The May 'Landscapes' Top 10
The judging is done and the winners are chosen. The results:
FIRST PLACE - $100
Nikon D60, 1/160 sec. at f/6.3, ISO 100, focal length 12mm
Judge Alison Shaw writes: "The photographer who shot this winning image accomplished something that is not easy to do. He/she shot a well-known landmark (at least amongst landscape photographers) on a picture-perfect, sunny, blue-sky day, and yet still managed to come away with anything but a cliché. The composition is simple, frontal, and symmetrical, framed at the top by a band of sky and at the bottom by rock outcroppings. The strong light, low angle of the sun, and clouds on the horizon all enhance the drama of the scene.
"Whatever work the photographer did in Photoshop or Lightroom succeeded in enhancing the image without crossing that line into making it look fake - it certainly pushed that envelope, though, which just adds to the drama. My favorite compositional elements are the reflection of the blue sky in the water, and the strong curved line of shadow running the width of the scene. Choosing to shoot the scene at sunrise enhanced the red in the rocks, thereby making the contrast with the blue sky and water even more pronounced. Great job in going beyond the 'postcard'."
SECOND PLACE - $50
The Vineyard and Valley Scenic Tour Route in Washington County, Oregon
Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 1/60 sec. at f/11, ISO 50, focal length 16mm
Alison writes: "I am most drawn to photographs where the creativity and technical expertise of the photographer is what makes the image successful, and where the subject matter itself might not be innately picturesque. This is very much the case with this 2nd Place winner, an image of a road and a stand of trees, with the sun peeking through. The same scene in the hands of another photographer could have produced something that was downright boring.
"I love the composition, and how you are literally 'pulled' down the road and into the stand of trees, and from there into the light that lies just beyond. There are a number of elements that contribute to making this photograph a success: composing the scene as a vertical rather than a horizontal, the choice of a wide-angle lens, shooting slightly down at the overall scene, the use of a small aperture to maximize depth of field and to create the starburst effect with the sun peeking through the trees, the symmetry of the composition, the slight vignetting along the top edge and corners, and the cool tones of the foreground set against the warm sunlight hitting the background."
THIRD PLACE - $25
Alison writes: "The photographer responsible for this 3rd Place winner has created a wonderfully atmospheric and evocative picture. The mood is clearly defined in a perfect marriage of subject matter, color palette, rich detail, and the overall diffusion of the image (this soft, diffuse look can be accomplished using the Clarity slider in Adobe Lightroom). The resulting photograph is not only beautiful to look at, but I can literally 'feel' what it's like to place myself into the scene. One small element kept this photo from scoring even higher in the contest - I'd love to see a little more breathing room along the left edge of the image, which would bring the bench further into the composition and make the two clumps of yellow leaves less distracting."
Here's a full-screen gallery of all Top 10 winners. You'll notice that Alison put the first five photos in order of finish; the other five are Honorable Mentions. Congratulations to all of the photographers!
Entries are arriving every day for our June contest, "Lines and Curves." Photo contest details.
Was the contest "landscapes" or "overuse and abuse of HDR processing"?
Congrats to the winners.
The judge managed to pick the 3 most unnatural pictures as winners in a "Landscape" contest. 1st place is way too over processed and saturated that it looks fake. 2nd place is HDR'd and not really a landscape. And 3rd place someone smeared vaseline on the lens and forgot to wipe it off. I think she really dropped the ball on judging this category.
These are all WAY too photoshopped.
You could say that same of the majority of the top 10 or even 40. Most do not even look real.
I agree as well that these photos are way too photoshopped. I think everyones pictures should be judged on their own without altering the image with your computer.
Thanks for the kinds words Alison ... you really made my day!
My pic, "Irish Winter", managed to make it to the Final 40. The only thing I did was crop it, nothing else. That's how the landscape really and truly looked that day--that's why I took the picture. I had no idea how it would come out, and a couple of hours later the ice was gone, the sky was blue and the fields were green. It was creepy and I've never seen anything in Ireland like it....
Those who feel like they have been burned certainly have the right to disagree. The judge doesn't seem to favor "traditional" photography, putting those without these expensive software packages at a serious disadvantage. That's the benefit of having different judges each week though, different perspectives.
Cool HDR wins again, go go go Cool HDR !!
I agree with all of the comments above but a also think to each his/her own. HDR has its place but personally, I think the examples above are a bit overdone. HDR can really produce some amazing pictures, but this is one of the things where less is more. HDR was initially created to help photographers reproduce images as the eye originally saw the scene ... some people take them just a bit too far.
I don't want to take anything away from these photographs. They are all excellent shots and I would like to see them in their RAW format, especially the winning photograph!
These highly-processed photos are sooo not to my taste! But I think that's one of the interesting things about having different judges for each contest - you get to see a lot of different perspectives.
If I'm not mistaken people were encouraged to do some post processing before entering this particular contest. I am not sure if that's the reason why there were so many highly processed shots or not. I can't find the original announcement for the contest, but, something to consider at least.
Well, not really encouraged, Dan, but the rules for all of the monthly contests say that post-processing is allowed. From there, it's up to the judges. I happen to love this month's winners, but I like vivid and intense images, whether it's photography or oil paintings. Heck, the color of the paint in my home office is called Sangria! It's all a matter of taste.
Isn't the winning photo the same one that appears on the wikipedia.com entry for Horseshoe Bend? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_Bend_(Arizona)
Well I was going off of this I guess from the original contest posting: "If you have a great landscape photo in your portfolio, it's okay to submit it for this contest. But see if you can improve it with a little software editing first."
I agree that it's all a matter of taste. That's why I'll never complain about not winning etc. Especially since if I won this month, my photo was an HDR and would probably meet the same critique as the current winners are with the RAW fan base.
Ah, right -- I forgot I had written that. I guess I meant to spiff up a photo from your archives that you may not have touched at all yet. And don't let the critics bother you -- as I said in my earlier post, it's all a matter of taste.
As I've learned, judging art (and photography is art) is, and always will be, highly subjective. Therefore, it's certainly true that what the judge (or anyone) thinks is a great photo I, or someone else, might not.
The only real problem I had with any of this came when the Top 40 were announced - particularly this one sentence from the judge: "A number of the photographs were either trite or felt like snapshots."
Whether it was her intention or not, it came off sounding like she felt like she wasted her time even looking at those photos which she considered "trite" or snapshot-like. Those who enter this contest are not professionals and we all have our own vision about what makes for a good photo. I would think the judges would attempt to encourage amateurs as opposed to giving off a feel of "don't waste my time".
And, as a commenter above also pointed out, anyone who doesn't have access to expensive photo editing software was put at a severe disadvantage since it seems it was the post-processing that was judged the most as opposed to the actual photo. Perhaps, to keep things on an even keel, it would be fairer if there were a separate contest to test one's ability to post-process.
"Isn't the winning photo the same one that appears on the wikipedia.com entry for Horseshoe Bend? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_Bend_(Arizona)"
It most certainly is. And clearly the same photographer. None of this is a problem according to the rules as I understand them.
I agree that Alison's comment was a bit tough ... after all, we are all amateurs. However, I do respect her top three pics. If I had to pick, my top three would differ from Alison's, but I am not the judge here. Besides, she provides a very detailed explanation of why she picked them.
Regarding the issue of post-processing: I don't know why people are making such a big deal out of it. Processing is as integral to photography as composing a shot. There are quite a few free open source software programs (e.g. http://www.gimp.org) out there that can be used to do pretty much everything you can do with Photoshop and other expensive professional software. Now whether you like processed photos or not is a matter of personal choice. Honestly, do you think the images that we see in magazines/media are straight out of the camera? Just because we are amateurs does not mean that we cannot polish our work and make it look a little better and in the process become better photographers.
I can't say I'd agree with the judge's choices. In my opinion, a landscape is supposed to bring the viewer to the scene, and by over-saturating a landscape to the point of making it unrealistic, you do the exact opposite.
However, there's a reason why I'm not a judge, and the winners should all be proud. :)
#4 is one of the most original views of the Grand Tetons I've seen with perfect lighting conditions and a composition that draws the eye from the front of the shot through the image to the back, giving an incredible sense of depth and distance. Although it was surely post-processed, it was done in a way that appears completely natural. It would easily be my #1 choice in this competition.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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