The judging for this year’s competition was a little different to previous years in that Mike Brown appeared virtually rather than in person. Yes, yet another Zoom meeting. However the critique and commentary by Mike was exceptional and much appreciated by all.
First up, congratulations to Patricia R for her winning photo of a rook on the sea wall in Rosscarbery. The detail and colour in the bird’s plumage has been captured skillfully and Patricia’s use of depth of field gives us a tantalising glimpse of the gull in the background. Excellent.
Second and third places went to Geoff and Susanne respectively. Geoff for his black and white study of a fern and Susanne for her close-up photo of a hover fly.
In his critique, Mike discussed issues relating to composition of the photographs, how to best place and frame the subject to gain the most attention and also how to achieve balance in an image. Mike also discussed the need to ensure correct colour balance and and how to make use of light and dark to guide viewer’s eye. In particular he felt that in a number of cases the subject would benefit from being lightened to lift its appearance in the frame.
Mike was able to show us how he would make these changes in Photoshop by sharing his screen during the meeting – a terrific addition to the critique.
Once again, many thanks to Mike for providing us with a detailed appraisal of each photo and advice on how we might improve going forward. Thanks also to John and Susanne for arranging the meeting and coordinating the competition.
The remaining entries can be seen in the gallery below.
In addition to his personal website linked above, Mike has two further photography interests Platform 3 Photo and a new venture Mike Brown Photo Training. Click on the links to visit the respective sites.