Weekly Competition #103 - Something green... Competition

This is my first go at judging, I have seen many others give it a go, and I only hope that I have lived up to the high standard set by those who have gone before me.

As with all judging, this is just my opinion, so I hope you get something out of it. I have tried to be objective; however it can be difficult at times! This has been a challenge, 38 entries and many of them of a very high standard.

Draken: 123Run A very good start to the competition, made me laugh! The image does show a reasonable amount of noise, especially in the black area, but I don't feel that this detracts from the overall impression.

GlynM: Gooseberries I like this one, then again I like gooseberries! I feel a nice hot pie coming on! Slightly under exposed, may be a little curves, I tried a little adjustment on just the green channel and I think it lifted the picture just a bit. I also think that the focus point is just behind the gooseberries, the branch seems to be more in focus. The only distraction for me is the highlight in the bottom right, cropping this out strengthened the picture for me.

Prieni: Green Hills of Kaua'I V Rich, vibrant, and an amazing range of greens, giving the picture a fantastic depth. I find that there are two areas fighting for my attention: the hill in the centre and the tree covered hill just behind it and I like that. This is one picture that is crying out to be printed A3+!

Titchgamer: My Alcoholic Parrot I hope he is over 18! For me the image just misses the mark, it needs more depth of field to bring the beak into focus and a hint of what he is drinking by including more of the bottle in the frame could have lifted this picture to one of my podium positions.

Belina B: Just a Touch of Green Stunningly sharp, you have managed to get a lot of interest on a single plane of focus and the water droplets holding on to the leaves' hairs just lifts the image and the border sets it. I tried a slight curves adjustment on the green channel, but I can't decide if it makes an already great image any better - give it a go and see what you think.

Hyram: Starboard Hand Marker With this picture I find myself wondering which channel you used in the conversion! I would guess a little to the blue channel side. It is cleverly balanced with the tower block; however the cables running across the top do the blank area of sky no favours, I would probably crop some off the top. Just my preference, but I would like more detail in the foreground water which appears nicely rippled, but seems to have been lost in the conversion to black & white.

Johnriley: Leaf in the Rain Exposure and composition are spot on; I can't help wondering why the leaves around don't show any water drops, but that is all part of the untold story behind the leaf and how it got there! There is only one distraction in the image for me and that is the brown leaf in the top right corner, however cropping the image changes the composition too much and brings the leaf too close to the edge of the frame - roll-on 100% viewfinders!

Nathanever82 Iguana This is a very difficult shot to capture as I am guessing the subject is behind glass and there is no sign of any reflection. It is a shame you posted the image smaller then the allowed 800. This image is only let down by the blown highlights on the back leg, this might be the resizing that caused this. Perhaps this would have been a case for underexposing to preserve the highlights and then lift the shadows and midtones in post processing.

Thorndell: Herb Garden To me the dominating subject is the fork handle, however it is slightly out of focus, this is likely to be a factor of shooting at 300mm at f6.7. If you were shooting on a tripod, which I expect you were, then you could have gone to f8 perhaps. A good range of greens and a good composition, however I think you were let down by uninspiring light.

gartmore: Lillies Very subtle and delicate colouring from the green gel on the flash, it has really lifted this picture. Depth of field is just right for me. My only complaint, such as it is is the blown highlights on the bell of the lilies. Strangely much of the background shows a value of 253 on the green channel.

Haworth: Moss on a wall I still can't decide if I like this shot, its the apparent soft focus areas of the image. There is a lot of detail in the moss and resizing it to 800 has probably not done that detail any favours. The other thing is that the leading lines on the wall don't take me anywhere. Perhaps a touch of added contrast would lift the image a bit.

Galoot: Favourite Green Hopefully you didn't drink all these in one go! Spot on focussing and great use of the f1.2. I was just wondering why you used ISO400? I find that this is the point that the K10D shows its noise in the dark areas of photos. I even believe that I can see your reflection in the neck of the bottle!

Malo1961: Something Green A classic plant portrait that subtly revels the detail in the flower head. I am not convinced that I like your choice of border colour, perhaps a darker green to balance the darker green in the picture. Then again, I can't fault the picture so I am only picking on the border.

mr.mellow: Romanasc This one looks decidedly similar to an earlier competition entry, just that this version is not so tightly cropped, I have to say I preferred the tighter crop!

Weldingblues: Only one left For me, there is a little too much blank space at the top of the picture and the line on the wall detracts from the image.

Tony-O: Echinacea in Green Focus is sharp and in the right place and your composition hits the classic rule of thirds. At first I though that there were blown highlights, but once I viewed it in a calibrated screen it was clear there were colour tones a plenty and none of then pure white! My only distraction in the picture is the out of focus opening Echinacea head bottom centre, otherwise a very good shot.

TonyM: Hanging Green I am afraid I don't know what these are, I am not good with plants. It looks to me as if the bottom of the leaf is slightly out of the plane of focus, something a slight tip of the camera would have changed, this may have been the effect you intended, however I would have preferred the leaf sharp all over.

Bluejohn: Groins One of the few photos to show only a splash of green, however it is a little lost in the picture for me. As a picture I like it, however as something green, its just not enough for me.

jaccy1: Pods There is too much to this picture, I find my eyes wondering over it with nothing to really focus on, except the dark area in the bottom right and the out of focus pod on the top left thirds intersect. I think a better approach would have been to isolate one or two pods to focus in on.

aGinger: Green bridge The lighting has allowed the subtle green of this bridge to really shine through and exposure seems spot on. I am left wondering where the bridge leads, and I can't help thinking that a different angle might have added more to this picture. Still, I like it.

Jyrkira: Shirts I think the bright sunshine has resulted in the colours appearing a little washed out (sorry for the pun!), a little added saturation wouldn't go amiss. Perhaps this was one time a polarising filter would have brought the best out of the scene. Still this was a very well spotted opportunity.

PondSkater: Monkey Puzzle What fantastic trees these are. This unusual angle has produced a well balanced symmetric picture that works well with the high contrast resulting from the strong light. The image is let down very slightly by the centre part which seems to be a little out of focus.

Unlocker: Mean Green Machine Great shot from a low angle giving this a lot of drama. However, I do find the Formula racing car on the wall a bit of a distraction. Moving round to your left might have hidden a bit more of the background clutter, then there is always cloning!

Technoblurb: Green Field and Barn Owl A classic barn owl on a post. So what is the subject of this photo, I think it's the field! I like the 3 green section of the photo. I don't like the distracting 'wire' pointing up from the fence in the middle. Shame you were not able to get in closer to make the barn owl the subject and the green field the supporting player.

davidtrout: Nine Green Bottles I really like the idea, the reflections on the glass window actually add a bit of atmosphere to this shot for me, however I can't get away from the unbalanced look as a result of the framing on the nine bottles - could you have gone for ten I wonder - just one more on the left and I would have been hooked! Or even 8, cropping the one on the right.

JudithAnn: God's Green Beautiful lighting, you have made the best of a good opportunity here. The metering is spot on, however I would have liked the orange leaves to be more in focus to better show the contrast with the green and the delightful sunlight. I would have also gone for a portrait crop tight in on the leaves, focussing attention on the body of leaves, leading your eye through the frame and removing the black area and two bright spots on the right of the image. Nicely captured though and I think worth the bite.

saliakbari Green and Blues This is a strong set of colours, however the picture is suffering from camera shake, I suspect that this was handheld where a tripod should have been used. Also the building is leaning slightly to the left, needs a spot of straightening.

Anvh: Swift Green Wow, you have been busy at the track, I thing this is even more striking than your Movement Comp entry! It's one hell of a lens that 50-135 isn't and, from this you know just how to get the best out of it. Pin sharp. My only, very minor, comment is that the image is neither straight nor crocked and I can't make up my mind if I would have straightened it, with a little more foreground, I might have gone for a steeper angle.

CrispyDuck: Oscar the Grouch What a great find! I like the inclusion of some of the environment, however I would have moved the bag as this is a bit of a distraction and does not add anything for me (though an alternative would have been to move it to the other side so that Oscar appears to be looking at it in a grouch). Apart from that, the image is slightly underexposed, that white wall needs to be more, well, white! Then lifting the contrast a bit brings the picture more alive.

Father Ted: Shady River There is so much green, such a range of green shades, I don't know where to look. At first I though this was just too busy, however, it is growing on me. I have done this with other pictures and tried it here: applied a slight curves adjustment to just the green channel and I think it lifts the picture - give it a go and see what you think.

sanderscape: Crown Green Just wanted to ask, if you don't go, how did you get this picture? It's only slight, but the club house is sloping to the right! For me this needs a little something more, or perhaps less. The clubhouse has green on it, perhaps closing in on that might have been better. Though I do like the way you have used the trees to frame the picture.

RR: As the proverb says… first thing I wanted to point out is that the grass on the top right seems to be a bit blown and is slightly distracting. Now I have that out the way, I really like the dynamic angle and the look on the nearest guinea pigs face. This is not just one for the album.

MarjutL: A door The first thing I though when I first saw this image, was what a great door, then shame its so list in the surrounds. The blank concrete in the front really should not be in the picture - as with landscapes, there needs to be some foreground interest and this does not happen till more than a third of the way up the picture. It also appears underexposed by some amount. I can see what you were trying to do, but I think a landscape crop excluding the concrete and starting at the loose bricks would have achieved this better.

mikew: Strawberry I trust the strawberry went to a good home following this! This shows just how good that Vivitar macro is. Your lighting is spot on, no shadows and it just leaps out of my screen. What is also fantastic is that with all that white, nothing is blown!

Telstar: Aged The paint has texture but the lighting has left the picture looking a bit flat. A go with curves to bring out the contrast and some sharpening help, however they can't compensate for the lighting you were dealt.

STEVEPOXON: Ford Escort This shows a good panning technique and there is plenty of space for the car to move into, so composition is good. What I would have liked to have seen is the use of an even slower shutter speed to show even more movement.

ericp: humming I know how hard humming birds are to catch, so you have done well to get this shot. However, the over all picture is a little dark so the real greens on the bird as not really showing to their best. There is a lit of back light and I think you needed more exposure compensation or perhaps centre weighted metering. Even the use of flash might have worked to bring out those essential feather colours.

Heidi: A Green Kiss We started this competition with a laugh and you have managed to end on the same note for me! Fantastic idea. The background is showing significant levels of noise and it seems that the ISO was pushed just a bit too far for this shot.

Winner Belinda B (it was my favourite from the start)
Second Mikew (Late entry beach hut!!)
Third Galoot
Highly Commended Prieni, davidtrout (if it had been more balanced, it would have been in my top three)

Congratulations Belinda, over to you now.

Congratulations to Belinda B, Mikew & Galoot.

Constructive & succint judging from beakynet also.

Well done Beaky for some very good judging and comments. Congratulations to Belinda and I'm well pleased with second place.

Yes the (half) strawberry was eaten but our cat doesn't care for cream. The lighting was as it came in the conservatory which has a box section roof which diffuses the light well.

It must have been tough to choose a winner from such a large and diverse entry.

Mike

Congrats to Belinda B, this was also my favourite image. Well done too mikew and Galoot for great images.

Excellent judging and comments beakynet - I wasn't sure if my image quite worked or not, and your comments about the lines not leading anywhere have answered my questions as to why it didn't quite look right, cheers.

Well done to Belinda B. That was my favourite picture too. Also congrats to the other award winners, they had some wonderful pictures. I was amazed I got HC, I thought there were many better photos than mine. I went for 'nine green bottles' because it was a song title and you are quite right, it would have been better balanced with ten or eight. Above all well done Beakynet on your first judging, you did a really good job.
david

Congratulations to Belinda B. and a big 'well done' to Beakynet for comprehensive judging of a huge entry, all completed in the early hours

Did I imagine it or did Mike's Strawberry start off titled a Beach Hut :

Thanks for the very constructive comments and congratulations to Belinda

Yes, well done both, a great image and a great judging!

What will Belinda B choose I wonder...

I liked belinda B's from the start too

Well done on your 'first' judging, it won't be your last !!!

3rd was a bit of a surprise, there were a lot of good images in there

I regularly shoot high ISO, but admit, some subjects are better suited to it than others.

I even introduced a little more noise in this picture, I wanted the bottles to 'bend' into each other a bit.

Thanks on all counts! I used to be a bit scared of going about ISO400, now I want the shot, so up goes the ISO! That is the main reason I want the K-7

Congratulations to Belinda and also to beakynet for swift and competent judging!
Great entries and a "fresh" winning image.

Prieni

Wow

Thanks beaknet for my 1st Place and thank you for the Green Competition and your judging.

I really did not envy you with so many entries.

Congratulations to the others on the podium

I hope to post the new competition shortly

thanks Beakynet for the constructive comments, First time I've ever posted one of my own images to the net.

Must have taken a while to judge so hope you got some sleep.

Congrats to a worthy winner. Very striking.

[quote:3496ace15f="PondSkater"]thanks Beakynet for the constructive comments, First time I've ever posted one of my own images to the net.
[quote]

And I hope we will see many more!

Thanks Beakynet, for the swift and thoughtful judging. You did a tremendous job, so I surely hope, the headache has faded by now.
Congrats to Belinda. It was indeed a wonderful image and rightfully chosen to carry the highest honour.

Congrats also to the other winners.There was some real quality green this round.

As to my own entrie, I am normally not a border kind of guy. So maybe I shouldn't have start using one in the first place.
Lesson learnt here, I'll guess.

Martin.