Photo contest....what I judged on.

Nature Boy · March 2006

Congrats to all the winners, and thanks to all that submitted some really nice eye candy for us to look at! Trying to assign a number to 150 images was a large task indeed....even for one who has been a graphic design professional for over 20 years! [p]I figured folks might want to know what a judge is looking for. You might have turned in an image that you thought was great, and wonder why it did not win....or maybe you just want to try next year! I can't speak for the other judges, but here is what I looked for.[p]1) Was the image striking visually? Did it invite me in for a second look?[p]2) Did it tell a story, or create a special feeling? Did I feel like I was there?[p]3) How was the image composed? Did it have "visual garbage"....or elements that distracted from the subject? Was the composition dynamic, and able to move my eye through the picture....or was the subject just plopped into the center? Was the composition visually balanced? Did the colors work? There were some fantastic examples of balance, color use and dynamics....WVU's picture on the back of the boat was perfectly balanced and extremely dynamic. As was the picture of "the hand" feeding the birds.

4) The lighting. The way the photo is lit will almost always make or break the image. You could have the best looking food in the world, or your kids could be doing the funniest thing ever...and you take a flash picture and BOOM. You have a drab image with flat and unattractive lighting. I saw dozens of pictures that would have scored much better with more appealing lighting. Natural light is your friend, and those who used it well did better in this contest I think. [p]Those of you that take flash pictures, try to find the setting on your camera that allows you to set the color balance for tungsten (or flourescent) light. Turn your flash off and try some indoor shots with natural light. In fact, try it side by side with a flash shot, and see the difference. I have a few examples around if anyone is interested in seeing the difference. [p]Just some idears![p]Again, congrats to all...and a fine weekend to you.
Chris

BBQ Bob Trudnak · March 2006

Nature Boy,
Great stuff Chris, That is going to help alot of people for next year's contest. You will certainly have your work cut out for you! [p]BBQ bob

The Naked Whiz · March 2006

Nature Boy,
The problem with a lot of the photos is that they were just taken. They weren't taken for this competition. I think if people planned ahead and took some photos explicitiy for this competition, they would give some thought to lighting, composition, etc. Sort of like the photo of the Santa Fe locomotives I posted. Compare that to a photo that you find on eBay of someone trying to sell one.[p]The trouble with natural lighting is that many of these photographs were taken with point and shoot cameras on automatic mode, so the flash goes off whether you want it or not. You need to turn the flash off and use a tripod in order to capture many of these photos with natural lighting. Again, many of these photos were taken without a thought of entering it into a competition.[p]I'd offer a few other suggestions for anyone interested. [p]Rotate your photos so your horizons are horizontal! Nothing ruins a nice landscape more than the whole photo being crooked.[p]Rotate your photos so your vertical lines are vertical! (Same as with horizontals).[p]Try tweaking the brightness and contrast settings on the photo.[p]When you downsize a photo from 5-8 megapixels to something small enough to fit on a webpage, the image is softened in the process. Try to find the sharpness adjustment in your program and try a little sharpening AFTER you are done making all the other tweaks you want to make. Warning: too much sharpening is bad, so go easy.[p]I think those four items (rotating, brightness, contrast, sharpening) are simple adjustments that can turn a 5 into an 8, and 8 into a 10, assuming that your photo is good to start with. The photo of the cat with the deer is a good example. I played with it a little and it was sooo much better after these few adjustments.[p]But then, I think we are taking this competition more seriously than most of the contestants, lol![p]TNW

BabyBoomBBQ · March 2006

The Naked Whiz,[p]Thanks for the advice. I'll keep it in mind while getting ready for 2006's contest. The deer are now using the hill by my front door to get into and out of the canyon. So, I'm going to try hard to get a deer and smoking egg picture. Or at least a smoking egg & some beast.

The Naked Whiz · March 2006

BabyBoomBBQ,
If you don't mind the public attention, I'll post the before and after versions....[p]TNW

BabyBoomBBQ · March 2006

<p />The Naked Whiz,[p]Sure, that would be fine with me. I really dream of catching a bobcat and the egg.[p]BTW, this is a very rare snow leopard from a "behind the scenes" SD Zoo tour. I managed to mis-frame him and cut off one of his paws, but you gotta love the look on his face.

Eggecutioner · March 2006

The Naked Whiz,[p]Don't forget the simple rules:[p]No alterations, cropped is ok.[p]E

The Naked Whiz · March 2006

BabyBoomBBQ ,[p]Here is the before shot:[p][p]
Here is the modified photo:[p][p]TNW

BBQfan1 · March 2006

<p />BabyBoomBBQ,
'A smoking Egg and some beast' you say?
Enjoy!
Qfan

The Naked Whiz · March 2006

Eggecutioner,
I read that to mean no phoney stuff like cutting a pasting bigfoot into your photo. Rotating, brightness/contrast and sharpening are routine things you have to do to most photos from digital cameras if you want the best photo you can get.[p]TNW

BabyBoomBBQ · March 2006

The Naked Whiz,[p]Ah, I see. Yes, the after does look better. [p]Thanks![p]Bryan

Photo contest....what I judged on.

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