Weekly #398 - Less is More Competition

Angles by Mudge

A very good start. I think the composition works very well. It's an interesting image because in colour I think the dominant characteristic is blue, which of course is accentuated by the border. In mono then it becomes prinicpally about the geometric interplay. There is a lack of image quality here – that is purely down to the equipment and I think the colour version does demand image quality where a mono version could take a little disguising grain. Good start, bang on brief.


Only Us by Bforbes

Bang on brief again and a striking image. A vivid take on minimalism and the elements are unified by the layers which work really well with the banding in the wind shelter. Less is definitely more here but I wonder if even less would be even more by cropping the fluffy clouds from the top, leaving the image simply about the horizontals. I like the subtlety of the distant ship.


Ice Lake by John Riley

A naturally high key landscape composed very well and with a strong sense of place. Very harmonious and I really like the band of light where lake meets background. One of the aspects of minimal for me is that it demands perfection and a minute attention to detail since there should be so few. Therefore the dust spots here I do find very unwelcome, once you spot them they cannot be ignored.

Lanzarote Wall by Gartmore

I like this a lot. It just works. A really nice range of subtle tones, light and stage and the natural and stark play to each other very nicely. I would have preferred that right hand upright to have been vertical rather than a slight slant, since working out whether it is slightly slanted I think distracts from the overall appreciation.

Skyhook by Coker

The very stark, newspaper-like black and white I think works well here. It's a little hard to appreciate it fully on the white forum background. Also there is some moiré here, which of course might be down to resizing. A strangely compelling image.


Gone Fishing by Michael Blue

A very simple image that definitely speaks of place so that delivers well on the less is more theme. I like the composition and the fact that the boat and the buoy are in focus. Again this might be down to resizing but the image quality is a bit harsh – there is moiré on the pole and the detail in the sea looks oversharpened, which rather goes against the tranquility that the image otherwise conveys.

Large Spaces Less Time by Aura Todd

The snow definitely simplifies the scene and provides a unifying element throughout. However, this isn't really what I think of as minimalist, I think there's a fair bit going on. The pylon I find to be the focal point here and I think therein lies the less is more ethos as the other elements here don't really enhance that focal point. This though definitely wins on title which stands out amongst the prosaic.

Sky Sports by Simonarron

Well you said it and it does strike me a bit like one of those images that is trying too hard to be arty, the sliver of grass and extreme corner placement of subject are a bit too much for my rather more conventioal tastes. That said I rather like it. The painterly sky is nice, albeit with a plague of unfortunate sensor spots. But there is a little optical illusion going on for me. The car headlights look like wheels too and sometimes I look at the image and the car is headed towards me, other times it looks like it's driving away.

Goose by Perspicador

I actually find this rather a conventional goose on a lake shot than the minimalist take on the subject I was looking for. It is relatively simple but the central placement, the proximity of the duck, the subject facing away from camera, the inclusion of background don't really elevate it from the ordinary for me. It looks a bit tilted left to right too. And a little soft. Sorry.

Lone Figure by Conexus

Sunsets in black and white are hard to pull off but the figure here and seeming fascination with the setting sun works very well. The angle to the shoreline seems to converge the waves to the right which draws attention to the subject. A compelling image. The sky is a little blown but I think it's one of those that can be gotten away with. The horizon though is tilted a degree or so left to right and that can't. The choice of mono here makes the minimalism for me as it makes this all about the feelings of the subject instead of the pretty sunset.

Ballintoy Silhouette by Sean 282

I like the peacefulness here and also the strong forms of the foreground. I think the silhouetting, with just some shadow detail enhances the simplicity and adds some mood to the scene. My suggestion here, personal taste, would be to simplify even more with a mono conversion. Without the sunset colours I think the powerful forms of the rocks would stand out even more, I'd crop some from the top too. A good image in colour, a potential winner in mono.

Two Elements by Batfink

I see more than two, but the minimalism is clearly present. Normally I would prefer to see the rocks either break the horizon or be given more space below, but here I find the whisker of sea above oddly compelling and the same is true of the soft foreground. A very nice image of a location I know well. There is slight barrel distortion evident on the horizon.


An Essential Item by Davidwozere

A straightforward image, a product shot really that one might find in the classifieds. So any fascination is really about the subject. One for a Pentax historian maybe but I'm afraid I'm not one of those that can get interested enough in a lens cap. I do find the background a bit noisy.





A Tree A Bush And A Mountain by Billyspad

Not really minimalist but it is a good, simple composition with added minimalism with the unusual, high key treatment. It's strange in many ways and not easy to look at for long but actually, with the exception of the white vignette, I rather like it. I particularly like how we are just left with faint cloud detail in the sky. I think I would prefer conventional processing since it is a very nice scene but certainly an interesting take on the brief.

Tulip by Tyronet 2000

A cosmic arrangement or perhaps subatomic particles. And a tulip. This is certainly a very strange image but it is quite fascinating. A nice happy accident of lens flare. In the internet age where billions of images are uploaded this may well be quite unique. And I like it more at each viewing. No exif data.

Crossing The Millenium Bridge by David Trout

This is a very compelling image. One to just enjoy rather than to analyse. Even without the title you can work out that these are Lowryesque characters. It's simple looking but really very well done – each character has their own space, without interference from the cables. Lovely tonal range and crispness. Elegant simplicity like this is so much harder to achieve than it looks. A dust spot top right edge proves noones perfect.


Hidden World by Jglen

I like the choice of subject here and the dark background. It's not at all easy to photograph lichen and this captures well enough it's messy (for want of a better word) nature but without finding a particularly strong form for the eye to rest upon. I definitely see this as an example of less as more but not in a particularly minimalist context.


Haggeston Beach by Paulb531

Again an image which definitely demonstrates the benefit of a limited number of compositional elements but still a fair bit going on for minimalism. I like the feeling of the windswept coast that this image conveys enhanced by the strong foreground. The post is a strong element but I would have preferred it off centre. Again it could be down to resizing but some of the detail in the grass looks a bit harsh.

The Water Drop On The Wire by Noelcmn

I can see it is a water drop on the wire and I like this image but I feel it would be even stronger if were more abstract. I don't see a reason for it to be just off centre so my suggestion would be to crop in, centre the drop and lose the top of the wire. I feel this would leave a more mysterious image with a sort of sci-fi feel.

Alone And In Silence In A Church by Talete


A prosaic title and perhaps a prosaic image too. The individual is tightly framed but I don't think this is really minimalist. We see some of his surroundings but not much. I wonder if a wider view might have conveyed more of an emotion of him being alone with his thoughts. Just seeing the back of him really doesn't give anything away and I think the image needs to somehow tell us more.

Knottyash by Drofmit

An imagine a face type image, you just can't help it. Given it seems to be looking to the right with the focal point quite far down in frame I do find the left hand side and the top somewhat empty.


There are four images that stand out for me and I have changed my mind about the order a few times. But I have to go to bed so before I change it again in a very close race:

1 Bforbes
2 David Trout
3=Gartmore, John Riley

Nicely assessed, Adrian. I suspect Barrie's shot had 'winner' stamped on it from the moment he set foot on the beach - a lovely image. Compliments, too, to the other nominees.

I knew that was the shot we had to beat....
then along came the ice lake...
and I wasn't sure...
nice to see that they are both in the four!

"An imagine a face type image....
with the focal point quite far down in frame...
left hand side and the top somewhat empty"

As a birder, I saw a bird...
displaying...
what you saw as empty, I saw as essential...
the top of the head...
those curling plumes....
the forehead up from the 'eye'...
the beak down...
the back of the bird at the bottom left...
but...
rotate the picture right or left by 90...
and I get a sperm whale...
or a running dog...
but, upsidedown...
for me anyway... nada!
Others may well see different.
The joy of the abstract beauty of wood....
We've got one of those plywood doors from a well-known British DiY chain...
it is Edvard Munch's "The Scream" to a T...
and won't get painted over... by me at least...
to others... it will just be a wooden door with vague squigles all over it.

A lovely set of images this week...
one of the best entries recently, too...
great constructive comments... you had your work cut out!
Thanks for a good subject.

Excellent judging-loads of lessons learned. Thanks DrOrloff, a pleasure to read through all the comments. Congratulations BForbes, David Trout, Gartmore and John Riley-I can see why our judge almost did not get to sleep. Creativity at an all time high with this challenge. Great stuff!

Congratulations to the winner and other places. Thanks to DrOrloff for the interesting subject , the judging and the comprehesive comments.
Sorry about the missing exif but I would hazard a guess the original image from which this was cropped and flare added was taken with a K-5IIs and 18-135mm lens, a combination I tend to use more than any other. I'll have to go through my files now just to confirm.

Original taken 29-04-14 Pentax K-5IIs Sigma 105mm f/2.8 1/500sec

http://www.pentaxuser.co.uk/photo/user-13015/tulip-heads-75423

Congrats to Barrie. Well done to Adrian for intelligent appraisals. I loved the subject. Thanks for my 2nd, in many respects the most satisfying result.
Now I'm off to Specsavers, I still can't see the dust spot.
David

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

Great bit of judging DO... really insightful comments

Hard to split 1 & 2...two great shots (amongst many others)