This, the last competition for 2022, was judged by Eddie Hyde FRPS. I don’t remember Eddie judging any of our past competitions and I wonder why. I thought his comments were pretty much on the ball, constructive, relevant and his marking was consistent with his comments. We must invite him back again, eh?
There were 33 entries, all in one class, and the meeting was held over Zoom.
So here are the winning entries. Eddie picked out three 10s, awarding the 10+ to Dave S for Angles. Well done Dave.
Dave told me the image had been taken at a special exhibition at the V&A. Eddie said the image shows very careful observation of the architectural detail, a strong focal point with lead-ins, and a great colour composition.
The second 10 went to Rosh for Just Chilling. A really unusual and slightly comedic picture of a fox looking over a wall or roof ridge. A very sharp and detailed image with a good depth of field and exposure. A great photo Rosh.
Mandy was a awarded the third 10 for Ring-necked parakeet. Eddie said he hated these birds screeching in his garden but that this picture almost made him want to like them. He said this was a very special image of a bird in flight, a nice compositional shape, beautiful colour variations in the bird and a harmonising out-of-focus background. Well done Mandy.
Another of Mandy’s birds in flight, Great-spotted Woodpecker, was awarded 9.5. Technically very good with a slight movement blur on the wing tips which is to be expected and helps give a sense of movement. A nice natural looking background.
The other 9.5 went (unexpectedly!) to Room to grow. I just had fun with that one. It was a stray branch growing horizontally from a Forsythia bush and I liked the regular spacing of the side shoots. It looked almost like air-layering so I changed the background and drew in some pretend roots with the pencil tool. Naughty.
Eddie awarded four 9s.
They were for Flora Pyrotechnica (hang on Dave S, I’m the only one allowed neologisms).
Stonechat, another great dynamic nature shot from a Rosh.
White Morpho by Alfred. A beautifully rendered image of an exotic butterfly. Careful exposure needed on shots like that to avoid burnout of highlights.
And finally Catch of the Day from Brian. A well-timed opportunistic grab shot centred on the emerging fish with radiating ripples in the water and the curvature of the rod straining to lift it.
A very satisfactory evening I thought with fair comments and marking. It’s not often I feel I can say that. Thanks a lot Eddie.
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