Weekly #385 - Purple Competition

I've just discovered this; many thanks Batfink. Will you be posting the full results and your comments soon? In the meantime I'll be back later with this coming week's competition details.
David

PPG: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

Still no results....
I've checked the 4rum...

I've sent a reminder message, so hopefully some comments will follow soon.

Hi all, sorry as I had just joined I did not know I had to comment on them. I never expected to win on my first entry and still finding my way around on here. I will judge them. Graeme

Ok results are in.....

1st Lowry Centre. I felt the composition was so strong in this. How the Orange stairway broke up and gave a leading line across the frame. Also the quality and sharpness of it too.

2nd Smoke Art. I loved the symmetry to this and the organic form the smoke had created was pleasing to the eye. The simplicity to it also worked so well.

3rd Chinese Dragon. The idea to colour pop i thought worked in its favour. How it was composed in the frame, starting with the head and then the body leading out felt right.

4th Purple Haze. It would have been placed higher if the car was lower in the frame. I feel it is top heavy a bit and that bit of space above would have helped with the sense the car could move into it after the burnout. Very sharp and good choice of shutter speed though.

5th Purple Crocus. Great vibrant colour in the flowers but felt maybe a reflector underneath would have helped lift it more. Also the lump of soil to the right could have been removed as a distraction for me unfortunately.

6th Stained Glass Window. Really liked the artwork but would liked it to have been filling the frame fully to really explore all the parts in it. I guess access was the problem though?

7th Lanzarote Garden. It fitted the brief well will the "Element" bit but was let down by all the figures in the frame. I unfortunately could not settle on a specific focal point and found it confusing. The exposure and quality of the photo is excellent though.

8th A day on the River. Well caught and handled with shutter speed, exposure and sharpness. I feel it needed space to move into though and less behind it. At times it does work being tight at the front but felt in this case it didn't work.

9th The Horned Devil. I felt the grain added rather hindered more than helped in the idea. Maybe shot as Portrait orientation too, would have helped compositionally possibly. But as i cannot tell what was lower maybe something was there that detracted.

10th Chilled Out. I would have liked more emphasis with the motion of her swinging and maybe a bit too tightly cropped. I must say it very sharp though so well handled.

11th Cap'n Purple the Pirate. Unfortunately I could not and still not see him in this. I am normally very good at picking up forms in cloud formations but in this case I have failed to do so. Due to this i felt it needed something more to it, such as a building or landscape in silhouette.

12th Marjoram Flower. To me, I could not see any part of a flower in focus. If there was it would have been higher placed as the composition was very well done.

13th Proud as Peacock. I felt it was too dark and lacks the details of the fabulous feathers these birds have. Also to have got down level with the bird too. The use of the natural light would have helped a lot by taking the portrait of the bird on that side, which in turn would bring out the great colours.

Sorry it was late and hope my comments do not offend too much and the advice can help in the future.

Graeme....
to help you...

Cap'n Purple... an aid to identification...
his nose is the easiest to spot...
it is the odd, bright, circular shape...
centre, bottom third...
above are two dark splodges... the eyes...
almost on the junction of bottom third and middle...
below is either a moustache...
or a mouth... either work...
and below that is a full beard.

His hat... sloping upward left to right....
has a pale rim and a dark crown...
and a plume... pale, then dark...
rising from the hat... almost to the top.

I was thinking of a portrait crop...
but that would have made him too obvious...
he's ephemeral, like all cloud shapes...
he wasn't there as I framed the picture...
I was after the colours in the clouds...
and he wasn't there after I reviewed the exposure...
he appeared for seconds and was gone...
spooky!!

But Johnny Depp has bought a chateau near here....

Hi Tim, thank you I can see him now . I have no idea why I couldn't before. You are lucky having him live near you then.

If you are referring to Monsieur Depp...
No.... he's lucky living near us!
We have too much to do to go around disturbing him!!

But we get lots of strange visitors down that end of the valley...
this one is "Puff, the Magic Dragon"

Thanks for all the comments Graeme.
David

PPG: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

Well done to David on yet another strong winning image.

Thanks for the kind and detailed words, Graeme. I know exactly what you mean about the positioning of the car in my shot. It was cropped that way because of a) a brick wall just north of the frame and b) I didn't want to lose too much of the tyre smoke at the bottom. I could probably have conjured a better balance, with just a touch more thought.