February 2025; A New Competition Season Starts
February is the start of the Nottingham Outlaws competition year and the first competition is a projected digital image (PDI), over the course of 2025 there will be a further four PDI competitions.
This month’s competition had twenty-one entrants which includes a number of new members, this is of real significance as the club membership continues to grow and goes from strength to strength and the members are enjoying the competition challenges.
The judge for the evening was Sean Taylor from Eastwood Photographic Society, this was Sean’s first visit to the Outlaws and he was made to feel very welcome by all attending. Sean made an initial comment (having taken an initial look) that the quality of the images was very high and this was going to make his selections challenging!
There were two categories for Sean to judge, the Open category and the Themed category which for February was “Steps”. In total there were thirty-eight submission entries in the Themed section and thirty-seven in the Open.
As is usual the Open competition attracted many genres of photography from architectural, nature, sport, portrait & long exposure. The themed competition equally had a wide variety of images involving Steps, both of the concrete variety but also many other interpretations of the theme.
Sean’s gave detailed critique and all of a positive nature which was rewarding for the many new entrants to competition photography.
Theme “Steps”
The Themed PDI had a wide variety of images and Sean held back nine for a second look before awarding the final scoring. The winner was Lois Web (CPAGB) with her image titled “Scaling The Monumental Steps”
Winning themed image; Scaling The Monumental Steps by Lois Webb
Above; all the held themed images.
Lois was asked about the concept and challenges of her image and she had this to say.
“Exhausted from a morning of sightseeing in Sydney, I decided to rest on the steps in front of the Sydney Opera House. I was people-watching and noticed how one of the ‘petals’ of the building framed the tourists really well. The midday sun added to the contrast. I kept my camera low to one of the steps to exaggerate the leading lines and waited for the right subject. I find timing the step of the pedestrian is crucial and trickier than it looks. After several attempts and a variety of tourists we left to continue our sight-seeing.
The original image was landscape with more of the building in play but for this month’s theme I tried a tighter crop to emphasise the steps. To make the steps more graphic and impactful I converted the image to black and white. I brought the leading lines out using luminosity masks. I masked the tourist and processed her separately to make her clothes lighter than the arch of the building behind. I liked the internal structure of the arch which I felt complimented the steps so I also brought that out by exaggerating the white highlights. Bit of a tidy up of lights inside the building arch, people in the distance (not many) and the odd rubbish bin.
Remembering my experience and enjoyment of trying this composition in the field it was an easy recollection to use the photo for this month’s theme of ‘Steps’”.
Sean gave Lois the twenty points and declared it the winning image.
Open category
In the open category eleven images were held back for final judging, again Sean complemented all of the entrants on the quality of their work.
The Open Winning Image; Keep An Eye Out by Lloyd Dunkley
Above; all the held themed images.
Lloyd was asked about the technical aspects and thoughts when taking the winning image, this is what he had to say.
“The concept for this portrait of Jet, my former dance student, revolved around creating a single point of intense focus. I hired a studio, and used one large soft box as the light source to achieve the desired look. Dressed in a traditional sari, Jet presented a visually rich subject. To isolate the intensity of her eye, I experimented with masking techniques. Ultimately, using the sari fabric to partially obscure her face proved most effective. This created a dramatic contrast, drawing the viewer’s attention to the single, illuminated eye and fulfilling my initial vision”.
The Outlaws would like to thank Sean for providing everyone who entered with a constructive set of comments and appreciation of their works. And with a smile on our faces, we all now know that we should be placing a thin outline border around our digital images.
Author Nigel S.