The second of our 3-part set subject competition took place this week.  The competition was judged by George Todd, who won last year’s competition.  13 members had entered 39 images altogether. The theme of “Travel in Scotland” had been interpreted fairly loosely. Some images showed beautiful Scottish landmarks or landscapes which could be reached by travelling in Scotland. A group of trees with a beautiful sky were assumed to be in Scotland. Other images showed Scottish transport, such as a road, ferry, bridge, railway station or viaduct.

George commented on the composition of each image. The landscape images were stronger when they contained three elements: an interesting foreground, a middle ground and a distant background. Some of the images were good in part but were spoiled by containing too much of a particularly uninteresting element, such as a car park or an expanse of water, grass or greenery. George suggested cropping these area to reduce their dominance and rebalance the image. Some of the images showing an empty scene would have been improved by a focal point, such as a person standing in the railway station or a boat on the water.  Images of landmarks were better if they could tell a story by including some characters, and there were some fun images of highlanders, tourists and highland cattle.

The top scorers were (in reverse order):

• 5th place (47 points)
  • Lorraine Roberts
  • Kevin Johnston
• 4th place (48 points)
  • George Smith
  • Jennifer Davidson
• 3rd place (49 points)
  • Malcolm Roberts
  • Gordon Davidson
  • Carol Edmund
• 2nd place (50 points)
  • Joe Fowler
• 1st place (51 points)
  • Steven Beard
  • Mike Clark

The top images were:

• Glenfinnan Viaduct (Steven Beard) – 20 points
• Racing Along (George Smith) – 19 points
• Bow Fiddle Rock (Mike Clark) – 18 points
• Hebrides to Uig Ferry (Jennifer Davidson) – 17 points
• Scotland for Ever (Joe Fowler) – 17 points
• Scotland the Brave (Joe Fowler) – 17 points
• Packhorse Bridge Carrbridge (Malcolm Roberts) – 17 points
• Mystery Island Cruise (Mike Clark) – 17 points
• Blue hour at the 3 Bridges (Gordon Davidson) – 17 points
• Melrose Abbey (Carol Edmund) – 17 points

Steven Beard and Mike Clark have both won the right to judge next year’s competition! Well done to both. The league table after two competitions looks like this:

Joe Fowler (52 + 50 = 102)
Mike Clark (50 + 51 = 101)
Steven Beard (49 + 51 = 100)
Carol Edmund (49 + 49 = 98)
Malcolm Roberts (– + 49 = ??)
Gordon Davidson (45 + 49 = 94)
George Todd (47 + — = ??)
Lorraine Roberts (– + 47 = ??)
Kevin Johnston (– + 47 = ??)
Jennifer Davidson (45 + 48 = 93)

Joe Fowler is in the lead, but only 1 point separates the top 3 places. Entries for the final part of the competition on “Street Photography” are due on 3th March 2022.

27th January was another milestone for Musselburgh Camera Club. We had our first true print competition for 2 years! The last time we reviewed prints at the Fisherrow Centre was for an earlier human portrait print competition on 30th January 2020. This week’s competition was judged by Gordon Scott of Mid Calder camera club. You can see some of Gordon’s work at the link below:

https://www.midcaldercameraclub.org.uk/gallery-gordonscott

This competition was more complex than previous print competitions because we were broadcasting the event to members who preferred to connect by Zoom. We set up a narrow-angle webcam which captured a view of our print stand, and Gordon wore a radio microphone. A wide-angle microphone was used to speak to the members on Zoom. The complexity of the situation lead to some technical issues, and we learned it is important to make a careful note of which microphone is which in the list that Zoom gives you. Gordon was very patient with us.

8 members had entered 24 images altogether. Gordon noted that some of the images (which showed groups of people interacting) stretched the definition of a portrait, which he expected to be of a single person.  There were photographs of people at work, people taking part in a battle re-enactment, people on the street, and images captured from a photoshoot.  John West had entered a selfie, which amused some of the audience.  Gordon commented on the location of the subject within the frame. Some images were cropped a little too tightly, for example cropping off the top of the subject’s hat. Other images seemed to have too much space on one side, or could have been angled differently to show more of an elaborate costume and less background.  Gordon pointed to distractions which could have been removed, darkened or cropped out. He also explained how the depth of field is important. In most portraits it is important to blur out the background to keep attention on the subject; with the exception of subjects who are doing a job, where it is important to be able to see what they are doing.  Some of the images were spoiled by an unfortunate pose, for example a hand which was too dominant. The final thing which separated the best images from the rest was the lighting.  Harsh lighting caused distracting shadows or bright streaks on some portraits. The very best images were captured in soft lighting. Gordon’s top 6 images (which can be seen on our Facebook page) were:

• Kalia – Green Activist  (George Todd) – 20 points
• Lean and Mean (Joe Fowler) – 19 points
• MacAulay Clansman (George Todd) – 19 points
• Fabrication Welder (Joe Fowler) – 18 points
• Nguyet (George Todd) – 18 points
• My Magnificent Beard (Carol Edmund) – 18 points

The top scorers were (in reverse order):

• 4th place (47 points)
  • Jennifer Davidson
  • Mike Clark
• 3rd place (49 points)
  • Charlie Briggs
  • Carol Edmund
• 2nd place (52 points)
  • Joe Fowler
• 1st place (57 points)
  • George Todd

Congratulations to George Todd, whose 3 images all made the top 6. Thank you to everyone who dusted off their printers and made the effort to enter this competition, and thank you very much to Gordon Scott for judging and putting up with our technical issues.

Next week we have the second of our set subject competitions: “Travel in Scotland”.
See you on Thursday,

Steven

Our first club meeting after Christmas was the first of our 3 set subject competitions: competition A on the subject of “Reflections”.  The competition was judged by Malcolm Roberts, who had won last year’s competition.

27 images had been entered by 9 members, with different techniques used to capture the reflection. There were images of reflections in lochs, harbours and rivers; and reflections in windows and shiny floors.  Jennifer Davidson had used a puddle to capture a unique reflected view of the Kelpies and Carol Edmond had captured flowers reflected in a mirror and glass table.  But perhaps the most intriguing image was John West’s photograph of a reflection in a spoon.  Malcolm awarded the highest points to the most atmospheric images taken in the best lighting and with the fewest distractions, and Mike Clark’s beautiful “Misty Morning Loch Ard” was admired by all.  Malcolm noted that some of the images had lost detail in the shadows or highlights. He also suggested cropping some images to home in on the detail, or using a different viewpoint to balance the composition (which isn’t always possible when standing on a balcony or next to water).

The top scorers were (in reverse order):

• 5th place (47 points)
  • George Todd
• 4th place (48 points)
  • John West
• 3rd place (49 points)
  • Steven Beard
  • Carol Edmund
• 2nd place (50 points)
  • Mike Clark
• 1st place (52 points)
  • Joe Fowler

The top images were:

• Misty Morning Loch Ard (Mike Clark) – 20 points
• Island Reflection (Joe Fowler) – 19 points
• Painterly Reflection (John West) – 18 points
• Little Mandarin Duck (Joe Fowler) – 17 points
• Disney Castle (Steven Beard) – 17 points
• Granton Harbour (Steven Beard) – 17 points
• Floral Reflection (Carol Edmund) – 17 points

Well done to Joe Fowler, who wins the right to judge next year’s competition.  This is the first of a 3-part competition, with the final result depending on the total score from the best 2 competitions. The observant will notice that only 1 point separates the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th places, so at this stage everybody is still in with a chance.

Please note that the image hand-in date for part 2 of this competition (on the theme of “Travel In Scotland”) is this coming Thursday, 13th January 2022. Please send your 3 JPEG images to George Todd.  Images for the final part of the competition (on the theme of “Street Photography”) are due on 3rd March 2022.

Our black and white print competition took place on 2nd December 2021.  Like the colour print competition judged earlier in the year, this competition was also judged digitally. The competition was judged by Gordon McMann CAPGB of Queens Park Camera Club, Glasgow.

15 members had entered 45 images altogether. There were landscape shots, some shots of local architecture and artwork, a selection of portraits, some sporting action shots, and a few shots of flowers and wildlife.  Gordon commented on the impact and composition of each image. In some cases there was a loss of detail in the highlights or the shadows, and in other cases the dynamic range had been compressed so the image lacked contrast. Gordon recommended solving both of these problems by dodging and burning. The photographer can “paint” regions of brightness or shadow onto the image to enhance some areas and dampen others. Some of the portraits could have been improved by this method: brightening the face while darkening the light shining through a window; darkening the shadows under the chin to enhance the contrast and give the image more depth. While a lack of contrast can make an image seem flat, so can a blank background.  A portrait or flower image on a plain background can look two-dimensional. Carol Edmond’s image “Dying Roses” was an example of a background that worked. The subtle gradient of tone in the background maintained the depth in the image. Gordon also warned photographers to beware of photographing artwork, like the Kelpies, where the sky shows through the holes. If you darken the sky you need to darken everything shining through the holes as well.  Also, watch out for odd shapes at the edge of the artwork where the shadows don’t look right.  One of the most striking images in the competition was Kevin Johnson’s abstract portrait called “Neg”.  A portrait of a model with a tattoo had been boldly presented as a negative black and white image.

Gordon had classified the images into commended (16 points), highly commended (17 points) and then 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The top images were:

• Highly commended (17 points)
  • In Control (Jennifer Davidson)
  • The Cove (Jennifer Davidson)
  • What a Scramble (Joe Fowler)
  • Nepali Priest (George Todd)
  • Dramatic Sky over East Neuk (Gordon Davidson)
  • Kelpies (Gordon Davidson)
  • Dying Roses (Carol Edmond)
• Top 3 images
  • Watching for Danger (Charlie Briggs) – 18 points
  • Emotion 2 (Malcolm Roberts) – 19 points
  • Dreaming of Days Gone By (George Todd) – 20 points

When the points were added up, the top scorers were revealed to be (in reverse order):

• 5th place (46 points)
  • Charlie Briggs
  • Jennifer Davidson
• 4th place (48 points)
  • Joe Fowler
  • Mike Clark
• 3rd place (49 points)
  • Malcolm Roberts
  • Carol Edmond
• 2nd place (50 points)
  • Gordon Davidson
• 1st place (52 points)
  • George Todd

Congratulations to George Todd, Gordon Davidson, Malcolm Roberts and Carol Edmund. Next week we have our second members evening, and our last meeting at Fisherrow before Christmas. Jennifer Davidson, George Todd and Gavin Marshall will be presenting their work.

See you on Thursday,

Steven