Guildford Photosoc - Digital competition No 4

I entered two photographs for the final competition for digital images this year and both photographs obtained favorable scores.

High Polish

Nikon 18-200mm at 22mm: Iso 400 f8 for 1/60th seconds

This car was parked outside our hotel in Milan in May 2010. The morning light was bright on the building opposite producing this bright reflection. I chose this of several other photos that I took becuase more of the car was visible. Some of the others were rather too abstract. The judge considered whether the road surface in the background and side of the neighbouring car detracted from the picture, but ultimately awarded this photograph 10/10.

Mist on the canal

Nikon 18-200mm at 30mm: Iso 200 f5 for 1/5000 second

Taken against the sunlight, the exposure was difficult, so I bracketed several photos. I chose this one as I thought the misty surface of the canal was complimented by the dark trees on either side. I also liked the small patch of water at the bottom of the lock gates in the foreground. The judge awarded this photograph 9.5 out of ten. Interestingly, this was the photograph that most people I spoke to mentioned afterwards, rather than High Polish. I feel that this picture has a greater emotional pull than the reflection of a building.

Guildford Photosoc - competitions 2010-11

In December 2010 and January 2011 I have submitted photos to three club competitions.

Digital competition No. 3

Acer leaves

I took this photograph in the RHS gardens at Wisley for the TAOP exercise on Cloudy Weather and Rain.

I thought that it would be a suitable subject for a competition due to the vibrant colour and use of shallow depth of field to isolate this small group of leaves. Whilst the judge liked the colour and the use of depth of field, he considered that the alignment of the leaves was too close to vertical. He suggested that I should have looked for another group of leaves on a diagonal with greater separation from the background. The score awarded was 7.5 out of 10 in the general "Club class" section (which exclude more advanced photographers).

Tropical seashore

This was a photograph I took in Indonesia during our holiday in November 2010. I selected this photograph as I liked the atmosphere of total stillness of the seawater. The reflection of the sky in the sea surface is so clear that no horizon is visible. I thought that the visual elements in the foreground of the boat and submerged palm leaf were needed to draw the viewers eye towards and into the picture. The judge considered that there was potentially a better photograph in the reflection of the clouds in the water, but not the composition that I had selected. He awarded a score of 7 out of 10 in Club Class section (in a context where the lowest score awarded was 6.5 out of 10).

Print competition No 4

Plastic floats

This was a photograph that I originally took for TAOP Assignment 1 on Contrasts in February 2010. I selected this photograph for the competition, on the basis for competition entries, a strong visual impact is crucial. I thought that the saturated colours and curved forms would be suitable for this purpose. The judge acknowledged the colours and composition of the photograph. However, he was unfamiliar with the subject matter so that the curved shapes did not convey a recognizable physical form to him. He also noted a dust spot in the print which I had overlooked when printing the photograph. He awarded a score of 8.5 out of 10, which was in the middle of the range of scores awarded in this section of the competition.

Street after snow

This is a photograph that I took in December 2010 not far from the Fondation Henri Cartier Bresson in Paris. It is an abstract composition of a wet street surface with bright sunlight reflected from neighboring buildings. I felt that the high contrast surface textures, the diagonal road markings and contrasting colours of blue sky and yellow light produced an interesting abstract. The judge had no criticism of the technical quality of the print, but he considered that the visual elements were not quite strong enough to his taste. He awarded this picture a score of 8 out of ten.

Set subject competition

The set subject for this competition was "Opposites" and I submitted one digital image and one print entry (There is no distinction in this competition between Advanced and Club class.)

In defence of ancient traditions

This is a photograph I took on our visit to a remote island on our trip to Indonesia in November 2010. I selected this photo as I felt that it showed "opposites" in the sense of an indigenous man in traditional finery face to face with a European woman dressed in modern T-shirt and shorts. Visually, the photograph is reasonably strong; there is clearly some tension in the discussion, and the figures stand out because of the strong side lighting. The judge accepted the validity as a portrayal of opposites (he did not exclude any photographs as invalid however). The technical quality and exposure were also OK. There is just enough light reflected on the mans face so that his features are visible.

White for men, black for women

I took this picture in February 2009 on a visit to Oman. I felt that the contrast of black and white of dress of Omani men and women was a good example of opposites. I liked the way the dark area of the woman's cloak on the right acts as a diagonal frame for the man standing facing the camera. The judge liked the composition, but considered that there was not enough detail retained in the white of the man's arm and shoulder.

Conclusions

There are a some lessons to be learnt from these competitions, in particular that I should take greater care in printing of photographs.

Guildford Photosoc - Workshop on LAB color mode

Yesterday evening, I attended a workshop on LAB color mode techniques using Photoshop CS3. The workshop was given by Bronwen Brighton a photographer based in Farnham. The session was interesting for me as it provided a better understanding of both the basics of the RGB color mode as well as the LAB color mode. In LAB mode, the three channels treat color in a different way:-

• L channel: has no color but expresses dark or light only
• A channel: expresses the range of hues from green at one end to magenta at the other end.
• B channel: expresses the range of hues from blue at one end to yellow at the other end.

The mid position in A and B position represents mid grey.

Use of LAB mode can be a useful alternative way of enlivening dull pictures, adjusting color casts. It can also be used in a way to select areas of a particular hue spread throughout a picture (even where some parts are lighter or darker).

This may be worth referring back to in the next part of the course on Colour.

Bronwen Brighton's gallery of photographs are quite unusual both as regards the subjects and compositions. I may wish to revisit her gallery again as the course progresses.

Surrey Photographic Association Exhibition 2010

I visited the exhibition on two occasions to take it all in. This displays about 200 prints selected from roughly 1000 entries. The photographs covered every sort of subject and style.

I was surprised to see a number which looked more like paintings than photographs. Almost all would appear to have benefitted from refinement using Photoshop or similar. I wonder if we will reach a stage where the real world becomes too drab in comparison to these glowing pictures.

The overall winner was a photograph of a girl in a third world country sitting at a desk in front of a stained school room wall. She is resting on her elbows and appears to be looking at someone or something to the right of the camera. It is a lovely photo, but amongst so many outstanding photographs, it is not clear to me why the judges picked this one as the winner.

Print competition No 2

Entered two mounted prints into Guildford Photosoc print competition. "Wool on wire" astonishly was scored 10 by the judge, with "Spring morning" scoring a more reasonable 8 (scores out of 10). Unfortunately, I was not able to attend so I did not hear the judges comments. According to a friend, the judge was a bit erratic.