Judging a Photo Competition

Tuesday evening I was asked to judge another "projected image competition" for the Harrisburg Camera Club. This is the digital extension of their slide/print competitions of days of film. Actually doing the judging is a quite an experience. You are seated in the front row of a room of about 40 people behind you. The slideshow of photos alternate every 4 seconds. After you see all 75 images and get an idea of them, you get to go through them again. The next time through the slide show you rate the image with a number score of 1 through 9 (9 being the best).

So between me and the other Judge, Carl Socolow, the total score could be 18, with the expectation that 12 would be an ideal "good" score. I reserved 1-3 for varying degrees of "needs improvement" images, 4-6 for good images but not best, and 7-9 for the "cream of the crop".

Then after the winners are announced, we go through the images one by one and offer up critique on what we felt about the images and what was lacking and what could have been changed to help improve the image. Being an inspector with istockphoto, judging photos is something I do every day… many, many times a day in fact. In front of an audience, if feels a little different though. We offered up some great advice on the images and talked about what could have improved them, pre AND post capture.

I was teasing the host for the evening as he is not a fan of "photoshoping" (yes, I know it’s not a verb, Vincent ;-) Andy gave us a chuckle at the mentions of quick fixes. I know many fine art photographers are firm believers in "the negative" and retaining the true vision of that negative. But I don’t see Photoshop as something evil or bad. Ok, in the wrong hands, there can be some vile stuff created, but in the hands of an artist… it’s an incredible tool.

For years, I’ve heard different photographers comment that the use of Photoshop distorts reality. While that CAN be true, it’s not the only tool in the photographers’ toolkit that warps perception. Adding a strobe or speedlight to an image changes it from "true reality". Changing lenses distorts the compression of the image. Wide aperture settings shift focus to ethereal scenes that our naked eyes can’t see. And last but not least, adding a filter (ND, Polarizers…etc.) to the end of your lens allows your camera to see differently.

Photography is all about seeing with your mind.

Photoshop can help assist that. Maybe Vincent Versace’s new book, Welcome to Oz: A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop (VOICES), is growing on my more then I first suspected.

Studio

The Ed Hidden Photography studio is a cozy place where I can work. My gear consists of mostly Alien Bee AB800 monolights. I also use an Alien Bee ABR800 Ringflash with moon unit reflector. There is also the testing grounds for the product reviews of StudioLighting.net so there is usually some miscellaneous gear around from time to time.
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The main studio space has some pull down seamless paper and one neutral muslin. There are also many little locations around in and out that offer some interesting backdrops. Below you'll find a small sampling of some of the looks achieved in this space.

Rental

If you have need of using a small space studio, I am making my space available in 2-hour blocks of time for $100 a session. If you feel you need a little assistance on set, I’m also available to work assistant for you as well. This is the perfect environment for photographers who have never worked in a studio setting and would like to start controlling their light more.

Mystery: What's over there

Did some playing in the studio last night. Here is a little taste of it. This is still a draft... not quite ready for istockphoto yet.



What do you think? Have that "Nancy Drew/Scooby Doo" kids snooping around type of feel to it?

Next shoot: Bring fog machine to be able to see the beam from the flashlight. Maybe another light for some highlighting on the clothing. I shot some with a ringflash for fill, but it far overpowered the background gel on the lowest setting. I might need to find a ND filter for it.

What makes a good photograph?

It seems like everybody and their brother loves to quote about photography. Why not me? Saw this one and loved it.

"A good photographer is one that makes the viewer so aware of the subject, that they are unaware of the print"

- Kodak Brochure from 70s

Reboot in Action (or Reboot Inaction?)

Well, I'm trying some new things here on EdHidden.com. I'm working on changing the focus and making the blog more "secondary" to my photography. I mean, that's the main reason you are here, (aren't you? I hope so). So, some things will be shifting around. Maybe I'll see if I can get the blogging bug to bite me again.

So, I guess this is my public declaration of a reboot of this blog. A comment of "w00T" might go a long ways to energizing me ;-)