Tygerberg Photographic Society - April 2016

Well, it wasn't going to get any better after last month, and so it proved. Just one Gold award out of the four photos submitted.

The set subject for the month was "Silhouettes". I did quite a lot of work on this and Jacqui and I even went up the Table Mountain cablecar to get the shot I used for the Print Set Subject section. The image received a Silver rating, and it would have done better if I had cropped out the rock on the left hand side. The judge said it was too prominent, and I tend to agree with that. Here it is:

I was, however, disappointed with the rating given to the image I entered in the Set Subject Digital section. I really like the image, especially since it's quite unusual for a silhouette. It was taken from the balcony of the flat at Melkbos, and quite severely cropped. The judge didn't like the fact that there were two groups of birds, resulting in the image not having a focal point. I can understand the reasoning, but I still like the shot, even though it only received a Bronze rating!

As a matter of interest, This is what it looks
like modified.





In the Open Print section, I submitted the photo entitled "Changing seasons". This was quite a labourious yet fun challenge, with me ending up with a room filled with leaves of various colours and from various trees, most of which were collected during our morning walks. Anyway, both Jacqui and I liked the shape of these leaves, and so did the judge, making it my only Gold of the evening.

Finally, for the Open Digital section, I chose an image from our Namibian holiday last year. It depicts a Namibian trader and her child, stuck out in the wilds and trying to earn a living. When I submitted the photo, I debated whether to increase the contrast or leave it as it was (it was taken in very harsh lighting). Should have got with my gut feel! The judge liked it, but felt that it would have scored higher had there been more contrast. So it ended with a Silver rating.

But the exciting news (for me anyway) is that I only needed 1 point from the evening's submissions to progress from Three-star to Four-star. I ended up with 8 points, so achieved the goal, and now start the long fight to progress to Five-star!