Weekly Competition #120 - Reading and writing Competition

Before I start the judging - until a late burst on Sunday, I was mortified by the small number of entries to the comp, and the final tally of submissions was indeed rather small. I would like to stress that I did not set out to pick a narrow subject matter to simplify the task of judging, as some may have concluded. I thought with examples of reading and writing all around us that people would have images reflecting this, and I’m sorry that it appears to have been a subject for which so few had relevant images in their archives. Though the good news was that several excellent images appear to have been taken specially for the comp as a result, and overall there were some cracking images submitted.

Now to get to the judging...

It should go without saying that this is just one person’s interpretation...

Ben76, The library at Leeds Castle
An impressive and, more pertinently, aesthetically pleasing collection of books. The colours of the tomes and the walls are a nice blend of pastel shades, with a bit of vibrancy to add interest. Shame about the cropped items at the top and bottom of the frame, though, which spoil the scene rather. Also, I don’t know who chose the flowers, but they don’t go with what’s behind them (nor does the sofa) - aristocratic taste is a little too eclectic here!

flat4, On the way home
Great capture. One of the types of image I was hoping to get amongst the submissions. Excellent composition. Nice colours. I like the way that the near page of the newspaper (and hand) is more focused than the other page. I also like the OOF windows of the riverboat in the background. My one reservation is that the hood on the man’s coat takes up too much of the frame.

TOZZA27, Skywriting
Hmmm! While there’s not been a surfeit of entries. I do feel this is stretching the theme rather. Nice trail of blue/red smoke from the plane in the middle but it’s not exactly ‘Once upon a time...’ is it?!

John Riley, John Rylands Library
A building I’ve passed many times – clearly I should have taken the effort to go inside. It’s a good image of an impressive interior. While I like the composition, each time I look at it I feel the need to do something about the converging verticals, and also perhaps crop a tad more off the right side. Though I'm not sure how practical this would be to address either at the time of or after shooting.

Nathanever82, Metropolitan Man
Neat candid – interesting explanation of your image. I like the positioning of the man to the left of the image. I might have cropped more off the right so that the board at the back is more or less centred and there are two lights equidistant from either top corner (though, to be fair, I’ve tried this and can’t make up my mind if it enhances the image or not). I do like the combination of the undistorted man in the midst of extreme distortion around him.

Oppenheimer45, Book shop in Verona
Attractive fronted bookshop, and I can see why you took a picture of it, but it needs something else (light, human interest, altered perspective...) to make it stand out. Looks a little soft – though I see it’s been taken at f3.5 and 18mm, and if it’s the 18-55 this might explain it as this lens is not at its best wide open. I would have upped the aperture to gain a little sharpness - with 1/50 @ 18mm you’ve got room to play with handheld (and you could always up the ISO from 200).

Mr. Mellow, Time to sit and read
A pleasant enough image – but it doesn’t have the lighting, or isn’t compositionally striking enough to make it stand out. Looks like it was taken in the middle of the day – which would explain the light. Composition wise, I like the fact that the woman is towards the bottom of the frame, but find her a little central - ie. equidistant from either side (Though I can see why in this image you have done this – the noticeboard and shutters have determined it). Finally, the most important part of the image, the woman’s face, is not well lit compared to other parts (difficult to do anything about this in the heat of the moment, I know – I’ve got so many similar images! – but this is a comp entry so should be strictly assessed).

Bluejohn, Poison pen
A period still life. Collection of objects – including the books – go together well, and the sepia(ish) tone is entirely appropriate. Like the shadow cast by the bottle and other objects. However, in the end I find this image lacks a little punch, and the composition of the collected objects also lacks a little je ne sais quoi. Bizarre exif info, BTW – what’s going on there?!

Rapala, Strahov library
Boy, that is one hell of a library. A stunning ceiling, and the books and furniture (I like all those globes) complete the scene to nice effect . Good colour too, if quite muted. I do think, though, that the image could be enhanced significantly by simply cropping it higher. Up to just below the first globe – then more emphasis is placed on what’s above. (That blue carpet at the bottom of the image is really extraneous). I’d also consider doing some perspective stretch in order to address the slight tilting of the bookstacks on the right.

Prieni, Bringing back memories
Some light reading from Prieni (well I guess it is for you Ralf, if not the rest of us)! A nicely composed image, shot for the comp (judging by the exif). I like it. Though I might have liked it more if, somehow, you could have got the spectacles evenly focused throughout (though I realise this is probably impossible – except possibly with tilt & shift techniques[?]).

Gartmore, Stupidly in B major = wrong!
Interesting musical interpretation of the theme. I’m assuming this is the sign of a frustrated musician, not the title of a score by Andy Park?! The layers of sheaves, covered in notes (and topped off by post-it notes), gives a nice sense of work in progress. The angled keyboard, and position of the score, are well placed in the frame, but overall it’s not such an eye-catching composition (pun intended) with the light rather too even throughout for any part of the image to standout.

Darlene, Classics over time
Shouldn’t this be ‘Time over classics’? I find this difficult to critique. It’s a crisp image, but the composition doesn’t really do anything for me. The furnishings (and books) are remarkably coordinated, given their different natures – indeed, from a photographic point of view, perhaps too much so, as I find the image a little dull (despite its crispness).

Galoot, Reading
Nice capture. Very contrasty image, arising I guess from the time of day the shot was taken, but it’s an example of how pics taken in harsh daytime light can sometimes work (btw, this doesn’t look like the 17:50 indicated on the exif). Yes, the light is quite harsh, but the vibrancy of the colours in the image makes up for this. Similarly, while the man is placed unconventionally – close to one side, nowhere near a golden section or rule of thirds point – the image is well balanced. So both lighting-wise and compositionally it just goes to show how well-founded rules are there to be broken. Add to this the name of the boat and you’ve got a nice twist of humour too. The only slight let-down being the clutter partly cropped off in the bottom left corner (I might have tried to clone this out, though perhaps this would have been too complicated to do effectively).

David Trout, Early learning
Almost a great pic. Excellent, direct eye contact established with the boy reading. B&W looks like it was a good choice too, as I’m sure the book cover was garish in colour which would have detracted from the boy as primary subject. However, I feel the central positioning of the boy’s eyes isn’t making the most of the potential of the shot. IMHO, the position of the book, and the boy’s hand grasping it, doesn’t quite work as far the balance of the composition goes either. I understand that you’ve probably done the best you could in the circumstances, but this image isn’t quite there for me. BTW - you’ve got the same weird exif thing going on as Bluejohn!

Hyram, Local book shop
Now there was I wondering where some regulars’ entries were (who are usually early submitters), when they start turning up like London buses! You were quite right, Hyram, to risk submitting the image taken with the 50-135, as it’s a lovely shot (though, knowing the 12-24, that one was probably pretty damn good too!). Great composition, nice understated colours, wonderful clarity of image (the famed 50-135 no doubt helped, but I’m not going to dwell on that!). The light on the sign is wonderful (‘Books & Prints’ looks almost illuminated), and the fish-like shadow just brilliant. Oh dear, you’ve made my job much harder! One small regret – that the ‘Old & New’ part of the sign isn’t more discernible, but I guess if it was then this would impact negatively on the exposure elsewhere. And one final musing on this shot – how it also pays NOT to ignore well-founded rules about composition and taking shots early in the day!

Aiki, Crosswords
What was I saying about London buses?! Another crisp, well-composed image from a competition regular. The B&W conversion works really well – I’ve found too that bold patterns, such as that on the girl’s jumper, invariably look much better in monochrome. Nice study in concentration, and I like the detail on the hair below her face. Another good entry taken specially for the competition.

Actionaunty, Extreme reading
It’s a bizarre effect you have captured here. However, unless you’re drawing attention to the way in which the girl has almost been transformed into a letter, I don’t think this is sufficiently on theme. Yes, there is a sign and some graffiti, but these aren’t the focal point of the image.

Father Ted, In for a long night
I like this. It’s well composed. The light and shadows are great. The B&W conversion works very well indeed. My one doubt as I look at it is that while the shadow cast by the wine glass is an interesting element I wonder if it’s optimally placed for the best composition. Also, instinctively I feel there’s a little too much empty space in the top right corner. Perhaps nudging the book up slightly on the right would have allowed you to crop tighter on the right and at the same time have resulted in the glass shadow falling in a slightly better place. Still, I might be wrong here – and in any case as it stands this is still a good image.

Timcx500e, Manual exposure
Great title! Also, particularly given the unpromising subject matter, it’s quite an attractive image. The lines made by the books, broken by the two blue upright ones, are visually interesting. The colours are good too.

Doingthebobs, Map reading
I like the idea. Nice, dynamic angle. Halo-ed silhouette contrasting well with the sky. But it doesn’t quite work for me. A tighter crop might help. But a different composition at the time of shooting was probably required to get the full potential of the shot.

Right, to the places and commendations.

Judging first is tough, as two photos stood out for me and there isn’t so much as a cigarette paper between them (there was very little to choose between third and the HCs too). It doesn’t help that they’re such different images either. If I could have copped out and given an equal first, then I probably would have! But I can’t so...

First, Hyram for his subtly toned, crisp and visually interesting image.

Almost first, Flat 4 for a really well composed and shot photo.

Third, Nathanever for his sneaky candid.

HCs: Galoot, Aiki & Father Ted

Thank you Mhuni for the quick judging and for my second place!
Cheers, Luka

Swift and competent judging, as always.
Hyram, a great winning shot!

Yes, this was shot for the competition.
Surprisingly it is not always light reading, it is part of my PhD thesis that I wrote more than 10 years ago.

The evenly focus was too difficult to achieve, main reason being that I had my old glasses on as the proper ones are seen in the photo. So focussing was very difficult to achieve...
The original idea was that with the Sigma 105 wide open (2. I could get only the parts seen through the glasses in focus. As I didn't have much time for PP I left it as it was.

Just read an article about tilt & shift lenses and I think you are right that it should be possible with those.

Cheers,
Prieni

Thanks Dr Mhuni for the excellent judging and congratulations to Hyram for an exceellent winner. There were several other classy shots in this competition that I enjoyed including your choices for the other podium positions and the HCs.
I particularly enjoyed Father Ted, Aiki and Prieni's pictures.
As you point out I have weird exif details - this happens every time I post a photograph here. I think its because I shoot in RAW, convert to TIF for my own collection of pictures then convert again to JPEG to download. Information is lost from the exif everytime I convert.

Wow

Many thanks to Dr. Mhuni for selecting my entry as the winner and for setting and judging the competition.

I thought Flat 4's entry was a likely candidate.

I did think about working on the 'Old &' lettering but decided to leave it alone.

You are right about taking the photograph early, in fact it was taken an hour earlier than the EXIF data as I had not got around to changing the camera's time to suit the clocks in the UK changing that morning.

I had set out with the DA 12-24 attached to the camera and took the DA* 50-135 with me just in case I saw something else of interest. Having taken lots of shots of the shop with the DA 12-24, the sign just begged to be photographed on its own using the longer lens

I shall have a think about a new topic and post it later today.

Thanks for the swift judging Doctor
And many many thanks for the HC!!!

This image was taken for the comp. and I did enjoy playing around with flashes etc. I wondered about the shadow and hoped you'd agree that it adds interest, rather than distraction. Where do you think I should have had the shadow?

Thanks again for the HC...It's made my day!!

Congrades to Hyram and the others...Great judging...I guess I've tried to hard...Had a fun time shooting

Thanks for nice words and HC, Dr. ! (London Buss! My God! ha-haa!:lol

I agree about the winner Really a pic that I can look at for a long time, without wishing to move to the next ones.

My daughter is used to me already: when I pass and suddenly say "Be there. Keep it!" and rush for my camera, then she really waites Thanks, my girl!

I wish my kids would do that!
Mu daughter strikes the most bizarre poses ( but htinks she looks graceful! ). My son disappears!

It's hard to say. I was thinking that if the book was raised slightly on the right, then the shadow would fall more to the side of the book. This may work - though it's hard to know without actually trying it.

Hi, Dr Mhuni, thanks for the encouraging comments.

Perhaps not one of my best images, but I did want to contribute.

As for the 17:50 time, this would be correct.

It was taken on Shetland, a bit closer to the Arctic Circle than Colombo, so the days are a lot longer here in the summer.

p.s. I like your shots from the new 'fishy'.

Thanks Dr Mhuni for your judging and considered comments and well done to all the winners.

It was a bit of a late entry, I hope this didn't keep you up too late!

THank you Mhuni for the comments and judging.

Well done to the winner!

Good job everybody!

Thank you for judging. Congratulations to Hyram.
Arek