The meeting this evening, held online, was our third open projected digital image competition of the 2023/24 season, critiqued and judged by Royston Williamson. Royston last judged at the club in April of this year, and is on the SPA judges panel.
We had 42 images submitted, all combined into a single class. Royston made a number of comments about each picture, many of which were repeated for more than one image. The most common issues identified were as follows:-
- The importance of using a stroke around the image, particularly important for dark images being projected onto a dark screen
- Sharpness of the main subject within the image
- Effective use of background blur received favourable comment
- Composition, with key points of interest being located on the ‘thirds’ being noted on several occasions
- The main subject area of the image holding the eye when viewing the image
Twelve images were held back for a second view and final scoring, representing the work of eight different photographers. It is good to see so many different members still being in contention for top marks at this late stage of the evening. All of the images held back scored nine points or higher.
The first image to be awarded a score of 9½ points was ‘Chamonix skyline’ by Philip R, and this is reproduced below.
Royston’s comments included how effective the letterbox format was. He was also impressed by the mountains, the sky, the paraglider – overall a really good image.
The second image awarded 9½ points was ‘Early start to the day’ by Chris R.
Our judge said he liked this picture, which worked well. He particularly commented on the way the pavement leads into the image and to the main subject at the focal point. He felt that the illuminated lamp had been controlled well, being bright but not overpowering. The monochrome treatment here was seen as successful.
The third image to score 9½ points was ‘The ruins of old Scotney Castle’ , also submitted by Chris R.
Royston’s comment was that this image worked well, the monochrome treatment was successful, and the stroke finished it off successfully. He particularly commented on the level of detail apparent in the building materials.
The first image to receive a score of 10 points was ‘Green bee eater’ by Roshan R.
Our judge was impressed by the sharpness of the capture of both the bird and the insect. He also commented on how effective the background blur was in isolating the main subject. He discussed the bright edges of the supporting branch, but felt this did not overly distract from the main subject.
The next image awarded 10 points was ‘Heliconius Doris butterfly’ , by Dave S, reproduced below.
Royston said this was a nice picture, sharp throughout all parts of the insect, with the background sufficiently out of focus to show the butterfly well.
The third image to score 10 points on the evening was ‘Spiro’ by David A.
Our judge said that this sharp monochrome image worked well, with the pose looking to the side making it a dynamic capture
Our final image, scoring 10+ points as the winner on the evening, was ‘Pier by Sea’ also by
David A
This image drew the comment “love it”. The image was described as having nice depth into the distance, with nothing not to like anywhere .
So, congratulations to David A for his winner as well as having a close runner up also receiving 10 points, as well as to all of our other top scorers on the evening.
With only one more competition in this series to complete this season, the tension mounts as to the likely overall winner – but we must wait until March before we can find out the final result.
Edited 5 Jan 2024 to correct misattribution of image ‘Heliconius Doris butterfly’ , actually by Dave S,
0 Comments