PDI COMPETITION No 4 - 5th April 2017 - An evening of contrasts.

Hello and welcome to the latest blog - sorry it's taken a little while to be uploaded.

This is covering our final PDI of the season and we welcomed Rob Bonfield as our judge. Rob is in his first season and was looking forward to the evening as he sets out bravely into the word of judging.

Once again, we had a good show of images with 29 at Level 1 and 31 for Level 2.

Immediate congratulations to our main winners on the night. In Level 1 we saw:

Our Winner on the night with 10+: Chris Carrick - Another Persons Art

Rob particularly liked the way the interest was right across the image

Summer Boat Trip: 10 - Anna Borsarelli 

A fascinating photograph - Valencia I think. To my surprise, this very place was then on TV last Friday on Alex Polizzi's Spain!

Street Clown: 10 - Kevin Brookes

Here, Rob was puzzled by the composition, wondering if the person was in the box! It is certainly a great image with the contrast just right

At Level 2 we had:

Our Winner on the night: Stargazing: 10+ - Mark Bulle

Well done Mark for capturing such a stunning image!

Morning Walk on A Foggy Day: 10 - Rosh K

A really atmospheric image

Temptation: 10 - David Stoneleigh

Another wonderful creation from David that certainly had Rob's admiration in how it was put together

Lancing Chapel: 10 - Howard Carless

Striking colours and a real sense of space make this a worthy top points scorer.

Overall, we had a variety of comments and observations from Rob. As is often the case with the judging, it was not long before a theme had developed and Rob’s was all about contrast.

He made many valid points about images that have “bright patches” that can distract and suggested that the way to retain interest is to maintain good contrast throughout the image. Certainly, post production work on shadows and highlights should be undertaken to help the image create that important first impression.

Another good observation is to ensure that your key features, i.e. those you want the viewer to focus on first, are separated in an image. Again, alongside that, it is worth making sure that nothing too bright takes the eye away from your main attraction and this can be one area where contrast plays a part.

We saw many abstract, pattern shots in this competition and here, Rob asked that the photographer makes sure not to make an image too confusing - spend time choosing the best spot from which to shoot.

Finally, I did notice that, in Level 2, Rob switched from saying images could be darkened down, to suggesting that post production be used carefully to brighten up the image. It just goes to show that even in the space of a couple of hours, one's thoughts on what makes a good competition photograph can be turned around and ultimately contrast with views only recently expressed.

I wish you all a great Easter Break!