Do you want me to light the charcoals (now that you've skewered me), Jarrett? Sheesh.

Okay, whether or not it says zen to anyone is, ultimately, irrelevant. It's tantamount to saying, "Pepperoni says pizza to me" vs. "Sausage says pizza to me". They're both right and they're both wrong. It's entirely possible that the mere pondering of whether or not this image says zen is , in and of itself, an experience of the zen. In that context the relevance quotient is sometimes way too subjective (in my, subjective, opinion).

That said, the edge of the boogie board is in focus.

As for the noise, yes, it's there. Handheld, manual focus, shot at ISO 400, with a $350 Sigma lens.

Do you want me to light the charcoals (now that you've skewered me), Jarrett? Sheesh.

Okay, whether or not it says zen to anyone is, ultimately, irrelevant. It's tantamount to saying, "Pepperoni says pizza to me" vs. "Sausage says pizza to me". They're both right and they're both wrong. It's entirely possible that the mere pondering of whether or not this image says zen is , in and of itself, an experience of the zen. In that context the relevance quotient is sometimes way too subjective (in my, subjective, opinion).

That said, the edge of the boogie board is in focus.

As for the noise, yes, it's there. Handheld, manual focus, shot at ISO 400, with a $350 Sigma lens.

Oops... clicked "resubmit" on the wrong tab. Blasted Firefox!

Didn't mean to "skewer" you Rusty. I have to say I really like your Pizza analogy. In this case, yes, you are talking about is it pepperoni vs. sausage that says "pizza" and true, that is subjective. There are many submissions here that are totally outside that argument, going along with your anaolgy these would be hamburgers or chiken drumsticks, something totally outside the "pizza universe". This image is not one of those. It has relationships and large empty spaces.

I still think the composition could be dramatically improved, mainly by cropping off the left side so that the top of the boogie board (now I know what this is) would span the entire frame.

As for the noise, it isn't something that Noise Ninja couldn't easily fix. I realize the equipment constraints you had to work with.

Try those two things and you have a pretty strong image IMHO, although still not sure if it says "zen" to me, or "pizza" for that matter.

Interestingly, my two favorite pizza toppings are pepperoni and sausage, so either would say "pizza" to me ;)

Hey Jarrett. Next time I'm in SB and we meet-up, instead of shish-ka-bobs, we should have pizza.

Yes, I can see the point in your composition recommendation (and it is certainly apparent in your own images). I tend to view things literally (can you tell?) and sometimes have a difficult time doing significant crops on my images because, to my way of thinking, isn't the image I composed correct? Maybe I'll start doing some extensive cropping, just to see what alternative images I can come up with. Thanks.

I'll look into Noise Ninja (sigh... cue the cash register sounds). Also, I think I'll rent a Canon L series lens one weekend and do some comp shots against my humble Sigma.

The other thing is you can effect the same "crop" when you compose the shot in the field by moving in closer, and repositioning the objects in the frame.

One of the things I have really made an effort to do over the past few months is to really take time composing my shots, and considering everything that is in the viewfinder. Most of the cropping I do on the computer ends up being minor because I did the majority of the final composition before clicking the shutter.

Oh yes, certainly, and that's something I need to focus on (pardon the pun) as well - better in camera cropping. But with regards to this photo (again, cue in the cash register sounds) I'll need (and I definitely WANT) a dedicated or better macro lens. The image was, sigh, essentially at my close-end limit for that particular focal-length.