5May2020 MRPS Open Prints and EDIs MS Teams Presentation Deborah Mullins Judging comments

www.macedon-ranges-photography.org.au

Presentation & Judging

of Open Prints and Open Digital Images Competitions Tuesday May 5 th 2020

by Deborah Mullins using MS Teams Internet Video Conferencing

v1e

Judging Commentary of the

Open Print Competition v1e

Tuesday evening May 5 th 2020

by Deborah Mullins

using MS Teams Internet

Video Conferencing

General Comments (Deborah’s)

Thank you for inviting me to judge your competitions: Open Print and EDPI

As will be mentioned by all judges these comments are my own but as a very eclectic photographer I don’t have a favoured genre and base my comments

on some very common general predominately objective factors

I look initially to see that the images meet the topic, then look at all the technical and aesthetic factors that contribute to making and interesting image.

Finally overall, and this is where some more subjectivity comes into play - is there a wow factor, a story or a mood generated by viewing the image that

would draw me in and keep me coming back to that particular image.

And most importantly for this presentation – for the print category I judged THE PRINT. What you see here can differ in colour and lighting and overall

impact from those I am judging in hard copy in front of me. So some of my comments when seen here digitally may not seem correct because you are

not seeing the actual print itself.

Some comments about the print category:

• It is great such a wide variety of subject matter and that people using a range of different papers to compliment the images. Well done. I love to see

images in print form – they can be spectacular and often have a different ‘feel’ than EDPI’s

• Quite a number of the prints were a little too dark and this may come down to a variety of factors which has been discussed at the MRPS print

tutorials and workshops: (worth considering taking part when these can be run again)

• you may be viewing your digital image on a too bright screen so when taking it into print can work out being too dark

• Your monitor is incorrectly calibrated

• The place you use for printing uses a different profile

• Etc…etc………..

• The print mounting while not contributing to the judged score – it’s the image itself that counts - in some instances detracts from the first

impressions of an image and does not present the image optimally. A well presented image stands out whereas one in a poor mount can be

distracting for the judge. I have at the end of the print judging listed a few websites that you may want to explore

MRPS OPEN Print Competition – 5 th of May 2020

Member: A008 – Open 1

Title: Surfer Boy

Mounted Print : 1

Points and Award: 13/15 Highly Commended

Comments by Deborah:

Great action shot with wonderful dynamic lines. The head is well place to fill the white area and

‘remove’ this bright spot as potentially distracting and if fact draws us in to the face and the

determined expression that really shines in the image. The photographer has done well to get the

face well lit in harsh light situation and while the eyes are shaded we can still see them. There is a

lovely mix of frozen sharp water drops with the softness of the waves in the background which

allows the subject to stand out beautifully.



Title: Winters day at Dragons Head Rock

Mounted Print : 2

Points and Award: 11/15


I love the soft water details within this image both over the rocks in the foreground and the waves at the back.

The exposure has been done well to not blow out the white elements within the image and the line of the rocks

takes us right through the image from the foreground left corner, round and past the main rock and off in mid

ground. However I do find the areas of the image that are stationary are just not quite sharp – perhaps there was

some subtle movement in the tripod during the shot.

Not a dramatic image but it is a pleasing image



Title: 3 Bottles

Mounted Print : 3



Lovely rustic feel to the image with a great backdrop selected that is in keeping with the overall

mood.

The green/yellow combo works well and there is sharpness in the flowers offset by the soft area of

the wire rack and bottles. Even though I am usually one for symmetry this time I love the righthand

flower being offset in angle – it provides a dynamic to an otherwise static scene.

The matt paper this has been printed on a perfect choice to compliment the mood of the image.



Title: From the Archives

Mounted Print : 4



An interesting treatment to add further textural feel to and already textural image. The mono works well to

add cohesion to the shot where full colour would had perhaps look over cluttered. Well done.

The treatment works well in most areas of the image however I find the sky area to the right and the trees on

the right edge it has not worked as well - there is a sharp line between the added texture and the sky rather

than it blended more subtly and the trees are a blocky grey. Depending on the image or program used to add

the texture it could pay to experiment with its placement and it blending modes - move it around the image –

or resize/transform it – to make sure it works best in all elements of the image.



Title: Blueberries

Mounted Print : 5

Points and Award: 13/15 Winner


Another great still life (please viewers note that the mount in real life is black not grey as appears here). This is quite a busy image but

the simple colour palette works in its favour.

I am generally not a fan of a pure black backdrop as we lose all sense of depth in the scene and objects can look too much like they are

floating and are not grounded. The lace doily, to a partial extent helps, as does the depth of field utilised for the non black areas of the

image.

The lighting is great and provides us with stunning details in the flowers and blueberries. The reflections in the metal ware and the

lighting on this really makes them shine and provide a lovely contrast to the textural elements of the image

Lovely still life



Title: Delicious

Mounted Print : 6

Points and Award: 12/15 Commended


Great concept and well designed composition. The key elements are sharp where needed. It a pity the dripping

chocolate hits the surface right at the point of the bowl – if taken from a slightly higher perspective or if the

strawberry was back a little from the centre of the bowl, there could have been additional interest at this point.

It would have been good to see - and only a little is needed – the rear edge of the bowl.

The foreground with its subtle reflections and the depth of field used provide a good grounding to the image and

give a solid feel to the composition.

The matt paper choice works well in this instance



Title: Male and Female Parrots

Mounted Print : 7



The print looks much better than the digital version! The detail in both the birds is great and the top bird is

really engaged with the photographer providing a connection. And lovely to get the pair in the one image.

I love the simple background as it showcases the birds so well however there are some technical issues in

creating the mask around the tree – we can see the brush marks as a bright white edge around the key

subject.

Great textures and the elements of the image have been shot and exposed very well.



Title: In the Pink

Mounted Print : 8



A lovely soft muted image though it does have quite busy look about it. There is no

area of true sharpness which could have been nice – perhaps on the dewdrops. Our

eyes wander around with nothing specific to focus on.

A crop from the top could have reduced the impact of the stalks taking our gaze out

the top of the image



Title: Arum Lily

Mounted Print : 9



A lovely, dramatic, simple image. Great angle and the purplish and yellow tones compliment the shot. The image is perfectly sharp and

the lighting allows us to see all the necessary details.

The double mount doesn’t work well in this instance (mounting is not marked) and visually takes away from this shot – it relates to the

unevenness of the width of the borders both in the white and the black borders there is a mismatch – the white ones are thicker top and

bottom than the sides and with the black ones it’s the other way around. A double mount would work really well for this image - due to

the image simplicity the mount can add depth to the overall look but it needs to be done well.

But a great image inside the mounts! And great choice of paper – textured matt rag paper - to add some textural element to the shot.

Well printed.



Title: 2019 Charleville Cup

Mounted Print : 10



Great lines and a sense of joy from the winner. It’s a pity his face is shadowed quite as much as

it is but we do just see the winners grin. Great engagement with the photographer to get an

instant connection with his joy. I’d perhaps crop a little from the left and bring the focus in on

the main rider even more and add strength to his position of the key subject.

And as mentioned before – watch the mounting – there is unevenness in the widths again – and

while it does contribute to the marking does alter the look of the image



Title: Ancient Formation

Mounted Print : 11



A great textural semi abstract and the little yellow leaf provides a little area of added interest but it also gives

scale which for this abstract perhaps would be better without as then we could imagine perhaps being in a deep

canyon looking down on a lake – or something else maybe?

This digital version looks better than the actual print though which is a little dark particularly at the top of the

image and the blue pool is in a lot of shade. The printed image lacks the pop that the digital one has. The

metallic paper works really well but a little more needs to be done to prepare the image for print – perhaps

more contrast – lift the shadows etc. The metallic paper works a treat on the blues and especially the golds

which though they are a little dark they shine beautifully in a bright light.



Title: At the End of its Day

Mounted Print : 12



Please note again – I am judging the print and not the digital version. The print is a darker and less vibrant than what we are seeing

here or in the digital version. It does though have a lovely moody sombre feel to it which the version here doesn’t – the print looks a

lot flatter and the image here is more vibrant. It just shows the change that can happen in going from digital to print and the

impact of the paper choices

The boat is framed well by the leading lines of the threatening clouds and the lines of the rocks in the foreground which both lead is

to the central subject.

The tones on the boat pick up the warm hues of the sunset and the rocks, while a little too dark does has a gentle late afternoon

shading in parts

There are competing elements in the viewing as we jump from the bright sunset to the less bright boat but overall the mood is

much better at this time of day as it gives the scene more impact than we might see in full sunlight.



Title: Boat repairing Bangladesh

Mounted Print : 13



This image has a lovely painterly feel to it and provides a great story about this region. There are some wonderful textures.

Regarding the composition I am in two minds about the front boat being chopped off – it takes our eye out of the image. A

perspective with the photographer being further around to the right a little, maybe could have got this boat entirely which would

then lead the eye through to those further in the background still without blocking the boatmen – you may have lost some of the

village though.

The red shows how much of an impact this colour has on a image and it takes us away from the men working the boat and

through to the barrels in the background. Pity the men aren’t wearing the red! A crop of the left side to remove the barrels at the

back also removes some of the distraction they cause, just leaving the boats which being larger are more a necessary part of the

image.



Title: Manapouri Sunrise

Mounted Print : 14



A lovely range of colours in this image. The lines of the wake

lead us down to the bots at the river bend. There is great

contrast between the smooth and the bubbly textured water

reflected also in the contrast of colours in these two regions:

warm v’s cool. A calming image taken at a lovely time of

day. Its suffers a bit from not being quite sharp enough



Title: The Kilns

Mounted Print: 15



An interesting couple of buildings with great textural possibilities . A later (or much earlier) time of day could have enhanced these and

provided a more interesting mood overall.

While the scene is quite busy and we are left wandering around a bit trying to find a key subject to focus on for a while, there are some

good lines from the tanks in the foreground through to the building at the rear which helps. The composition has a good balance with the

bigger building on the left on its own and the other smaller objects grouped on the right hand side.

The image has been well exposed and we get good detail in the highlights and the shadows.

Lots of possibilities in this scene and worth a revisit in a different light or weather



Title: Young Kookaburra

Mounted Print: 16



Great shot of this wonderful bird. Depth of Field choice is perfect to get the blurry

background creating separation of the subject. And you have been able to capture

a catch light in the eye. The feather detail is quite good though there is some loss of

definition in some parts due to the shallow DoF

The fence post creates a lovely stand for him



Title: The Eyes have it

Mounted Print: 17



Great to see up close and personal and there is some sharpness in key areas of the shot. I find the central placement

of the eye (both vertically and horizontally) in the vertical format of the overall shot of this shot feels unbalanced. It

may be better to crop some of the top and lift the eye higher in the shot to gain more prominence. Or crop square

and have the eye dead centre.

The overall print appears dark and could do with a little more exposure especially on the eye as the features of this

are lost in the darkness

For information only

While mounts aren’t considered when giving the marks they do impact on

the look and feel of each shot. With careful mounting (and it doesn’t have to

be expensive mounting – even just pasting an image onto a piece of board

can be enough for internal club activities) the overall look of an image can

be improved. Attention to the place of the image and the size of the borders

around the image can make a significant change. Colour also plays a big part.

Some sites to check out for some basic recommendations are below. But

ultimately its what YOU think looks best around your image.

• https://www.framedestination.com/blog/mat-board/proper-mat-size-formatting-an-image

• https://www.usaoncanvas.com/include/guide_choosing_mat_size.php

• https://www.framedestination.com/blog/mat-board/proper-mat-size-formatting-an-image

Judging Commentary of the

Open Electronic Digital Image

( EDI ) Competition v1e

Tuesday evening May 5 th 2020

by Deborah Mullins

using MS Teams Internet

Video Conferencing

MRPS OPEN EDI Competition – 5 th of May 2020


Title: Best Friend

EDI: 1 Resolution & File Size: 1488 x 1579 774KB



The lovely cheeky grin makes an immediate impact. And the bird is sharp as is the mans face.

The shot is well exposed with reasonable even flattering light – you could darken just a tad the bright white

hair on his right forehead.

The background is quite distracting with the white door. If possible it could have been better to move

around to the left a bit more to shoot against the plainer yellowish wall as the backdrop. It would have

been a little more engaging if the man was looking at the camera – his gaze is off to the right.

A very subtle vignette helps to simplify the background a little and keep our gaze on the key subjects. A fun

engaging shot.



Title: Musing

EDI: 2 Resolution & File Size: 1080 x 1080 1.2MB



Beautiful light on the girls face makes for a pleasing portrait.

The choice of depth of field is great to blur the background without losing some context and sense of place - It allows her to stand out

from the greenery. She is beautifully sharp and she is engaged with the photographer.

Good angle to the pose of the face and the general sitting position, while looking a little uncomfortable, is ok but the sole of the shoe,

once seen, becomes a little annoying (to me) – it might have been better to have her bend her knee a little more and get the foot flat

on the ground.

I’d clone out the leaf on the grass behind her on the right. This is another shot where a subtle vignette would focus our gaze on the

girl a little more.



Title: Woman in Action


Points and Award: 13/15 Winner


Great action shot with a good dynamic angle. The spray

off the back of the board creates added interest framing

the action area.



Title: Pale Rose




Beautiful lighting to create great separation of the petals of the rose which provides a lovely 3 dimensional feel to the rose.

With the very shallow depth of field there is soft focus on many areas of the rose and sharpness in areas perhaps not

intended - such as the leaves near the front bud – not the bud itself.

The angle of the stem works well as does the composition of full flower with the various bud stages.

While the pure black background showcases the flower beautifully it means there is a reduced sense of depth in the overall

image

Lovely shot



Title: Winter Cobram




Lots to look at in this shot! The rain, the birds, the reflections…

The even lighting allows each element to been seen clearly.

The little pop of yellow takes us down river to the corner bend – pity we don’t

get to see around the corner a bit to lead us through the picture a bit more.

Well composed with good use of the classic thirds.



Title: Still Life Vegetables




A great composition with this selection of greens. The rustic feel works well with all the textures. The greens make

the image overall feel quite cool yet the rustic nature perhaps should feel warmer – a tweak with the temperature

control could assist.

The scene has been well lit to make the most of the textures and showcase the veges, though watch the lighting on

the fennel – being so white it picks up the light easily on the right side. Being at the back though stops it from

dominating and gives some feeling of depth to the image. Beautifully sharp subject.

The background could perhaps have been more in keeping with the theme and had some rustic feel to it rather than

just plain black which makes the set up feel its floating and lacks overall depth.



Title: Dahlia




Strong, dramatic image with wonderful petal detail.

The square crop works very well and the choice of lighting showcases the design

of the flower.

While the lighter edges to the image does tend to lead our eyes out of the image,

in this case it seems to give the image a slightly explosive feel which I quite like.



Title: Turbulance




A stunning sky and cloud image and the plane adds a little more interest though

the clouds by themselves would still be a lovely shot. Well seen.

The differing colours provide depth as does the range of softness versus clarity in

the clouds across the image. The plane is well positioned in the clear area so is

sharp and detailed



Title: Water Colours




Lovely colours and textures to the image. The bottom leaf is not quite as sharp as the others – probably the

slight perspective difference – shooting from directly above may have got all the leaves in the same plane

which for this composition could work better.

The background is great with a simple colour palette yet providing a sense of texture and movement. The

leaves really pop against this background

A little more space above the top leaves would provide a better balance – it feels just a tad cramped at the

top. Or crop a little from both sides to balance the spaces at the top and bottom



Title: A Mary Berry Sunday




A wonderful story and the treatment to mono really works well.

There needs to be a little more detail in the shadows of the persons clothing – it’s a bit blocked up at the moment

and lacking detail. It makes it look like the forearm and hands are coming out of nowhere. And the highlights are a

tad too bright – on the dough and little finger area and the fold in the book - we lose some detail in those areas.

With a slightly less strong light coming from the left hand side and some fill added those issues could be easily

rectified.



Title: Champagne Supernova




Let’s party – a great feel and explosion of colour contributes to the fizz of the image – very

celebratory! The bokeh of the background reinforces the bubbles of the champagne

The background has quite a lot of noise which can be overcome quite easily of the blacks are

increase in software – the noise almost disappears and shifting the blacks does not affect the other

colours in a big way – rather it makes the colours pop even more



Title: Seascape

EDI: 12 Resolution & File Size: 1920 x 977 4MB Tiff



There are some great leading lines in the image – the water and rocks leading up to the horizon -

the clouds coming down and the water meeting the sand.

However with the centre horizon placement the viewer struggles between the two competing

elements. I personally find it would be better to apply the thirds rule to this particular image and

either crop the bottom and make the clouds a stronger feature – or the reverse – crop the sky and

make the leading lines of the rocks and water the feature. That way you still keep the leading lines

but ‘simplify’ the viewer experience

With middle of the day lighting we do lose some of the textures that a lower place sun light would

accentuate.

Just be careful of the lens vignette – top right corner. Different lenses have differing degrees of this.

Use lens correction in software or clone it out.

A lovely place for a seascape with lots of potential.



Title: Fishy

EDI: 13 Resolution & File Size: 1789 x 1080 2MB



It certainly looks fishy – well seen.

The snail lines add some needed textural interest.

The lighting is flat which gives the image a 2 dimensional feel without

depth.

Mono with added contrast could make this image pop a lot more



Title: Dreaming




Ahh the feelings of summer. The slight overexposure and the pastel

blues and yellow tones work very well. However you run the risk of

losing detail in the white of the breaking waves.

Its almost easier to shoot the original image with less exposure and

capture the detail you need and then use software to lighten selectively

to get the ‘look’ without the risk of sacrificing detail



Title: Got to go




Good record of your travels and the cultural aspects. With red being such a

strong colour our eyes tend to gravitate there and not to the key subject – the

man on the boat at the front. A tighter crop from bottom and left would bring us

in closer to him without losing the interest of the other boats but he is still a

little lost in the overall busyness of the scene.

A possible alternative could be shallower depth of field focusing in on the man

which would blur the background yet still leave context – separate him from the

background elements without losing them



Title: Open for Business




The loo is nicely framed by the door but I do wonder about the purpose of the image – its not a

particularly interesting or old loo after all.

What are you as the photographer trying to say?

One option is that the image could be really pumped up in processing to accentuate the grunge

factor (it all looks a little ‘nice’ with this lighting) or even try a mono conversion



Title: Bee




Great clarity and focus on the bee with lovely wing detail though the

right one just a little blown out.

The bokeh is great in the background – except for the bright yellow

on left and bright purple top right. These could be adjusted quite

easily in post and would allow the focus to just be on the bee and its

flower.



Title: Into the Wet




What a wonderful place, and the weather is really working in your favour – storms, rain, light rays, magic.

Great depth from the foreground through different levels into the mountains at the rear and the yacht is just in a good spot too.

I possibly would have cropped a smidge off the top to remove the centre overexposed spot of the break in the clouds – only a

little. Or clone some clouds in there

Also watch the processing – pushing the shadows/details can create halos around the edges of the hills

Great atmospheric shot



Title: Colours of Torquay




Just lovely scene and the wave lines cross beautifully from the right

across and lead to the hills and sun in the distance providing a great

sense of depth.

The warm cloud area is an added bonus to the scene and shows the

benefits of getting out at this time even if the weather looks inclement

Its such a pity the horizon is not horizontal! And its so easy to fix.



Title: Washing Up after Dinner




The cat is lovely and sharp where needed and the moment has such a good feel to it. Very cute.

It could be worth trying a much tighter crop – perhaps square, and really focus in to the key story

elements the paw and the cats face. The background while providing a good simple and toned

support for the image is not really necessary and the vignette applied is a little heavy handed.

Cropping could also remove the hard shadow on the left side behind the cat

The vignette applied is a little too overpowering

A great model for your image

www.macedon-ranges-photography.org.au

This concludes the Tuesday May 5 th . 2020

OPEN Prints & Electronic Digital Image (EDI) Competition

with Judging & Comments by Deborah Mullins

v1e

Judging Comments with point score results and the photographers names from this

competition will be made available for viewing on the Club’s Web Site at URL:-

https://macedon-ranges-photography.org.au/2020-judged-competitions/

5May2020 MRPS Open Prints and EDIs MS Teams Presentation Deborah Mullins Judging comments

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