The second of our 3-part set subject competition took place this week. The subject was “Landscapes”, and the competition was judged by Jennifer Davidson, one of last year’s winners. There were 48 images altogether, entered by 16 members. There are fewer opportunities for capturing good landscape images during current restrictions. Some members had submitted views from their local environment, but most images came from trips members had made in the past. There were many Scottish landscapes, ranging from East Lothian to Skye, along with scenes captured overseas as far away as the USA, Iceland, Southern Africa and New Zealand.

Jennifer commented on the composition of each image, with some compositions becoming stronger when cropped to make their main subject off-centre. In some cases, a sloping horizon, or the presence of dust spots, caused a distraction. Some images contained distracting features, such as dead trees, foreground weeds, or too many people, which could have been removed by cloning or by waiting for a better opportunity. There were also some examples of poor cloning, and Jennifer recommended always going over a cloned area a second time to look for duplicate features or areas which stand out because they are sharper or softer than their surroundings. She also recommended checking the direction of light and shadows within a composite image. The most frequent comment was about the sharpness of the images. Most landscape images need to be sharp from foreground to horizon. While some images (such as of crashing waves or fleeting mist) could be hand-held grab shots, landscape images are best taken using a tripod and a narrow aperture to give a good depth of field.

The top scorers were (in reverse order):

• 5th place (50 points)
  • Steve Williams
• 4th place (51 points)
  • Malcolm Roberts
• 3rd place (52 points)
  • Joe Fowler
• 2nd place (54 points)
  • Gordon Davidson
• 1st place (55 points)
  • George Todd

The top images were:

• View from the Crags (Joe Fowler) – 20 points
• Alftavatn Lake Boat House (George Todd) – 20 points
• Pentlands Weather (Malcolm Roberts) – 19 points
• Milarochy Sunset (Gordon Davidson) – 19 points
• Kincardine Sunset (Gordon Davidson) – 19 points
• Kalahari Desert and Lone Oryx (George Todd) – 18 points
• View from Traprain Law (Carol Edmund) – 18 points

Well done to George Todd, who wins the right to judge next year’s competition! The league table after two competitions looks like this:

George Todd (53 + 55 = 108)
Malcolm Roberts (56 + 51 = 107)
Gordon Davidson (53 + 54 = 107)
Steve Williams (54 + 50 = 104)
Joe Fowler (– + 52 = ??)
Anne Yeomans (53 + 48 = 101)
Mike Clark (50 + 49 = 99)
Carol Edmund (49 + 49 = 98)

Only 1 point separates George Todd from the rest of the field. Entries for the final part of the competition (“Flowers and Horticulture”) are due on 4th March 2021.

This week we had the digital replacement for our human portrait print competition. The competition was judged by Simon Wooton of Midlothian Camera Club. Click on the link below to see Simon’s gallery of landscape, sport and wildlife images.

Simon Wooton’s image gallery.

13 members had entered 38 digital images of people. There were portraits of individuals and group portraits. The group portraits worked better when they told a story of people interacting together, rather than just people who happened to be standing near to each other.  A group of people taking a selfie in the botanical gardens while their baby looks away bored out of shot told a story, as did the shot of two tired young girls in stained and crumpled party dresses sitting on the doorstep.  Simon particularly liked the shots of happy people enjoying life, as an antidote to the current situation. He expected shots taken in a studio to have a higher technical quality than spontaneous shots made in the street. Some portraits had distracting accessories, and Simon recommended hiding shoulder straps from bags that were not visible and removing objects that poked out from behind someone’s head. In some shots harsh lighting had lost detail in the highlights, or had cast a shadow onto the eyes, while other dull shots could be improved with a levels adjustment. Focussing and sharpness were an issue for some shots. It was important to focus on the subject and avoid camera shake, but also important not to oversharpen facial features. The framing of each image was important, and Simon suggested a tighter crop or a different placement of the background in some shots. Despite his enjoyment of the group shots, it was the individual portraits that won the day.

The top scorers were (in reverse order):

• 5th place (47 points)
  • Gordon Davidson
  • Gavin Marshall
• 4th place (49 points)
  • Steven Beard
• 3rd place (50 points)
  • Joe Fowler
  • Steve Williams
• 2nd place (52 points)
  • Mike Clark
• 1st place (54 points)
  • George Todd
  • Carol Edmund

The top images were:

• An Old Gentleman (Carol Edmund) – 20 points
• Temple Boy (George Todd) – 19 points
• I’m in Trouble (Mike Clark) – 19 points
• Prabhu – Temple Warden (George Todd) – 18 points
• The Joker (Mike Clark) – 18 points
• The Basket Weaver (Steve Williams) – 18 points
• Black Lives Matter (Carol Edmund) – 18 points

Well done to George Todd and an especially warm well done to Carol Edmund, who wins a trophy in only her second year at the club.

The second half of our 2020-2021 season opened with the first of our 3 set subject competitions: competition A on the subject of “Nature and Wildlife”. The competition was judged by Joe Fowler, one of last year’s winners.

45 images had been entered by 15 members.  Unlike last year’s competition on the theme of “Wildlife”, this year’s “Nature” category covers a wider variety of subjects showing or representing the natural environment. There were a lot of bird images, photographs of insects on flowers, some farm animals and a selection of other animals and plants.  Joe commented on composition, exposure and sharpness of each image. Some of the images were spoiled by distractions which Joe recommended the author clone out by copying textures from elsewhere in the image. Sticks, bright blobs and foreground blades of grass were notable distractions. Some images were a little overexposed, due to capturing them in full sunlight, which had burned out the highlights.  Joe recommended cloning texture to recover detail in lost highlights and using the dodge tool to bring up detail that had been lost in shadow. The best images were the ones that were well-framed, well-lit, had fewer distractions, were sharp in the right places but showed some movement where expected.

The top scorers were (in reverse order):

• 5th place (49 points)
  • Carol Edmund
• 4th place (50 points)
  • Mike Clark
• 3rd place (53 points)
  • George Todd
  • Gordon Davidson
  • Anne Yeomans
• 2nd place (54 points)
  • Steve Williams
• 1st place (56 points)
  • Malcolm Roberts

The top images were:

• Green Violet-Ear Hummingbird (Steve Williams) – 20 points
• Puffin With Sandeels (Anne Yeomans) – 20 points
• Great Spotted Woodpecker (Malcolm Roberts) – 19 points
• Nuthatch (Malcolm Roberts) – 19 points
• Hornbill at Sunset (George Todd) – 19 points
• Hover Fly (Gordon Davidson) – 19 points

Well done to Malcolm Roberts, who wins the right to judge next year’s competition.

This is the first in a 3-part competition. The next instalments are “Landscapes” (hand-in date 21st January 2021) and “Flowers and Horticulture” (hand-in date 4th March 2021). The final result depends on the total score from the best 2 competitions, with Malcolm, Steve, George, Gordon and Anne now standing at the top of the league table.

This week we had our virtual replacement for the colour print competition. Members submitted the images they would have used as colour prints digitally. The competition was judged by Fiona Brims of Stirling and District Camera Club. You can see some of Fiona’s work at the link below.

https://www.fionabrimsphotography.co.uk/

Fiona was unable to join us by Zoom, so George Todd read out her comments. Fiona began with a letter telling us that judging the images had been difficult because there had been so many good entries. She had had to be pernickety in her judging to separate these images, but she explained this was just one person’s judgement. She was born in Musselburgh and was delighted to be judging for her old home town.

54 images had been entered altogether. There were landscapes, portraits, photographs of birds (which Fiona recognised by name from the World of Wings bird of prey centre) and close-ups of flowers and cacti. There were also some imaginative abstract images, some of which Fiona felt were more digital art than digital photography. Fiona commented on the composition and technical execution of each image. There were some images where a longer shutter speed could have given a more dynamic image of a moving target by adding motion blur, and there were other images of moving water where a shorter shutter speed would have prevented burn out. Some of the close-up images could have been improved by a smaller aperture and larger depth of field. Some images were let down by dust marks, noisy backgrounds or editing mistakes. Fiona didn’t like the ivory borders that some members had used and recommended that digital images should have borders no wider than 3 pixels.

The top scorers were (in reverse order):

• 5th place (46 points)
  • Gordon Davidson
• 4th place (48 points)
  • Sean Conner
• 3rd place (50 points)
  • Joe Fowler
  • Malcolm Roberts
  • Steven Beard
  • Steve Williams
• 2nd place (52 points)
  • George Todd
  • Mike Clark
  • Anne Yeomans
• 1st place (53 points)
  • Jennifer Davidson

The top images were:

• Rattray Head at Dusk (Steve Williams) – 20 points
• Sparrowhawk (Jennifer Davidson) – 19 points
• Pool Room (Joe Fowler) – 19 points
• Hover Fly on Flower (Malcolm Roberts) – 19 points
• Brown Hare Grazing (George Todd) – 19 points
• Incoming (Mike Clark) – 19 points
• Northern Gannet (Anne Yeomans) – 18 points

The fact that the top images are spread between so many members shows the consistent quality of the entries. Well done everyone, and an especially well done to Jennifer Davidson, who wins the trophy. My apologies to Anne Yeomans, whose superb image of a gannet catching a fish in mid air would have done better without the ivory border I had provided in my earlier post.