Hello Fellow Steemians,

First off, I want to thank everyone that entered the contest and submitted their work. I'd also like to thank all of the viewers and upvoters of the contest post.

Unfortunately this contest did not get as many submissions as the previous, I'm guessing Hard Light is not as popular as I thought it would be. I chose this because I love shooting hardlight photos from time to time and also by choosing Hard Light with a on camera flash I felt it would open the contest up to anyone with a camera... But it seems to have backfired and I got less entries.

However, all of the entries were a very worthy effort and I enjoyed viewing them. In my picks I had to take into account how close people followed the theme or use of the Hard Light, so that was a factor.

So here are my picks with some comments on the images... from 4th Place to 1st in descending order…

#4

Artist: @gohba.handcrafts
Post URL: https://steemit.com/photography/@gohba.handcrafts/nsfw-contest-salt-series-201777t7273680z
Prize: 10 Whaleshares

My Comments:
I actually like this entry a it's very creative, abstract and unique. The reason it's ranks 4th place is because it used the least amount of hard light from the entries I received if not for that it probably would have been #1 or #2 based on all that I mentioned.

#3

Artist: @artofthenude
Post URL: https://steemit.com/portrait/@artofthenude/a-stroll-at-sunset
Prize: 25 Whaleshares

My Comments:
This is a good use of hard light without really seeing it as hard light. Because if there is nothing to catch the shadow you can't always tell if it's hard light (2nd Image in the post). The full nude almost looks light mostly natural light, but you can see a hint of the hard light shadow. On the right on her arm. I really like how you see 3 different example of hard light in this post. Visit the post to see what I'm talking about.

#2

Artist: @alteregophoto
Post URL: https://steemit.com/whalesharesnsfwcontest/@alteregophoto/whaleshares-nsfw-nude-erotic-art-contests-hard-light-with-a-flash-by-alteregophoto
Prize: 50 Whaleshares

My Comments:
This is a typical hard light look that people think of when they think of hard light. Some people love it and some hate it. But it's very good example of hard light. I have seen this submitter other work which is generally softlight or natural light which beautiful work. By comparison this hard light set is a dramatic departure from that and I'm not saying this as an insult, people often use hard light to actually give it an amateurish/candid or paparazzi look and feel to the images.

This also the same reason many people don't like hard light. I remember in one of my first shoots I did a off camera hard light look and the model loved it but I was not crazy about it, and I actually spent a lot of time photoshopping the hard shadow out...lol But as a photographer and artist sometimes you want a raw/amateur/candid look and hard light of a bare bulb mounted on the camera can achieve that look quite easily.

#1

Artist: @steempowerpics
https://steemit.com/whalesharesnsfwcontest/@steempowerpics/my-whaleshares-nsfw-photo-contest-entry-hard-light-flash-3-original-photos
Prize: 100 Whaleshares

My Comments:
This was my favorite. I think because of the choice of the Sepiatone look and also the way the images were presented with a border and dropshadow, as it made it look like snapshots that came from a film camera with a on camera flash. You can definitely see it's hard light, but the shadow is not over powering. I also like the crop because it adds mystery and some anonymity to the model.

I want to thank all of the Participants in the contest I enjoyed all of your submissions. Contact me on the Whaleshares Discord Channel to get your Whaleshares Prizes.

Also make sure you check out the NSFW Section on the channel as I will be talking about more upcoming contests I'll be doing and there are other contests as well on the Discord Channel as well. https://discord.gg/CFJ97HW

To all of the viewers of this post I'm going to ask you to please upvote this post, resteem it and follow me to see future contests and help this one grow and gain more participants .

And also please visit the posts of the artists that submitted their work and follow ad upvote them as well. As an artist myself I know one of the greatest feelings is when people support your artwork.

That's all for now.

Thanks,

Nico

Some of my other Recent and Still Active Posts that feature my Digital Photography...

NSPART - Milestone 1000+ Followers, Much Gratitude & Thanks to my supporters, My Goal and Lots of Erotic & Fine Art in this post! - 45 Images Both SFW and NSFW Images!
https://steemit.com/photography/@nspart/nspart-milestone-1000-followers-much-gratitude-and-thanks-to-my-supporters-my-goal-and-lots-of-erotic-and-fine-art-in-this-post

NSPART - My "Bourbon" Photoshoot with Missy Olivares! Sexy & SFW!
https://steemit.com/photography/@nspart/nspart-my-bourbon-photoshoot-with-missy-alivares-sexy-and-sfw

Whaleshares NSFW "Hard Light with a Flash" Contest Winners Announcement & Images! (NSFW Artistic Nudity)
https://steemit.com/photography/@nspart/36yyn2-whaleshares-nsfw-black-and-white-nudes-contest-winners-annoucement-and-images-nsfw-artistic-nudity

NSPART - A Couple of one off Erotic Art Pieces Featuring Sophia Jade & Lauren Fogle (NSFW - Explicit)
https://steemit.com/photography/@nspart/nspart-a-couple-of-one-off-erotic-art-pieces-featuring-sophia-jade-and-lauren-fogle-nsfw-explict