The fifth and final round of NDPS club’s POTY (Photographer of the Year) competition took place on 18th April 2023.
As always, one themed image and one free choice image was the ask.
This was a digital image round so no printed mounts to produce this time.
I had worked out that I needed a combined score of 16/20 of beat last year’s cumulative score by 0.5 points.
Themed Round (Captured this Season): Sunrise Mooring at Thorpe Bay
Captured this season was defined by the rules as an image that must’ve been taken on or after 6th September 2022.
I chose my image from Thorpe Bay that recently featured in Amateur Photographer Magazine.
I was tempted to hold this back for next season but I really wanted to punt this one in to see what a judge would score it as, since it has been featured in an international magazine.
You can read about the magazine feature here, and the blog from the club trip to Essex when I took this shot here.
Judge’s Verdict
The judge said they liked the metallic look to parts of this image. They said the detail in the boat was sharp.
They liked that the horizon was just above centre that added more depth to the foreground, and they liked the ripples in the sand acting as a leading line.
They said the sky was an unusual colour but you do get different colours on sunrises, and said that more detail in the sky would’ve been nice but nevertheless it was a very nice shot and held back the image.
The image was awarded a score of 9.5/10 coming second to two jointly scored 10/10 images.
Free Choice: In a Flap
I had a shortlist of images for this round and after taking a second look at them, there were one or two I ruled out as not being up to the standard I felt I needed.
I thought this shot of a pheasant taken recently at a nature reserve may go down very well.
For the edit, I cleaned the image up by ensuring no distracting elements remained. There were some specks of dirt in the air which the bird created in flapping it’s wings which I removed.
I dialled up the saturation of the colours in the feathers taking care not to overcook it. Then I enhanced the foreground blur of the grass a little more so that it looked just right and desaturated it to ensure it wasn’t distracting.
I then decided a square crop would suit this image well to focus on the bird.
Going into this round, I wondered if the judge would comment on any lack of context/background.
Judge’s Verdict
Although the judge was remote on Zoom, the club members were gathered in person at our club venue, which has a huge projector screen to see everyone’s images in large scale size.
As my image came up, members gasped and laughed at the expression the bird was displaying.
The judge said that the audience reaction says it all, and that they really liked this image.
They said the saturation was good against sky – of course, the sky was actually water but who cares?
The judge liked the bird’s expression and that the focus was on the bird and with everything else works well. They very much enjoyed the humour in the shot which goes with the title. The image was held back and went into the shortlist.
The image was awarded a score of 10/10 and picked as the winner of this round just pipping another 10/10 rated shot.
Reflections on this Season 2022/23
My overall score of 83.5 beats last season’s score of 79.5 which was my objective to demonstrate improvement/progression.
Below are my round by round score comparisons:
2022/23
14/20 (70%)
16.5/20 (82.5%)
16.5/20 (82.5%)
17/20 (85%)
19.5/20 (97.5%)
83.5/100 (83.5%)
2021/22
15/20 (75%)
15.5/20 (77.5%)
19/20 (95%)
15/20 (75%)
15/20 (75%)
79.5/100 (79.5%)
Last year, I came joint fifth in my league compared to this seasons result where I’ve scored in fourth place, a whole 5 points away from third place.
For context, this year there were 21 club members in my league.
I’m very pleased to have exceeded last years score and be the best, closest place to the finalists.
- 1st place total score: 91.0
- 2nd place total score: 88.5
- 3rd place total score: 88.5
- ————————————-
- 4th place total score: 83.5 (Me)
- 5th place total score: 81.0
- 6th place total score: 79.0
Congratulations to David, Pat and Clive who now join the top three from the higher league members for the finals of POTY.
In the meantime achieving 9.5 or 10 scores this round means both of my images from this final round now automatically qualify for the club’s Image of the Year competition.
Onwards and upwards…