Thinking ahead to the next competition theme - Hands & Eyes - where a hand (human or simian) or eye (any living creature) must play a predominant role. Certain to lead to questions - what is predominant? This image should be no problem (the eye of one of Darling's - http://www.pbase.com/ed_k/image/50100265 - friends). But how about the hand in this image? - http://www.pbase.com/ed_k/image/29532397
The 2nd image is a much tougher call. If dominance is measured by the portion of the image space occupied by the hand then, no, it's not a dominant element. However, if we measure by "visual dominance" - that is, the importance of the element due to its role in the "story" being told by the image or by the visual weight of the element (for example a small red circle that occupies less than 1% of the picture space can still be dominant by virtue of its color and shape) then the hand in the 2nd photo does play a predominant role. By contrast an "incidental hand" in a portrait - whose presence or absence does not materially affect the image - would not be dominant. It promises to be an interesting competition - certainly for the competition committee. Please let me know whether you think the hand in the 2nd example should qualify.