Weekly #399 - Dramatic Monochrome Competition

Auld Reekie by tyronet2000 – We start of with certainly a very dramatic mono image. The subject is interesting, there's bound to be lots to see in this composition. The effect is exaggerated of course, but drama there is aplenty.

Sky-bound by perscipador – A nice sense of design, but unfortunately nothing in the image is remotely sharp. This would be much easier to handle in colour and the mono tends to look as though it's simply out of focus as opposed to soft focus. So I'm afraid it doesn't work in my opinion.

Grave Affair by Nigelk – The low viewpoint gives more weight, gravitas if you will, to the grave stones. These already will have a fairly dark resonance with us as the viewer and the effect is strong. The slightly weak point is the sky, which is quite bland.

The Chase by billyspad – This is very strong and dramatic. The angle adds to the effect and the title gives us a clue to the story that is being told. The action of the shot does appear to be invested just in the movement of the one wheel and does not seem to replicated in the parts of the back wheel that are shown. So I'm surmising that far from being chased, this vehicle was stationary when the shot was made. Does this matter? Well, maybe, but I'd suggest simply avoiding the question by changing the title. If the movement doesn't seem totally believable, then avoid suggesting it to us. In every other respect is is a brilliant shot.

Blade by conexus – Very interesting, a simple and yet highly effective graphic image. I particularly like the texture throughout the image as well as the
powerful composition.

Morecambe Bay Wind Farm by mudge – Good tones, good choice of letterbox format and a good composition for this subject matter. The position of the horizon and the sense of attention to detail make the best of the scene.

Punk by vic cross – Minimalistic, great impact, good use of grain, the sort of image that hits home fairly and squarely and is highly competent. The perfection is only marred by the various spurious dots of light in the otherwise completely black background. I would suggest cloning these out.

Surprise View – Derbyshire by paulb531 – That sky is just brilliant, everything we could wish for in terms of drama. The foreground is a little weaker, having lower contrast overall and being fairly grey. I would boost the contrast of the land, maybe by using Channel Mixer to bring up the red and green channels, if you have that available in your image program. Overall, it follows the brief very well.

Pillars of the Temple by david trout – Another great shot, utilising the silhouetted figures to give a great sense of scale. I really would crop out the sky at the top though, as I feel doing so increases the drama considerably.

The Dark Hedges by sean282 – What an unusual picture this is. However, it is also very well done and the lead in takes us straight into these mysterious, writhing branches. Highly surreal and this is another image that really hits the spot.

Death on the Street by SteveF – I like the angle this was shot at, which gives the image the power that it needs. I would look at the light tones at the top edges though. My feeling is that they would benefit from darkening, so that our attention was more firmly held within the image and onto the main figure.

Pursuit by velimir – I like this very much, dark and brooding and that bright light from the exit beyond. It all works, except for the lack of visual clues as to whether the figures are approaching us or moving away from us. My brain wants to see the figures moving away, following the line created by the graffiti on the wall. However, the figures don't make clear who is following whom. So, if that's how I'm seeing it, then a proportion of the audience will too. Maybe others will read it differently, but my point is that it needs to be more obviously stated with stronger visual clues. In terms of the composition generally, the dark tones and the idea it can't be faulted.

Feeding time by michaelblue – This is a very different sort of drama and the overall effect is almost like a pencil drawing. A nice variation on the brief.

Blacklight by jglen – There seems to be some very nice thinking going on this week, and here we have another bold attempt to try something different. It comes off to an extent, the black tones being quite excellent. It would perhaps be nice to see a little more of the reflections that hint at the reflected scene without making it very obvious. If the very bright highlight could be reduced at the same time it might all bring out some fascinating landscape details of the world beyond.

Leaving by coker – There is a very good sense of timing here, the perfect moment having been captured. To make it into a winner I think the birds have to be sharp as opposed to the branches. Also, I would look at the border top left, where the image just bleeds out into the background with no discernible boundary. A nice thin black key line would do the trick and would define the edge of the image.

Lighting Up by StephenHampshire – It's a powerful portrait image of this spiv, and it's completely in context to show him lighting a cigarette, even though it may be slightly politically incorrect these days. But without this touch the image would lose a lot of its power. Nice one.

Tuskers by noelcmn – An amazing contrast between the two beasts in this shot. Nice idea, it's a pity about the bland sky, but mostly about the lack of interaction between the elephant and warthog. Seeing them both drinking may well have worked better.

Poplars by drofmit – Another sound approach, and I like the idea of the toning. I think the detail though has fallen down in this one as there seems to be a lack of fine resolution in the image. This makes the branches look rather odd. Maybe the image is just too small to get the effect across properly on the web.

So, a good turnout for this one and some difficult choices to be made. There's no doubt that PU Members know what dramatic monochrome means, and that they have delivered some fantastic shots. Equally, I have noticed quite a few mono images in the Gallery that have not been entered in the competition, and I would hope that some of them can be encouraged to join in and have a go for themselves.

This winner has an important task ahead, as he or she will need to post Weekly Competition #400 as soon as possible. This will give everyone a chance to enter and perhaps win the prize on offer for the winner, which Nikita will be telling you about very soon. I won't steal her thunder here, but mention it because it would be great if #400 starts promptly and is judged promptly.

And the decision for this week is:

1st Place WINNER: StephenHampshire for Lighting Up

2nd Place: vic cross for “PUNK”

3rd Place: sean282 for The Dark hedges

Highly Commended: Pursuit by velimir, The Chase by billyspad, Auld Reekie by tyronet2000.

Thanks John, it was a good topic which produced some excellent drama. Congratulations to the three podium placings, anyone of those could have won in my opinion, and also to the HCs.
David

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

Congratulations to the Winner and other places and HC's. Because of the quality of the entries not an easy one to judge so thanks to John for the interesting subject, the judging and comprehensive comments and also for my HC.

Nice bit of judging again from John. My thanks for the placing. As much as I thought I was in with a shout (personally really pleased with it), the two above me were the two I knew would be well in the reckoning. Both fantastic images. Well done

I love lighting up great winning shot the chase was just great full of excitement, Dark hedges just leads you to who knows where great entries great judging
regards

mike

Exceptionally good quality turn out this week. Superb winning shot and runners up - Dark edges was a brilliant shot in my opinion. Well done to John for the judging and the feedback.

Regards

Paul

Sorry I didn't comment earlier. Anyway thanks for the 2nd place John. As it was my first attempt I didn't think I'd get anywhere. Thanks to others who commented on my entry. I thought they were all entries were really good. Also I'm glad I didn't win because I could never critique other peoples work like John. CHEERS Vic.