April 2025 2nd PDI Competition
The Outlaws photographic competition year is now in full swing and this is the second projected digital image (PDI) competition this year, with a further three rounds to follow ending in late October.
This month’s competition had nineteen entrants in the Open category and seventeen in the Themed, increasing entrant numbers indeed as members embrace the club competitions.
The current Outlaws PDI league standings (prior to this competition) has Lois Webb & Ray Andrews level on seventy-one points, Malcolm Nabarro, Sue Jackson & Nigel Stewart tying for second place on sixty-nine points, followed closely by Lester Woodward & Lloyd Dunkley on sixty-seven points.
The judge for the evening’s competitions was Steffan Nicholson from Newark & District Photographic Society.
Steffan was made very welcome and there were two categories for him to judge, the Open category and the Themed which for April was “Wheels”. In total there were thirty-three submissions in the themed section and thirty-six in the Open.
Steffan gave a thorough description and offered detailed critique on every image that was presented to him, covering both positive attributes and areas where improvement could be made by the author if they chose to do so.
As the competitions progressed Steffan scored the images appropriately or holding them back so that he could take a second look where he applied scores ranging from seventeen to twenty.
Open category
In the open category ten images were held back for final judging
Winning Image “PORT GLASGOW” by Lois Webb
This is what Lois had to say about her image; As the compiler of the infamous KitKat Guide, I have usually made a list of preferred locations weeks before the trip begins. I had seen a number of YouTube videos on fine art photography over the last year and I thought the lighthouse at Port Glasgow was a good subject.
Port Glasgow sits on the other side of the estuary from Dumbarton where we were staying and with the rest of the trip focussed on Lochs, I felt the first evening was the perfect time to visit the location. During my research I thought late afternoon into sunset was the perfect time so I packed my fellow travellers straight back in the car as soon as we had dumped our bags at the hotel and we made our way straight round to Port Glasgow.
The weather was dull with 100% cloud cover when we arrived. All hopes of a stunning sunset were dashed. We made the best of it, finding subjects along the water’s edge, playing around with the two lighthouses. I thought the graphic chequer pattern on both could at least pull back some interest and then there was always the option of a black and white conversion.
Initially I thought the lighthouse was enough interest for the picture. The low hills on the other side of the estuary were pale and nondescript and formed no part of a composition. However, as I walked further away from the lighthouse and turned back, I saw how the highlands could be positioned as the backdrop instead of the other bank of the river. Far more dramatic. At the same time, the late afternoon sun was breaking through the clouds over the far landscape providing gorgeous illumination of the peaks and splitting the mountain range into receding layers. I noticed that the slither of light between the clouds and mountain tops could be positioned so that it looks as though it is emanating from the lighthouse lantern, which was a gift. I moved so that the lighthouse sat on the left-hand side third where the mountains dipped which meant that the lighthouse lantern sat in the strip of light comfortably and everything fell into place. I took a full image but always intended for it to be a letterbox crop.
I wanted to compress the image so the mountains appeared closer to the lighthouse so I used my telephoto lens. I took a few shots with a faster shutter speed and tried a few long exposures using a ND filter. In the end, I preferred the long exposure as the water was fussy at the faster shutter speed. With the water smoothed out, focus was more on the lighthouse and the light on the mountains.
I removed any estuary detritus and a couple of green buoys then dealt with a number of blurry birds.
Final specs; 15 seconds at f11, ISO50, EV -.3 using ND 6 filter. Nikon D610, 70-200mm 2.8 Nikkor lens at 185mm
I was glad we went there on the first evening as the weather at this location over the weekend was not the same again during our time in Scotland. This was a picture I really took time to figure out the composition and it was satisfying to obtain a successful image.
Theme Wheels
The Themed PDI also had a wide variety of images and Steffan said they were all of a high standard and nine were held back for final scoring and the winner was Reg Patterson with his image entitled “CLOSE FINISH”.
Winning image “CLOSE FINISH” by Reg Patterson
This is what Reg had to say about his image; “A visit to Derby Velodrome had been discussed for a while in programme meetings; but a few of us managed to get along to one of the track cycling events. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was free admission to the track cycling when I called to arrange a visit by our photography group. It was my first time at the velodrome so it took a while to find a spot that I liked while the racing was on.
Lighting in the venue was quite good, but nevertheless, a high ISO setting was required (I used ISO 8064). I took up position alongside one of the straights and got some nice group shots as the competitors rounded a bend. I also took a few images with a wide aperture to focus on individual cyclists.
Later in the evening; i changed position again and moved around in line with the finish line. I wanted to get some images that epitomised the competitiveness of the racing. I took many images of racers crossing the finish line and when reviewing my images at home; favoured the ones with colourful outfits.
I eventually settled on this image for my entry in our competition theme of ‘Wheels’. In the background of the original image were some of the race marshals. These would have been very distracting for a competition entry; so I removed them in post processing”.
The Outlaws would like to thank Steffan for providing everyone who entered with a detailed set of comments and critique on how their individual works could be improved.
Author Nigel S