Our second club meeting of the season was a critique evening. Critiquing looks at the different elements of a photo, and how to make editing or compositional changes to get the best out of it. For those new to photography or looking to win competitions, this sort of exercise is very useful as it allows you to take a step back from your favourite shots and see it from another point of view. Maybe you won't immediately see those white spots on the edges, but judges certainly do!
We had eight members submit photos for critique, so we were able to look at three images for each. Our expert panel consisted of Pony Moore LRPS, (Tryptich winner 2023) David Richardson (Print of the Year winner 2023), and Andrew Kendon (Club PDI League winner 2023.)
One recurring theme was the joys of cropping, which has come up repeatedly in judged competitions. Frequently, we get attached to a particular bit of sky or beach, without considering whether it actually adds to the image as a whole. One tip shared was to take these areas of a photo in isolation, and see if it is an interesting shot in it's own right. If not, get rid of it! Sometimes just cropping these parts out will immediately improve an image.
We learnt about how to deal with the challenge of white birds like swans, by exposing for the highlights to retain detail in those beautiful white feathers. After the expert opinions, we took to the audience for comments, 'crowdsourcing' creative ideas that otherwise may have not occurred in the original instance. Although I personally cannot get behind having a 'stock red coat' to paste willy nilly into images, there were certainly some interesting ideas to work on, and sometimes it is fun to just try something different!
It was also just a pleasure to see everyone's photos. I know many people join a club in order to share photos with each other, and this is something you can do at any time in our club facebook group. If you haven't yet joined, look us up at www.facebook.com/groups/selseycameraclub, and feel free to post for more critique, or just to share.
As this was hoped to be an educational event, we were pleased that several members went home and worked on their images to reflect the feedback, as you can see in our before and after slideshow below. Fantastic work everyone!
Our next meeting on Monday 2nd October will consist of three talks from members on their different photography styles. Whether you are into landscapes, wildlife, or action portraits, you'll be able to learn a lot from their experience! Hope to see you all there!
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