Daniel Bridge A terrific idea with the smiling rock got us off to a running start. The background is too much for me and cutting that out to concentrate on the rock would make the image more powerful.

Deecy A nice view that needs just a bit more attention. The brightest part is the top left background which allows our eye to slip out of the image.

MX Veteran A subject full of potential. It needs something doing with the pole that splits the image in two, so maybe working around the subject a bit more would yield a tighter composition. The light background is also a bit distracting.

Malo 1961 Wonderful use of bold lighting and a composition that breaks a few rules but works. This one certainly grabs and holds the attention. Very Highly Commended

Beakynet A good sky but the very heavy foreground is, I think, a bit too much. Trimming out some of the black areas may well be helpful.

Yelvertoft Lovely light, gorgeous pastel colours, perfectly controlled DOF and a dynamic composition make this my Winner! Very nicely done, congratulations!

Serendipity An interesting sign that I think cries out to be surrounded by swirling waters…but maybe if it had been there would have been no photo to post. The top might well be improved by cutting out the distracting dark band and the bright area of sand.

Rparmer A brilliant bit of light and an image that can stand on its own without the title. Unfortunately that title is so bold that it competes with the subject for attention.

Prieni It’s my feeling that we have half a boat too many here. The light, colour and composition are wonderful without it, so if I might dare to suggest cloning it out? Even with it in though Commended

Sitav The lonely figure, the powerful sea and the low sun combine to make an effective subject. I would be inclined to have the figure less centralised and also make the colour balance more attractive, but the essence of it is there.

Unlocker Very good colour on the chain and a different take on the theme. My feeling here is that the chain would be more interesting if it were diagonal across the frame and if it were all sharp. A tripod and the smallest available aperture would have yielded this and perhaps that is worth revsisiting.

Dirk1000 It is good to see a different approach like this, but where are all the people? The colour balance is unusual, but blue toning works well here.

Keen2Learn I don’t doubt for a moment that this was shot on the beach, but we only know that because the title tells us. “Shadows In The Mist” would describe it just as well, so can the image sustain the competition theme of “Sea and Shore”? I don’t think it does fit the theme very well, but I do think it’s a cracking good image. It’s beautifully composed and exposed and really gives us the feel of being islolated in the mist. So for following the theme it gets no points, but for being a fine image it has to be at least Highly Commended

GaryMoffat This image also needs the connection explaining by the title, but it is a good black and white subject. Looking at the lightest part this is to the left and in monochrome it is onlu tones and shapes that guide our eye. A subtle but important advantage might be if that lighter area could be surrounded by darker ones. With a bit more contrast this could evolve into a very strong picture.

Justgetoutandride The megalith tomb is there, but we have to search for it, so maybe there is just a bit too much other subject matter in the image. A very low viewpoint might give the tomb prominence whilst making that fantastic sky a backdrop?

Howard J A fine sense of the ebb and flow and the power of the sea. I get the feeling of powerful movement from this. I think it needs more contrast and “bite” but otherwise it’s a simple and effective idea.

Promhandicam This is very interesting and unusual here in Manchester, but possibly not so unusual on that particular beach. Seeing what they are pulling might be beneficial?

Hyram Simple is good. There are anly a very few components to this elegant image and it shows up well. If only the sky had been stronger to match the powerful, glittering water then it could have been amongst the winners. Keep going back and one day that sky will be there.

Utopia Poppy Simple subject again and all the better for that. As mentioned about the previous chain shot, the diagonal composition is more powerful, but I think the same comment applies also about DOF. Quite a lot of the post is not sharp, which I find distracting, so maybe a smaller aperture would help. Very good colour.

Dr. Mhuni I like this very much, especially for it’s deep, luxurious feel on the left side of the image. I don’t think we need all the bright area of the right, just enough to set the scene would suffice, but it is very strong nonetheless. Very appealing and Highly Commended

Ikillrocknroll Square framing is often neglected, but for the right subject can work very well. This is the right subject. A good lead in and composition make a satisfying image, although I would prefer a bit more punch to it.

Gartmore I know where this is, fascinating isn’t it? This is a great viewpoint and monochrome is a good choice. Personally I would cut a little off the right hand edge and the bottom and also darken the sky. If we are going to have drama in black and white then we might as well make it hit hard. This might be a good subject for Infra Red. Commended

Darkmunk A very ethereal and moody image. The colour is great and the low viewpoint a good choice. Nice work. Highly Commended

Lilly This is almost an image of Formation Beach Walking but unfortunately one of the subjects is turning around. Otherwise, if they were in step and general harmony then a great picture could be here. So this doesn’t quite make it for me this time, but the picture is sharp, well exposed and has good colour. Very close.

Galoot A candidate for the concept of “less is more” I think, as the out of focus foreground does nothing to enhance the image. The sunset and silhouetted building are excellent and I feel this is where the image lies.

GlynM We could debate the inclusion or exclusion of various elements, recompose it ad infinitum, and still end up with a debate. As it stands it works just fine though and we have a really pleasing arrangement of deck chairs, nice subdued pastel colours, the sea rolling in to set the scene. We don’t need the title to tell us what is going on, the picture speaks for itself. Excellent stuff, very subtle. Second Place!

Belinda B. It would have been a nice group shot with plenty of interest, notwithstanding the tenuous connection with Sea and Shore! What a pity identities had to be protected. I wonder who these bunch of Desperados can be? It looks as though the composition is a cracker, but we can’t see it properly, so it doesn’t work for me.

GivingTree An interesting subject although I suspect not the most advantageous viewpoint. It looks to me as though the best view would have been from a boat or from the opposite shore. This would have avoided the bright area bottom right being in a distracting place. Good black and white.

Keith Grant A good simple subject scores again. Improvement for me would be cutting out the out of focus rocks, which I think if you cover them the image becomes very much stronger. It is the right idea though and the water is perfect for this composition.

Clarky On the left, we have an interesting bit of coastline, on the right we have an unseen area that the subject is fishing in, and I’d suggest that going one way or another would make the image much better. At the moment it is a divided picture with two contradictory messages. The sloping horizon needs attention….

ChrisA Normally barriers across an image are not helpful, but here the diagonal avoids the problem, especially with the vertical posts forming a connection between the image layers. I would be inclined to trim the bottom to remove the sand/mud area.

Timbo This is an incredible composition and is so close to being perfect. I would suggest darkening the image for more impact and straightening it as it looks as though it is leaning to the right. As it is, despite some (as I see them) defects, you still have Third Place! So congratulations on a beautifully conceived image.

Terge-I That’s quite a bridge! An interesting subject, but a very difficult one to make a great image of. I think you needed a more dramatic day in terms of lighting and perhaps a closer view.

Nimitz When this one grows she might not be too pleased with you! Cute idea though. Why not trim off some of that blank sky? It doesn’t add to the image, so it might as well be ditched, concentrating even more on the subject.

Mikew This is another good idea. I like the way that we get the sense of isolation, the subject being so small in the frame and yet dominating it. Busy in his or her own world, cut off from us all…..The foreground sets the scene and even though brighter than the main subject dioes not compete. The human is so dominant for us in any image. Is there some deeper message in this, represented by the ring, part of a chain and the crack in the stone wall? In any event a good shot and Highly Commended


Phew! The bad news was that I got have way through, accidentally deleted it all and had to start again. Hence I am later than planned!

I have tried to be helpful so please don’t take the comments too much to heart, we should all be pleased that the standard is becoming so high.

Well done all, and we await our next theme with keen anticipation!

This week's competition is now closed. This looks quite a task, but fortunately I have a day off booked for tomorrow, so the judging will be my first job in the morning.

Many thanks to all the entrants, and watch this space, results should be up by 10am in the morning.

The new competition subject is Sea and Shore.

This can mean whatever you can think it to mean, either the obvious or the not so obvious.

Have fun!

I'm a firm believer in doing what we sensibly can to avoid unnecessary wastage and pollution, but I don't believe we need to coerce people, demonise people and generally beat ourselves up over it.

Unfortunately green issues have been hi-jacked by the governments as a terrific wheeze to tax us for ever more things and as a results it may well be that all the good things that could be done will become submerged in it all.

It's always a bad idea to disenfranchise people and all the silly stuff like fining people for putting the wrong thing in the wrong bin will not help at all.

Common sense is what we need.

I read somewhere that if we burned all the oil reserves known about (never mind those not discovered yet) then the pollution from that would in fact see us all off the planet anyway. The point being that we can't use up all the oil anyway...

That's a good idea Kevin. There are some quality film compacts, but a lot of them fall short of the image quality obtainable from an SLR.

How about a Rollei 35T (Tessar lens) or 35S (Sonnar lens) but you might need a clip on rangefinder to focus them accurately. The only downside is that the lens cannot be retracted unless you wind on first, so a previous owner might have totally wrecked the interlinks.

I was pleasantly surprised when I sold our two *istDS bodies how well the price held up. Good K10D bodies may well be sought after.

The 18-55 + 50-200 kit is compact and versatile. An added bonus is that the filter size is the same for both lenses, so if you decide to buy filters you may not need as many.

I agree leave the 16-45mm till later when you have some better idea of what you want.

If you could get one, maybe the Limited 31mm f1.8, but it's not really a wide angle on digital.

There's also the 43mm f1.9 Limited, also only really a wide standard lens and not much better than your 50mm.

Wide and fast is tricky to find, but on a tripod fast isn't really needed. For increased DOF wide lenses are usually used stopped down, although if you have something else in mind then that's a different matter.

Photoshop is the professional image program, so I really think that if you are being serious then it is the only way to go. It is complicated in that it covers everything that professionals need, but it doesn't all need to be used and it doesn't take too long to learn the basics.

There are plenty of other programs though that will do much of what PS does and at a far lower cost.