As we’re into a new photography club season, the programme for judging images and competitions has changed significantly from last year.
There are fewer competitions and several critique nights.
Critique nights are where members can enter two images of any genre and the judge will… well, just judge.
With no scores to quote, members can enjoy receiving some critique, and there’s no winners and no losers.
Pre-event thoughts
I was sceptical about the critique evening idea, but thought I would give it a try.
The two images I entered are below:
Image One – Aurora at Happisburgh
In entered the shot below taken in February 2023.
I was reasonably pleased with this shot, but more because it was my first ever Aurora shot. Well, I refer to it as an Aurora shot but it’s more of a glimpse of it really.
The reason I submitted the image for critique is that I don’t think it’s good enough for competition. It’s far too noisy.
Judge’s critique
It was amusing that the judge said nothing about noise.
They advised to crop some off the right hand side, and from the bottom up to the black edge of the field in the foreground on the left.
They were unsure what was going on with the lighting and advised that I tone that down. Some of my fellow club members told me at tea break that they had guessed the light was from car headlamps, and they were correct.
I re-edited the shot taking on-board the judge’s advice.
I also plucked another shot out of my captures of that evening, and edited from scratch. The appeal of this next shot is it’s a closer capture of the lighthouse.
It was very interesting to hear the judge’s comments, and my takeaway was that the shot is not lost, it has some value.
It hasn’t changed my mind about its value in terms of competition though, but I won’t say never!
Image Two – No Fire Without Smoke
I chose this next shot as I’ve always liked the irony of it.
It was taken in 2022 as part of a wander around Norwich looking for images for a club competition round called ‘urban life’.
I had been interested in it going in, but my wife Kathryn has never seen anything in it.
Judge’s critique
The judge thought this was an interesting shot.
They liked the signs but felt the scene would be better with a smoker in the scene.
They liked the detail in the sky, and felt this was a good use of a filter (it was actually post processing but never mind).
They were frustrated that they couldn’t see anything past the gate.
I think this critique was very useful and informative, and proved Kathryn right. Yes, she’s always right! (Well she thinks she is…)!
Since the judging involved feedback that can’t be applied to the original capture (the composition, no smoker), there’s no re-edit to show.
Post-event thoughts
After some scepticism about critique evenings, I really enjoyed seeing all the images and hearing the feedback.
Without the edginess of scoring, it had a more relaxed feel, such that you could sit back, relax and just listen.
It’s also made me think that perhaps I should consider putting some more images in which I think have competition potential.
All in all, an enjoyable evening and I look forward to the next one.
Onwards and upwards…