I hope they are all legal....!

yeah.... Tylenol are legal. even the 'pm' kind.
I need these to survive. : )

Well, glad you liked it...but my score sure reflects a bunch of folks that thought it not relevant and without impact. The grays and noise were purposeful, as this is how I feel when I can't sleep.... oh well, on to fail in the next theme! yay!

Ana, it's impossible to tell from your comment how deeply you feel when you say, "oh well, on to fail in the next theme.." But I'm curious, so I'm gonna ask this: Before you shot this did you think to yourself, "I want to have grays and noise because by doing so people will understand what I'm trying to convey, which is this is how I feel when I can't sleep." Or is that your casual explanation in response to my comment? To some degree, people respond to images in a rather predictable way. Which is why having a broad range of tones in a black and white shot generally speaking will only improve it. While making a gray image may be easier than making a b&W shot with all tones evenly represented and distributed, I think it's more difficult to make a gray image that really speaks to the viewer. It's tougher for me to do, anyway. And I'm not a benchmark of excellence by any stretch of the imagination. I'm an average benchmark, as are you and the vast majority of WS members. So my suggestion is not to take your work too seriously but to take suggestions and work them into future efforts with as much focus as possible. And I do like the shot. Even though it may not get featured, I believe there's actually rather little separating it from the home page.

George, thank you for your new comment. Your suggestion is great, and I will certainly take it into account the next time I compose a shot such as this one. But there is a lot separating it from the home page...a lot of points. Ha ha. And honestly, getting featured is nice, but it's not as big to me as it is to get comments that actually match my score. I worked hard on this shot (over 200 of the same durn thing with differing compositions) and I really did feel I got the best one and presented it exactly how I wanted it to look. The brighter whites made the flared areas WHITE WHITE and didn't look good at all, and I tried so many variations of light to not get those flares, but nothing worked (not even shooting inside the refrigerator. ha ha.

I really wanted a bigger impact, to be honest. That's what's disappointing to me. Thanks again.

And yes, I did want it to look like this..a smoky, old fashioned sort of shot. Was my intent from the get go. But presenting shots like that here, are risky, and I know it. Wasn't going for quality at all here, was going for relevance and impact (my usual goal!) Was expecting low scores for the last three, but not for the first two. But I think people tend to go straight across with 1's and 2's and don't really think of the categories.

Thanks again and again!

I just thought... ha ha. I should have posted this for night!

Ana, you're right: would have made a great "night" entry. Ha!

I'm not certain I know what you're referring to when you say "flares." Do you mean those sort of brighter spots on the pills, like the brighter reflections on the Tylenol pill and the other gel pills? If so, one thing you might try is taking the same shot outside on a cloudy day. Not waaaaay cloudy, but essentially in a light that is NOT from an uninterrupted "point" source, like the sun. A diffuse light might work well, like you get when you're in the shade or on a cloudy day when the sun is obscured from direct visual contact by an intervening layer of clouds. I'm rambling here. Can you tell? Point is, and you probably already know this, you can control the light source quite easily. You can even do it inside by making sure the bulb of the lights/lamps you're using are not within eye contact of the subject matter. Again...I'm rambling. One last thing on light: if you want bright lights, put them to the side, say, rather than directly overhead, then position yourself around the subject so there are no observably distracting reflections on the subject matter. A stronger side light might also allow a broader range of bright whites to dark blacks, thereby enriching the visual experience (in my book, anyway). Heck, if you still got another chance to upload a shot, try it :-) I'd be happy to give it a friendly critique, for what it's worth. Most importantly, the experience of going back and trying the same shot with some different focus (no pun intended) will be a hoot.

Please forgive my rambling...

Thank you for all the ideas. I was shooting these at night, and probably should have waited until the next day...and I had a lot of shots with a light from the side, and one was a contender to post, but in the end, I chose this one. I also tried to move the pills to another room where the light was better. Really, I tried a lot of things with these pills. They are so shiny, it was difficult. And when I talked about the 'white' part of the shot, I didn't mean the brighter spots on the pills, but the whole top of the pill with writing on it. That part shot out like white paper. It was a tough set up! My macro lens is tough to use, and a lot of my shots weren't clear enough. No way I can use a tripod as moving something slightly takes a grillion adjustments... and I'd post another shot, but can't for two reasons.... one I've used my three tries (all bombs! ha ha) and I've since deleted every Tylenol shot from my computer. Again, thanks for taking the time to write. And not forgiving you for the rambling. I like it. : )

Groovy :-) And keep on working the shot.