Weekly Competition # 58 - Sweet Tooth

Well, I must admit, I do incline to this position.

But presumably, there were pictures of rainbows before colour film, and presumably some were better than others.

So firstly, I am genuinely interested to see what can be done, since I do admire good monochrome photography. And Lilly, as, IMO, the forum's principal exponent of the genre, would seem to me to be the ideal person to take up the challenge.

I'd confess to something of a subtext in my challenge, however, which is this:

There have been one or two, recently, that have implied that there's something inherently specially magnificent about black and white photography, and I've taken a counter position, arguing that mono is simply a compositional device for eliminating distraction. That it can be an extremely powerful one, I wouldn't dispute.

In that context, the rainbow must surely be the archetypal coloured photographic subject, and I have a sneaking doubt that black and white could ever do it justice in the same way that colour can - largely because nothing about the colours in the rainbow can to my mind be considered distractions.

But I'm open to being convinced otherwise, and I am genuinely interested in seeing any attempts.

I'm not sure you're qualified to say that.

G

Erm, why not?

Why am I not sure? I am having a day of indecision.

G

But not of imprecision

But not of imprecision [/quote]Just concision.

G

Interesting set of comments.

I'm sure we would all hope that a judge would want to and would actually judge. If they don't then they aren't really taking full advantage of the opportunity.

Having said that, there's no way to force people to judge or to stop them entering either, so we all rely on veryone's co-operation and willingness to have ago.

Nobody should judge the judge, so just go for it and put that comment under every image. Have a look at "JR's Competition" to see my example of how to go about it.

Wow!

I am so new to photography that words like "contrast", "exposure", "clutter" are alien to me.
I am not experienced enough to pull someone else's photo apart and personally I would not pull someone else's photo apart and I'll tell you why. That photograph is unique to the photographer and is entered into a competition because the photographer feels that the image is good and good enough to win and I am not a person to degrade someone else's art.
If a photographer is pleased with an image then it must be good.
Example: Would you tell your 5 year old son/daughter that the painting they done at school was rubbish? No, you would congratulate them and put the picture in pride of place on the fridge.
Criticise an image to suggest improvements, by all means, as that will help the photographer to improve on their method. Unfortunately I am not experienced enough to make positive and helpful suggestions.

Due to my lack of knowledge and experience with photography does that mean that I am not able to enter the competition?

They say that every picture tells a story and "Kid in a Gelato Store" by Amoringello tells me a story which is very relevant to the subject "Sweet Tooth".
Well done again Amoringello.

If others wish to add their own c&c to the images then feel free.
I judged on what I liked, a bit like chosing between a Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, BMW etc.. when chosing a car, I chose a red Vauxhall/Opel Astra SXi. That was MY choice, yours may be different.

The short answer to your question is of course not, you and everybody else can enter. The whole point of these competitions is to be accessible.

True.

But most of us aspire to be grown-ups, in a photographic sense, not toddlers.

Most people here want to improve, not to be patted on the back and told that his or her picture was marvellous.

Not liking something in art, and having a reason for not liking it, is not degrading it.

Discussing the relative merits and demerits of pictures we see, in the context of our own personal reasons for liking and disliking things, is precisely what adds richness and variety to the experience.

Well, there's no reason why someone shouldn't be pleased with a picture for any number of reasons personal to themselves, even if everyone else hates it for their own personal reasons.

But 'good' carries with it the idea of a more collective acceptability - some meeting of criteria that have broader acceptance than simply one person's taste.

What is seen as 'good' does of course, change over time, so it's not a simple business. What is seen as bad by the majority at one time, liked by only a few mavericks, can end up as good, and the mavericks reclassified as ahead of their time.

So I'm not suggesting that anyone should feel compelled to just fit in with the herd.

But neither is something good, just because someone likes it. A certain Briton in the news, returning to Heathrow today, should prove that point.

But I am a toddler, in a photographic sense.

I totally disagree, surely a pat on the back is important encouragement.

I agree as I am keen to learn (hence name used here) but I am not keen to judge as I know that I do not have the experience to judge an image on technical merits.

The ability to truly judge comes with experience and know how and I admit to not possessing either but given time I will get there.
So for me to add C+C to the entries of the competition would be totally UNFAIR (IMO).

Well you perhaps either haven't read, or haven't understood the point I was making earlier.

To judge our weekly competitions, you don't have to be qualified to make erudite comments about the technical merits of pictures entered in the competition.

You only have to be capable of saying why you like or don't like the images. If you think you can't, or don't have the right, to do that, then I think you're quite wrong.

If you win a comp, you've earned the right to judge, and no one of any substance here would take that away, irrespective of how little experience you have with all the clever words.

Even if you haven't won a comp, I think it still applies - hearing people's views on why they like or dislike pictures here is always valuable.

Just as an example, I have a nine year old niece, who's very interested in both aeroplanes and photography (surprisingly, not influenced by me), and has a little digital P&S of some kind.

So I showed her my recent Farnborough photos, some of which you may remember.

In particular, I showed her this one, which people have been very nice about, and also this one, which she much preferred.

When I asked her why, she said that she loved the bright colours, and she liked the way the aeroplanes were so clear.

It may be a child's view, and it may change in time. But it's no less valid for all that. Just because you or I might articulate the same thing in terms of contrast, saturation, sharpness, and detail is entirely irrelevant in my view.

I remember that first image, excellent.
I acknowledge your point. Thanks