Quote:
Originally Posted by Cussy
I joined my local camera club a few months ago. I've learnt loads from it. One thing the competitions have taught me is how subjective it all is. The last competition also had many comments that I felt reflected that there is a huge difference between topside and underwater photography. Both have different effects that go in and out of fashion and a few comments were made about black backgrounds being a bad thing!
Rob
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I think the first rule of judges is that they are always wrong! In any area of photography a judge may not be aware of the particular difficulties faced within that subject and I think that you have to realistic and accept that will always happen. If a judge is worth his salt then he should be able to look at the composition and context rather than sticking to making bold generalisations. That said, I do think that things like burnt out highlights are inexcusable.
Most judges that we use normally seem to be construct in their criticisms and offer suggestions to back them up. For example, how a picture is cropped can make a real significant difference and I have seen many judges using card against prints to demonstrate this. I also tend to think that it is in the general photographic arena that really hits home the value of the rule of thirds and the need to avoid (generally) a single central subject. These are, in the non-professional pictures that I seem to see, the biggest problems in most underwater photos.
I do certainly agree that photography follows fashions. I could quite happily avoid seeing another long exposure waterfall or picture of the British Museum for some time.
The advantage for underwater photographers in a general camera club competitions is that, although some judges do not appreciate the difficulties involved, their shots tend to be very different from the mainstream and so stand out from the crowd. A pat on the back for your pictures is always appreciated.
My club, Tandridge, has also been lucky enough to have talks and presentations from Len Dealey on underwater photography. We also have one coming up from Linda Pitkin (
UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHS - Linda Pitkin's stock) on 17th May.
If anyone lives in that part of the world, the talk is free and you would be welcome to attend.
Daniel