The club welcomed Royston Williamson via Zoom to judge our fourth and final Open PDI competition of this season with David A as our fine host for the evening.
Following a shout-out for entries, we were delighted to see a total of 42 in all! Three in our Advisory, nine in the Standard and 30 in the Advanced.
Royston took a good option, where he was happy to spend that bit more time on the Advisory and Standard entries as far as comments were concerned, with the Advanced group getting a more “direct” approach.
As the evening progressed, Royston made us all aware of things he likes. A good white keyline was perhaps the most prominent of his observations around the presentation of images and when examining the work, his eye looked to a good strong “in focus” area within a well constructed image.
He is not averse to removing distractions from the photo and gave good pointers on when a good out of focus background is as effective as a sharp foreground/subject when it comes to directing the viewer’s eye.
Aspect ratios also played a part when Royston was assessing the images and as is often the case, when they work well on the subject, they can add a lot more than it seems.
He did like all three of the Advisory images (all by Nina) and offered advice on cropping, focal points and use of light.
In our Standard Class, four images were held back and our only 10 and so the winner on the night was Kevin B. Congrats to Kevin!
Royston enjoyed the construction of the work and the great use of the colours in the keylines and around the overall image. He did also say he does not like peppers! Kevin later revealed that it is the same pepper in all three frames – just with changed colours to create the final effect.
Kevin also grabbed the 9.50 score with this excellent work.
Royston liked the eyes and the background with its spots of bokeh.
Barbara A scored two 9s. Well done to her!
With this image, Royston said that the colours and overall softness of the image were its major features, with the gentle fading focus adding to the effect.
For this one, Royston picked up a good “letterbox” presentation and the muted colour palette, combining to great effect.
Our Advanced group had some good and straightforward comments made on each image, with Royston telling us what he liked and why. Seven images were held back.
Our top mark 10+ and winner on the night was Martin F. Congratulations Martin!
Royston felt this is a great example of the “less is more” working well; the clouds in the sky, and the little sliver of land at the bottom both contribute to the title. Putting the people off-centre was “a masterstroke”.
Dave S took the other 10. Well done Dave!
Royston commented on the wingtip to wingtip sharpness and great eye that make this image work.
Alfred C was one of the three with a 9.50. Congrats to Alfred!
Royston enjoyed the great sharpness overall, especially on the fly. Perhaps a bit more space around the flower and this could have been a contender!
Roshan also took a 9.50. Well done to him.
It was perhaps a rather unusual compliment but what caught Royston’s eye was how good the leopard is camouflaged in the image! He also appreciated the natural colours of the photograph.
Our third 9.50 went to Chris R. Congrats Chris.
Royston called this a “lovely image” and noted how the eye is taken through the photograph by the composition from shore to sky.
Chris also grabbed a 9 with this work.
Royston said how well the overall image worked with the curves of the harbour and buildings adding interest.
Joe F also scored a 9 with his portrait. Congrats to Joe.
This caught Royston’s eye due to the simple style of the shot and the direct eye contact of the subject.
And so with this being the final PDI of our season, we can reveal our top scorers in the Standard category were:
1st – Kevin B – 51.50 (three competitions entered)
2nd – Vince B – 40.00 (three)
3rd – Barbara A – 36.50 (two)
Congratulations to Kevin for taking the prize!
Over in the Advanced group, things were tight at the top before this one and the outcome is:
1st – Alfred C – 74.50 (four competitions entered)
2nd – Dave S – 73.00 (four)
3rd – Chris R – 69.50 (four)
Congratulations to Alfred!
A big thank you to Royston and to all who entered work in the PDI events throughout the season!
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