January 2007 Competition Results
Discussion
I found some time to do his at work, shh ! First may I say that deciding on a winner was a difficult job because there are so many good images in this month’s competition. In fact as there were so many I thought I’d borrow from a concept from the Photographic Society of America and introduce some Honourable Mentions for good photos that didn’t quite make it to the top three. I can see the tweaks that some people have made before entering and it has definitely improved the images.
Honourable Mentions:
Pikey – I admire your bravery in getting your camera out in those conditions. The partially cut off person on the left is not a problem for me as they are looking in to the picture but as with the dancer it could do with some of the right hand side of the image being cropped off.
Paddy27 Exercising the dog – Getting a low angle in the wind and sand is very creative (and possibly threatening to the life of the camera!). Good timing as there seems to be only 1 leg out of 6 touching the ground, just a pity that the same timing has caused the dog’s rear legs to have all but disappeared. I know I’m being picky but for this competition I would have liked to see the ball or stick that the dog is running after to tell the story in the image/indicate the activity in progress – this is something that could be photoshopped in afterwards if need be.
Similarly with digger man’s cat, great portrait of the animal, you’ve got down to its level and I can see the intent look on its face but for this competition it needs something else in the picture to indicate what it was concentrating on.
Puggit’s Dancer – Not the best technically but nevertheless it has strong emotional appeal for me. It could do with a bit cropping off the right to concentrate more on the girl as the subject.
So, on to the placings:
THIRD is Rhubarb’s picture of the Le Mans practice tyre change, the best of the “mechanics at work” images. A hive of activity with movement both implied and visible in it, framing and timing spot on.
SECOND is Mxdi’s excellent picture of the canoeist with the splashing water frozen in mid air. If this was a sports/action/impact competition it would probably win but in this case I was looking for something a little bit different.
FIRST place goes to Stuart b’s farrier at work. You can see the movement and the activity is depicted well in the image. I get a good feeling for the size of the horse and it looks wonderfully noble and patient whilst just gently nuzzling the man in his back. Its presented in monochrome and has been given a tint that brings in the warmth of the emotional element. Finally it’s been taken in portrait format too !
Honourable Mentions:
Pikey – I admire your bravery in getting your camera out in those conditions. The partially cut off person on the left is not a problem for me as they are looking in to the picture but as with the dancer it could do with some of the right hand side of the image being cropped off.
Paddy27 Exercising the dog – Getting a low angle in the wind and sand is very creative (and possibly threatening to the life of the camera!). Good timing as there seems to be only 1 leg out of 6 touching the ground, just a pity that the same timing has caused the dog’s rear legs to have all but disappeared. I know I’m being picky but for this competition I would have liked to see the ball or stick that the dog is running after to tell the story in the image/indicate the activity in progress – this is something that could be photoshopped in afterwards if need be.
Similarly with digger man’s cat, great portrait of the animal, you’ve got down to its level and I can see the intent look on its face but for this competition it needs something else in the picture to indicate what it was concentrating on.
Puggit’s Dancer – Not the best technically but nevertheless it has strong emotional appeal for me. It could do with a bit cropping off the right to concentrate more on the girl as the subject.
So, on to the placings:
THIRD is Rhubarb’s picture of the Le Mans practice tyre change, the best of the “mechanics at work” images. A hive of activity with movement both implied and visible in it, framing and timing spot on.
SECOND is Mxdi’s excellent picture of the canoeist with the splashing water frozen in mid air. If this was a sports/action/impact competition it would probably win but in this case I was looking for something a little bit different.
FIRST place goes to Stuart b’s farrier at work. You can see the movement and the activity is depicted well in the image. I get a good feeling for the size of the horse and it looks wonderfully noble and patient whilst just gently nuzzling the man in his back. Its presented in monochrome and has been given a tint that brings in the warmth of the emotional element. Finally it’s been taken in portrait format too !
dy phone line at home - grrrrStunned!!!
I thought I'd use the competitions as a way to try and improve my photography. So I thought about ideas and then went and shot this specially for the comp. Never dreamt I would place let alone win having seen the others. Thanks so much and thanks for all the kind comments.
I'll have a think about a subject then - gulp (weight of responsibility)!
Stuart
I thought I'd use the competitions as a way to try and improve my photography. So I thought about ideas and then went and shot this specially for the comp. Never dreamt I would place let alone win having seen the others. Thanks so much and thanks for all the kind comments.
I'll have a think about a subject then - gulp (weight of responsibility)!
Stuart
mxdi said:
It would be interesting to have a competition with a stipulation that no-one could use PS or manipulate their entry in any way. The results would be interesting.
Can you tell that I am not a great PS fan, as I cant use it
Edited by mxdi on Saturday 3rd February 00:19
I know what you mean, but if we remove PS then we just re-introduce the darkroom. I know things where more complicated then, and took more time, but a very large number of the classic photos we see were manipulated some way in the dark room. the question becomes what is and is not acceptable, not the medium of it's production.
mxdi said:
then surely professionals would need to be barred from it 
flattery will get you everywhere 
gopher said:
mxdi said:
It would be interesting to have a competition with a stipulation that no-one could use PS or manipulate their entry in any way. The results would be interesting.
Can you tell that I am not a great PS fan, as I cant use it
Edited by mxdi on Saturday 3rd February 00:19
I know what you mean, but if we remove PS then we just re-introduce the darkroom. I know things where more complicated then, and took more time, but a very large number of the classic photos we see were manipulated some way in the dark room. the question becomes what is and is not acceptable, not the medium of it's production.
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