Weekly Competition #97 - Smooth Competition

Thank you all for the hard work and effort each of you have made to enter this competition. As always it was to a really high standard. I realised after I had set it that it was probably quite a difficult theme, so well done to everyone.

Below are my thoughts on each image – I’ve tried to be constructive in all my comments but feel free to disagree as I’m no expert and judging this round has taught me a lot.

Glass bottle abstract – davidtrout

I was hoping to see some lovely smooth glass in the entries and you have certainly kicked things off with a good one. The long, thin crop works well with the subject, the colours of the glass object and the background contrast nicely, and the framing balance between subject and background are in the right proportions. My one niggle is the reflections picked up in the deep blue area , in particular the square windows top left which distract from the rest of the image, though I doubt it was possible to do much about that given the location. Overall, a sharp, clean, slick image that gets lots of points on the smooth scale.

Smooth Radio – GlynM

A good idea for an image which attacks the ‘smooth’ brief on a few fronts; the curvy design of the radio, the station its tuned to, the surface its placed on, even the caption (song title?) showing on the LCD. The framing is powerful, being close and symmetrical and making the subject dominant, but may have benefitted from being approached from a slight angle to show off the radio’s shape more. I feel the strong lighting on the left slightly overpowers the flatter, softer lighting on the right. A reflector to the right could have helped even things up and add some modelling to lift to that side.

Sensual – Draken

I like the use of what is an unusual perspective/ viewpoint for this kind of subject. The toning and grain work well with the image as a whole and the crop gives a strong, striking image which I like a lot. There is plenty of smoothness in there in the way of shapes and curves of both the body form and the chair back. There is something about high grain which I usually associate with grittiness and edginess, but necessarily in this shot, I think it works in its favour.

Smooth Machines! - TonyM

Another subject matter I was hoping to see in the entries and well executed it is. I can see what attracted you to take this, with the smooth curves and bright colours. The swathe of out of focus yellow at the bottom bothers me though. Given that it was shot with a shutter speed of one 1600th, it would have been possible to stop down a lot further than f5 (if the EXIF data is correct) and bring that area more into focus. As the shot stands, cropping out most of the yellow from the bottom, vertical crops on line with the nose of the back car to remove the grass, and just inside of the first tax disc on the right would do the trick. That along with a tweak of the mid range levels in post processing software to make the colours really vibrant would have put this image near the top.

Smooth Curve – Hyram

An image which would have made a fitting advert for THIS competition. A clean, smooth curve which divides the frame in pleasing proportions and as a piece of graphic design it works, with the red text contrasting well with the monotone of the black and white boat. Without the explanation I would never have known what I was looking at, so as a photo I would like to have seen more of the boat fading out toward the top left corner.

Pool Ball – Farther Ted

Good choice of subject producing an image with vibrant orange which stands out well against the background colour. Would have benefitted from softer lighting to show off the shape of the ball and reduce the ‘hot spot’. Also the point of focus seems to be the rougher green baize which doesn’t help show off the smoothness of the ball.

SAMSUNG fridge – Karl

This would make a good wall hanging in a minimalist living room. I like the shades of green you have got, green being one of my favourite colours. A bit too abstract to really see the smoothness of the fridge so not a winner on that score, but as a piece of decorative art, it works for me.

Baltic calm – Prieni

And another of the type of image I was hoping would appear. The shot is technically spot on with the focus just falling off at the right point to give it depth and prevent it from looking flat. The fluidity and smoothness of the water is captured nicely, with a cool blue tone for extra calming properties. Also a good image for a minimalist wall-hanging, gets a crashing wave of smooth points.

...as a millpond – Goliath_UK

Indeed you were very lucky to get a day with such flawless smoothness on the water surface. The reflection of the trees against the blue sky is crystal clear and shows how smooth the water really was. The dominance of the trees and rock face in the reflection are perhaps the images undoing, as I think if it were possible to have had a greater proportion of open sky reflected in the water, the smooth effect would have been greater. As it stands, the eye doesn’t really settle on any one part of the image.

The Wrinkles and The Smooth – JudithAnn

You’ve succeeded in capturing a really special moment here and an image which is a must for inclusion in the family album or photo frame. The facial expressions are great and the tight cropping gives impact to the shot. As it is, the image is a little grey and flat, but by increasing the contrast and applying a touch of sharpening with post processing software a much punchier image would result -Great Grandma’s wrinkles will really stand out and the contrast between the two skin textures will be greater. Still, my eye tends to be drawn more to GG’s wrinkles than the baby’s smoothness so maybe one to hold in reserve should a ‘wrinkles’ competition arise.

Marbles – pnjmcc

I like it, I like it a lot. The shot is well set up with the marbles forming a pleasing composition and depth of focus has been used selectively and effectively to isolate one particular marble, drawing the eye in. A good choice to use the most dominantly coloured one as the centre of attention. The reflections of the window are a little distracting, but as I shoot a lot of jewellery I know how difficult this sort of thing is to control. Diffusing the light with a large, single layer of tissue or similar held just out of shot would have helped a lot with this. In addition, adding some more saturation to the colours and tweaking the levels / colour balance to get rid of the slight yellowness of the background would have put this shot among the top. A chuppa chop well spent and pocket full of smooth points.

Vloeiend Paars – Anvh

I have no idea what I’m looking at but I just love those colours. As with two earlier entries, a great candidate for a wall hanging. Just shave off a little of the white area on the left and it will be spot on. Smooth points awarded for the colour and tone transitions.

Smooth as Silk – johnriley

Quite possibly the smoothest drink known to man! The lighting is well controlled and the arrangement of the two elements is pleasing. By playing with the levels and curves, the blue cloth can be darkened to give a more effective shot. The glass has unfortunately picked up some distracting reflections, surrounding the set with a black cloth screen may have helped but might not have been practical and makes it difficult to light. A good attempt at a tricky subject.

Smooth in form – Lilly

Excellent use of tones, both the overall colour and the range from black to white. I like the simplicity of this shot -I think the narrow depth of focus helps with this, for some reason it really works here. As for the smooth factor: well, we have the object itself, no doubting the smoothness of that, and the transition between the tones in the shot. So a generous spray of smooth points for this one.

Smooth transition into nap, still in her baby gym!! – beebee

Another shot where a lovely moment has been captured. Peace, calm, innocence are just some of the feelings this shot evokes. Exposure, sharpness and point of focus are just right and the soft lighting lets the colours come through and really shows off the smoothness of the skin. A couple of crops would tidy things up nicely, one to the left to remove the dangling pink foot, one to the right to remove the triangle of background at the top corner, and possibly a sliver across the bottom just below the frilly cuff of the sleeve. If it were possible to clone out the dangling green toy top centre, that would help too. A toy box full of smooth points for this one.

S.U.V. No 0350351 – Tony-O

It took me a few moments to work this one out, but when I did I couldn’t stop chuckling. I like the motion trails, particularly on the top left of the egg which look like flames! It puts me in mind of a land speed record attempt or spacecraft on re-entry. The lighting works well to show off the shape and texture, so smooth points picked up there. There is a warm spot near the ‘front’ which could have done with a bit of calming down, maybe giving that bit of a red hue would have added to the effect.

smooth red – roy1234

A strong shot of a rich red apple with deep colours and a high shine which shows off the smoothness of the apple’s skin very well. The image appears a little over-processed as some posterisation is showing up on the background and the whole thing looks very ‘hard’. It’s a shame the bottom of the frame just clips the reflection of the apple. If the original shot was like this, it would be better to crop the reflection about half way down and cut in tighter toward the apple itself at each side, making sure the left and right sides are symmetrical.

Isis Ball – isdky

I’ve never seen one of these in real life but from pictures they look extremely smooth and shiny, and I imagine very difficult to get a really good shot of. I like the angle of view as it gives symmetry and the way the flash has carried round the joins between the different coloured parts reminds me of a planet with rings. Over-exposure and hot-spots have been avoided so you have done well on that score, but I would like to have seen more of the ball so we could see all that smoothness.

Sea-gull – ZuZa

Is this a smooth landing we are witnessing, perchance? Nice evening lighting and good overall exposure but a lack of overall sharpness lets the image down, which is a shame as the wing-shape of the gull is quite pleasant.

Three (count them) bottles – mikew

Great sharpness and colours, love the greens and the light coming through the glass. I like the smoothness of the bottle on the right best. More of this would have been good as I’m not as keen on the bottle to the left, cropping off the out of focus part of that one would have improved things. What are the gunky bits on the left bottle, candle wax?

airstream – hefty 1

I think this subject lends itself well to black and white, so a good choice there. The sky and its reflection help make the shot. It would benefit from the flag and vehicles in the background being cloned out as they are drawing attention to themselves. A rally of smooth points coming your way.

the rough with the smooth – GaryJohn

An intriguing piece of pottery with a mixture of textures. Depth of focus is good, but I think the shot suffers from the ISO of 1600. I assume it wasn’t a handheld shot with an exposure of 1.5 sec, so a lower ISO and a longer exposure would have been possible. The colour balance of the lighting on the background is very yellow, it would have been nice to see the true wood colour there.

Smooth feelings in between smooth clouds. – piotro

It must have been a smooth flight indeed to get a shot so sharp at one 25 th sec. You have also done well to avoid reflections in the glass of the window. The sky and cloud colours are lovely soft hue, and this shot really does convey a feeling of smooth. The positioning of the wing is just right in the frame. The stewardess will be round with you smooth points in a moment.

Smooth & Streamlined – Belinda B

The composition of this shot is bang on – the seams divide the fame up well and the eagle(?) sits right on the one third lines. The colours on the left side of the shot are wonderful. In a way, the steely grey reflection of the darker cloud works, but fluffy white and blue would have really made the shot. Being really picky now, the focus has just fallen off on the upper and lower rivets, a touch sharper would have been perfect. What a shame they didn’t get the cleaning rags out though! Smooth points in abundance.

Tomato – Darkmonk

Wonderful colour in this shot, and another image where we can see the smooth fluidity of water. The droplets from the splash are captured well to the right, but it’s a pity they haven’t caught the light a bit more making them more prominent. A fantastic effort at a very difficult shot.

So, now for the placings.
Separating those near the top was like splitting hairs, and the winner is simply the image that I liked the best and gave the greatest feeling of smooth.

FIRST Smooth & Streamlined – Belinda B
SECOND Smooth in form – Lilly
THIRD Baltic calm – Prieni

HIGHLY COMMENDED
Sensual – Draken
Tomato – Darkmonk
Smooth feelings in between smooth clouds. – piotro

COMMENDED
Vloeiend Paars – Anvh
Glass bottle abstract – davidtrout
Smooth transition into nap, still in her baby gym!! – beebee

Well done - nice judging and a very worthy winner. I saw Belinda's shot and thought it was in with a very strong chance.

I think it was indeed a tricky subject so well done to all concerned!

Mike

Cheers Mike,

You weren't kidding about how difficult judging was - I would have liked to give out even more commendations but had to draw the line somewhere. Once again, well done everyone, and over to you Belinda.

Thanks Haworth for awarding me third. I appreciate that it could have been ten places down and I wouldn't have had any reason for complaint. Fantastic entries again this round, so must have been tough to judge.

Well done Belinda, great picture!

Prieni

Grats for winner. Good judging Haworth.

Lets hear it for girls! WELL DONE Belinda, classy image, I do love those Airstreams too, very photogenic. I did like Tony-O's oeuf, very clever and imaginatively done, amazing there was a rush at the end!
Thanks for the Second Haworth, I do enjoy adapting my monowork to comps if I can, challenges me!

Many, many thanks to Haworth for selecting my entry and for setting and judging the competition.

It was good to see a healthy set of entries by close of play on Sunday.

I took my photograph on Sunday (dodging the showers) and seeing Hefty 1's entry of an Airstream caravan inspired me to submit it, so thanks to Hefty as well.

I will have a think about a new theme and post the next competition hopefully by late afternoon.

Another well thought out round, congratulations to all!

Well done Haworth,great bit of judging.I,m glad you enjoyed my oeufering this week.Congratulation's to Belinda,topping a lot of quality images,well deserved. Looking forward to the next theme. Tony.

Tony, what really made me laugh was the catagory you submitted your entry under - Transport - classic!

Well done Haworth for setting us an interesting subject and a classy piece of judging. Congratulations to the winners, it was a fascinating round.
david

Thank you for commending my pic Haworth!
Second time only for me in this compettion and with the high quality of all other pics in here I'm happy to be commended.

/Magnus

Well judged Haworth and congratulations Belinda B. for a fine win!

I also took mine while dodging showers on Sunday (at a car show though) so it looks like Airstreams really are like busses; you wait years for one then two of us take pictures of ones at the same time! Spooky!

First place....Congrat Belinda.

Thanks for all the hard work judging Harworth.Youhad a lot of last minute entries. I think that shows that you suject was VERY THOUGHT provoking....nice theme.

To all that recieved a placement good work...Can't wait for tomorrows to start!!!

Congratulations to Belinda B, Lilly and Prieni and all others mentioned.

Thanks to Haworth for judging a fine set of entries, particularly tricky as so many arrived on Sunday !

Congrats to Belinda and thanks for the comments Haworth. Maybe I should have entered an alternative, taken with softer lighting. Ah well..c'est la vie!

Fair point with the focus. I had terrible trouble getting the focus to stay on the ball. Took loads of shots on this and those where the background was out of focus, so was part of the ball. And I thought it'd be an easy subject when I picked it!

So, over to Belinda. Give me another reason to get my camera out

Congratz Belinda and thank you very much for the commenting Haworth.
I was a bit worried when I entered my photo a saturday, there weren't so many but it's nice to see some still posted after me.

Up to the next one competition.

Anvh - just out of interest what was your image of? I just can't figure it out. Still love those colours!

congratulations Belinda....I thought the judges comments where very fair and was nice to read a full blown comment on the entry's.