Weekly Competition #332 - Darkness Competition

A difficult choice, some lovely images here. But congratulations to Jim-w for his emotive Angkor What?
Proper judging will come later, unfortunately I've got a sickly baby, so it probably won't be until this evening.

Thanks for the win Steve, looking forward to your comments.
Will have a think and post a new comp shortly.

All the best......Jim.

Firstly, thankless for the entries, a subject that goes against one of the key elements of photography (light) is always going to be tricky, but there's some very interesting pictures here.
Secondly, thank Spyder I have a calibrated screen!!
Lastly, these are only my opinions, and I know next to nothing, don't take them too seriously (unless you like what I say … )

First up, the winner, Angkor what? by Jim-w. A beautiful image, I love the post processing on this, what could have been just an ordinary 'noisy' shot has been made into something barely resembling a photograph … an odd thing to say maybe, but the reason this was my favourite is because I was attracted to the uncertainty, the greenish cast, the odd blurry nature of the people, the mildly amusing tag line for the bar, it's like a picture of a dream and it was that rather than anything else that just gave this the edge. I was in a whimsical mood.

Rising super moon by Blythman. Wow! What a moon, it looks like the sun setting, and I can only imagine, with the set up that you were using and the position that everything is in, it was either meticulously planned or damn good luck! Either is acceptable in my book! I think however, especially with the horizon smack bang in the middle, there's not enough going on in the bottom half of the picture, and while I understand the desire to get the reflection on the lighthouse it doesn't have enough impact to be worth having all that blank space, maybe a crop (or just shield the bottom with your hand) to give it a off centre horizon would help. Otherwise, the light is great, the detail in the lighthouse and structure is good and I do love a moon shot!

Home at night by eoinandpaula. An interesting early evening shot, A good balance of light from the sky and the house, and with the white balance set correctly to give you that warm tungsten light against the blue sky. I think there's a person in the top left window, and that adds a level of interest to this picture and I like the way you've managed to capture some of the stars as well. There is a lot of noise in this picture though, and I wonder if the combination of f/11 and ISO3200 is the best choice. It could have been altered to reduce the ISO and produce less noise and I think maybe pointing the camera up slightly to include more of the sky and less of the foreground might have also helped. I see you were already at 10mm but I'm thinking that a couple of steps to the right might have disentangled the tree from the house a bit better. However, I do like the balance of light you have, it's certainly worth another go.

Ah yes, Dark beach by Prieni. 720 seconds, 12 minutes. If that was taken in the UK (or somewhere as cold), give them a gold star right now! I've spent many a long exposure in freezing and ridiculous places. I love it! Actually what I will give them is a joint bronze star, this is one of my 2 third places. I love the colour, the light from the hotel gives the beach an interesting sidelight, bringing out the shapes and contours, there's a nice balance between the sky and the beach with just a couple of highlights out to sea just to attract your eye. The only thing I would have preferred is if, compositionally, you'd managed to get a bit more interest in the sand, maybe had those deeper ridges leading you in, made more of a feature of it, however, as it is, it hangs together well.

Concert in the dark by Noelcmn. Man, that is so close to being a great shot. I can see exactly what you were trying to do and it almost worked and while the subject is darkness, the darkness is always defined by the light and in this case you just needed one little bit more, either hitting the background behind the singer, or just a rim light just on the the front of his head. As it is, the eye is pulled to the bits that are lit and they just remove you from having that emotional connection that this shot needs. If this is something that you can try again, please do, and try and get an accomplice to just torch light, or wireless flash one of the two areas I mentioned. If you can do it, I'd love to see it.

Walking home by Paulb531. An excellent shot, great lines, excellent light, the gate inviting you in … although you'd be a fool to go in there …. I really enjoy this shot, it has a great creepy atmosphere! There are 2 reasons it didn't make it into the top 3 though, first a minor one, there's a lot of space on the right hand side that doesn't add much, for the viewers, try blocking out an increasing amount of it with your hand until it does alter the feel of the picture, you can lose a surprising amount. However mainly it's because of that street light, it pulls the eye too much, if you could have hidden it behind a branch of the overhanging tree, you would have still got the light, just not the distraction, cover it with your thumb, see what I mean. When I say top 3, without those 2 things this would have been vying for top spot ….

The Black Danube by simonarron. An interesting city scape, a place where I have been as well, nice reflections in the river, a bit of interest with the boat and of course the magnificent architecture. I don't know if you intentionally planned off having all those golden hues or not, but I did find it quite distracting, I realise that may well have been how it looked, but I think a tweak of the white balance (either in camera or in post , if it was a RAW photo), would have helped with the engagement with this photo. However it's nicely framed and the composition is good.

The darkness descends... Moonset! by drofmit. Managing to get a correctly exposed moon and some colour in the sky is always a challenge, and you've managed that pretty well here I'd say. This is obviously a simple picture, so the few elements that are in it really need to add something, and unfortunately that don't really succeed. Although I can see what you've tried to do there, by adding some foreground elements in front of the moon, the foreground element seems to be some sort of bush or rough grass and it just doesn't give you the connection I think you were looking for. However, the moon looks good, and you know what if you want to try it again, there's another one coming soon!

I'm going to have to call it a day I'm afraid, I will finish this little thing tomorrow. However on a minor cliff hanger there is 2nd and joint 3rd places yet to come ….

All opinions are my own as are any mistakes, don't take any of them too seriously …

and the rest …

Moonlit harbour by JAK. An interesting night shot with some lovely reflections in the harbour, the lighthouse is well picked out, I also like the hut on the left hand side. There's just enough light in the sky to give it a bit of interest, but I don't think having quite so much just to include the addition of the moon quite warrants the composition. The addition of the moon …. I accept I could be wrong, but the focal length and exposure would suggest that it's been added in post, and I'm not sure it sits in the picture very well, and I do know this is just a personal bug bear, but if you are going to do it then it needs to gel. Personally, I think you might have been better getting rid of all that sky and creating some better foreground interest. Harbours are tricky subjects to get right though, so kudos to you for giving it a good crack.

Wraiths by tyronet2000. There's darkness and then there's minimalist suggestive darkness. I can see what you might have been trying to do, vagueness and shapelessness to allow the viewer to project their own ideas into the picture, but I don't think there's anything here to pull the viewer in, it needs a hook (metaphorically), something to allow the viewer to do that, and I just don't think there's enough here to allow them to do that. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who did manage that trick. Maybe my imagination is on a low ebb today? Still, it's the sort of shot you can try and try again until it gets that feel just right. Give it another go!

Terminator by aliengrove. The colours, the shapes, the colours again! A beautiful sky, pretty much my favourite time to go out and shoot stuff. I love the shapes you've managed to capture as well, with the triangle of blue, the elipse of sunset and the silhouette of clouds. It's just the bottom 3rd where there is no information at all that lets this picture down, sometimes a graduated ND filter really is required and I think a longer exposure with the sky darkened by a filter to allow a certain degree of foreground interest , it didn't even need to be much, just hints of things would have helped just lift this picture from 'nice' to interesting' and maybe even 'brilliant' … it's hard to know. If an ND filter isn't available a subtle HDR might have worked as well. Still, you could just crop a lot off the bottom and just drift off in the beautiful sky!

Mevagissey Harbour at Night by johnriley. Now that's the way to do a harbour shot at night … detailed boats, a clear point of focus, nice shapes going up the hill, some good triangles there, fortunately the cliff here is not too high, so you don't get a huge expanse of hard-to-light scrub and mud, and the house and building above the water just add more interest, alloying the viewer to wander up the picture in a nice path. The long exposure gives the water a nice smooth look and enhances the reflections. The only thing I'd say is a little distracting is that white cabin on the left hand boat, just on the edge of the picture, I realise there's probably more boats and you need to chop them off somewhere but maybe the next one wasn't white and might have been better for the edge of the shot. I also wonder whether a wider shot might have added to the composition, I can't possibly know of course but I just feel it's slightly unbalanced top to bottom. That, however, is 100% subjective. Other than those minor points I really like this one.

Into… by Dodge69. 2nd place This is a another fantastic shot, with the creepiness factor of 'Walking home', and successfully hinting at details that Wraiths so needed and with a similar (although darker) dream like feel as our winner. I love the staircase, and the way it's been lit, fairly harsh and very detailed, it's the solidity that gives the viewer a way in … although I'd be careful if I were you, lest there isn't a way out! I enjoy the mirrored shapes in the walls and I honestly have no idea if they are real or post processed that way, and that's perfectly fine by me. That combination gives the viewer enough 'real' and enough space to project something of themselves into the picture as well. There's a little bit of detail in the top of the picture as well and that just helps us focus on the way down the stairs. It could have been 1st as well, but it just needed another layer, in the dark middle, even if it was just a hint, to take us further in. Still, two kinds of darkness in this shot, excellently executed (pun intended). well done.

La Rochelle harbour by mouser. Another excellent harbour shot, and probably my favourite of the three, an interesting fortification and interesting lighting give this the edge. There's colour in the sky, interest in the boats, great reflections in the water (helped by having the interesting subject) and generally a nicely composed and well balanced shot. It's possible that you could have sliced a bit off the sky, and although there is another white boat on the edge of the frame it isn't as distracting as it is much smaller. It's a shame you couldn't have pulled in some of the burnt out lighting on the buildings on the right hand side but dynamic range isn't what it used to be, I understand that … . Apart from those niggles a lovely shot.

See though by kemopop1. Quick question, did you mean 'see through'? Irrespective, my other joint 3rd shot. Full of energy, flashes of light, hints of detail, the movement at this location is excellently captured and with that gentle curve, more interesting that other shots of this type. It really does give a feeling of being there and the sensations that arouses. Always a good trick for a 2 dimensional still picture! There are a couple of things that detract though, 1st and foremost, that railing, it chops off the bottom 3rd and doesn't give any additional benefit to the picture, either just crop it out (or hide it with your hand) or next time, take 2 steps forward and get the more interesting reflections in the damp road. the other minor thing is the bus leaving the picture on the left hand side, there'll always be vehicles leaving the picture, but a bus is a big one … it's just a little compositional thing detracts a bit. However, I look at this picture I can hear the noise and feel the bustle. Good work!

Guiding light by bforbes. The last shot and a genuine moon giving the impression of a mini-sun with lovely reflections in the water and highlighting the boats in the sea. i do like the way that most of the boats are front lit, but those two (there's a tiny one at the back) in line with the reflection are almost silhouettes but still with picked out detail, a nice effect. The main problem with this shot I feel is the lack of colour, I'm not sure what time of day … or indeed time of year it was taken (there's no exif), but I feel a slightly earlier shot, with just a bit of colour in the sky would have helped lift this shot. It's nicely composed and has got just enough interest in it to make a nice photo, I just think this could have been a really nice photo with the addition of a bit more colour.

Blimey .. this takes longer than I was expecting!
Well I hope I haven't upset anyone, I have tried to give my honest and personal opinion with (hopefully) some nudges for improvements … if you disagree with me that's perfectly fine, I'm only one person out of several billion, what's the chances I'm right about anything?

Steve

Ooh .. spell checker … 'Thanks for', not 'thankless for' … how rude would that be?!

Congratulations Jim on the win. Thanks Steve for setting the competition and for your fulsome judging.

Well done Steve. Probably the most comprehensive feedback we've ever had. Great stuff.

regards

Paul

Congratulations to the Winner and other places. Thanks to Steve for an interesting subject the judging and the comprehensive and helpful comments.

What an interesting challenge, and interesting interpretations-thanks Stevesphotos. Appreciate your constructive comments, and yes, i'll try that silhouette again when next the youth have such an evening. FYI, limited space and being something of a concert-lighting was all set and would have been difficult to get more than the 1 or two chances to get that pic. Time was a constraint too-2 hours for noisy rowdy kids may sound a lot, but it never is enough time and we barely got through all the youths contribution. Being the leader, program director, photographer and policeman takes such niceties as setting up flashes etc somewhat difficult.
Congratulations Jim-w- that is indeed a mysterious photo, keeping with the theme of darkness.
And of course to Dodge69 and Prieni and Kemopop1.

Well done Jim and the other podiums!

The reason it's dark at the bottom of my picture is it was taken from 35000 feet, and it was still pitch dark on the ground, so no amount of graduated filter would have brought out any detail

Forgot to check up on the judging, many thanks for the 2nd place.

You made great work of the judging, I know it is very much appreciated by all, and makes a good example