100s & 1000s of inspiration

I am the proud new owner of an amazing DSLR camera - a Canon 500D (thanks Santa) and have come across this amazing competition run by Canon through their EOS website (which in itself is very inspiring especially for those wanting to learn more about their cameras ability!).
The competition is called Photo5 and it consists of themed challenges. You need to register for the main challenges and you receive a box in the mail which contains your brief and some materials to use. This years themes were Splat, Close-Up, Bokeh, Portraiture and there was also an open brief of Practically Black.
I'm particularly fond of the Close-Up challenge. It involved getting up close and personal with 100s and 1000's candies.

This is the winning photo by  Sam Hobson. It was a popular type of shot to do and there are a couple more eyelash shots in the gallery of all entries. I think the moodiness of this and the beautiful soft focus is what got it out in front.

Here are some more amazing shots for the up-close entries:

I like the child theme to these photos - after all a fairy bread sandwich is a childhood joy!

{top left: It wasn't me! - leesap | top right: Tasty Treats - flashpoint | bottom: Ngahuia Riri}

More colour and little smiley thumbs up!

{top: cidtow | bottom left: 100's and 1000's - mark (this was a finalist) | bottom right: Smile - Justine}

{top: The Party's Over - Loki666 | bottom left: Fried Egg Special - Roosterfish | bottom right: 100s and 1000s Hibiscus - KrystalK}

The creativity of all these entries is amazing and looks like it was a lot of fun coming up with the ideas and then also getting the shot!