From Sally Phillips, our Canon Online Co-ordinator:
Thank you to everyone who entered Round 4. Our Judge for this round is Ilan Wittenberg FPSNZ MNZIPP from Auckland who kindly gave his time and expertise. Thank you so much Ilan, it is appreciated by all.
Congratulations go to the top 10 Authors and especially to Jo Curtis LPSNZ who is from Christchurch for her winning image “Afterglow”.
Canon On Line Round 3 June 2017 – Top Ten – Ilan Wittenberg FPSNZ MNZIPP
General Comment:
I’m honoured and privileged to judge this round of PSNZ Canon Online competition. It’s been said that photography is the easiest medium of Art to be competent in but it’s the hardest medium to have a truly personal vision. It’s very much like talking: everyone can talk but very few have something to say.
When judging these photographs, I first look for basic technical competency: focus, exposure, composition. I then look beyond these and search for the creative element, the X factor. I ask myself if I would hang that in my living room. I then look for photographs which contain unique ideas and enduring qualities, photos that evoke emotions.
When presented with the 57 images I was faced with a challenge of comparing photos from different genres. While these images are not comparable, I could still implement the criteria above to assess their individual merits. While some images require a lot of in-camera technical skills to capture a beautiful nature image, others require high competency in post-processing. After all that is taken into account, my personal preference has some weight in selecting the top images.
1st Afterglow by Jo Curtis LPSNZ
I enjoy the simplicity and the flow, the aesthetics and the colour pallet. Our eyes are drawn to the subtle difference between the three images, the harmony and the tension. This looks to me like panning of the camera during sunrise. Regardless, the use of thin white border with a soft shadow around square images is successful. The triptych is interesting and will beautifully decorate any living room.
2nd Kingfisher eating fish on Lotus’ bud by mikko xiang wang
Beautifully captured using a telephoto lens, very high shutter speed and shallow depth of field! I acknowledge how difficult it must be to wait for the right moment and capture a sharp image which is perfectly cropped. I imagine that the bird had just scooped the fish out from the water and was getting ready to swallow it in a gulp. The highlight in the eye of the bird is key as well as the tiny drops of water which are frozen in mid-air. The dark background is beautifully out of focus which helps in defining the bird, the fish and the lotus bud.
3rd London Spy-1942by Bill Hodges EFIAP APSNZ
Very creative composite which includes a portrait holding the prop. The alley is successfully leading our eyes up to the Big Ben and to the fighter jets hovering above; definitely telling a story.
4th Tui by Lisa Blomquist LPSNZ
5th A-Brighter-Shade-of-Pale by Annette Johnston LPSNZ
6th Smoking-Tree by Karen Thorne APSNZ
7th Baboon by Lindsay Murray
8th Seated-in-fog by Derek Teague
9th Sacred kingfisher by Chris Helliwell LPSNZ
10th The Ibis by James APSNZ, AFIAP
