Judges – Christine A, Bruce and Christine F.
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- 1.Flowers In A Bottle – Salon – This is a very nice still life. The background colour nicely compliments the colour of the flowers. However the bottle is a bit too bright taking your eye away from the image as a whole. Shame you have cropped it a bit at the top as it really needs more space to balance your image. -Merit
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- 2. Fern Bird – Salon –This is a beautiful image of a young bird the head and eyes are sharp, the focus does fall down but this doesn’t detract from the bird. The Image could stand a good crop both sides and the bottom. There’s just too much greenery competing with the lovely baby bird. Also the green circle needed attention as your eye unfortunately seems to go there. Highly Commended
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- 3. Last Two – Salon- Lovely lighting a mood created by a slow shutter speed. Nice composition with the pale colours of the background making the piles stand out. The leading line of the stumps takes the eye to the horizon. There are some black spots that needed taking out as they are bit of a distraction. -Highly Commended
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- 4. Scottish Tranquillity – Salon – A picturesque autumn scene. Nice composition and DOF. While the bubbles provide lead in lines they detract from the overall results. The sky under the bridge is distracting this could have been toned down or removed also your bridge is not level. The colour red is it true or a filter? -Accepted
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- 5.Te Matau Apohe Bridge – Salon – This image lends itself well to Monochrome. Your image is clear and sharp and the red car pulls the eye away from the busy background. A crop off the left taking out the two power poles and half of the fence makes this a much stronger image.- -Highly Commended
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- 6. Juvenile White Heron – Salon – Nice capture the bird on an awkward angle. The bright sky in the background puts the bird in shadow you also need some adjustment to the shadows and take out the ferns at the bottom. However you need to be careful when naming nature your bird seems to have been given the wrong name. -Sorry Not Accepted
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- 7.White Heron- Intermediate – Beautiful capture of the white heron in flight a very hard shot to take. The whites have been well handled, and the Background is nicely blurred. The wings are beautiful. Shame the eye and the beak isn’t more in focus. -Highly commended
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- 8. Looking North- Salon –If this author has anymore images like this they should keep them for the Northland Landscape competition in September it’s a beautiful landscape. The panoramic format suits the image and the subtle grey frame helps to “finish” the image. The Image is sharp and has a good depth of field. The lines of the waves & the windswept bush lead the eye from left to right. Highly Commended
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- 9. After The Storm –Salon – Your image is sharp, nicely composed against the contrast of assuming grey clouds. The plant doesn’t look as if it has weathered a storm though. The title is appropriate if the white sprinkles are snow or water. –Accepted
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- 10. Urban Bees – Salon This is an interesting shot and good spotting however the blue building distracts focus from the bees. You needed to try a different angle, you could try the transform / skew tool to get the image straighter cutting out more of the building. Try to cut off the black on the right-hand side as this is distracting. However it’s a good memory shot of fabulous art installed good spotting. -Merit
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- 11. Scottish Haven –Salon – Beautiful landscape. Good depth of field & well balanced putting the main objects of the image in the middle third. Focus point is a bit hard to confirm. -Merit
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- 12.Barn Owl –Salon – Great photo of this bird what a shame the white is so blown out. The bird has good eye focus on the photographer A Shame the hairy arm is in the shot as it is a distraction and has then lost the birds tail. -Merit
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- 13.Falcon Rewarded – Salon –Beautiful wing span in this falcon, gorgeous colours and patterns in the feathers. The focus is a bit soft and perhaps the white background could be toned down just a tad. -Highly Commended
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- 14.Fungi Orange –Salon – Nice close up of these colourful fungi. Background has been well handled. There’s a nice colour palette. Try to get lower to show more detail on fungus also the focus is a bit soft. -Merit
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- 15. Flight of a Whitehead –Salon- This bird has obviously just taken off creating the blur. The sharpest point is on the ferns. There is no real focus on the bird. The white head isn’t white it’s gone blue. Try a faster shutter speed next time to improve the shot. Is the blur intentional? Sorry Not Accepted
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- 16.The boat Sheds –Salon – The mono treatment of this image gives the sheds definition. They look a lot better here than in reality. The reflections have been well done, so is the lighting and your image is nice and sharp. However the buoy is too bright and distracts. It was suggested to crop this out, you do have room to do this and crop off the bubbles at the bottom turning your image into a Panorama. It is then a very striking image. Merit
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- 18. Sunset Onerahi –Intermediate – Lighting and depth of field have been well done in this image. Nice composition. The image is a bit underexposed. An adjustment to lighten the shadows will show more detail. -Accepted
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- 19. FernTree in Grey – Intermediate – This author has shown creativity with this still life both in the arrangement & post editing. The whites have been handled well. The interest of the overlapped leaves continue on other fronds. Good graphic concept however it could be stronger rearranged with the third frond removed three is often better than four. -Merit
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- 17 Summer Sweetpea- Salon – This is a simple but very effective image. The Chocolate box frame works well. The diagonal positioning of the flower helps to fill the frame and the pink border suits the image. The very pale yellow background takes away the starkness of the white, but one wonders should it be there? -Highly Commended
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- 20. Specimen Jar –Novice- The author has done well with this still life. Photographing glass is never easy due to the reflections. You have been clever in creating an interesting background using the shadows. Less is more it’s a very busy photo. The tall bottle at the back draws the eye away from the image as a whole due to the lights. I wonder at the title. Specimen Jar conjures up an entirely different image. –Merit
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- 21. Still Life- Novice Great play at still life arranging and the lights make interesting features in the bottle.This is a nice arrangement of “what’s for dinner” good the positioning of the cheese knife. The tomato & garlic don’t appear sharp and the background is a bit busy taking the attention from the foreground. What is the connection to the jug? It does seems I bit out of place. You could try instead of having the jug perhaps using a block of cheese to go with your cheese knife. Try less by removing the candle and the jug. Well done a good try. -Accepted
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- 22. Boy in Blue – Salon What a lovely boy he’s been having a great time in the water. The photographer has captured the moment well of this lad emerging from the sea after his swim. His shiny brown skin contrasts against the blue. However it is a bit bright, there is a bit too much in the image all the water detracts from the boy. Try a bit of cropping take out the horizon and the waves, a bit off the bottom to the angle on the left to the start of the pebbles. Then also on the right take out to the new part of water and just those few pebbles on the right the boy has plenty of room still to run still got pebbles and your image turns into more of a portrait of the boy then it is stunning. -Merit
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- 23. Dragons Rest – Salon – You can see why the author used the landscape format to capture the shadow cast by the insect. However all the green leaves dwarf the insect which is not all in focus? The Highlights on the leaves are distracting. A good crop all round does make it more pleasing. – Merit
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- 24. Criss Cross -Intermediate – Effective use of Monochrome. The Title indicates the lines crossing is the main point of this image. Try a crop from the top to the pathway across the lines this places more emphasis on the crisscross. Also remove the two stones at the bottom as they are distracting. Your image is a little under exposed. Adjustment to the auto levels brightens this image.-Merit
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- 25. I See You – Intermediate – The author has captured the cat’s expression well. Nice eye contact from cat to photographer. Like a landscape the top should be straight. Also the image is a little underexposed, click on the auto levels button this brightens your image nicely. Suggest you try portrait mode and crop off down to the right leg and then off the bottom taking out the green then you have a beautiful portrait of your cat.- Merit
