Results – Open Projected – 25.03 – Whangarei Camera Club

01i – The Shy One. Nicely positioned in the frame. The bright spot below the left petal is distracting and could be lightened. The colours stand out well against the blurred background. Highly Commended

02i – Fairy Chimney Rocks Cappadocia The view through the natural frame draws the viewer into the image to focus on the rock formations and tells a story of the area. The bright white at the base of the fame could be toned down. Highly Commended.

03s – Chaffinch A beautiful sharp image showing lots of feather detail. You have captured the bird at a great angle. White highlights on the wing, bark and beak have blown out. A nice background. Honours.

04s – Chancet Rocks. A great panorama for this image. The repeating bands of rocks help to draw the eye across the length of the image. Bright rocks in the background feel over sharpened. The colours are very natural. Highly Commended

05s – Through the glass darkly. Great use of contrast between dark stormy background and the bright light and the reflection helps to draw the viewer into the background. Did you place the background glass in the water? If it was placed did you think it could have been lowered a little to be below the water, Perhaps reduce the brightness around neck of main subject. Merit

06s – Park Run. Great ICM image. Perhaps the browns could be lightened a little. Position of runner just far enough from the end to have somewhere to run. Merit

07s – Fragile Beauty. An amazing multi-layered image. The flowers at the bottom is positioned nicely to complete the image. The pastel shades of grey through the white have created a fantastic piece of art. Honours.

08n – Aaron A lovely portrait of Aaron and his intense gaze keeps drawing the viewer back to make a connection. Left side of head a tiny bit dark, Great mono image. Honours.

09n – Camera Obscura, The composition of this image is spot on. Think of the naming of images as this is a part of and not the obscura itself. The cloudy day behind the tip of this building has been handled well making the obscura tip stand out well. A good effort. Highly Commended

10s – A lovely Spot. A lovely spot indeed. The home is positioned nicely on the right and framed well with the trees around the images, Perhaps take out white post at 1 o’clock from sheep. Merit

11s – White Heron Lovely shot of the heron. Flattening the colour does help the bird stand out but leaves the image looking dull. The bird is positioned nicely in the frame. Merit.

12i – Circles and Lines. The balls have been captured well with excellent DOF and the curved and straight lines creating a pleasing image. The red line could be toned down. Perhaps consider a crop from the top of the steps, as this top part does not add to the image. Highly Commended

13i – Halfway up Mt Manaia A little too much cloudless sky and foreground a wee bit dark. Did you think of trying a crop around the whole image. Leaving just enough to make you feel you were looking through a window to the background scene? The image has a nice tranquil feel to it. Well seen. Merit

14s – Ancient and Modern. One Judge felt the story is not quite suited to the title, but the contrail is certainly modern. Good on you for spotting this contrast. Perhaps a couple of steps to your right would help correct the angle. Merit

15s – Grotto. The repeating patterns and reflection draw the eye straight down the centre of the image. The symmetry makes this work. Perhaps tone down white patch near left beam. The reflections are really good and you have got the DOF bang on. Highly Commended

16i – A pair of Matuku Moana. A well timed shot with placement of the eyes creating a symmetry within the image. Three black dots, one top left and one either side of the herons could be cloned out. The birds are nice and sharp and have good feather detail. The background has a good depth of field. Highly Commended

17s – Sheep on a Hill You trained the sheep well to line up for you. The angle and line of the hill gives a good leading line for your eye to follow. Perhaps reduce saturation of green a little. Good title and story line. Highly Commended

18s – Out for a Hoon Love the soft tones of this panoramic image. A well done ICM shot. The colour pallet appears old time but feels right. Maybe a vignette would help keep the eye within the frame. Very artistic and cleverly created. Honours

19i – White Heron. Great action image of this heron in full flight. You did well to capture the action. The overall bird appears over sharpened. The background has a nice blur, however you can see places where it has not been successfully done. This is a good photo to give another try at what you are trying to achieve. Maybe doing the blur more gradually from the bird outwards would work better. A good try. Merit

20i – Pukekura Park A restful scene. With the two building structures at both ends it keeps your eye moving across the image. The colours seem a little flat. However the trees are quite natural which is pleasing to the eye. Merit

21s – Dandelion Head. A good image showing the lacy textures. However, only the bottom left of the dandelion is in focus. Perhaps darken the background and increase the sharpness of the head. Accepted

22s – The Magician A nice portrait of cards being shuffled. Consider deleting the bright spot on watch. A crop from the left almost to the hand would take away the negative space of the image. Title supports a good story in this well executed image. Good DOF and dark background makes the subject really stand out. Honours

23i – Dotterel Chick The almost square format suits this image and helps to keep the eye on this cute little chick. Perhaps if you turned this image into portrait form it would help eliminate the dark area on the right. Perhaps sharpen the subject a bit more if possible. Well done. Highly Commended

24s – Bullers Albatross This image has great composition with the bird filling the frame wing tip to wing tip and corner to corner. The bird’s face feels over sharpened. For a bird on the wing the bird is pretty sharp. Honours

25s – Surfs Up This image gives a feeling of total isolation. Looks like a good drone image. It shows the stages of the sea from the shallow to the deep water. The surfer is in the frame nicely to the left. Honours

26s – Majestic Observer. The eyes are nice and sharp looking at the photographer (or dinner). White spots on left of tiger’s head could be cloned out. Positioned well and nicely cropped. Great depth of field. Nicely focused. Honours.

27s – A Single Bud. The single bud is nice with interesting hairs on the stem. The image is let down by the other stem which adds nothing to it. The dark background is good and the bud stands out well. Also how the light is catching the tips at the top of the bud, which enhances the image, but some fill-light would have improved the image overall. Merit

28s – Tiritiri Matangi Lighthouse. The lighthouse is well placed on the right although it has a slight tilt. You did well to capture the light when it flashes Portrait format would eliminate of lot of uninteresting area on the left. Good detail in the clouds. Merit

29s – Resting Shag Since a lot of shags are black and white the mono format was a great choice. The clear blue eye and very good feather detail make for a great image. Honours

30s – In a Sandy Bay Rock Pool. Subject is pretty sharp considering it is under water. Photo taken on a nice angle and your eye does follow the slug from tail to head. Perhaps tone down white patch at top right border. The background may need a little desaturation so it does not compete with the slug. Highly Commended.

31s – Another bee on a Flower. The bee here is nice and sharp. The green background and the orange flower blend well together. You could tone down the shiny patch on the bee’s leg. The border helps to keep the bee from flying away. Well seen and caught. Merit

32n – Silver streams. This panoramic image shows such a wide expanse of our home harbour. Perhaps the colour could be intensified a little bit to give more of a ‘Golden Hour’ look. Also you could consider a crop off the bottom to the large pool. Well done. Highly Commended

09s – Zinnia Joy. Beautiful bright colours with blurred background. Front Zinnia does not stand out. A suggestion is to lighten and blur the background. Merit