November 'Bokeh' contest Top 10

Professional photographer Mark Ostow had a tough time deciding among all of your terrific photos. In the end, he chose photos where the bokeh clearly complemented the photo, or added depth or motion, or even a little mystery.

I think this is one of the best competitions, in terms of quality of photos, that we've had in a long time. So please don't feel bad if your photo didn't make it into the Final 50 or even the Top 10. The talent on display was terrific. Congratulations to everybody.

November "Bokeh" contest Top 10

MEANWHILE...

The December photo titles contest has less than a week to go -- the deadline is midnight Friday, New Year's Eve. I'm lining up the judge this week, and I've decided to ask one of the Globe's long-time copy editors who has a knack for good titles, captions, headlines, etc. to be our judge.

For our January contest, we are going to reprise last year's popular "What's That?" theme. Photograph something in such a way that it is difficult to identify. No titles, no captions. After our judge chooses the Top 10, we'll hold a second contest in which I'll ask you all to guess what each of those 10 photos is depicting ... and we'll hand out prizes for the guesses that come closest and are posted first.

Our January Challenge (not a contest) will be "Dark" and will run from Jan. 15 to Feb. 14. More details to come, but in general, let's see how effectively you can use darkness in a photo, either as the dominant element or a complementary one.

And in February, our contest is going to be a photo scavenger hunt. I can't wait!