Our meeting this week took place using Zoom, and was dedicated to the subject of Smartphone photography, where all images had to be taken on and edited on a tablet or Smartphone.  We had invited David Sadler to provide us with his critique of the images, and to moderate a discussion with the photographer and other members around each image.  This was David’s first ‘visit’ to Photocraft from his base in Scotland.

We had 36 images received for the evening, so only a limited time available for discussion about any single image.  The evening was not intended to be a scoring competition, and does not appear on the seasons’ leader boards. As is usual for Photocraft, we viewed the images in random order, and started with a sequence of them all in a slide-show format.  David then provided us with a critique of every image, delivered very constructively, and then went on to moderate the discussion with enthusiasm and humour.  Following this discussion we had a little time left so asked David to nominate his favourite image of the evening.  He did better than this and gave us a first, second, and third, with four further images deserving of a special mention, and gave us a novel  ‘authors award’ for a particular group of three images which he felt had been presented with a high level of imagination and panache. I personally think it must have been the ‘Lame Duck’ image that swung this, with its walking-stick to hand  wing detail.

David showed great skill in picking eight different photographers in his final selection, without knowing who had produced each image, and with no duplications.  The fact that three of these photographers were also named David should not be seen as any indication of collusion.  Other names are available.  This gives us a lot of images to include in this blog. 

The first picture shown below is a sample from the authors award set, titled ‘Homed at last in the wee room’ by David P.  This shows a framed copy of David’s image titled ‘Soft bog roll’ ( the winner of a judges’ award at the recent SPA annual competitions), mounted beside the original subject.  What is not clear here is that the original image was taken using a zone plate aperture in place of the lens on the camera its-self; a very soft image.  Our moderator liked the picture in picture format, and felt the capture of the WC handle was very effective.

The first image in the special mention group is ‘A view of the river’ by Chris R, shown below.  This wide view of the Thames has been split between four panels.  David felt the overall presentation worked very well, and within the image commented on the capture of the clouds and the sunlight bringing out the details in the brighter buildings.  Chris himself explained that the hardest task was to achieve alignment of the four images within the separate windows, which took a considerable amount of time and effort.

The next picture up in this group was ‘Golden Hill by Brian C, included below.  David felt this photograph was improved by the hazy distant background, was taken in good light, and was made by being a simple image free of distractions.  Brian explained that unlike many visitors to Shaftsbury, he had stepped out of the coffee shop behind the camera to take this picture!

The third photograph in this group is ‘Sisters’ by David M, shown below.  David opened his critique by saying that pictures of kids in other peoples families can easily pall.  In this case the very directional top lighting worked beautifully.  He did feel that a keyline and a tighter crop would have improved the presentation.

The last image in this group was ‘Open Begonia’ by Dave S, included below.  David commented that this picture had a good subject and had been taken very close in, but that nevertheless most of the petal edges were sharp.  There was an appealing range of shades of orange with interesting shapes.  Overall the image worked a treat, with no distractions.  He felt that the right hand edge was a little too tight in the frame.

The picture David felt was his third favourite overall was ‘Grand Tetons’ by Mark B, shown below.  David was surprised that this was a Smartphone image at all, as he felt this quality of image might have been expected to have come from a full size, quality camera.  He complemented the good light in the image, and the way the sky detail balances well with the subject.  Mark let us know that this was the view from the hotel where he was staying.

The image given second favourite overall was ‘Garden Snail’ by Colin P, included below.   David named this as one of his favourites on first viewing, being especially keen on the eye stalk nearest the camera.  He described this as a very effective shot with good lighting and composition. He was impressed by the depth of field in the image from a phone camera.

Finally, our guest moderators’ favourite photograph on the evening was ‘Millie and Friend’ by Kevin B, shown below.  Another favourite on first viewing this was described as very intimate and very confined.  It was seen as a nice subject, good arrangement, and good colours.

Congratulations to all of those mentioned above for having caught the reviewers’ eye, and especially to those given top honours.  Our thanks also to David Sadler for joining us tonight. He  provided us with an entertaining and insightful critique.  Perhaps we should see if we can arrange a talk at some stage, so he can give us details of how his camera survived taking the shot on the  opening screen of his website.

Website link:  https://davidsadlerphotography.com/about-me

Author: David M