Weekly Competition #225 - A Room Competition

Thanks to all entrants. It was a very decent entry count whereas actually I was expecting rather fewer. A difficult subject to photograph well but the overall standard was very good indeed and there were some standout shots for me with some real creativity on show. Just a reminder too for established members to make sure exif is included. This job doesn’t get any easier:

John Riley: The Library At Muncaster Castle

A fine shot of a stately interior. It works well, warm tones, good detail, plenty of interest. It’s not always easy in spaces like this to find the right shot, confined by ropes and furniture galore, but this is a good composition that gives the viewer a good sense of being there.

Laffrey: Writing Room

To an earlier time. Tricky conditions here, low lighting with a window in the scene and I imagine handheld. It‘s been well managed, there are nice textures of stonework and the desk, which I imagine has some stories to tell, is well placed in the composition. I wonder if the white balance needs a tweak here so the colours are slightly less yellow.

Meburne: My Home

As I sit here in the bombsite I call home (thanks kids) the immaculate tidiness of this scene strikes me. A nice wide angle view of your living room. The lights are a bit bright but it’s hugely tricky to get them spot on without everything else looking dingy. An impressive 8 second statue impression too. Thanks for letting us in. There’s a little dust bunny to shift trc but I’m sure that’s the only dust in this room.

Still27: A Cozy Hobbit Hole

Clever use of a fisheye here to create this look. The warm tones of the wood and leather and the fire enhance the scene. The cat is a nice touch. There is some nice looking countryside just discernable through the window, looks like you live in a very nice spot. The Shire I suppose.

Aliengrove: View With A Room

Impressive view, impressive windows and impressive image. It has a real grand scale about it. The arrangement of tables is just right, five tables a solitary figure and nothing out of place to mar the clean, minimalist look. It would be nice to apply the minor correction to those verticals on the right hand side and make a terrific shot perfect. Due to the cavernous dimensions here and the feeling that this must be part of one large open space it has to be on the edge of being considered a room.

Dr Mhuni: Galle Bar

This shot stuck in my mind when I first saw it and it‘s a definite favourite. Excellent composition, depth of field and lighting enhanced by a subtle vignette. An evocative shot and one to pin a story to, cue Sinatra or Waits soundtrack.

Rustytheclown: Empty Shop

A sign of the economic times or just a refurb, don’t know but I like the feel of this shot. The light tones work very well. It’s the floor that really makes the shot for me. I like the textures in the wood brought out by the worn paint. I would prefer it to be a bit sharper for that detail to really pop but it‘s a very good shot.

Browndale: The Blue Room

There’s an air of mystery about this shot with the blue and solitary figure, but the view through the door is inviting. It very much reminded me of Oaxaca in Mexico when I first saw it with the colonial architecture and vibrant splash of blue. A slightly tighter view through the door and sorting out the perspective would I feel lift this shot a notch. But it’s an interesting scene.

Cnfearn: En-Suite

Nice to see a black and white shot in the comp and the starkness of a bathroom suits the treatment. A brave bank of mirrors, that would spur me on to my diet. That’s a quality looking shower there. Full marks for shooting this for the competition. The addition of a certain something would probably make this a winning shot but then again Scarlett Johanssen would probably refuse.

Darlene: Fit For A Queen

Posh bogs indeed. Wholly unnecessary in my book when you consider what goes on in there. I once worked at a film company in London and Princess Di came round for a screening of something for other. In advance of her visit they refurbished the ladies at a cost of about £20,000. And she never used them!!! I didn’t venture in but they probably ended up looking something like this. Except is that exposed plumbing I see, shoddy. A well taken interior shot.

Luisp: Sunset at Crookhaven Heads, Culburra Beach

A beautiful beach sunset shot and easily the finest landscape in this competition. Stunning colours. Probably not the most practical place to live though, with the exception of crabs.

Japers45: The Crypt

Not quite what I had in mind for a room, a borderline interpretation of the theme. It‘s a good low key shot of interesting architectural forms. When there are exposed lights in darkness its difficult not to draw too much attention to them, and that has been well controlled here. The perspective looks natural for such a wide angle.

CoDa: Waiting For Customers.

A most interesting bar, eccentric indeed. You could have a brilliant barroom brawl in here, the assault rifle for me. It’s an interesting shot, on first glance a regular bar but of course you then notice the guns everywhere. It’s a scene where all that detail needs to be brought out but it is a bit soft. That’s understandable with (presumably) a handheld shot and also with noise reduction applied. Maybe it would have been possible to prop up the camera on a table.

VonBatCat: Doom Zoom Room

Some images deserve not to be analysed.

GlynM: Glyn’s Study

Brilliantly done. Lots of work, shot for the competition and the results are well worth it. A great looking study of a study. Some familiar photos on the wall. Thanks for letting us in to your world. The best bit is Hipperty of course.

Frankie: Shadows

A nice corner of a clearly impressive house. It certainly does look like a good spot for a drop of tea. The lighting is difficult here but you have used it to good effect with the window refractions adding foreground interest. I think it would benefit from a crop off the right to reduce those very dark areas a bit.

AxelLuther: Pillars Of The Earth

An impressive take on an impressive place. I’m not in general an HDR fan (I assume this is HDR) but here it does work well in bringing out the sheen on the marble columns. I like the choice of shooting angle here it really emphasises the grandiose scale of the place and the harmonious white palette emphasises that further. The detail throughout and in particular inside the dome is as always remarkably sharp. I don’t know but I assume this is a cathedral interior and it is a bit of a push to view that as a room. Great shot though.

Northgrain: The Chamber

Reminds me of the classic Mr Smith Goes To Washington. A nice depiction of this place, the arcs of the desks make for a pleasing geometry. At f4 and ISO1600 this looks very good indeed, I wouldn’t have guessed the f4 at all from the detail throughout the shot. Because it reminded me of the film I converted this to black and white. And while it looks decent in colour I think it looks much better converted where an excellent tonal range comes through.

JudithAnn: Behind These Door

It’s difficult to depict a room from a single shot, so here is a good and creative solution. The sum is much greater than the parts and the result has an affectionate look about it, it’s obvious that you like this place. I like the deep red in the colour scheme.

RPLSF: A Fishes Eye View

A very clever idea indeed. I really need to view it much larger to appreciate the detail captured in the glass and to see the fish more clearly. I do feel the photo is a little dull and needs a boost on the exposure. I fully appreciate the setup and it leaves me wanting to view it properly.

Geordie01: Newbiggin Lifeboat Station

An interesting choice of subject but therein lies my problem really. I want to see the lifeboat. Without that it is a large utilitarian space dominated by the shadow, whereas I am more interested in some of the detail which is too distant to see. I want to learn more about the workings of a lifeboat house but there are few visible clues. Sorry, I just want to see the lifeboat.

Malcolm Leader: Sunny Patio

That a nice covered patio. I’ve always wanted somewhere like that whre I can sit outside and watch the rain. The processing isn’t really to my taste, it looks as though a tone has been added to give it a warm look, but it looks a bit too unnatural to me. It’s kind of screaming out for some human interest - a big continental type family gathering would really spring this scene to life.

Tozza27: Fisherman’s Chapel

A small enough space to qualify as a room. I’m not religiously minded but I’ve always found these intimate chapels have much more soul than elaborate cathedrals. I love this simplicity of this place and the intimate scale is emphasised by the worshipper. Not easy with that bright window straight ahead but I think you have portrayed a special little place well.

ArsenAl: Russian Bath

Another excellent use of the fisheye here. It allows us to see all of the sauna room and including the frame in shot works. I like saunas, I’ve wanted one since my travels in Finland where I had the full on smoke sauna, slap with birch and jump in the hole in the frozen lake treatment. And if I had a sauna it would be one like this. The black and white treatment is perfect, showing off the rustic textures nicely. The man and cat adds humour and it works well as an unusual but effective fisheye portrait.


1st Glyn
2nd Von Bat Cat
3rd Dr Mhuni, ArsenAl

Great shots but less obviously a room Aliengrove, AxelLuther

Other HC’s JRiley, Rusty, RPLSF, Tozza27

Congrats to Glyn.....nice to see him in the comps again.
Second and third...a tip of the hat to you both.

Special thank to our Judge....he makes it so worth while to enter the comps, especially with his detailed adjudication of each and every photo.

It was a fun topic.

Regards:

JA

Congrats Glyn, a brilliant winner and a very well put together shot; it was my pick of the the entries too. Congrats to the other podium places, too, great entries also.

Thanks Doc for another great comp, great judging and comments. I have to admit however to some confusion over your decision that Axel and my entries were pushing the boundaries of what is a room: I thought a room was "a part of a building with a floor, walls, and a ceiling", as defined by Macmillans dictionary.

Great comp though, and look forward to the next one!

Congrats to the winner- a thoroughly deserved win for a great image which may well have been taken specifically for this weeks comp which makes it even better.

Congratulations to the others mentioned I really did like your shot Aliengrove. Thanks for the judging- very prompt and thorough.

Lots of different interpretations of what constitutes a "room". As the judge yours is the only one that counts

My first entry for a while- and a very good turn out overall. Well done everyone.

I'm sorry if you don't agree with my criteria for judging the theme Jon. Judging is quite different from gallery comment as you need to find reasons to distinguish between very good photos. It's difficult and as I prefer to explain all my thinking I realise that it may upset some.

In the case of your photo I did have a look at the floorplan of the building and other views, including this one looking back from the cafe. On entering the building there seems to be a central atrium containing the stairwell and various walkways to all floors with the cafe one corner of this vast, open multifunctional space. I just interpret 'a room' as being a smaller, more partitioned part of a building. Similarly I wouldn't stand inside a cathedral and describe it as a large room. Others might but I have my own internal dictionary.

In any case the interpretation wouldn't have affected the choice of winner and, most importantly, they are both terrific photos regardless of how I've viewed them in relation to the theme.

Wow, that was a surprise, many thanks Adrian. When I put my picture in I thought it was a little too far in the "trying to be a bit different" camp to be in with much of a chance. It was, however, certainly a lot of fun to make.

Thanks also to Adrian for setting such a super subject that attracted so many entries, all of which I thought were of outstanding quality, and the effort that must have been put into the excellent reviews and judging.

I really liked John Riley's library which I thought got the competition off to a fantastic start. [Which also enables me to plug Darlene's current two week competition in the forum, "Book /Books" ]

Congratulations to VonBobCat, Dr Mhuni and ArsenAl with whom I share the podium, the HCs and everyone else for such a great set of images.

It is going to be quite a challenge to to follow this competition but I will have a go and post up a new subject shortly.

Glyn

Congratulations to Glyn - I really like these 360 stitches and seeing one from a rather small room instead of a big mountain panaroma, is a nice different idea.
Thanks also for the interesting topic - I actually had to entries in mind - one with a really small ancient student room and this one.... I interpreted the topic a bit more open (also because in some of the last copetitions, we were encouraged to be very open minded with interpreteing the topic). That this time, "room" was really meant to be a smaller room is fine for me - this is the nature of competitions - sometimes you simply interpret the topic wrong - no big deal (and as you said - it would anyway not have influenced the score ).
Also thanks to the others for sharing great pictures.....

Congratulations to winners! and thanks for 3rd place!

No probs, Doc, I wasn't complaining, I just interpreted the meaning of "room" differently. It may have been stretching the term I guess......

I am perfectly happy with the results, the winning entries were excellent, the judging and comments spot on as usual, and it was great to see so many entries!

Well done all. Great comp!

Great Comp, Well done Glyn and great judging DrO. Thanks for my very unexpected placing - I have a new version of the image incorporating a Turkish weaver at work sat on a boat sarcophagus in Fethiye - That ones called Doom Tomb Loom Zoom Room Well you gotta laugh.

Cant wait for the next comp Glyn - and again well done to all.

Great Competition. I loved the variety of entries and Glyn's winning study almost makes me want to tidy mine up. Excellent judging IMHO.

Wow - thanks so much for the HC - glad to be back amongst the living and able to pit my limited skills against the many "real photographers" here.Many congratulations to Glynn - great composition and colours - well done runners up and fellow HCs.
Super judging doc and great to be back

Tony

I don't normally comment, even when I've entered... but Glynn's picture is a cracker... what I particularly like is the four fish-eye effect!!
And it sounds Dr.Orloff, from the comment on "Sunny Patio", like you are getting the same weather as we are getting a little further north in the Touraine... yuk!!

Wow what a great winning shot(s), brilliantly seamless, one of my favorites for sure. Congrats to all the placments, all very deserving. Thanks for the HC, I do need to learn how to increase the size of my photos from drive to comp, but there is no "preview". Time to do some research on exporting files. Last but not least thankyou again to DrOrloff for his ever informative judging. Every entry and critique teaches me a little/alot, about the fine art of photography, and makes these peer comps so important.

This is why this site is one of the best. Totally agree RPLSF!!!

Been away. Many thanks for the detailed judging and my third. Congrats to Glyn and the others (loved ArsenAl's Russian bath!).