Hi Folks,
Last night was the third round of the club’s League Challenge Cup with the theme of ‘cold’ along with the open section.
Our Judge for the evening was Colin Mill from NC Milton Keynes.
There were 24 entries for the theme of cold and Colin had a run through of all images before giving any comments on each one.
The first to be held back was titled
Frozen Droplet
Works well said Colin, the blue background gives it that cold look. Perhaps could have gone in a little closer.
There is a spot of reflection from maybe the lens which is a little off putting and could have been darken down.
The next to be held back was titled
Baby it’s Cold Outside
The blue tones do give it a cold effect and the background is nicely out of focus. Colin loved the tones
The next was titled
Fluffed Up Against the Cold
Is this a bird photographer who has shoe horned this into the theme.
The bird is nicely fluffed up to fill the frame.
There is slight movement in the bird’s beak but that could be the bird shivering in the cold.
It was immediately given a mark of 20
The next to be held back was titled
Frozen Fruit
A blueberry and a peach captured as a standard magazine photograph.
Colin was loving the diagonal line the fruit created.
He liked the reds around it and it works well.
Could it be improved, said Colin?
No I don’t think it could, he replied to us
The next to be held back was titled
Walking on Ice
Perhaps another shoe horned picture but it works well, said Colin
The last to be held back was titled
Winter Coat
A classic traditional picture.
The photographer could have cloned out a small branch on the right.
The spacing was right so could not have been cropped out, so would have had to be cloned.
The size and space works well on the image.
So five were held back, plus one that already had been given a 20 score.
So Now Colin had to decide on the other marks and give his favourite.
Walking on Ice by Chenxi Ni was given 20 points (and judge’s choice)
Fluffed Up Against the Cold by Sarah Jennings was given 20 points
Winter Coat by Lawrence Doyle was given 19 points
Frozen Fruit by Kathy Chantler was given 19 points
Baby It’s Cold Outside by Brian Worley was given 19 points
Frozen Droplet by Jan Dell was given 18 points
Coffee time
In the open round there were 30 images entered
After a first run through Colin then gave his critique on the images in turn
The first to be held back was titled
Flamingo Flamenco
A great abstract which often do well in National Exhibitions.
Colin said added the fifth Flamingo on the left was genius, Colin like the dark effect above which draws the eye in.
The next to be held back was titled
In the harbour
It almost has a HDR look to it but very subtle.
The pattern in the sky was liked and it reflected well in the water.
The next to be held back was titled
The Genie is out
This is cleverly done, said Colin and has given him thought for another person’s project.
This all works well together and he was not sure whether the reflection of the smoke had been layered in.
Just needs to clone out one or two spots which may not have been visible on a laptop,
The next held back was titled
Mary Wearing Sunglasses
Colin loved the eyes and the stare.
The face is beautifully sharp but the shoulders are just going out of focus.
Colin loved the green eyes or are they brown? he said lol.
The next to be held back was titled
Masai Mari Sunrise
or is it Whipsnade , Colin jokingly said.
Is that a youngster between the legs of the third giraffe or are the legs just buckled.
A lovely coloured sky and nicely seen and photographed.
The last to be held back was titled
No Messing
No you would not want to mess with him, said Colin.
Carrying his lunchbox with lovely colouring and a good lighting set up.
The image titled
Look back was immediately given a 19 mark
Lovely detail on the Stag’s antlers.
Perhaps more lighting needed on the eyes
Also some cloning of some of the grass on the right hand side needed to be done.
So with six held back plus the Looking back which was given a 19.
it was time for Colin to give the final marks and his choice
The Genie is out by Peter Carter was given 20 points (and Judge’s Choice)
Mary Wearing Sunglasses by Nick Bennett was given 20 points
Open Masai Mara Sunrise by Sarah Jennings was given 20 points
No Messing by Steve Beckett was given 20 points
Flamingo Flamenco by Kathy Chantler was given 20 points
Looking Back by Chenxi Ni was given 19 points
In the Harbour by Chris Andrews was given 18 points
Next week is
Guest Speaker – Neil Cave (TimeLine Events) – Inspire, Capture, Print
Tuesday February 19, 2019 from 20:15 to 22:15
Neil Cave of TimeLine Events will be joining us to talk about his journey through photography and setting up TimeLine Events. This is a rescheduling of the talk originally due in October 2018.