Parkwood Cup Round 3 2019-2020 - Parkwood Camera Club

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Parkwood Cup Round 3 2019-2020

Competitions

Parkwood Cup Round 3 2019 - 2020

Judge Steve Caroll ARPS

Name

Title

Score

Comments

Total
Marks

Position

Anne Blunt

Last of Autumn Caught in Winter's Waters

Likes : watercolour effect, limited warm hues, simplicity.
Observations : Too much white at the top, crop to a slightly more square format

Shifting Sands

Likes : use of depth in composition, use of human figures, perspective.
Obs : Foreground post too bright compared to the other ones. Higher or more rightward camera position would have separated nearest posts from the others.

Barbara Trigg

Acorn

Likes : the single acorn among the busy scene created by all the foliage.
Obs : Front of acorn not sharp, right hand 30% of image area bright and distracting – suggest losing it.

Rose

High contrast treatment of this rose with some very bright areas and dark, somewhat complicated, surrounds not really working.

Brenda Williams

Pink Flower

Likes : petals are main interest, despite the presence of a human face.
Obs : Face looks stretched sideways, left hand eye a bit "dead"’ skin pores very evident, corners bright and a bit over-powering

I Have Done My Work

Likes : main character and his concentration on his game,
Obs : some aspects of background distracting – heads / bodies sliced by frame edges.

Dee Blackman

Just Resting

Did not view this as a nature image – more a fairly graphic pictorial. Butterfly stands out againsboth white and dark areas so shape and form easily discernable. Good sharpness

Hungrey

Likes : fur and wood textures, eye catchlight.

Elaine Cranmer

Just Dropped In

Likes : diagonal composition.
Obs : Birds don’t appear as sharp as grass and rocks. A little more work on blacks and whites in plumage would help

Gathering Storm

Likes : stormy atmosphere captured – to an extent. Layers and bands in composition.
Obs : Would benefit from a little more contrast / drama

Elaine Pavis

The Jump

The strongest point is the relationship between the bike and the shadow – but more could have been made of that by darkening the shadow. Would have preferred the rider to be against the sky rather than partly against the trees. Light tones, including on rider, need more work.

Busy Bee

Likes : good control of depth of field, bee / flower head are sharpest areas. Diagonal composition / position of bee. Detail / pollen on bee.

Gary Collins

Guitar Warrior

Likes : black and white treatment, moody, gritty feel, vignetting, eye contact.
Obs : quite like the black boot idea but it is a little too prominent.

The Twirling

Likes : striking colours, frame filled well with the swirls.
Obs : have seen a lot of similar images lately and this one is no more or less distinctive than most of them.

Henry Slack

Walking the Dog at Queenborough

Likes : sense of depth created by darker tones in foreground becoming lighter into the distance, letterboxing, monochrome.

2nd

Ropes and Pulleys

Likes : stark effect.
Obs : Crop a strip off the left, alter viewpoint to separate pulleys 2 and 3, make right hand post totally vertical / parallel to frame edge, add some more punch to metalwork surface (mid-tone contrast).

John Harvey

Looking for Life

Likes : simple one-colour palette, general framing and composition.
Obs : I wanted the face and hair to stand out more from the background

Sunset

Likes : nice tight composition, silhouette of tree and interesting sky go well together

Joan Hagan

Through the trees

Likes : sharpness, lead through achieved by following river, depth of field.
Obs : Covering up the, presumably, uninteresting sky has resulted in too much of the main subject being covered as well, foreground leaves "contacting" background trees not ideal.

Which Path to Take

Likes : the bluebell carpet effect.
Obs : little indication of thought going into composition, messy foreground intrusions, no real path through or into image, highlights and general tonality not controlled

Keith Tomlins

Tower Bridge Photo-Art

Likes : the water.
Obs : I like the "line drawing" less than the water, the white sky / background is a bit stark.

Rain Walk

Likes : inventive use of shutter speed, frame well filled with legs and shadows. Caught at the right point of strides. Red on shoe catches attention. Shiny surface.
Obs – perhaps intensify the shadows.

Kevin Towler

light vision

Likes : humourous and inventive.
Obs : Could have strengthened the shadows and made them more important in the composition.

Going Underground

Likes : high grain treatment, symmetry. An often photographed scene so needs an individual touch – and has one.
Obs : both of the figures get a little lost against the background.

Lavina Cowland

Lone Boat

Likes : drama in the well-rendered sky. The way the strips of shingle and sea mimic each other.
Obs : boat not as interesting as the other compositional elements – almost wished it had been presented as a "minimalist" land/sea/sky scape with no boat.

Poppies at Dusk

Likes : backlighting coming through petals.
Obs : the composition is inevitably busy but there are some frame edge distractions which catch the attention – including the bud at top right

Linda Mercer

Cherub Fountain

Likes : cherub looking into frame.
Obs : lower viewpoint would have separated chin and parapet, back of statue and paving excessively bright.

Releaf its sunny

Likes : sharp focus on main subject with main subject slightly out of focus.
Obs : Maybe position the leaf design more against the sky / lose some of the blue sky area.

Louise Hubbard

Cock Loft at Chatham Dockyard

Likes : symmetry.
Obs : needs better control of highlights and shadows – while retaing overall high contrast feel.

The Dark Side of the Moon

Likes : feels very 3D, moon comes forward, moon itself also looks 3D and spherical. Like the symmetry. Texture on moon surface. No problem with converging verticals – this is not an architectural image.
Obs : even up the tones at top left / right by darkening left

Mary Tomlins

Chocolate Parings

Likes : simple, effective arrangements of shapes, forms and colours. Round bowl sets off the long spoon shapes.
Obs : Some small bright highlights could be slightly subdued.

Bluebell

Likes : texture and detail on the bells which are in sharp focus. Diffused out of focus areas.
Obs : Fells a little tightly cropped on left.

Nick Kemp

Crossroads

Relies on shapes and lines and partially succeeds. I think a stronger composition could probably have been achieved at the location.

Man Made Environment

Likes : 3 bands – green, pylons, sky.
Obs : dark central trees break up banding effect a bit. The banding needs to be stronger for this to succeed.

Patricia Begley

Father and Son

Likes : caught the moment well – interaction and water splashes.
Obs : better control of tonalities / brightness required.

Sunset and Tree

Likes : fairly interesting silhouette. Swirl of pink cloud top right.
Obs : not keen on thre bushes at bottom right. Try to find a camera position which includes sheep, tree, but omits bushes – they detract from the images simplicity

Paul Rayment

A Portriat of Ellie

Likes : the striking quality of the monochrome presentation. Just a hint of detail in the dark hair.
Obs : Forward arm – size and lightness – a little dominant. Square eye catchlights.

Stepped Bottles

Likes : enjoy the smooth yet textured glass, curved stem and bloom.
Obs : don’t understand why bottom left hand corner appears out of focus. Very many of this type of image appear in competitions – they need a stamp of individuality

Roger Nolan

Over My Shoulder

Likes : general feel and atmosphere, mono treatment, soft lighting, slightly toned effect, control of tonalities, pose, hair just separated from background, face appropriately the lightest tonal area.

1st

Red on Blue

Likes : contrast between red and blue, connection between red lips and red dress. Tonalities very well controlled with face just a little lighter than other skin areas.
Obs : quite a "straight forward" portrait, very flat lightingalmost no modeling – but works quite well.

Ronnie Murray

Bluebells

Likes : diffused and simple background.
Obs : does not stand out from the many other bluebell shots seen at this time of year – including in this competition.

Something of interest

Likes : atmosphere of the day captured well – feels like a chilly November morning.
Obs : Title could refer to whatever the three people are looking at – or to the fact that the dogs seem to find each other interesting.

Sandy Truckell

Bluebell

Likes : differential focus, diffused areas in background and foreground.
Obs : brown area at top of image detracts from effect a little.

3rd

Nuthatch

Likes : Very limited depth of field but it is positioned just right with the eye sharpest. Diffused background. Detail of claw gripping tree with bird upside down.
Obs : slightly distracting light area in background – actually looks like it could be a person.

Stephen Long

Bluebell

Likes : general feeling of spring sunshine, diffused background.
Obs : not sufficiently distinctive / different.

Barbed Wire

Likes : strong simple shape of the barbed wire.
Obs : very limited depth of field so only front barbs appear sharp. A lot going on in the background – even though it is well out of focus.

Steve Akehurst

Airbourne

Likes : positon of car – at left and in air. Red on black / grey. Competent panning. Face in window.
Obs : Blocked up blacks inside and under car.

Getting Sea Worthy

A potentially interesting subject but composition is very messy – car in top left corner, foreground grasses very bright, various other very bright highlights.

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