Weekly Competition #106 - Action Competition

Thank you to those who entered this competition, I've enjoyed looking at all your photos. I was impressed at the number of new members who took part this week and at the quality of much of their work. While some of the regulars again came up with goodies I was a little disappointed some of the other regular contributors were missing this week.
I think a few of the entries, while very good in their own way, confused movement with action - and I was looking for that distinction between them.
I found it difficult to seperate the top few placings as they were all excellent but very different. Before commenting on all the entries I must make the usual disclaimer - this is only my personal opinion; a different judge on a different day would probably have come up with a different result.
So here goes:
Safe or Not - Draken:
The composition is good with the standing figure forming a frame over the figure on the ground. The rising dust cloud shows you've caught this at the moment of most action. The downside is you can't see where the ball is and the faces of the two players are not very clear.

The Race - Doingthebobs
There is a lot action in this busy picture which shows the young canooists putting in a lot of effort. Perhaps its just abit too busy and a close in view of the effort of the face of just one competitor with some of the others out of focus might have had more impact.

Vera - Rapala
This is a cracking sports picture with just the sort of action I was looking for. Vera's effort is captured and frozen expertly yet there is movement in the ball. Its a powerful spots picture that demonstrates the tension and pain of the teniis player. You could make it even better by lightening the features in her face slightly in photoshop. Why is she carrying a spare ball in her knickers?

Jarvis Crocker - Cabstar
You've deffinately caught Jarvis at the decisive moment. Its a good action shot which I'm sure was taken under very difficult conditions. A near miss for the awards.

Shake and Freeze - Pentaxboyo
This is a classic dog shaking itself dry picture. The backlit water is superb without any confusing detail behind it to compete with the action.Its a pity the detail in the dog is a little indistinct amid all the high drama that is going on.Its still a great photo and I like the mono treatment.

Queens Park Skater - Pentaxophile
There's good good action here with the skateboarder frozen sharp while the background appears to be panned. I like his t-shirt with the picture of the girl who appears to be screaming at the thought of what will happen if he smashes into that bollard.

Ladies and gentlemen today we are going to..... - Snarsin
I see you are a new member so welcome to PU and congratulations on entering so soon. This is a good example of street photography and a very worthwhile early effort. But as an actiom shot it doesn't quite match some of the better placed photos in this competition. The action needs to be more obvious. There ought to be an award for the longest title in the competition.

Celebration of life to come - Niklas
This little performer is putting his heart and soul into the act and your photo demonstrates this perfectly. I like the lok of concentration on his face and the vibrant colours in the picture. Pity the top of his hat has flown out of the frame.

Who needs reigns - Tichgamer
You've cught the hroses ata good moment in the action and despite the late hour there is some rich colour in the scene. Unfortunately the picture is not critically sharp and the black horses don't stand out from the background sufficiently to have impact.

Lets do lunch - Doctor Jeff
Its the sort of picture you just have to take and you did the right thing in snapping this delightful scene in the brief moment you had available. But it doesn't come across to me as a perfect action shot.

911 on route - Bill_And
This is one of the shots that demonstrate movement rather than action for me. Perhaps the shutter speed was just a little too slow so that the ambulance has become an indistinct blur. Its a good idea though and I like the high view point.

Falling - Boyd36UK
Pretty extreme action tojump out of a plane and you've caught this one with good colour and smoke trail which is drawing a diagonal line down the picture. The sky is a bit wishy washy and might have benefitted from a slight darkening down to add more impact.

Long Hard Slog - Spad
This picture would appeal to a sports editor because it depicts action, movement and the athlete's face quite clearly. You can see the effort in her face and the photo is sharp in all the right places.

Flight of the great tit - Johnriley
The cynic in me says this is one that got away. John had his shot lined up then the bird took off just a bit too early. On the other hand the artist in me (no one recognises the artist in me) sees an impressionist picture with just enough detail to inform the viewer what is going on. I like the subdued colour and the ethereal tail and feathers.

Drop the dead donkey - Snappycaz
This is essentially a fun picture. The donkey is enjoying itself but your own jokey title seems a more accurate description, the donkey has died and he's been dropped. Action it aint but its a good larf.

Dinner - Mat Whittington
He looks a very angry lion and one to avoid. You've caught his aggression very well but perhaps not the action so much. If I'd been there the most obvious action would have been me galloping over the horizon.

Launch - Lenscape
A good quality action shot that has been nicely framed to concentrate on the subject. I like the way the driver/pilot is tensed over the controls

Mid bounce - Bigcog
A very good child picture and you're quite right, his hair is photogenic. He's obviously not suspended in mid air so he's moving but the action doesn't come across dramatically enough in the photo to get among the winners.

Spinning Harry - Timcx500e
This is imaginative and the sort of picture I really like. But whiloe it eprfectly illustrates movement I'm not convinced its a top action picture. The child is lying back passively enjoying the ride but not being very active.

Up Up - Dwight Morton
A great record shot of a vintage bomber and well caught. But while there is movement in the propellors the action doesn't come across very strongly in the picture as a whole. A little more contrast would have improved the impact.

Cooling off - Judith Ann
Love this Judith. You've only been a PU member for a short time but you've been a good contributor and this picture lives up to your usual standard. It really has a surreal and humorous feel to it. You caught the action just right.

Three friends - Darlene
This is the work of another new member, welcome Darlene.
You've captured this scene expertly showing the joy of the kids and freezing their action. I like the black and white treatment but wondered why did you kept the grass green. Its an unusual piece of colour popping but I liked it.

Flapping good - 1947lcs
Another brand new member, welcome Les. This is a cracking shot to make you debut with, just one day after you got your K-M. It works on more than one level, its got action, good colour, movement, action and its also an artistic natural history picture. Well done.

Chef's action - Malo 1961
Ouch, one slip of that knife and your fingers get into the salad Martin. Great idea, I love the concept. However I feel the movement on the knife is just a bit too much making it indistinct and its a very busy picture which suffers a litte through having too much crammed into it

Water start - Prieni
A very good action shot Ralf beautifully sharp and I love that water wave building up the the feet of the skier which shows the speed and action. No space is wasted in the frame of this tighly cropped photo.

Racing - ANVH
You poickee the right spot, right on the bend, for your action shot Stefan. I like the way the cars are curving round in the composition but while I accept you must have panned the shot and expect the backround to be blurred I feel the whole of the shot is a little too soft.

Piano - Mikew

There's great orininalkityn ehre mike. You've come up with something quite different and unexpected. Eight of the hammers are moving so there is action in there and the composition is excellent with the frame, hammers and strings forming a triangle.

Edinburgh rat race - Puds52
This is a fun picture of a fun event. Perhaps there's too much space round the subject and a tighter crop would have added more impact.


Touchdown - GlynnM
Runways are not always flat - I've had some very bumpy landings in my time. You've caught this well from a dramatic angle but even with a 300mm lens the action seems a long way away. Pity there hadn't been a bigger plane landing to fill the frame.

Round we go - Beakeynet
This little boy looks a bit unsure about whether he's enjoying himself when he should be having fun. But the idea behind the picture is good. I feel this is another of those shots that perfectly illustrate movement but not action.

Results:

1: Vera by Rapala
2: Flapping good by 1947lcs
3: Piano by MikeW
Highly commended: Long hard slog by Spud
Commended: Water Start by Prieni; Cooling Off by JudithAnn; Launch by Lenscape; Shake and Freeze by Pentaxboyo.

David...You did a great job on this one. There were a lot of fantastic pictures entered. Thank you for your adjudacation...and for giving me a commended....

It was a fun picture to do....I LOVE Pentaxboyo dog and the the Dove in 'flapping good!

Congrats to Rapala for a great win....What is our new assignment????

Congrat to all the winners

I am very pleased with your comments, as I am trying new things with my K-m.

My choosing of the green in this pitures is because I am passionate about green.

Can not wait for the next competitions, so get going Rapala!!!

Thanks David.
Another round completed and as usual the judging was of a very high standard. Congrats to Rapala and the other podium takers.
My personal favourites were the ones of 1947lcs and Pentaxboyo.

About my own entrie: I tried to show the broader view on action. A lot is going on in a kitchen, and usually there needs to be done a lot in a short moment of time. Hence the rather busy picture. And the knife? Well.....with a bit of practice it can go as fast as a kitchen machine. Specially after 25 years of practise

Martin.

Well done Rapala & thank you for the Judging David. I agree with your assessment of my donkey. I was just in a fun mood & thought maybe a lighthearted entry would make us all smile. It's all too easy to get over serious & whilst I love photography, I also like to laugh. I didn't expect the entry to be taken seriously, so I'm not disapointed. The winning entry says it all, a wonderful action shot. Well judged.
Caz

Well done David for some excellent judging and for what it's worth I think your choice of winner was the right one. Excellent shot in every way. A good range of entries as well.

Thank you for an unexpected third as I felt I was rather pushing the subject a bit there.
In summary well done Rapala and to David!

Mike

Excellent winner shot, congratulations Rapala! And thanks David for swift and competent judging.

Prieni

Congratulations to Rapala and apologies to David for not entering but I did not have anything that I felt met the action brief rather than movement.

Pleae excuse some of my bad typing errors as it was late night/early morning when I wrote my comments and I only noticed some clumsy typing when I revisited this morning. I don't seem able to get back to do the corrections.
david

Thank you for the Judging David and congratulation to the winners.
The competition it was a lot of fun to do and there are many and diverse entries with this one.

About your comment on my photo David, I couldn't pan the shot since I've 3 directions of movement in it.
The 2 cars in the back move to the right, the silver car moves towards me and the car in the front moves to the left. I could have panned one of them but that means that the rest will be blurred even more, it could have been an option but I didn't do that.

lets see what the subject will be this week.

Congratulation to the winner, Rapala.
The photo, Vera, deserves the win.
Action in the essence.

I feel like a winner too, being able to figure out how to enter the competition.

The involvement from davidtrout also deserves a winning prize.

What a great forum, what a lot of great photos and what a lot of great contributions in the threads.

I am very pleased I found this community.

Niklas

Well done Rapala, Superb shot...

Did Vera win?

Thanks for your words on my shot David.

I must admit that my fave was Shake and Freeze. The way the light has caught the water. Plus with the dark background it makes it look fantastic!

A very high standard this week & a worthy winner too. Some information about my Jarvis Cocker photo. As he was headlining the john Peel tent at Glastonbury there where a very high number of togs present in the pit, as well as a high number of TV cameras from BBC who also had a very long boom arm. So space was tough as well as getting a clear shot of Jarvis, then in one of those rare moments he actually jumped right in front of me, thankfully I was ready for the shot, but was one of those rare moments when it happens right in front of you .

Nice one!

Thank you for judging David, thank you for all nice comments

Thank you David for your judging and your comments. For me 2nd place was far more than I ever expected. Congratulations to Rapala one winning and thanks to Martin for encouraging me to enter.
I have lots to learn and this has just made me more enthusiastic than ever. Thank you all for your comments.
Les