Weekly #467 - "Blue" Competition

Hello folks

Thank you for your entries. This is my first attempt at judging any sort of competition, so apologies for any errors of judgement. There were some really interesting and imaginative entries and what follows are my thoughts on them all

Icy Cairn Gorm by Pespicador
I like the use of the trees to provide a natural frame to a lovely view obviously taken on a beautiful blue day. However, the main subject, Cairn Gorm, is a bit too hazy and lacks contrast to be a winner.

Blue Flower by Wozfromcov
Really like the subject, it's a lovely colour and well chosen aperture to isolate it from the background. I find the large part of another flower at the bottom of the frame intrudes and takes my eye away from the subject. I'd suggest that a re-crop to take this out would result in a stronger image.

Blue Ice by vic cross
Clever and interesting choice of image which works for me. I really like the textures in both the ice and the rock - you did really well to avoid blowing out the highlights in the ice. Perhaps the rock could be lighted just a touch to get some detail in the cave?

Love is in the Air by JAK
Love it - just goes to prove that sometimes simple can be so effective! I also enjoy the hint of red and blue smoke trails from the other planes and the little bit of the sea at the bottom just to anchor the whole image.

Blue House - by RayW
You find these bright painted houses in lots of places and I like this one - especially because of the splashes of yellow of the door blind and particularly the flower in the window - without the flower it would be a weaker image. Unfortunately the window that it sits in is just a bit too dark to make it a winner. Could you revisit it and just lift the window a little? (apologies if it's my screen!)

Valley of the Kings by johnriley
Definitely blue! What's not to like - great detail wherever you look, well exposed and well balanced. Fantastic reflection. Being picky - could you have gone wider, or moved back a little so that all of the peak was in the reflection? I don't know as I wasn't there - it may not have been possible, but....

Metro Crossing by davidtrout
Nice reflection image - almost abstract, but you can still see what it is. It works well for me - I love the strong blue of the girders through the middle. Well exposed and well composed. However, I might be tempted to clone out the brown spot in the water on the left had edge as my eye keeps getting drawn to it.

Daisy Blue by GlynM
A really imaginative, and technically demanding, interpretation of the brief, that works well. The bug takes a little spotting as it's not obvious with this lighting. I see lots of flowers isolated against a black background, but I don't recall ever seeing one lit quite like this.

Blue Doorway by ken2390
I like the idea and love the colours, but I'm not sure that the darker band on the right side of the frame adds to the whole - for me it distracts from the image. The central beads also don't look quite as sharp as they could be.

Tower and Tram Cables by simonmac
Really strong lines and nice diagonals and great range of blue tones. I like the composition with the main elements on the third. Well exposed and sharp all the way through.

Intense by Noelcmn
Very imaginative entry and well spotted and I like the art work. Well exposed and composed. The only difficulty I have with this one is the old question of photographing another piece of art with adding or taking anything away from the original. I can't help feeling that if this had someone walking past and staring at those intense eyes, that you'd be onto a real winner.

The Blues Lady by drofmit
Nice spot and completely on brief, both for the colour and the mood. It’s very well exposed with both the shadows and the white of her trousers full of detail. I also like the composition and the use of a vertical letterbox to keep attention on the subject. On my monitor it looks like her face could have been a little bit sharper, but I’m not at all bothered by the motion blur on her arm.

British Railways Blue by bforbes
I like this a lot. It is well exposed and sharp where it needs to be. I really like the reflection of the clouds on the front of the engine. The dark smoke from the stack also contrasts well with the clouds. Would it be slightly stronger with the signal gantry on the edge of the frame cropped/cloned out?, – I find that element distracts slightly from the overall image.

At the fairground by paulb531
Nice portrait of your grandson having fun. You’ve chosen just the right shutter speed to freeze his face and yet just enough to indicate movement. The background is a little distracting – but his expression is great.

Thanks for taking up the challenge, as a subject as abstract as just a colour is always very subjective. So, to the winners!:

Third Place
Love is in the Air by JAK

Second Place
British Railways Blue by bforbes

Winner
Valley of the Kings by johnriley

Highly Commended
Metro Crossing by davidtrout
Tower and Tram Cables by simonmac

Over to John

Phil

Cheers Phil!

Many thanks for the HC- and well done to the winner and places and David.

I personally enjoyed the challenge as I had to resist my natural inclination to convert the shot to black and white! So thank you!

Very good critiques of the photographs too.

Thank you

Congratulations to John and his fellow podiumers (if there is such a word) Barrie and JAK and to my fellow HC Simon. Thanks for my HC.
Many thanks to Phil for the competition, the subject matter had a lot of appeal which sparked of some great entries.
Good set of comments to round off a successful weekly competition.
David

Congratulations John-cracking good shot! Worthy winner. And extended to bforbes and JAK, and the HC's Davidtrout and Simonmac. Wonderful challenge, and as usual a visual feast. Thanks are in order to our competent judge for the challenge, judging and commenting-always appreciated.

Congratulations and many thanks Phil for presenting such a well managed and interesting competition at the first attempt.

Congratulations to John for the excellent winning shot, the runners-up and everyone else for a fantastic set of diverse interpretations of blue.

Glyn

Wow, thank you Phil for the winning place!

There were lots of great shots, so congratulations all round on an interesting competition. I'll be posting the new competition very soon.

A great first judging session, I'm sure it will be the first of many. Thanks for the third place and well done to the other podiums and HCs. I nearly submitted a sir Nigel Gresley loco photo too!

No need to apologise Phil, for setting and judging a first rate competition, we all start from scratch with our first win. Thanks for the second place ( I'll see what I can do about the signals) and congratulations to our winner and the rest of the podium.

Well done Phil - good competition and well judged. Congratulations to John great shot - but I do have a bit of trouble working out what it is.

regards

Paul

Great competition, thanks... clear comments, too
wonderful pix...
restriction by way of colour...
but freedom elsewhere...
seemed to hit everyone's creative spot!!

Yes, there is slight softness around the "Blues Lady's" mouth...
she was singing!!
Got a very good blues voice, too...
yet she's a non-smoker!!

I had another picture entirely to enter...
Cornflowers in a wheatfield....
then saw what she was wearing...
and got the camera out of the bag!