Digital Photography Competition – July Results Comments

Some great entries there.

Did Csaba Meszaros' shot on page 3 suffer because he has won so many times in the past? That was an absolutely fantastic shot, especially with such limited post processing. Great vision to see that composition from the start.

Some interesting entried this month. I will try to make my critique a little more balanced.

1. Leaves.
Good: nice arrangement here, works well with the shape of the cloud from top right to bottom left. First impressions are of an attractive visual arrangment.
Bad: horrible aspect ratio, the redundant area of sky on the left should be cropped to bring this to a 4:3 or even 3:2 aspect ratio. The biggest mistake is the dark leaf: the biggest leaf in the foreground should be the focal point of this image, but for some reason it's so dark as to be almost a silhouette. It creates a horrible sense of negative space, which detracts hugely from the success of the photo.

2. Girl.
Good: A striking, captivating image, beautiful lighting.
Bad: Cluttered right hand edge, the brightly lit bracken should have been spotted and removed, it's taller than the girl and steals focus from her eyes (which are possibly too blue for my liking). Likewise the branch leading out of the frame should have been spotted and dealt with, either by hand, or by recomposing. The subject's head is too close to centre. I would have put her head in the bottom left third of the frame. Teddy's face is obscured. This is a great pic, but a bit more attention to detail would have been better.

3. Poker
Good: Evidently a technical triumph, took a while to achieve.
Bad: This shot has zero atmosphere. The decision to use a black background obliterates any sense of depth, so the fact that the chips are mid flight is not obvious. Only their shadows yield the slightest sense of depth. And if it's such a great hand why aren't you betting the rest of the chips? Where are the opponents? Where is the ATMOSPHERE? There's nothing in this image to suggest this is the end of the night. Yet another example of the blurb winning over the judges. The foreground left fingers and cards, which ought to be the focus of the 'looking up' theme, are underexposed and therefore sidelined. The visual elements of the scene don't gel together well. There's no sense of excitement, or tension. If it weren't for the perspective of the cards this scene would have no apparent depth. Too much black space at top of image. Definitely NOT a worthy winner, I think the judges have given too much credit to the efforts behind the image, as opposed to the merits of the image itself.

Well done Paul your picture was simply amazing! What a great interpretation too :) I look at these comments every week but always consider entering but never do because i cant think of what to do

Love the winner - cracking shot. Congrats to everyone :D

@ johnbaker
you want to enter next time ;)

the leaves picture size was obviously to get all the cloud in but it would have been nice if there was a little more red in the first leaf then I think that should have won IMO

needless to say if I were to enter the subject would be good but it would be on an phone cam (n95) with no post processing at all (given I'm not a photographer at all) and you never see any like that in the top few

Beautiful photos, several especially so.


@johnbaker -seriously? my critique, balanced or not, YAWN

I swear Darren's has won an ephotozine comp before... that's one lucky photo :-)

Wow, I can't believe I won, especially looking at some of the other shots, my favourites are Mark Liebenberg's and Rahul Bhatnagar's.
@ johnbaker
I take onboard your comments but, in this case, I don't agree with most of them, suppose I should just be glad it wasn't you judging. I probably would switch to a green table if I was shooting it again though.

@johnbaker: while i disgaree with much of your post (especially the presentation, which liberally confuses personal taste with objective fact) on reflection, i take your point about a lack of atmosphere in the poker shot. In my opinion, it would be better served by a less contrived setting. Not that i'm saying it's a bad photo - i still like the visual pun - i just think it might have been even better had the photographer strived to make it look less like a setup, and more like a genuine poker game. It would have played to the central theme of the photo - a great hand in a thusfar poor game - made it seem more poignent/significant/powerful.

I do a lot of a setup stuff myself, and often darkness as a background. An absence of light seems a better context in which to isolate a subject, rather than a neutral background of some sort, which is forced/contrived. It's just that here, it feels like it perhaps detracts slightly from the impact of the image, rather than adds to it.

Congrats to the winners, some lovely photos. @JohnBaker - I'm sure we all look forward to seeing your entries. "Those who can, do..."

JohnBaker - just let your pictures do the talking in future.

It might come across better.

@johnbaker - I do value your opinion, don't get me wrong, it's sure helpful to see it described through the eyes of someone that appears to know a great deal about photography. But, could you please next time write at least as much about what was good in those pictures than more or less just what you felt was bad? I really had hard time taking your comments seriously at a first glance, as it seemed more like a desperate search of failures than a balanced critique that yourself set on writing. I might not know much about photography in any professional sense but I wouldn't mind to. Thanks in advance ;)

Oh, and of course great entries again from everyone, I really enjoy these little competitions on TR and can't wait till the next one and browsing through my photo collection if I have something worth sending in. Wit and resourcefulness of entrants never stopped amazing me and each new month I learn that little bit more, making shots I take better and better. Many thanks to all involved! :)

This all brings to mind a satirical blog post entitled "Great Photographers on the Internet" in which works of a number of acknowledged greats (including Cartier-Bresson & Edward Steichen) are displayed with the comments of online photo "experts" below.
Each photo is of course ripped to shreds in the balanced, constructive, patronising's fashion we all know and love.

I understood the TR photo competition to be as much about interpretation and imagination as it was about technical or compositional excellence or perhaps I should say conformity.

Maybe the judges could consider an increased level of analysis in future competitions. Which would cover the accusations of mindless backslapping and hopefully provide a more balanced base for the comments that follow.
Opinions will no doubt continue to differ ...and rightly so.

Congratulations to all.

First of all, i'd just like to thank the team for choosing my Falling Leaves pic as a winner. Looking forward to seeing the postie!

Secondly, i appreciate the comments (both positive and negative) about my image. Whether people like it or not is up to them, i'm just happy to win a prize, lol!

Congratulations to the other winners and look forward to the next competition.

Dear Trusted Review,

I feel compelled to write to complain that once again I seem to have been overlooked in the judging of this month's competition.

For years I have imagined the perfect picture in my head, a stunning composition, amazing lighting, a subject that everyone will be immediately interested in, and yet again, no prize is coming my way. I have read literally thousands of articles on photography, bought books, and have spent countless hours discussing the technical intricacies of the art on web-forums. I once even bought a camera, but after I just sat staring at the shiny buttons, my Mum made me sell it.

And despite all this, your praise and awards seem to be prejudiced towards those who have got off their posteriors, and taken actual pictures, I mean, that is so unfair, in my imagination, my photoshopping skills are far superior, and just because they have had the guts to send their entries in, they are yet again given free cameras, and other prizes.

I request that you immediately recognise my genius and despatch a camera to me immediately

P.S. Please could you have a word with those Pulitzer Prize judges while you are at it, as they seem to be making the same basic selection errors as yourself

@Trusted Reviews

Have you ever considered a separate, compact only, photo competition?

I am really pleased that my picture was good enough to be published on your website.

I have not been taking pictures that long and quite frankly most of them are what I would class as rubbish.

I have entered a few of your competitions before so you will know what I mean, but I am so chuffed to have one of mine on display this time.

Maybe next time I might produce one good enough to win, although I feel maybe many years of skill with trial and error are needed first.

@Erich Poole

Your photo was my favorite

thanks Joose,

it was my favourite too