Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/05/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On May 5, 2007, at 9:00 AM, Walt Johnson wrote: > It seems many of our winners fit into the same category on a > monthly basis. Heavy on graphics and generally light on content. > I'd prefer to see judging based upon capturing those moments Leicas > were made for. /*Kristy Prep, */I think is an excellent example and > would have put it as #1. Although agreeing with the judge who > thinks it's the best I can't go along with his/her criticism. Dead > space is something one deals with with filling newspapers with > images. What it generally means is we need more space for ads, > let's crop the hell out of everything. Sometimes, I think, the eye > needs a place to rest on an image. /*Kristy*/ can be cropped but it > loses an overall balance. Make it tight enough and the hands seem > to emerge from some dark place in a not too comfortable manner. > Ofter talking too much about an image does seem to detract. When we > can simply look and absorb. Unlike our judge, the hands don't MAKE > it for me. It is Kristy's acquiescences to the routine I find has > me involved. > /*Hot Lips*/, on the other hand could sure use a bit of tightening > up. Nice image, great expression, but too loose. Steve's other > image,/*White Crosses*/, should have been a winner. Content, which > fits the contest criteria. Not that a monthly category should be > limiting, but sometimes a category does add a bit of discipline. > > Mad's /*Aros*/. to me, is more interesting than what placed first. > Graphic, mysterious and intriguing. Neal's /*Boom*,/ has great > timing and color. Degree of difficulty on that shot should count > for something. William's /*Colameter */and Neal's /*Barnflag */ > jumped out at me as well. > > One other thing. Steve's self-portrait with the red hat. how the > heck did he do that? :-) very interesting and thanks Walt... whatever gave you the idea that was a self portrait ? Graham Battison generously helped me with the PS work... I wouldn't be too surprised if someday we see some red sheep... or white sheep with red eyes... Steve > > Walt > Brian Reid wrote: >> I was pleased to see that 81 images had been submitted in April, >> the highest number ever. However, I found the overall quality of >> the images in the April contest below the level of previous >> months. In going through the images, I could only award one or two >> stars to most images, with just a few getting 3 stars. In >> contrast, in previous months I have often given out 4 or 5 stars >> to the images I liked best. >> >> I think that the theme "red" was interpreted too literally by many >> contestants. As a result, there are many mediocre images that I >> think were entered only because there was something red in them. I >> would encourage people to interpret the theme more broadly in the >> future, especially since Brian has instructed the judges to simply >> rate the images on their photographic merits and not on how >> closely they follow the theme. >> >> On the positive side: the images that appear among the winners and >> honorable mentions were also my favorites, so I guess I was in >> synch with the other judges (and I do not know who they are). The >> winning image is a beautiful abstract, well lit and well composed, >> although the title seems a bit out of place, given the >> connotations of the phrase. I also gave 3 stars to "Hot Lips"-- >> just a fun portrait, well photographed. >> >> My overall favorite image of the contest, though, was the third- >> place image, "Kristy Prep". I like the light, the way the woman's >> face stands out, and one can interpret the image on many levels: >> is she an object being prepared for exhibition? The hands applying >> the make-up greatly add to the image, indeed they MAKE the image, >> for me at least. Personally, I would crop the image a bit tighter; >> there is a lot of dead space on the top and left sides of the >> image which detracts from the composition. >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information