Model Photography

Sometimes there are occasions in photography when your  projects make your family really worry about you.

Such was the occasion recently when I had an idea for the latest club competition. Recently competitions have become  a bit of a grind due to a  combination of poor weather, lack of opportunity and just just mental tiredness.  However I had been looking forward to this particular club competition. The competition was "Album or book covers" and the brief was for a photo that could be used for existing book or albums.

Obviously the first reaction is to go through in your cycle through all your album and book back catalogue and think of existing photos that might fit. However I also wanted to take the opportunity to do something new. The question was what?  Again the initial thought is to do one of the books or albums you love.  However in the end my choice may seem a bit surprising.

I chose......

Barbie Girl by Aqua

Now firstly let me state I loath this record with all my heart.

Firstly is the tune which sticks in your head like a 6 inch nail (It is in your head now isn't it? I am so sorry)

My second issue are the lyrics

"I'm a blond bimbo girl in a fantasy world

Dress me up, make it tight, I'm your dolly

You're my doll, rock'n'roll, feel the glamour in pink

Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky panky

You can touch

You can play

If you say "I'm always yours"

Not so "Me Too" generation more a Harvey Weinstein wet dream.

Then there is the whole concept of Barbie itself. Bringing up two daughters I have been bombarded with Barbie memes and items while they grew up. The whole concept is for Barbie to that a girl should have no greater ambition than to just use her phone or hang out on the beach. My youngest daughter really loved the Barbie movies, and although it showed Barbie with a bit more spunk (Not literally, we know Barbie would never do that), it was all prefaced by the need for Barbie to marry a prince.

So not exactly an obvious choice. The reason I chose it however was that I thought taht it would be great to turn the Barbie metaphor around. Not a submissive play thing, but a strong character in control of her own life.
 r on the plus side I had courtesy of my daughters access to a lot of raw material and I  had already been playing with them for another project.(Any Mattel executives reading this may want to look away now)

 

 Lets go Barbie

Raiding my daughters cupboards I already had some of raw materials. However I needed a male doll, so it was onto eBay to get a cheap "Ken". I also needed to Barbie attire which was let us say less wholesome than  is usually provided. So it was again to the internet, although I would not recmmend googling  "Barbie sexy lingerie" to anyone with a sensitive disposition.
 
When I received my "Ken" I realised I had a problem. I had in mind a specific pose for Ken, but I was found that unlike Barbie,  Ken comes with no knees or elbows. Basically he appears to be designed to stand around while letting Barbie get on with the household chores, look after the dog and the baby etc. One solution would be to use photoshop to bend Ken's limbs as required, but that would of made getting my montage correct. Therefore more drastic action was required via the use of a hacksaw and superglue.  

We can rebuild him, we have the technology

The rest of the setup was relatively simple. A false wall was built out of card and decorated with suitable wallpaper and placed on a old floor tile.  The figures were positioned in various poses and photos taken with a single flash on a diffuser.  The biggest problem was the looks I got from both my Wife and Daughter when they stumbled over what I was doing. . However they have long ago accepted my foibles although I did feel a little guilty besmirching my daughters childhood despite good my intentions

Barbie does glamour model.

Life in plastic, it's fantastic

This was the result. My concept was not the usual Stepford wives Barbie, but an anti-barbie who was in control and was not going to be submissive to anyone and I was quite pleased how it turned out.

50 shades of pink

I must admit however I had some of misgivings about entering it since I don't know what the reaction would be from the judge or the other club members.

Fortunately in a judge we had Ashley Franklin. Apart from being one of the nicest and best Judges on the circuit, Ashley in his past lives had been a DJ for Radio Derby and had a nice sideline in doing images for book covers.  He was the perfect judge for the evening and really got into the spirit of the event.

The audience reaction was also pleasing, with a lot of laughter when it came up. I also think it is an image that people will remember for a while, which I think should always be one of the aims of any art.  

I didn't put the image in to win, and in that I was not disappointed (although it did score 19). In fact the whole competition was a success, with a lot of imagination from members and any club who are looking for competition ideas I would thoroughly recommend it  as a theme.

However its not really an image that I imagine I will show again, but at least it was a lot more fun than my recent output.  So if you are in a rut, take my advice and try and plan something new, it might just get you going again.

Judgement Day

It all started with a message...

I was relaxing on the sofa when I got a notification on my phone from a old college friend explaining that a judge had cancelled for a club competition for this coming Friday. Would I be interested in taking his place?

It was a bit of a strange request because although we had been friends for over 30 years, out recent contacts had been few and far between (ironically the last time we had met was at a Charlie Waite talk). I was vaguely aware he was into photography and a member of a club, however I wasn't aware he knew the same of me, and certainly we had never done any photography together or had he seen any of my work.

In short I was surprised that he knew enough of my work and background to even consider me. Was he really that desperate?  Added to that he had no idea whether I had the skill, knowledge and experience to be a judge.

As for myself, I had to ask myself whether I wanted to do it? At the end of the day everyone is a judge in some way as we form opinions on someone else's work. However saying whether you like a photo is one thing. A judge has to more than a blind critic, but also needs to communicate a reason for their decision. The best judges are also teachers and mentors, offering practical advice on how the photographer can improve. Did I have the skills to do that?

Also being a judge you have to fairly self-confident and thick skinned. In the past on this very blog, I have heavily criticized judges. (evidence for the prosecution here, here and here). Did I want to put myself in that same position? It is one thing to pass opinions between friend and family, but did I want to do it in front of a group of photography enthusiasts

On the other hand, I am a strong believer in that you should only criticise if you are prepared to try and do better. Also I would be paid to go and view a set of photos, which sounded like a good gig. Also I felt that as an avid scholar of the art and history of photography I had enough in my locker to give something back. 

In truth I only spent a couple of minutes deliberating before replying back that I would do it.

The Learned Judge

 I had only 4 days to before the event, so I thought it would be a good idea to

a) get some practice in
b) maybe actually learn a bit about judging.

Practice was pretty easy. There are loads of photo-sharing sites almost begging you to critic them. Rather than make snap judgements, I deliberately slowed down and created a monologue in my head about my thoughts about the image. I found it was often to easier to find faults in an image, than positives. Poor cropping, artifacts, shadows and blown highlights were often in evidence, and it was easy to see where an image could be improved. However I didn't want to be the kind of judge who only picked out faults, so I tried to find  positive things to say. This was not always easy and I hoped the standard on the day would be higher.

It also forced me to think about my judging philosophy.  One of my criticisms about judges in the past is that they often concentrate on the minutiae and rarely on the image itself. My local association guidelines indicate that 50% of the weighting should be based on the image story, or how well the subject expressed itself to the viewer, but in the past I have found this is rarely the case and most marks are lost by artifacts the judge found distracting. I was determined not to be like that and judge based on the artistic as well as the technical merits.

On my locally association webpage I found some useful advice and information on judging. This one on the PAGB site was especially interesting. The advice was actually pretty good, but at the end of the day you are using your own values to judge and therefore I was determined that I stay true to myself

1) Be positive as well as critical
2) Don't be afraid to indicate personal preferences and biases. After all I am not a robot
3) Judge on the impact as well as the technical aspects

The competition

I must admit I had been expecting and gearing up to a pretty standard competition. 2 sets of images and prints, marked out of 20, with some held back and an overall winner.

However I was informed the day before that the competition was something called "Mix and match" which was a new one on me. However some questioning of some elder members of my club indicated that it was something that used to be more common in the days of slide projectors.

The rules were as follows (read carefully, there maybe questions)

1. Club A chooses an image. For this they get 5 points
2. I judge the image out of 5 for quality
3. Club B chooses an image that has to in some way match Club A image. The criteria for the  matching is up to Club B. It could be a myriad of attributes such as colour, shape, subject or something totally different. The important thing is to pick an attribute that is obvious to me as a judge.
4. I judge that image for quality out of 5, then I can an additional mark from 1 to 5 for how well that image matches Club A image.

After 3 images, the clubs switch around in terms of lead.

It sounds very subjective, and it is, but so is all judging. However unlike normally judging which is done in silence, audience participation is actively encouraged both in comments on quality and the reasoning behind the match.

There are a few other things that stood out from that. Firstly quality is only 5 marks. This got me out of a bind, since I have never understood why although club photos are in theory marked between 1 and 20, the lowest mark I have ever seen is 13. What are the other 12 marks for? I have been tempted over the years to see how bad an image has to be to break the 13 barrier. However in a competition, would I be brave enough as a judge to use the full mark range? Fortunately I did not need to find out. 5 marks gave me plenty of latitude to use the full mark set

Secondly, how do you measure matching quality? There is no advice for that, so i had to go with my gut instinct.

Judgement Day

So how did it go?  Well firstly, I quite enjoyed the interaction element, and while sometimes I had to fight against undue influence from the audience, it did make me feel that all competitions should encourage such feedback.

Judging the quality of the image was not that hard, and I felt I gave some reasonable feedback. Assessing the quality of the match was more subjective and difficult. However I felt I joined in the spirit of the game and no one seem to complain to much or accuse me as unqualified to judge.

So would I do it again? It is probably a big step up from this to say a inter-club competition where  the stakes are higher and therefore the demands on the judging more. However I think it is something I would still consider doing in the future

But don't judge me on that.....

Future of photography - A 2018 Rant

A Mobile Phone photo

Well, almost another year over and therefore a good opportunity for a rant about something that has been weighing heavily on me for the last month or so.

I am a member of a camera club, and we do the usual things, have great talks, do member trips and have internal competitions (and yes we do end up in the pub a bit as well). The camera club, like many other,  is associated with a federation, and every year members of the club can send images to the federation and the best ones are judged and presented in a book and shown in an exhibition. (I am not going to name the federation here, because I believe the issue is universal)

I tend to take part. Not because I feel my images are any more worthy than anyone else's, but just because I feel it is part and parcel of being a club member that you represent your club.

Just one problem.

I almost universally hate the resulting winning images. I even hate them even if my images have been included.

This is not because the images are poorly taken. They are all superb execution of there genre, brilliantly realized, probably taken with state of the art cameras and expertly photoshopped to an inch of their lives.

No, the problem is  pretty well every image is predictable, been taken a million times before and is dull,dull,dull. Reviewing the exhibition booklet is like listening to musac in an elevator. It leaves no mark on the memory, it is the equivalent of beige paint on a decorators pallette; specifically designed not to offend or excite.

They are so generic, I started inventing categories for them. See how many you are familiar with.(I use the term guy here, but I am not assuming these are only taken by blokes)

Travel portrait guy - the one who goes around India taking images of old women in street markets
Sport meet guy - 100 shots of hurdlers and high jumpers
HDR portrait guy - B&W images with heavy HDR of blokes next to steam trains
Steam Punk guy - Shots of goths or steam punks, or maybe 1940 re-enactments
Misty Landscape guy - Lots of pictures of misty Tuscany, the millenium bridge or some easily accessible area of the Lake district.

and of course how could we forget Bird on a Stick guy

Now let me state for the record, there is nothing wrong with taking these images in itself. The problem is it is basically the same image taken over and over again each year. The image got accepted last year, so we will do it again. Not only that, but other club members then starting copying it because it is seen as a short cut to success.  Eventually it becomes less art and more paint by numbers.

What is also damning, is not so much what is in the books, but what is not. No images using ICM or multiple exposure, nothing that  is anything other than hyper sharp perfection. Problem is perfection is death. Once achieved there is no point doing it again. It has been completed and it is time to move on.

So why is this happening? Is it that the judges filter out anything that is different or is it that people only put images that fit the perceived federation mind set? Probably a bit of both. Again I am as guilty of sometimes overthinking when entering competitions. Rather than sending an image that I like, I start trying to think what a judge would like. Unfortunately this means we end up in a sort of group think where people only show images the judge might like, and judges only see images that fit in with what other people will think they will like. Repeat.

This is not to say I am not guilty of the same.

I also have to have taken images, trying to copy others. You see an image which has done well in competition, and you think  I can do that and try to re-create it. However I always had a nagging guilt that what I was doing was not art. I think my road to Damascus moment came when I visited a small photo exhibition in Bakewell. One half of it was the usual chocolate box landscape images  which where as forgettable as they were pretty. The other half was a set of out of focus B&W woodland shots by some bloke called Doug Chinnery. Those images are still now strong in my memory.  Its not that I then went trying to re-create the work, but it made me realise that photography could be more then the taking of pretty images.

That's not to say you have to be a Chinnery, Andrew Gray, or a Valda Bailey to take memorable images, all it takes is for photographers to reject the common found view and use their skill and imagination to find a different angle. Even places where you feel have been photographed to death, someone will come along with new way of looking at it, or break a well founded rule. It just requires photographers to try that little harder and reject the average.

Why it matters

But does it matter? Well yes it does and  the reason is, is that photography is dying.

At this point you have the right to say "Whaaaaat". Surely there are more photographs being taken today than in any period in history? Today, worldwide, more images will be taken than were taken during the entire 19th century.

This is all true. However I don't think the people taking images with their smart phone and uploading it directly to Facebook consider class themselves as photographers. The kind of photography that is dying is the type with big heavy camera and lenses. The kind photography clubs specialize in.

I have anecdotal evidence for this  which is the fact that I believe median age of a camera club member is getting older. Generally people in the 16-30 year old range see that type of photography as old fashioned and not relevant. As a result camera clubs generally are finding it harder to keep going as membership drops

Not only that but technology is getting better, meaning the good photos are getting easier to take. Because it is not possible to mount large lenses on a phone, they phone manufacturers have been forced to compensate with computational photography. Can't get a wide aperture on your phone, and want great bokeh? No problem, we'll do it post processing. Even better you won't even have learn about bokeh, just press a button. This means it takes more effort to impress people. I mean if anyone can take the same picture it is no longer special.

 Not only that but the phone is starting to take decisions about what photo to take. Already it will take 100 portrait images and choose the best one for you, and manufacturers are working on AI to detect things like landscapes etc. I want a B&W HDR portrait? Tell the camera, point it at the subject and it will do the work.

This means that just taking a nice image is not enough anymore. A £200 phone can do that. No, you need to add something else. A computer is capable of copying something that has happened before, but it cannot make that intuitive leap that a person can.

Whats to be done?

If club photography is to survive (in fact photography in general) it needs to evolve and move away from the norms of the past.

For example my club recently introduced a mobile phone camera competition. For a long time I was pretty dismissive of mobile phones cameras, but now it is my favorite competition and I am pretty sure my next camera upgrade will in fact be my phone. Because of the phone limitations I find I have to be more expressive just because I cannot take the same photos as with my big camera. This in turn forces me out of the rut of just imitating everyone else.

Competition judges can help too.  According to our federation website, these are the criteria photos are judged on

50% What the message the picture communicates
30% The picture content
20% The technical aspects of the picture

In my experience however 70% of the mark is the technical aspects, either that or I am missing what message another bird on a stick is conveying. However as cameras software take more of the decisions, the technical skill element becomes less relevant.

However the big thing missing here a mark for innovation or the "X" factor.  If we don't reward innovation, even if it is not pulled off perfectly, we will be condemned to more identi-kit images, and the art of photography will remain stagnated and become even less relevant.

Photographers can help to. If you are entering a competition, don't base it on last years winner. Enter the image which pushes the boundaries of photography, even using a different technique, a new angle, or using different materials. One of the beauties of photography is that there is almost infinite variation  in the art form, and we would be foolish to restrain ourselves to a small niche.

I am not saying this is easy. It is easier to follow the herd, but sometimes going the opposite direction means you are forced to walk in less poo.

Happy New Year and have a great 2019

El Potty

Today I found I would not be winning Landscape Photographer of the year.

In terms of shocks this ranks with Walsall not winning the Champions league or Donald Trump not winning mastermind.

To be honest, I pontificated long and hard about even entering. Not because I was not sure whether i would win, that was a given, but because I felt in doing I would be be forced to compromise my beliefs  in entering images that in truth I did not really believe in.

My feeling is that we are coming to the point where landscape photography in particular needs to be redefined.  While taking a great image is never easy, it is far easier than it was 5,10, 20, 50 years ago. The technology available to even photographers of modest means is now so good it will forgive a multiple of sins. I always feel slightly embarrassed when a judge congratulates mean on, say holding the shadows back. I never have the heart to tell them that I just pressed the button and fixed the rest in Lightroom.

That is the other thing. Nowadays anyone can manipulate their raw image to the nth degree in ways that Ansel Adams would of sold his soul for.

Of course there is still the skill needed to understand composition, depth of field, etc. But the bar has come down to the point where often a great photo has more to do withy chance and opportunity than the skill of the artist.

And what we are left with?

1000's of pixel perfect identikit images of landscapes. To illustrate the point, try and remember what last year LPOTY winning images look like.  I could only remember 2 or 3.

There was the winner and some of Rachael Talibart  great wave shots(if you think taking pictures of waves is easy, you have never tried it)

Not that I ma saying there is anything wrong with the other entries. It is just that they blend into a general milieu of identikit images that stick in you mind for fractions of a second. The problem is that image perfection is just to easy to achieve. Imagine a world consisting of identikit barbie clones, however gorgeous they are none will stand out and suddenly it is imperfection that becomes redefined as standard of beauty.

Art has faced these challenges before.  Before photography  landscape painting had reached a nadir of perfection. Then came along the ability for anyone to take a image as good as a Dutch master.  This forced painting to explore a different route such as impressionism and abstraction. Suddenly it was not good enough to produce an image, but instead the artist could explore what an image is and how it interacts with the viewer.

Terry Pratchett said it best when describing what a silver pendent shaped like a horse looked like.

 "Taint what a horse looks like, it’s what a horse be."

That is what a great landscape photograph should be in the age of  smart cameras, google AI and sub-pixel digital manipulation.  Not an faithful image of the landscape, however stunning, but what the image represents, feels, echoes, reflects to the artist and viewer. It should burrow below the purely visual and instead interact with the emotional side of the psyche .

With one of those weird karma coincidences I today received Andy Gray's landscape edition today. I don't know whether Andy enters LPTOY, but if these were the sort of images winning the competition I would have a lot more confidence and respect for it. However I doubt they would. They just don't fulfill what the general public feel what a landscape photograph is, but they are far more memorable  and interesting than many that probably will win.

So with all this why did I enter in the end? 

Well, I had £25 that I wanted to flush down the toilet and this seemed a good way of doing it (My daughter calls it El Potty which I find both amusing and representative). Actually that's a lie (before people start asking for free handouts). The truth is I wanted to test myself and the waters. If I got shortlisted, it would mean the direction I am moving is both valid and convergent with the way photography is now moving.

Of course I did not get short listed, so I am none the wiser, but it was worth a punt (or a pony). I still firmly believe however that at some point the what a landscape photograph is needs to be redefined, I just wonder when those judging will come to understand this

My LPOTY images

These are my entries

These were entered in the urban view

 This is the Art tower of University of Sheffield. I love the feeling of infinity and in some ways perhaps I should remove the logo and make if difficult for the viewer to tell whether we are looking up or down.

This is one of my favorite images. It is a reflection  of a empty shop in Birmingham's jewellery quarter and i love the juxtaposition between the outside world and inside the shop where time is at a standstill

I have been playing around with layering and multiple exposure. This is a grandstand in a park in Sheffield and I took several images while walking around it, the layered them. I love the dynamic movement of what is a static object and the feel of solidity in a changing landscape.

These were my your view entries

This one did well in both sharemondays and wexmondays so it had to go in. It was taken in-camera using a polariser  to blend the reflections of spring time trees with Autumn leaves at the bottom of the pool. The effect again plays with time and the how we perceive  trees

I have been playing a lot with barley and corn fields recently. I have been trying to capture the movement of the fields as the wind blows them where they almost look like the swell of the sea. This was a barley field where i used ICM to add dynamism to the barley heads.

 

 This was taken in Padley Gorge in Autumn. It was a fantastic misty day, and I wanted to add a touch of suspense and mystery to the path. What it probably needs is a girl in a red cape walking in the distance :)

This was my sole classic view photo, taken at surprise view on a particular great cloud inversion day. In truth it was the image I was least comfortable submitting, but I had a spare go, so I went with convention.

new year resolutions

So a new photographic year begins. What to do...

In truth the weather has been uniformly dreadful recently so it there has been little point going out, however the need to get back on my photographic horse was driven home to me yesterday in the 1st competition of the new year.

This was the panel of 4, which generally I enjoy since it provides some release from the constraints of things like wildlife competitions.


So how did I do.

Easy answer.....mixed.

While my prints were just a smidgen off 3rd place, unfortunately I had to be content with just a highly commended.The judge wanted to give very highly commended. However such a label does not exist and therefore the results will always show I was just an also ran.

The DPI however was even more disappointing. I was one of only 3 images not to be held back. This was a surprise because I thought the images and panel was strong.

In hindsight I still believe this, but I now feel I fell into the trap of not being ambitious enough. The winning entry was very different and in the past it is the kind of image I would of aspired to do. This time I just put 4 images together.

The failed entry....

That is the crux of my new year resolution. Recently I have become too orthodox. I have substituted quantity, rather than planning what my photos should show . I need to pare back and start adding some new long term goals.

I always said I would rather be considered different than good, but orthodox so it is time to rediscover that mantra.

In other news I have found that 2 photos got accepted for NEMPF, so this is a really good result and a step up in class. However it looks like I will have to now go by the name Derek, since that was how one of the images were labeled.

Maybe I should use that name from know on, since it is apparent Derek knows  more about photography than I do :)

Emphasis

Every year my local camera club holds a theme competition, where basically you have year to take a set of images based on a key word or phrase.

In previous years we have had "glass", which was relatively straightforward and "opulence" which required some a lot more thought.

This year the theme was "Emphasis", which to be honest has flummoxed most of us.

This is because the term"Emphasis" is ambiguous and its interpretation largely personal. It is easy to just take a photo and place the word emphasis on it  such as 'Emphasis on the seaside' or 'Emphasis on landscapes' in a way that feels lazy and contrived.

You have a year to work out how to meet the brief and I must admit I did not have many ideas. My first thoughts turned to selective colour, but the actual shot I wanted I could not find a suitable location.

So in the end I ended up looking at shots I had taken through the year nad see if the word 'Emphasis' popped out

In the end these were my entries. In truth only one of them actually was taken with the word emphasis in mind(and that one did worst in the competition)

In the end, the competition went down as I predicted with a lot of entries with only vague connections to the theme (lots of landscapes with emphasis on mountain etc). 4 of my entries did OK, but none came in the top 3 (last night was the 1st one with our new scoring system. Instead of marking each picture between 1 and 20,, instead you got commended, highly commended and 1st,2nd and 3rd).

This was the only one I tool which I took specifically for Emphasis. It was not held back. Maybe I went to overboard with the effects, but personally I felt it stood out well

My daughter allowed me to use her image. To be honest I was just playing around with my 90mm macro when out one day, but really liked the images. Playing around with selective colour helped 'emphasize' the eye

Probably my weakest entry and the probably the one I am least proud of in terms of hitting the breif

This one did best and came close I think to being in the top 3.  It is quite a simple image, but I titled it to point to loss in both children and adults by calling it "Emphasis on loss". I think it got a strong audience reaction, which pleased me. It is a good example of how the title can really change how a image is viewed. This wast taken in Southwell workhouse museum where I got a lot of inspiration.

This was taken in Bath. We were sitting on a lawn in front of some Georgian buildings (there are a lot of these in Bath).  This man walked into view and it just seemed so improbable and out of this world that I took a few shots. Later I felt it "emphasised" (see what i did there) cultural differences so that is what I called it.

I think the winners were worthy ones. To be honest the print winner I had identified as a potential winner some months ago when I first saw it.

However I was a little disappointed not to do a little better.

I must admit I found this years theme competition just a bit on the vague side. Still next year the word is "monochrome' which in truth is far to obvious a term, so maybe we should be careful what we wish for.

2015 - A retrospective

So another photographic year comes to a close.

Last Thursday my local camera club held its end of year competition, a sure sign that the club will be soon entering its self imposed hibernation over the summer months

So this is as good time as any to have a retrospective about how the year has gone photographically and to think what I want to do over the coming year.

About the same time last year, I wrote this entry in my blog.

That was a bit of a breakthrough time for me. One photo had come to a hairbreadth of winning and had given me greater confidence and optimism going forward. I had also set myself two goals

1. to improve my black and white images.
2.  to concentrate on the story rather than the image.

So how did that go?

I think the first objective has been largely achieved. I feel my black and white images have improved considerable. My foray into the world of Infra-Red has helped a lot with that, but that has also been a bit of a distraction. I must admit I have enjoyed taking pictures with my infra-red camera more than all my other kit combined, but sometimes perhaps too much. However their reaction in competition and selection has not been as positive as I hoped, so maybe they are not as good as I thought.

Probably still my favorite IR image. I had worked on it using Nik Effects and it did OK in competition. Maybe the only issue with it is the lack of balance with the clouds to the left. 

My second objective has not really been achieved. There are two reasons for this I think. Firstly I found despite the judges rules that the story should make up the bulk of the competition marks, in practice this is rarely adhered to. What I have found is when I have tried to concentrate on the story, the image has rarely done well. While this is no reason to stop, it is de-incentivising to a  certain degree. The second reason is that I am not good in public situations and feel very self conscious with a camera around my neck. I need to get better in interacting with potential subjects.

They always talk about the importance of the story, but a cute bird will win every time. This did well in the DPI section

But what about the photography in general? Do I feel I have improved this year.

Well, yes and no.

Certainly I feel my general standard has improved a notch. However while I am taking fewer poor images, I perhaps I am not hitting to top notes as often.

One thing I have found I have enjoyed is longer term projects, be it smashing light bulbs, or DIY infra-red cameras. What I am not so good at however is those spontaneous shots where you have only a few opportunities to take a shot, but have to be aware of all the various components that allow you to create a photo. In these situations I am to prone to get swept up in the moment and don't concentrate on the basics. Too often have I ended up with shots with boor backgrounds or too high an ISO.

This did really badly in the competition. The judge suggested that the hammer was too bright and over shadowed the subject. You could argue that the hammer is an integral part of the subject, but they may of had a point. I'm still proud of this image due to the technical issues in getting it, but that may of overshadowed the assessment of its quality.

One thing I cannot complain about is my equipment. Despite this blog being largely about photography on a budget I have managed to acquire a lot of new kit this year. Not least 150-600mm zoom and a good mirrorless camera.

Will this make me a better photographer?

No, probably not. But it does give me more options to fail :)

So what about the coming year? What are my plans.

Next year theme competition is on the word 'Emphasis'. I must admit I have only a few ideas at present, so I need to start thinking about that.

One thing I want to do more is Macro photography. I now have a half decent macro prime, so I will be looking for opportunities over the summer to try it out. I would also like to try focus stacking, but will probably need to buy some more software to do that since the free versions are not very good

I will still continue with my Infra-Red, but I probably need to upgrade my camera.While that converted A7S II is still out of reach financially, I have my eye on another old camera make which looks reasonable easily convertible.

I also have an idea for a project. In many ways it will be the hardest thing I have ever done. Not technically, but because it will mean asking strangers to pose for images. I will not say anymore about that at present, but watch this space..

Below are my two best images of the competition night

Despite my complaints about my lack of success in landscape. This did well. Again I worked a bit on it in SilverEfex Pro. It was also taken on my A6000 using the bracketing feature, and processed first in HDR to bring out clouds. So maybe a shape of the things to come

  

I got a lot of nice compliments on this one. Which goes to show it is the ones you nearly don't put in that seem to do best. I had doubts due to the green colour cast, which is natural but some judges may think otherwise. Again using HDR on this one

Wisdom of the crowd part deux

Less than popular

Previously I had written about judging the merits of your own photo and the dangers of asking the opinion of others.

Last night we had another selection evening for the MPS, this time for our upcoming competition against Derby. As always I dutifully put in my 3 DPI's and 3 Prints to be part of the selection process ,where the top 15 in both category go forward to represent the club society.

Now recently there has been some controversy in the club about how we choose images for external competition. It used to be via a show of hands, but that was thought (rightly) that it benefited those with the biggest personalities in the club. So the club now uses a system of blind voting, where each member can tick the images they like with the top 15 going through.

So how many of my images got voted through...

Well in round numbers .....0, nada, zilch

What was more disturbing to me was that when I looked at the overall number of votes, was how few marks I actually got. While the top images got 18, some of mine only garnered 2 (and one of those votes was mine).

So what does that say about my images.

Well obviously they were not popular with the club membership (remember there were no limits on the number of votes a member could cast). However the real question is, just because they were not popular, does that make them bad?

One of the issues of such a blind voting system is that people tend to get get drawn to certain categories of photographs in which they are comfortable. In these situations a great picture of a puffin or a nice landscape is almost always likely to triumph. In fact when the results were collated it stood out that we had a surfeit of landscapes over say portraits.

Of course lack of popularity should not be the final arbiter of an images quality. I am currently doing the MOMA Cousera course on photography  and wonder how images from some of those now held as greats of photography, such as Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Strand would do, if entered in a club competition today? Again would  such a failure somehow invalidate the esteem their work is held in?

So should I just throw my hands in the air in a huff and blame the audience for not having the wit to understand my artistic merits?

Of course not.

To do so would be presumptive in the extreme. Firstly I would be making the assumption that my work has actual artistic merit, rather than the audience seeing the flaws that I cannot. Without any backlog of successful work as a foundation I have no basis to claim any superiority over those judging it. Secondly by assuming that I know best, I refuse the opportunity to learn from my failings.

But should I eschew any attempt at popularity?

This is a difficult one. I feel we should not compromise our photography to just pander to the collective. On the other hand creating a photograph that resonates with a wider audience is a skill that also needs to be mastered like any other artistic technique. The challenge is to balance the need  for self expression and how much you restrain yourself to take in account the needs and desires of the audience.

Without this, there is always the danger of slipping pseudo intellectualism, and the blind artistic alleys that this will lead.

So again we need to learn from failure and look again at aspects of our work. Specifically what are elements of a photograph that make it stand out to a crowd.

I hate landscape competitions...

I really,really hate landscape competitions.

Just when I thought I was getting the hang of competitions in general, along came the local societies Tom Tivey trophy for landscape and natural history photographs

This is a competition for the best natural history subjects. This sounds very specialist, but in fact coves a wide range of subjects. In fact it is easier to state which ones it does not cover than what it does, namely indor shots, domestic animals, portraits and errr, that it really.

This year I felt quite confident in my entries. Apart from some animal photos I had my infra-red photos from my converted camera that I was quite pleased with. This would be the first time I would be showing them in competition so I was interested to see the reaction, but I thought they looked great in print form.

However it was not to be. None of my entries got into the second pick.

I don't like to complain about the judging  (really!) and there is no doubt that judging is is not an easy gig. This time the judge did a good job of contrasting various images and showing how they could be improved, but one thing I did notice was that their picks were very conservative. Anything that was a bit left of center did not get far, while your standard landscape shots did well.

It was not only my shots that suffered in this way. A colleague had put in a great multiple exposure shot, but it got as far as my shots.

So maybe another day, another judge things might of gone better.

But that is not why I hate landscape competitions so much.

Unlike most other competitions, landscape and wildlife ones are skewed towards those who travel to the best locations and can afford the best equipment. While in other competitions you can offset these advantages with imagination, in this case it is difficult to compete against people who travel to far flung destinations or who can buy the fastest glass and have the time to use it.

Anyway below are my entries for you to judge yourself

Every thing you wanted to know about photo sharing sites, but were afraid to ask...

Unlike some out there I have always had the opinion that criticism of your photos (constructive or otherwise) is an essential aspect of improving as a photographer.

One way of the best ways of doing this is to join a photographic society and enter competitions. However there will be periods in which you have a photo you like and you are desperate for some feedback.

An alternative is to make use of the plethora of photo sharing and comparison websites available. While there is nothing stopping you from joining as many as you want, you run the risk of spending all your time juggling sites rather than photographing (plus there is a potential cost). So really you need to choose one or two sites to share your best photos on.

This begs the question however, which ones are the best to use?

As a public service therefore I am going to look at some of the more popular sites and rank them. Specifically I will be looking at how good the sites are at giving feedback from your images. So I will be comparing features such as access to competitions, the ratings and critiques system and other features which provide an indication of the quality of your images.

The judging process

So what makes a good photography critique site?

The first important factor is the user interface. It must be easy to use or you will not return. This includes how easy it is to upload your photos and how easy is it for others find your pictures

Also there needs to be a community feel. So there needs to be a way to link to other photographers you like and allow them to link to you.

Additionally there must be some sort of rating or review system. This can be as simple as a score, a commenting system or just a ranking against other photos. What is important is that you can gain some indication of the relative quality of your image. Bonus points if you actually get some critique on failed photos on how to improve your image.

Price is always going to a factor. While it is fine for there to be costs to access some features, there is a danger that these costs will quickly escalate if you subscribe to too many of these sites. Obviously free is preferred, but if there are costs, they need to be justified by what extra features are provided.

A good site needs to be more than just about photo critique.To encourage me to keep coming back to the site, it needs other features for example forums, competitions etc. A site should be an celebration of photography and not just a photograph repository.

Today we live in a mobile world, so access through mobile phone via an app is useful(preferable supporting more than just Apple products)

Finally the site needs to have that X factor. In this case it needs to make you feel at home and encourage you to share your work and not feel like a out of town stranger in a locals pub.

So to rate these sites I am going to use the following criteria.

• How easy is it to upload your pictures and get them noticed?
• What feedback do they provide and how useful is it?
• Price
• The site qualities as a general photographic site
• X Factor - the un-quantifiable look and feel score
• Bonus features - anything else that stands out from the crowd

These go on to make an overall score

So onto the sites....

500px

 

500px was the first photo review site I ever used and until recently it has been my go to site

 As a photo rating site it has a number of good points

• A clean and clear website design which shows images at their best
• The relatively simple rating system.
• A freemium model that allows the upload of a certain number of images a month
• An android/IOS app that allows you to monitor the site

The rating system itself consists of a score or pulse that is based on factors such as the number of views a photo gets, the number of times a viewer presses the like button and (if they really like it), the favorite button.

All these interactions go to make up a pulse score which is also time based, so it degrades after no activity. As the score goes up the photo moves from a number of categories

When the photo is is first presented it starts out with a rating of fresh. With enough activity, it status raises to upcoming and eventually, if it has a high enough pulse is achieved,  it becomes popular.

There is in addition the  Editor pick rating, for images that the 500px editors particularly like (these can be quite 'arty').

It is not documented how the pulse system works and what level of score triggers an increment of its category. For example I have had photos get a score of 69 and still remain as fresh.

It is also possible to sell your photos through 500px, although how successful that is, I don't know. (I for one have never sold one)

In the free mode you are restricted to 20 uploads a month. I have found this is quite adequate. You can however pay more to have what are called a "plus" or "awesome" account .

The plus account costs about $2 a month
The awesome account costs about $6, plus there is a $12 a month option that  includes a Adobe CC option, which is not bad value if you want to go that way.

The plus account allows you unlimited uploads, while awesome is the same plus better analytics on who is looking at your images

The site also has groups or forums, a blog, and offer a pretty good free app for Android and IOS. However I have found the forums a bit bland and rarely visit them.

Like I said at the beginning I used 500px for quite a while, but recently I have fallen out with it a bit. First I was not happy with the site redesign, but mainly I found it harder to get high ratings on my photos(is that the sites fault? - Ed).

There have also been some complaints that it is harder for newcomers to be noticed, because the way photos are presented and discovered means that things can get a bit cliquey.

You can follow photographers, and their photos. The photographers you are following, likes and favorites become the first thing you see when you go to the 500px home page. This also means that these are the photos that are more likely to get noticed, meaning the more followers you have the more likely you are to get noticed, so introducing a like feedback cycle.

However  the bigger problem with 500px is that apart from likes and favorites, there is little other feedback. Yes you can add comments, but generally these are not the same as critiques and normally consist of 'good' photo and pleas to visit the commentators page.

There is a feeling that  the rating system encourages conformity in the pictures and punishes some genres.. As a  test I tried an experiment and chose a photo that I thought would do well in 500px, but to me  anything special.

The photo I chose came popular with a 86.4% rating, while others that I thought were superior got lower scores. The 1st photo was bright and eye catching. This is because most people only glance over the fresh photos page so in my experience black and white images do not do well


Scores

How easy is it to upload your pictures and get them noticed?	7/10
What feedback do they provide and how useful is it?>	6/10
Price?	8/10
Photographic site features ?	4/10
X Factor?	6/10
Any bonus features?	2 (Apps)
Total	33

dpReview

DpReview is known better as a photographic news, forum and review site.

However it also provides what it calls challenges, where photographers can submit photos (normally based on a theme) and which are then voted on by other dpReview members.

The challenges area announced 14 days before the cutoff date, and after the 1st 7 days image can be uploaded. There then follows 7 days of voting.

There are no prizes for winning entries apart from the kudos of winning.

The vote consists of setting a score between 1 and 5(half marks are also allowed). the winner being those with highest average over the voting period.

The themes can range from very open (Best photo of the week) to very specific.You are limited to a fixed number of photos however there is no cost to entry and you can enter as many challenges as you like.

By entering the competition it does allow you to compare a photo in a given theme against others. However generally there is little direct feedback apart from the ratings.

DpReview itself has a massive set of forums, reviews and articles and is always a great place for camera and photography information.

Scores

How easy is it to upload your pictures and get them noticed?	3/10
What feedback do they provide and how useful is it?	3/10
Price?	10/10
Photographic site features ?	10/10
X Factor?	4/10
Any bonus features?	0
Total	30

Flickr

This is the very much the old lady of the photo sharing world and is more a photo storage/sharing site than a review site.  However it does have some review features in that it allows you to favorite photos you like and add comments. However apart from that and a Flickr app it provides very little.

On the good side, you have virtually unlimited upload limits(1TB by default), although you can buy more.

But while it is no doubt a good storage site, Flickr does not really provide much in the way of features for getting feedback from your photos. It does what it does, but to be honest it feels a little bit old fashioned and behind the times now.

Scores

How easy is it to upload your pictures and get them noticed?	4/10
What feedback do they provide and how useful is it?	1/10
Price?	9/10
Photographic site features ?	2/10
X Factor?	1/10
Any bonus features?	2 (Apps)
Total	19

YouPic

Youpic in many ways similar to 500px in that it is a photo sharing website that allows people to rate images. However it has some interesting quirkes of its own.

Like 500px you have 3 levels of photos, Newest, Inspiration, and Hot. However unlike 500px, users have a rating as well. You start at level 1 and as your photos are viewed, favorited or repic'd( what you pic calls sending images to your followers) you get points and at a certain point level your rating also rises (up to a maximum of 20). Each level is harder to obtain as the points needed rises at each level. Saying that I obtained level 6 with relative ease.

In theory as your levels rise, you get get prizes and special functions. However it is not clear what these functions and special prizes are. Also as you hit certain milestones, such as 100 followers, you get what they call medals.

All in all, it does a good job of providing incentives for you to put images on the site and review others in a way that 500px fails to do. It also does a good job of encouraging you to return, if for nothing else to see how your score is doing.

The site is nicely laid out and there is a good article section and the learn page has some good features. At present there appears top be no cost associated with putting photos on or limits and there is also a good app for both IOS and android phones.

Update

Playing around with youpic I have had the opportunity to rise through the levels. Level 1 to 6 are not hard to acheive, with level 6 requiring about 850 points. Level 7 however requires an additional 20,000 points !!!!!. This seems a hell of a jump. God knows how many points will be required by the time when (and if) we get to level 20

Scores

How easy is it to upload your pictures and get them noticed?	9/10
What feedback do they provide and how useful is it	8/10
Price?	10/10
Photographic site features ?	6/10
X Factor?	8/10
Any bonus features?	2 (apps)
Total	45

1x

1x is unashamedly elitist.  It makes a big thing about the number of photos it rejects and the main page reflects this with the photos shown certainly being a higher standard than most such sites

The pricing also reflect this policy. Unlike a lot of sites you are restricted to one photo a week for free, $5 a month for 5 per week, $9 for 10 and $20 for unlimited.

Also you don't upload your photos, you submit them for curation. Basically photos submitted are reviewed by 1x experts and members to see if they are worthy of joining the community

At first glance, 1X feels quite intimidating for up and coming photographer. However there are some features that make it worth persevering.

Firstly you can submit your photo for critique. This is quite a useful exercise that provides really good feedback from users who by the design of the system are forced to add more than the bland 'great photo'.

Secondly you to can "curate" photos. This is where you judge peoples photos and provide decent comments i.e much more than "good". This is a great exercise in in analyzing photos and looking as to what you like and don't like about images. Great practice if you suffer from masochistic tendencies and want someday to become a photographic judge.

There is no doubt that 1X is the place to go for some of the best photographer and photographs, however its very elitism feels like a barrier and in the end may intimidate and discourage many from returning.

It is not clear whether there is an app for 1x. There are unofficial ones for IOS, but little support for android phones

Scores

How easy is it to upload your pictures and get them noticed?	5/10
What feedback do they provide and how useful is it?	8/10
Price?	4/10
Photographic site features ?	6/10
X Factor?	7/10
Any bonus features?	1 (Curation)
Total	31

Kujaja

Probably winning the award for the hardest to remember web name,  Kujaja is a bit of an oddity. Its about box suggest that it was originally setup to support charities by crowd sourcing photo books, but it has grown to quite a comprehensive website with interviews and competitions.

It has all the usual features such as upload site, with new, popular and recommended photos sections. You can like, favorite and recommend photos  and follow other photographers. There are some other interesting features like the ability to associate photos with music.

The site provides weekly themed competitions, however the most interesting bit is the photo books. You can submit images which if selected are then put into photo books that are sold and the proceeds go to charity.

Kujaja is an interesting departure from the normal photo sharing site and it is nice to see a site that allow the possibility of your photos being used for good causes.

Scores

How easy is it to upload your pictures and get them noticed?	4/10
What feedback do they provide and how useful is it?	6/10
Price?	10/10
Photographic site features ?	7/10
X Factor?	7/10
Any bonus features?	0
Total	34

Photocrowd

This site is primarily about competitions. Photos can be uploaded and entered into competitions or challenges. These are then marked from 1 to 3 stars , the highest winning prizes ranging from equipment to publication.

Unusually the entry and voting happen concurrently and over a long period of time, 30 days or more. As well as community voting, photos are also judged by experts.

One criticism is that unless your photo is in the top 100, it will not show its ranking. Also the voting system seems to favor the images with already high scores.

Still it is an interesting concept and the owners seem to be very keen to get feedback and improve the site, so it is one to watch.

Scores

How easy is it to upload your pictures and get them noticed?	5/10
What feedback do they provide and how useful is it?	5/10
Price?	10/10
Photographic site features ?	4/10
X Factor?	5/10
Any bonus features?	0
Total	29

72dpi

72dpi is another photosharing website in the vein of 500px. Like the aforementioned it offers the ability to upload photos, ass likes, favorites and share.

It has a  a few nice features, like the ability to show where photos have been taken on a map and filter by how long a photographer has been on the site. However the website is a bit clunky compared to 500px and youpic. On the other hand there are no costs to uploading the images.

Scores

How easy is it to upload your pictures and get them noticed?	7/10
What feedback do they provide and how useful is it?	7/10
Price?	10/10
Photographic site features ?	6/10
X Factor?	4/10
Any bonus features?	0
Total	34

Pixoto

At first glance Pixoto looks quite complex, however its concept is actually quite simple. You present images and then they are compared against images of a similar genre  in something called a image duel. This carries on and your photos rise up the tree, a bit like a round robin squash league.

As you win or lose duels, your photo score increases and rises in the category.

There are also a large number of competitions that can be entered, some with cash prizes.

The downside of the site is that it is relatively expensive. For free, you are limited to a small number of uploads based on your credit score. This can be raised by doing things like voting. However to do that you must link it to your Facebook account (which I must admit I am not  keen to do).

 The alternative is to buy a pro upgrade. This allows a lot more feedback on how well you images have done in duels etc but is relatively expensive at $8 per month or $15 for one month.

The site also allows people to buy images, although like 500px there is no indication on how successful that is.

The site also has a large number of contests running at any one time, most for cash or equipment prizes.

The concept of pixoto is interesting and worth checking out. However the user interface is a confusing and it sometimes feels like a photo selling site with added features rather than the other way round.

Scores

How easy is it to upload your pictures and get them noticed?	5/10
What feedback do they provide and how useful is it?	7/10
Price?	6/10
Photographic site features ?	4/10
X Factor?	6/10
Any bonus features?	1 (Photo Duel)
Total	29

Viewbug

This site has a bit for everyone. Firstly it is a photosharing site with the usual features of uploading, favorites and loves. The former has the additional feature that you can specify from a number of categories such as composition what you like about the photo. 

The site also provides a large number of competitions that can be entered, most with prizes for the winner.

The site has a system of points. You get points for various activities such as uploading, favoring a photo etc. As the points rise you get extra features. 

Also you can win badges for various activities such as favoring 5 photos. The badges have kooky names such as the friendly badge for following 10 people or more.

You can quickly gain points by linking the site to various social media such as facebook etc. Also the number of points you gain for an activity is based on your level of membership. 

There are 3 levels of membership

• Lite is free and allows you 10 uploads a month. 
• Premium costs $7 a month and allows unlimited uploads plus access to more competitions,
• Pro which costs $14 a month and allows access to all competitions

Viewbug combines some of the best features of photo comparison sites such as 500px and photo competition sites such as Pixoto. Plus it has a clean user interface(but not quite as good as Viewpic's). It also has a learn page with some good articles.

The range of badges and scoring system means that it is a site that encourages you to return and rewards your involvement.

Scores

How easy is it to upload your pictures and get them noticed?	8/10
What feedback do they provide and how useful is it?	8/10
Price?	7/10
Photographic site features ?	7/10
X Factor?	8/10
Any bonus features?	0
Total	38

 

 Conclusion

What makes a good photo sharing and review site? Obviously the answer to that will depend on your requirements and experience.

To me however, the most important thing is engagement with your fellow photographers. To do that you need to encourage people to return and take part in the process, either by adding images, or taking part in the review process.

 Most of these sites here have an element of that, but some do it better than others. Unfortunately in the end the difficulties of trying to manage multiple sites means generally you want one site that does it all


My award of best site goes to the site which does that the best. That my award to the best photo sharing site goes to (drum roll)....

YouPic

With it good interface, and its system of points and medals, it provides the best elements of a good photo and review site.

Highly commended was Viewbug, which provided many of the same features, but whos extra cost and lack of an app counted against it. 72dpi had a nice community feel to it, but its lack of features in the end counted against it,

Another special mention goes to Kujaja, which is more a photo community, than a photo comparson site, but is one of the more interesting sites on offer.

As for the others, they all had there positives. Photocrowd and pixoto are a good place if you are looking for competition entry, and dpReview will always the place to go for discussions.

The losers here (if you can say that) is 500px and Flickr. While 500px is in many ways a good site, it feels like it has fallen behind the time in terms of features. Flickr on the other hand, the site that revolutionized photo sharing, now feels really old fashioned. Yes, it is still a good place to store and share images, but has little else to help you improve as a photographer.

So what about 1x? In many ways this should be the go to site for those of you wishing to improve your image making. However unless you have pretensions of being a top photographer, I think it's very elitism counts against it. It feels like an exclusive club, where you have to justify your inclusion. For me photography should be about enjoyment, not having to justify why you should be part of a club.

Result Summary

YouPic	45	Winner
ViewBug	38	Commended
Kujaja	34	Commended
72dpi	34
500px	33
1X	31
DpReview	30
Pixoto	29
Photocrowd	29
Flickr	19