Weekly Competition #112 - Hurry Competition

Usual disclaimer – these are just my thoughts and opinions and may way off the mark No offence ever intended so if my remarks seem harsh or unkind then put it down to rotten use of English!

An impressive entry – I’m glad I didn’t need to enter as in hindsight not an easy topic.

Beat the rapids – sominarthurs

This is a carefully composed photograph showing someone hurrying through the water. It’s clear and sharp so we can see the expression on his face. The exposure is terrific – I can’t see any blown whites which is all too easy with water and sun. I like the angles, I like the colours, I like the other canoeists in the background. It all hangs together very well.

Sulky racer – lenscape

Exposure and colours great but only his jacket seems to be really sharp which is always an issue when panning which I assume you did. It’s also a pity about the blue rope dissecting his body which could be cloned out. I don’t usually like borders but this one works OK. You’ve lost a little bit of the wheel at the bottom but given the panning etc. you can hardly take too much criticism for that! I feel there may be just a bit too much space behind the jockey and equally not enough for the horse to run into.

Lightspeed – RR

Nice idea for this competition as we do get a sense of speed and hurrying along the road. The dials are sharp and overall the exposure is good having bright colours, dead blacks and areas with not quite dead black. Personally I think you could crop from top left by about 15% and that would tighten up the use of the streaming colours.

Hurrying shoppers – Coriander

It’s a clever idea and does suggest people hurrying along. I think it could work better without the dog as it dilutes the impact of the feet. Asking for the impossible it would have been ideal if all the feet suggested movement as strongly as the central pair. The shadow is maybe regrettable but then again maybe without it the image would be far more bland. I think the feet top left are distracting but your idea requires feet and plenty of them!

Playin with traffic – molejones

It’s a nice image, clear colours, suitably sharp, nice light trails, good sky, nice starlight effect. The question is does it suggest hurry strongly? I guess it could but not maybe as assertively as some. Given the type of shot I think the composition works well.

Sunset Surfer – csg7249

It’s a good composition with strong diagonals being repeated forcefully. I like the way both feet are off the grounds and that you have the reflection. The colours is great and works well for this subject. It’s a pity the head isn’t quite separate from the surf and we have no idea why he is hurrying – but we can certainly see he is hurrying and his footprints show this as well. Possibly you could lose top left corner?

Hurrying home – davidtrout

It’s a pity that the lady is on the right and the couple on the left as I feel the couple direct my gaze out of the left edge while clearly the lady running thrusts to the right. We are left sort lingering on that dead space about the bicycle. The exposure, B&W conversion and clarity all look good and it is clear that she’s hurrying – possibly home who can tell?

Speeding up in-between spells of bad weather – summiteverest

A difficult subject to expose well. On my monitor the blue is a bit dark and needs some help but clearly the background does not. It’s not quite clear if he’s walking or running – the poor soul looks like he might be about to collapse. I think the intention of the composition was good but that he is sort of lurching out of the frame to the left rather than into the open space on the right. Hurrying – or staggering?


The Fastest Way To Eat an Icecream! – Judithann

OK this fits the bill of hurry just right for me. I’ve been there done that when the ice cream starts leaking out at the bottom, it’s all you can do and you do have to hurry to get the job done right. Nice exposure, I feel the colours are a bit warm, I’m sure his cheeked weren’t that flushed. Good focus although I feel it could be a tad sharper. The composition is OK but the arms appearing as if from nowhere on the left are disconcerting.

Windy day on Lefkada – Dr. Mhuni

A dramatic shot. Very clear, the whites have been preserved, the rocks are sharp and nicely toned. You can feel the energy in those waves but I’d say the figure is too central and it’s not totally clear what’s hurrying the water or the young lady? I think there’s potential if the crop was changed a bit but she’ll stay central!

Hurry up, I’m freezing - Draken

This is a nice shot, the dog has lots of space to look into, the lead isn’t ideal but I can live with it, the snow gets a bit grubby to the left but again that’s OK. You can see the snow falling which is good. But without the title there’s no indication of hurry, if anything quiet acceptance of his fate poor mutt.

Hurry we’d better run!!! – leemcafferty

Good shot. Nice colours, good exposure and just about sharp enough but wouldn’t it look better if the other leg was leading forward? The composition doesn’t quite work for me and I’m finding it hard to work out why – possibly the head is too central, I definitely don’t like the dark area top left but it would be very empty without it. I’m not sure I get a sense of hurry here rather purposeful striding.

Lee at speed – chelseablue

I can see what you’re trying to do but it’s more speed than hurry although I realise the poor batsman has to hurry to deal with the bowling! For me it’s too empty and the figures are too insignificant to provide the impact they should. It’s well composed, well exposed and focussed but just a bit too lacking in impact.

Better hurry, you’ll miss the bus – MoshTerlecky

Way too pale to work that well. I love the idea, I knew it was a bus and that it was hurrying along so that worked really well. When I tried shots like this I had a terrible time getting the exposure anything like right. I also feel that landscape would be better than portrait but it’s a fine attempt at an abstract on this theme.

NYC Cab - Try to stop one to cross the road... – nathanever82

An engaging and clever idea. Lots to look at, lots of well exposed colour, enough sharp areas to show the blurred items well. It’s very well done and a good use of the fisheye. My problem is with hurry. The guy walking isn’t hurrying so that leaves the cab – is that hurrying? It would have worked really well if the guy was hurrying to hail the cab or to get out of its way but for this topic I’m not sure it hits on exactly on target.

My world to spin! – DadeiaAndrade

I think I understand what you were trying to do but I wonder if there is too much movement in the subject and I’m not sure what’s happened to the nearly black area on the left. The background at the top is way overexposed which is hardly surprising but is distracting – it’s also extremely distracting. The ground really should be sharp as that is not moving so all in all nice try but needs some work I fear!

The takeoff – Ijparis

Yes this duck is hurrying but I’m sure it should not be central in the frame. I know there is the trail in the water but I’m sure there should be more space in front of the duck than behind. I do like the way the wings are moving and it’s obvious you have panned for this shot. The colours are good, the exposure OK and you were never going to get a razor sharp duck in this situation.

Chinook – alun

A very interesting and strong composition. You don’t need the mast or whatever it is bottom left the well seen and captured angle of the body bringing with it the powerful diagonals of the blades doesn’t need any help. The texture in the underside of the helicopter is great and I like the B&W conversion and that it’s contrasty. But hurrying?

Rushing off – johnriley

From the thumbnail I thought this was something else entirely. The exposure is fine, the colours lovely and it’s sharp where it should be. But I’m not convinced this really works. The energy is flying out to the left leaving a desert of wood etc. on the right that fulfils no purpose. There’s movement but is it hurry?

Hurry up pigeons! – Karl

Tricky to get an acceptable exposure of both the paving, the birds and the person. It does show pigeons hurrying off but overall the composition is muddled – there’s an odd dark area top left and the far background is distracting. I think you need to focus more on what people care about – the person in the picture. You’d still have some pigeons hurrying off.

And the G-forcs build … - DoctorJeff

I feel the aircraft is very isolated and way too central in these clouds. The smoke trails are rather indistinct and so don’t support the movement of the aircraft sufficiently. I know that I would try a radical crop and keep only the bottom right corner to include the aircraft at the very top left corner. Then I’d try and extract all I could from the clouds and smoke. Hurry? Fast yes – hurry?

Hurry Great Granma – Darlene

Darlene you can’t hurry great grandmas – it’s cruel! It’s a nice shot with the tilt of the umbrella and the body adding some nice lines. I don’t mind not seeing the face of the young man but I feel a little cheated that I can’t see her face more. You also had a big problem in that she’s pretty much in white and he’s pretty much in black. You’ve handled it well as we have detail in both. Hurry – hmm maybe?

Hurry hurry – ericp

I’m note sure about this. It’s almost a silhouette but not quite but then again there’s no detail in the face and little enough in the body. The rider looks a little blurred but doesn’t create the impression that this was by design when I think it would be more pronounced. He’s left all his space behind which makes me feel he’s running out of the picture which isn’t good. I don’t really like the way there’s a dark line that touches the top of the wheel. Nice B&W conversion but I’m asking hurry or speed?

I’m late – Snappycaz

Good display of motion and speed. The colours are rather vivid even for me and I’m a bit heavy handed. The high ISO has also had its impact but not too bad really. I like the indication of rotation in the hind quarters and it wouldn’t be half the photograph it is if the legs were arranged any other way. The rabbit is a bit central in my opinion. Certainly fast but hurry?

Drink me before somebody else does – sandy

Bit rude to drink someone else’s beer I’d have thought. What’s sharp and what’s not is baffling me a bit. The lens effect of the drink on the table’s edge is a bit disconcerting as well. The colours and exposure are lovely, the composition is probably right in this case so central doesn’t create any issues. But hurry – without the title there’d be no sense of hurry.

In the Jet Stream – Asheridan

The composition is good with nice diagonals and powerful circles, the colours are good too. Shooting through any window will degrade sharpness but an aircraft window and forget sharpness! There’s plenty of useful space and the arrangement of the horizon works. But I do ask myself hurry? Do airlines ever really hurry?

Now choosing the winners, really hard this week. Really, really hard as sometimes a winner just jumps at you but not this time.

First: Hurrying home – davidtrout
Second: Beat the rapids – sominarthurs
Third: NYC Cab - Try to stop one to cross the road... – nathanever82

Highly commended:
The Fastest Way To Eat an Icecream! – Judithann
Better hurry, you’ll miss the bus – MoshTerlecky
Hurrying shoppers – Coriander
I’m late – Snappycaz

A special mention for Chinook by Alun which is a great shot but off topic!

So, over to David for next week.

Mike

Many thanks for the detailed judging Mike, and congrats to David and the others. Interesting, though, as I would have gone for a very different selection to yours (though David's was also one of my faves). My personal choice would have been csg's surfer - lovely composition and light.

Re. mine - I take your point entirely about the figure being too central, but there was little I could do about this at the time or in PP, unfortunately.

A tricky subject to enter this week and to judge.

Just how do you define hurrying :

Congratulations to mikew for the comprehensive judging and to davidtrout for the winning entry.

Although I do find the couple exiting stage left and the lady exiting stage right a bit disconcerting in David's entry

Like Dr. Mhuni, if I had been judging, I might have opted for csg's surfer.

Thanks Mike, both for the judging and giving me first place. It can't have been easy selecting from this entry. I also liked csg's surfer but my favourites were by nathanever and RR.
Oh dear, now for the next competition, I'll get back to you soon.
david

Thanks Mike, judging is a very difficult job!
I think that eventually you have to make a final choice based on gut instinct, and then work back to find the rationale.
Well done David.

Well done to everyone and to our winners and judge in particular!

Congrades to David...Yes yes belive it or not she (Great Grandma) kept saying hurry hurry hurry....Thanks for the great judgeing....I know you can't see her face ,as she was avoiding the hard rain.

Congrats to the winners & well done to mikew on judging a large entry so thoughtfully.

I did a bit of photoshop work on the dials as the needles were actually hovering around 20mph & low revs which didn't really fit the "hurry" theme !

You bounder! Did it well though.

Mike