crown, whether intentionally or not. It's funny but tongue-in-cheek.

I also like the technical understatement of the shot – i.e. no artificial lighting – as well as its very straightforward framing and composition. The grey sky suits the picture well and again is quite offhand, though the image might have been equally good without burning it in as much. The masking in Photoshop isn't perfect so there is a slight aura around the statue, and there also seems to be some red and green edges, probably from sharpening. It might have helped to fade the sharpening to luminosity, but all in all I don't mind that much.

The obvious montage and almost two-dimensional look work well here to create a surreal, spooky, dreamlike atmosphere. Someone with a vivid imagination was at work here and I appreciate that it is an image that is entirely constructed rather than being "found weirdness".

I love the detail of the black and white tiles on the floor inside the tree, and the creepy little guy, however both he and the staircase could probably have done with a bit of dropshadow to integrate them better.

There's a really nice feeling of authenticity to this shot; a sense of raw emotion, movement and also something eerie. This for me is what makes the image stand out - it almost has a filmic quality to it and makes me want to find out what's happening in the picture.

The pink nightgown is everyday but jarring, and to me suggests the picture might be staged, albeit subtly. But that's probably just me and is due to the fact that I live in a world where people don't carry guns on the street and pictures are always staged!

I generally like pictures with animals acting like humans (and the other way round!) in them, so I had to smile when I saw this bunch of card-playing furry characters. It is definitely a weird and fun idea!

However, while a shot like this is obviously always going to be staged, I think this one could have done with a bit more attention to detail – specifically the arrangement of the cards and how they are being held – and composition. I'm unconvinced by the location and the harsh shadows are a bit irritating.

This has obviously been Photoshopped but it's well executed and looks absolutely convincing.

Ideas like this seem quite simple at first but can be hard to pull off. I like the hands and arms which make it that little bit harder to figure out what's happening. The background texture is nice too, and I also appreciate the slick but understated, slightly desaturated look.

The transition where the neck has been photoshopped onto the model's back works well, but the big tattoo is a little bit tricky as it seems to slightly fade out at the top and doesn't blend so well with the curves and tendons.

A nice, slightly off-kilter shot of a Galactic Stormtrooper getting ready to put an end to Specsavers. The offhand feel (created by the glare, the people in the background and the camera held at an angle) works well for me because the scene feels less constructed, as does the fact that this is a costume and not computer graphics. The costume is well made and the boots and gloves make it just that little bit more believable and less perfect.

This is another simple image that has something quite raw to it. The cartoonish style of the mouth and eyes is a brilliant juxtaposition to the unnerving "Joker" lips and teeth. The wide open eyes and tongue sticking out in the other shot add something unexpected and lively, but I mainly love this picture just because it grips my attention and suggests something happening beneath the surface.

It's spooky without being cheesy, unnerving but funny. There's a world out there we know nothing about!

This is actually quite nice and simple. What I like is that the photographer obviously had an idea and went to the trouble of setting it up.

The trick with the disconnected-but-lit lightbulb works well. What held me back from selecting this image was that I feel the idea is still a bit raw and I don't really get the connection between the puppet and the glowing light. I think more thought as to what the picture is trying to say might have helped and potentially led to a more striking image, whether by using a different figure or creating a darker, more disturbing look. Or, something else altogether.

I also notice some banding on the white backdrop. This is a common problem with gradients - try converting the image to 16bit and maybe adding some grain to get rid of it.

A funny picture. I'm drawn to this shot because something unusual is happening and it gives me pause to think and take another look:

"So this is how they get the coins out of the Fontana di Trevi? Or what is it that's happening here? Why have I never come across anything like this? How can they let people watch? How much money might this be? Perhaps the photographer was part of a recce preparing a robbery?"

However, upon closer inspection I'm unconvinced by the composition and the general quality of the picture. But, it is a shot that could be used as inspiration to stage a narrative picture.

A nice dreamy landscape and simple trick of the eye. The warm sunlight and the blurry bottle in front of the lens create a hazy vision of a castle that might afterall be a mere figment of our imagination!

It works for me, but even if this was a spur of the moment shot it could have done with a bit more attention-to-detail. For example, it is possible that the image would look more convincing without the lid on the bottle.