Judge’s Competition Comments

Themes Descriptions for this year

Abstract

For this assignment, a successful image’s content will NOT be immediately recognizable as figurative, landscape, architectural, plant or animal. Instead, shape, line, texture, pattern, and/or color are dominant.

Abstract photos typically do not tell a story in the traditional way. Instead, they are almost always subjective and personal, and their impact comes from their composition, balance and mood.

You may prepare your image

by capturing a “found abstract,” that is, isolating a part of a scene or object that has an interesting composition of shape, line, texture, pattern, and/or color;
with in-camera techniques, like multiple exposures, intentional camera motion, over/under exposure to remove details, etc..; and/or
in post-processing with, for example, filters, distortions, blurring, colorization, over/under exposure of all or part of an image, etc.

Check out: 40 Beautiful Examples of Abstract Photography or 35 Abstract Photography Tips and Ideas or A Google Search for Abstract Photography Images

Eyes

For this assignment, a successful image will have the eyes as the primary focus of the image.

The eye(s) can be

living (eg, human, animal),
a representation (eg, anatomical model, in a painting)
metaphorical “eyes” (eg, peacock’s tail feathers, potato),
a created or manipulated impression intended to represent or suggest the appearance of an eye.

The image may contain other relevant elements (eg, a group of faces), but the eyes must be the primary focus of the image.

Little Things / Small World

For this assignment, a successful image will play with perspective and scale to make large objects look small or small subjects appear large.

For example,

Showing a key/essential detail of a subject up to life-size – close-ups or macro type shots of insects, flowers, droplets, coins etc.
Make normal, life size subjects appear small or toy-like.
Capture everything in a small area, like the world a child creates with his toys on a tabletop, or the landscape inside one square yard in your garden.

Check out: A Google Search for Little Things Photography Images or A Google Search for Small World Photography Images

Low-Key / Low Light Photography

For this assignment, a successful image will emphasize one or more illuminated elements on a mostly dark or shadowy background.

The lit element is the subject here. The role of the darkness or shadows is to create striking contrast to set off the subject, and to help add atmosphere, mood, and mystery to the image.

Control the illumination of your subject, and eliminate the unnecessary with darkness and shadow.

Check out: Low Key Photography for Beginners – Enter the Dark Side or https://www.iphotography.com/blog/low-key-photography/ or A Google Search for Low-Key Photography Images

President’s Choice – “The Fall Garden”

For this assignment, a successful image will capture

1) a garden, defined as

a plot of ground where herbs, fruits, flowers, or vegetables are cultivated;
a rich well-cultivated region, like a farm;
a container (such as a window box) planted with usually a variety of small plants; or
a public recreation area or park usually ornamented with plants and trees.

2) in close up or with a wider view,

3) to show its plants, and their shapes and textures, maybe it’s harvest or produce, maybe getting it ready for winter, maybe including its other inhabitants like birds and insects,

4) with the colors, light and mood of the season.

This is not a fall foliage assignment

Vice President’s Choice – ” An Interesting Perspective”

Dave Blecman describes the theme this way: “What we are looking for, more specifically, are images that were taken from an unusual vantage point or perspective. We’re not looking for abstracts or unrecognizable subject matter, but subjects that were photographed from a different, unusual, non-traditional, or uncommon perspective.

This could include, but is not limited to, looking down, looking up, shot from a very low perspective, or from a high perch, maybe through a tunnel or something different that frames the image unusually. The more thought that you put into it, the more unusual the perspective, the more creative you get, will all increase your score.”

Wabi-sabi: Transience, Imperfection, Decay

For this assignment, a successful image will capture the Japanese aesthetic of acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”.

This idea can be applied to both natural and human-made objects – the impermanence of a faded flower at the end of Spring, the elegance and imperfection of a hand-made garment, the transience of Fall foliage, the weathering and decay of an abandoned building, the imperfection in an aged face.

Check out: Wabi-Sabi Photography – The art of the imperfect or Wabi-Sabi For Photographers or A Google Search for Wabi-Sabi Photography Images

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