Weekly competition #376 - Beer Competition

Who has quenched my thirst with their picture of beer...
the result is pictured above... cheers!

a big pint by stu62

First beer depicted is a wonderfully bizzare pint of Guinness...
but is it already drunk!?!
I do not know what happened here...
I communicated with stu62 who couldn't understand either...
it is in portrait format in his album.
So I downloaded it to rotate and then judge it properly in Pottyshop...
opened it... and it is in portrait!!!
Anyone any ideas?
It is obviously tagged so that it is recognised as portrait....???
So... to the picture in portrait... turn your pads or laptops to see this.
As wonderful as this advert at the brewery is, there are distractions...
it needs cropping.
Take off the lefthand background....
to leave just the black screen and the Guinness film as the background...
that gets rid of the bit of a person and the two spotlights on that side.
Then use some of the black in the archway or dark brown from the bottom of the "glass"....
to clone out or radically dim the two spotlights on the right...
then the carved Guinness really stands out....
but...
it doesn't quench my thirst... there is no liquid.


Liquid Lunch by tyronet2000

Here the beer is undoubtedly the subject...
a fine glass of what is one of France's most promoted....
but least tasty brews...
Thirst beginning to be quenched tho'...
When going for a shot like this watch your framing.
You are too tight to the back of the main chair...
either cut into it and "remove" it from the result that way...
or give it a fraction more on the right and include it.
The red napkin isn't quite square to the bottom of the pic...
square that up, give it a bit of space underneath...
the same as the knife tip is from the left edge...
and the beer mat is from the napkin itself.
Personally, I would then crop in at the right to leave the same amount on that side...
same at the top... relative to the top of the glass
that gives an even border to the picture and throws the glass forward...
the eye also stays inside the picture with the pint, cutlery and napkin as the focus of interest.
Knife and fork either side of the glass would have given more emphasis to the title...
and a Kronenbourg 1664 mat underneath would make it an advertiser's dream...
with plenty of space top left for some text.
As it is, I would have preferred the beer on the mat...
a liquid lunch of Old Peculier!!
Nice shot... just needs tweeking to win!


A quiet moment by davidtrout

I like this shot a lot...
the beer looks wonderful with the backlight from the strong sun...
but as nice as the picture is it is not the subject...
the lass is!!
Again a shot that needs cropping to emphasis the beer...
make the top corner a point on her head that is just above her ear...
blur out the hard edge to the wall top...
crop elbow to ear on the right...
crop at the bottom to remove the table...
just cut into what she is reading...
that leaves just her face, the backlit smoke, hair and glass...
in what is once more a portrait picture....
albeit still square'ish.
Then the beer becomes much more the subject...
and the eye can appreciate the sparkle.
Most quenching pic yet...


Perfect Evening? by davidstorm

I remember this shot... liked it then, like it now...
you can smell the smoke in this picture...
and image the odour of the steak...
it has to be a steak...
but the brightness on the right is too distracting...
as is the camera.
Another shot that would improve for this comp by drastic cropping.
Out with the camera and the backlit smoke and crop down to the tools...
adjust levels to brighten this picture up to emphasise the smoke...
get closer to the colour of the pizza take-away's favourite Italian beer...
and shine up the tools....
still says barbie n' beer...
but the beer becomes the subject, not the camera and beer.
Not as quenching as the beer in "A quiet moment".


Twilight Alehouse by simonarron

Where's my beer, Simon?
I can see bottles on the wall...
probably put up there once emptied...
an advertiser's barrel amongst them...
dimly in the background I can see a Hoegaarden advert...
but there is no liquid visible...
no beer, null points.
Please read the rubric when a competition is posted...
this is the outside of a bar...
"but exteriors and interiors of pubs or bars with the beer not really in evidence will not gain points" was what I wrote!
Empty bottles and adverts don't quench my thirst, Simon, sorry.


Looking into the bar by arrondee

Now we're getting somewhere...
nicely framed shot of a stout being pulled...
motion not frozen at 1/40 sec...
so you can imagine the bartender twitching the knob...
at the top of the fount, to artificially "head" the beer...
but you had to use 12800 ASA to catch it at all.
The ghostly faces in the background are effective too....
but clone out the lamp top right....
it is too much of a distraction.
That way there is a very nice triangle to keep the eye in picture...
Cobblestone Stout knob > reflective surface at top of fount > the beer itself...
makes me drool... fire going out... slowly!


Stout over Donegal Bay by Sean282

This is even better than the last....
I can almost reach out and touch the glass...
lovely depth of field...
nothing to distract from the pint...
of proper Dublin Guinness, I have little doubt...
a dribble of foam dribbling down the side...
I'm making myself thirsty looking at it...
not good for the early hours of Sunday.
The light, positioning and the focus makes this an advertisers dream shot.


On The Wagon by DrOrloff

Like this... empty Kronenbourg bottles and cobwebs...
but it doesn't quench the thirst....
no beer to be seen.
And the spiders' have emptied the only bottle with a lid on...
or, given the date taken, did the bottle split at the base over winter?
Very atmospheric but IMO could do with the shadowed blocks on the right cropping out...
thus placing the bottles dead centre...
the shadow pulls my eye away from the subject.
But, the sight of this forces me to go and open a Munster [Auchan or Simply Market]...
a brew from Alsace... nice and hoppppy... and darker and tastier than Kronenb' or their 1664 brew.
But here, in the Touraine, we are now spoilt for micros!!
And, in Chatellerault, I get micro-brews from the top edge of the Limousin...
France has woken up to real ale in a bottle... there's even a brewery in Sancerre!!
Are these bottles now recycled at the decheterie... or can't you find them anymore under the cobwebs?
Damned arachnids...


Elephantine thirst by Noelcmn

Another very nice picture...
the tiny elephant dwarfed by a towering pint...
it reminds me of Tusker... the Kenyan beer...
fits the theme very well.
I see I get one and a half glasses...
shame, tho', hat the DoF didn't keep the smaller reflection totally in focus...
nicely composed and cropped...
golden and refreshing...
a nice stock photo this.

And the winner, the quencher of thirst is...
Stout over Donegal Bay by Sean282
followed very closely by
Elephantine thirst by Noelcmn...
both were superb compositions.
in Joint Third place were
A quiet moment by davidtrout
and
Looking into the bar by arrondee...
HC to On The Wagon by DrOrloff...
all of whom had excellent shots...
but pipped to the post by Sean and Noel.

Thanks to those who entered...
apologies to those who didn't find the topic to their taste...
but it did make my job a bit easier this evening.

Congratulations to the Winner and other places. Thanks to Tim for the interesting subject, judging and comprhensive comments.

I think you must be the world's most enthusiastic judge, Tim - terrific analyses (and I wholly accept your point about my photo not being sufficiently under the influence of alcohol).

My compliments to Sean for his winning pint and, of course, the other front-runners.

"I think you must be the world's most enthusiastic judge, Tim"
Thank you, but not really, Simon....
I take part in the competitions to learn from...
and gain inspiration from...
other photographers.
So in my turn I give my two-happerth worth...
mainly from a publishing / commercial point of view...
having worked in that area and also sold copies of my work.
And as for the comments...
I type those, early doors, over my wake-up cups of tea [3 minimum] or coffee [what's left in t'pot... it is what a microwave is for! ]
I started photography with fixed focal length lenses...
so became a closet cropaholic...
I've been a member of Dark-roomers Anonymous for many, many years!!

Congratulations Sean282, I agree with our enthusiastic judge-thirsty making image. Not that I ever drink Guinness. Thanks for the coveted 2nd spot. Thanks Dromfit, great judging and commentary. Real interesting subject I must say-for one that only drinks 1 beer a day-had to restrain meself from drinking it first-its been so hot around here! Btw, the beer is on the roof my (cleaned) car.

Many thanks Tim...is it too early in the day (or the week for that matter) to celebrate I wonder?

Guinness is a bit like marmite, you either love it or hate the stuff. Luckily you were the former. It was as nice as it looks BTW...both the scenery and the pint.

Well done the others mentioned. I thought they all were superb images.

I'll have the next comp up in a few minutes

Thanks Tim for the subject and your insightful analysis of all the entries. I entirely agree with your comments on my entry. Congrats to Sean for the winner and to my fellow podiumers and Dr Orloff for his HC.
One entry seems to have sneaked in under the watchful gaze of the moderators and your own keen eye Tim; exif says it was taken on a Panasonic!

David

PPG: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

"exif says it was taken on a Panasonic!"...
yes, and it wasn't a contender as it was drunk!
I wonder...
is there an "auto-moderator" at work here...
that pulls the rug out from under non-Pentax pix.
I liked the image from the carving angle.
As a very new member [beginning of this month], I felt that commenting on the picture was more important than slagging him off for not checking the Exif....
If he's changed from Panic-Sonic to Pentax...
wah-hey!!
Another convert to real cameras.