MC Escher must be rolling with joy at the sight of his followers experiment around the globe.

I fell in love with this one as soon as I saw it. Just goes to show that sometimes the simple stuff is the best. The great comments this image receive could only be rivaled by the pinch you felt when discovering it was partially fake. Here is what you had to say:

"Fake? FAKE??!!! Does the front page of
Explore know this? ;-)"

"FAKE!?!?!?!?! what??? just kidding"

Read on to see the actual picture and hear the judges’ decision.

This image by Bald Monk is truly a simple one. No elaborate composition, no sophisticated subject. Simple H2O in solid state. 

It was shocking for most of us to find out that the ice cubes are fake. However, they are so darn good fakes that you’d think this image was taken at -10 centigrade. Well no, it was taken at room temp.

Here’s what Chase had to say

I like the M.C Escher thing going on here.  This gets good marks from me because of the quality of the light.  Really pulls great gradients on the corners and edges of the cubes.  Used everything in my power to not let the awkward frame distract me, but thought the execution on the black acrylic.  The vignette adds some great character as well. 

Here’s what I had to say

I love how this image that looks simple at first glance, is everything but. The odd selection of the group of ice in the frame keeps making me scan the image again and again with no rest – a great counter weight to the classic five-cube-setting. Light control is superb with no highlights, great edges and fantastic tone. Plus two bonus points: one for honesty (yes the cubes are fake) and one for answering all the questions from readers – even PS related ones.

Bald Monk, you get 5th pick for one of the prizes. If you could place a comment on your image with your prize of preference it would help us speed up the process of winners/sponsors match making.

Thanks again for the great prizes and sponsors of D3A – you made this happen:

– ExplorerXT external battery pack courtesy of innovatronix

– Lensbaby Composer lens courtesy of Lensbaby

– Universal Photo Timer Kit (UPT_KIT1A) courtesy of Universal Photo Timer

– 2 (YES TWO!) PRESSLite VerteX sets courtesy of PRESSLite

– Ultimate Combo Pack for 3 Flashes courtesy of PhotoGels

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