Theme for Print Round 2
The theme for the second print round was Light and Shadow and below is the brief.
This theme is about the dance of light and dark — in any subject. Dramatic lighting, contrast, silhouette, and chiaroscuro are welcome. A technical and artistic challenge.
The judging criteria was listed as mastery of lighting or contrast, visual drama and mood, control of highlights and shadows in print, artistic interpretation of the theme.
After some extensive trawling through my catalogue, and harassing family members for opinion, I choose two images, one would be colour, and one would be monochrome.
Image 1 – Early Morning On The Pier
The first image was from a sunrise shoot at Cromer where myself and another photographer experienced a fantastic winter morning.
There was a colourful sunrise and some amazing scenes on the pier.
This shot didn’t need to much in post-production when compared to what I had done at the time.
I did revisit the edits briefly, changed the crop ratio a little, and toned down the bright part of the sky to the right of the hut.
I also tried my best to draw out or emphasise the shadows (or reflections?) in the pier’s decking.
The mounted print is shown below.
Self-critique (pre-judging)
I think this is a pleasing scene that meets the brief.
Lovely early morning colours and plenty of light and shadow.
Let’s be as harsh as we can:
- The shadows are really (mostly) reflections?
- There are two main elements (not an odd number) with the hut and the lamps
Other than the above criticisms, the only other thing I can think of is that the image isn’t “Wow”!
I would expect this image to achieve a 8-9/10 or 16-18/20.
Judge’s verdict
The judge said they thought this might be Cromer Pier (correct).
The said they loved the sky, but felt the image was ‘too small for the people at the back”.
They liked the starburst effect from the light but said they would recommend a bracketed shot to bring detail back in the white area.
They could see that it had probably been raining which brought out reflections on the decking.
They repeated the advice that the highlights need to be handled, and the image could’ve been printed larger, and awarded the image print 17/20 (8.5 in old money).
Post-judging thoughts
The score was in the range I had hoped for, and I understand the point about highlight detail.
However, but… (there’s always a but)… it’s a lantern with light emanating from it? How often do you look at the light of a lantern to find detail in the light? I had made sure ink was on the paper!
The other comment about size of print for folks at the back of the room. Irrelevant! I have been criticised in the past for prints that are too big, and I’ve had good success with, and now enjoy, reducing the size of the print.
More importantly, we are not told to print so that club members at the back of the hall can see them! Ridiculous, especially as most members can’t see more than a few feet in front of their own eyes (me included).
I think what he really meant was, I (as in he) prefers larger prints. Dude, you’re here to judge the image and quality of print not exert your personal preferences. Anyhowz… rant over.
Image 2 – Shadows On The Beach Hut
For my second image, I’ve gone with a shot from a walkabout on Hunstanton beach.
I had used an image (different one) from this visit for one of my panels last year.
This was the first attempt which I had ready to go.
Very last minute, I changed my mind as I felt the square crop was too flat and uninteresting so I found another image with angles, and more things for the viewer. to take in.
I removed as many distractions as I could and ran this image through two Nik filters for contrast and high dynamic effects.
The mounted print is shown below.
Self-critique (pre-judging)
Beyond meeting the brief, what is there to criticise?
Once again, a judge could criticise the detailed parts not being odd numbers – bloody tedious if they do.
I think a more likely criticism will be that they would like the blacks to be darker, and/or the overall image to be darker.
I think it’s possible they will whinge about the texture in the wood being visible in the top half of the hut but now the lower part.
Again, I think this image is probably in the 8-9 range (16-18).
Judge’s verdict
The judge said they liked the large matted area (border) of the print… (remember this comment)…
They asked does it fit the theme? Yes it does they answer (more on this later).
It fits the bill, and was well seen.
There are blacks, whites, and detail.
They liked the composition and slats on the diagonal, and also the texture in the wood.
They peered into the print and said the fine art paper helps show the detail.
A ‘well seen’ comment was repeated.
They then moaned that they would’ve liked to have seen the image larger, completely contradicting the earlier comment about liking the border (space) around the print! The image print was awarded 18/20 (9/10 in old money).
Post-judging thoughts
This image scored well, and I’m pleased I changed it. It’s scored top-end of my prediction so mus’n grumble. Well, not quite…
The judge’s blatant contradiction of print size was annoying.
I looked at the print at the tea break, and really do not think it was small, or would work larger. I asked a couple of other photographers, and they agreed.
There wasn’t much else to go on with the comments so all in all not too bad.
Reflections
Overall, the judge’s feedback was useful and constructive.
However, he must have mentioned the theme more times than I could keep count. What’s wrong with that I hear you bellow? Well, he kept announcing the theme as “Light and Shade” when it’s “Light and Shadow”!
Jeez, how tedious are you I can hear you say? Let me explain…
I spent a hell of a lot of time finding images that I felt showed shadows, not shade, not just reflections, so I felt this had been wasted effort.
Overall though, 35/40, or 17.5/20, or 87.5% is not a disaster, and within my predicted range. Nothing much to moan about then? No way! There’s always lots to moan about!
Until next time.
Onwards and upwards…