Another Round has finished and I must apologies if you did not receive an email from me saying I had received your image – Windows 10 decided to download onto my computer. I was completely lost with what to do and could not find any images – but I eventually did after much stressing – as I am no tech whiz I really was worried I’d lost the lot. Not a great feeling!
Our Judge for Round 4 – Terry Maguire ESFIAP, Hon PSNZ -From Dunedin – Thanks Terry for giving your time and expertise and for putting up with me as I had to download everything including Dropbox and did it wrong the first time.
Congratulations, goes to Ron Willems – FPSNZ – FAPS – AFIAP – ARPS
From Christchurch on placing Ist with his super image “New Yorker”
Also Congratulations to the other Nine place getters – It is not easy to get your image chosen and many fine ones miss out ——
Round 5 PSNZ Canon on Line is now opened so send One image 1620 x 1080 to Ash_Mac@xtra.co.nz
Judges comments:
Thank you for the opportunity to judge this competition. It was not easy to select just 10 images from the 124 fine images submitted. Selection at this level is obviously quite subjective, but I have taken into account, as best I can, all the usual criteria such as technique, subject and presentation, in reaching the final placements. The wide variety of subject matter, the mixture of pictorial and natural history images and the range of presentations make it difficult to be fair to all entrants, but the top 10 images are of excellent exhibition standard and were chosen purely because of the impact they had on me as an individual assessor.
1st Place: “New Yorker”. Ron Willems – FPSNZ – FAPS – AFIAP – ARPS This is an imaginative image with striking impact. The clever use of only part of the girl’s body sharply defined against a softer background catches the eye immediately and tells the story simply but effectively. An excellent image
2nd Place: “Between Rounds”. Annette Johnston – The use of central lighting to focus attention on the boxer successfully forces the viewer to study the main subject. The image has an excellent tone range and is beautifully sharp. I am not quite sure if I like the sepia toning rather than black and white, but the final image is certainly very effective.
3rd Place: “King of All He Surveys”. – Lawrence Bredenkamp A bold symmetrical treatment, with excellent detail and exposure in the eyes and whiskers. I loved the reduction of the subject to a few simple elements, and the white angled patch of fur adds a little off-centre highlight which complements the arrangement. Well done.
4th Place: “Blind Penny Whistle Blower”. – Newell Grenfell Hon PSNZ, FPSNZ, FNPSNZ A very strong black and white image with good detail and tone range. Perhaps a little too tightly cropped, but the angle of the head placement makes for a very satisfactory composition. The grainy texture adds yet another dimension to the image.
5th Place: “Regurgitation”. – Val Fabling – An excellent macro nature image with wonderful detail. The exposure and focus are spot-on and the diagonal presentation of the subject in the frame adds more interest than would a more horizontal view. Loved this one.
6th Place: “Australian Harrier Hawks contest”. – Jeanette Nee – LPSNZ Well-caught action shot with nice colours and sharp focus. Capturing such – action at just the right moment is not easy and I appreciated especially the fact that the birds are not separated entirely, but have that little wing overlap which ties the subjects together nicely.
7th Place: “They Come at Night”. – Constance Fein Harding – An interesting composite image where the different elements, the birds, the church and the moon, are successfully combined into a story-telling final picture. The texture overlay adds an air of mystery, and helps to bind the other parts of the image.
8th Place: “A Curious Little Fellow”. – Joy Kachina – APSNZ – Although basically a nature photograph, this subject has been given a treatment which makes it a very successful pictorial image. The presentation and the differential focus which softens the background make the image very decorative.
9th Place: “This is gonna hurt”. – Chris Adkins – An example of action at its best. The elimination of extraneous background material and the way the lighting gives strong dominance to the bull certainly add to the overall success of this image. The removal of a couple of highlights on the left could help.
10th Place: “Exchanging a Skink”. – Glenda Rees – A top nature shot. The focus allows the viewer to concentrate on the birds, the focus on the birds is excellent and the action has been well-caught at just the right moment.
Terry Maguire ESFIAP, Hon PSNZ. August 2015
Sally Phillips APSNZ
PSNZ Canon on Line Coordinator
