Round 3 of NDPS club’s Photographer of the Year (POTY) competition took place on 15th February 2022.
As usual, club members could enter one free choice image, and one image on the stated theme for that round.
The theme for this round was ‘Working with Light’.
Cathedral View (Themed Image)
For the themed image submission, I decided to submit my photo of Norwich cathedral from Jarrold Bridge. I wrote about this image here as it featured at number 8 in my Instagram Best 9 (most liked) shots of 2021.
I revisited the image and tried another edit to emphasise the light casting across the bridge, and I’ve the benefit of a calibrated screen this time to ensure the image is brighter.
You can see the re-edited image and a larger view of it via my Norfolk Gallery.
I was delighted that this image got shortlisted and the judge scored this shot a 10/10 and first place. I was so pleased to get top marks and come first. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
Judge’s feedback
The judge’s feedback was that he felt there were a lot of good things about this image. He liked the leading lines on the bridge, in particular the planks on the bottom, and the railings which takes the viewer in.
He considered the image and steeple to be pin sharp. He liked the visible detail including being able to see each individual brick on the side of the cathedral, and he felt the light had been handled really well.
He liked the little starburst on the right hand side that holds the viewers interest.
He thought the way it had been cropped, and the way it had been presented was really competent, and very impressive.
He said the image was sharp right from the front all the way to the back. He thought the author had done a really good job, and said he really enjoyed looking at it.
He didn’t think the steeple being right in the middle mattered at all.
In summary, he felt it was a really competent piece of work, and an absolutely cracking image declaring “well done”.
Scaleber Swirl (Free Choice)
For my free choice, I chose a shot from Scaleber Force in the Yorkshire Dales. This shot made it to number 4 of my Best 9 of 2021, certainly as far as Instagram browsers view it. I wrote about this image here.
I like it because of the swirly effect I achieved in the water.
For the competition, knowing that the original edit that I posted on Instagram with the tree to the left partially cropped would very likely cause compositional critique by any judge, I used an alternative wider shot with the whole tree visible, and re-edited from scratch.
The new mask tools in Adobe Lightroom make editing a shot like this so much easier.
I was pleased with it, and felt it would be a strong image. I held back from making the image too dark and tried to keep the green tones as natural as possible.
Some of the dirt in the foam section to the left of the swirl was cloned out just to clean it up but I left most of it in to be true to the scene at the time.
My night was even better as the judge shortlisted this image and scored it a 9/10.
Judge’s feedback
The judge’s feedback was that he hadn’t seen anything like this before.
He said long exposure waterfall shots were very common and said the whole scene had been handled really well, but he’d never seen a whirlpool like that and found it really interesting. He said the colours were very natural.
He pointed out the tree stump beside the water. He said the swirl really holds the viewers interest.
He said the author had got the [exposure] time right. A few seconds exposure to give that milky look (4 seconds as it happens), and he commented on it being a very unusual image.
Overall, it had kept his attention well.
Reflections
Competition Standing
My overall score for this round was 19/20 and you can see the improvement in my competition scores comparison below:
Round 1: 15/20 ~ 75%
Round 2: 15.5/20 ~ 77.5%
Round 3: 19/20 ~ 95%
Total to date: 49.5/60 ~ 82.5%
Obviously I was delighted with the results from this round. Once again, I learnt a lot from hearing feedback on all the members images including my own.
I chose the images for this round far more thoughtfully and carefully. I re-edited each shot from scratch, and critiqued each image to find fault with it.
Observing that some of my club pals have been averaging 9s and 10s in each of the three rounds to date, I think it’s out of reach for me to make the top three in my league with only two rounds left.
However, I am enjoying pushing myself to create a top quality image, from taking the shot, to editing, to outputting the image, so I will continue to aim high.
My wife keeps reminding me, while she rolls her eyes at my obsessive competitiveness and where I may express disappointment in myself, that this is my first year of competing against the crème de la crème of club photographers.
Perhaps this experience will motivate me to keep refining my technique and thinking in order to generate more top-ranking images.
Onwards and upwards.