Knock Out Wonderboy!

Knockout competitions seem to be becoming somewhat of a speciality for me!

At the end of each season at camera club we have a knockout competition whereby each member is allowed to enter up to 6 images to be projected digitally. The images are all entered into a piece of software on the computer and randomised. The images will then appear in a random order to be voted against the image next to it. Members vote for the image out of the two they like the best and it goes through to the next round, knocking the losing image out.

Long story short, I won! Here is the winning image...

I call it "Sticks and Stones"

Projected Digital Image Competition

Last week at camera club saw the 2nd PDI league competition judging, in which i entered the maximum of 3 images. The 2 highest scoring images are taken into consideration for the league.

The 3 images were completely different. A colourful seascape, a mono scene from a civil war reenactment, and a nature shot of an Arctic Tern with a Sand Eel in it's bill. I personally thought they would score highest in that order from high to low.... However, it just goes to show that judging is very subjective and everyone's opinion is different. My Nature shot came in with 18/20 and the Colourful Seascape was awarded 17/20.

Although not a winner this time around I am very pleased with the scores.

As I have said before a camera club (or photographic society) is a great way to meet other photographers and exchange ideas as well as see what other people are photographing. Whilst social networking sites such as flickr are a great way of viewing other people's images, there is nothing like mingling in person. I personally found that joining a club has helped improve my photography no end as I am sure i have helped others to develop their craft.

To view more on our camera club competitions or find information on our club in general, see Crewe Photographic Society.

Photographers and their gadgets

Whilst you will hear some photographers saying that it is the person behind the lens that creates the picture and not the kit they use, there are some bits of equipment you cannot do without.

A good place to go to compare prices for camera gear that i refer to often is Camera Price Buster

One handy bit of kit is a neutral density filter. This helps to hold back the light so you can use a slower shutter speed. I particulary like taking photographs of seascapes and slowing down the shutter speed enough to give the water a milky effect and the sky a zoom burst effect. I have examples of these on my Coastal and landscape sections on Pepper Art

I currently use and would highly recommend the B+W 10-stop filter for seascapes and landscapes. However it gives a warming effect to your images. Lee have a version called The Big Stopper which gives a cooling effect, which I prefer. I ordered one of these at the beginning of June and it is yet to arrive! Lee have had major production issues for the last couple of years and the waiting time for orders on these filters is currently 6 months.

I borrowed a friend's earlier this year and took the following photograph with the Lee Big Stopper...