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Australian Photographic Society

MONIT R 4 NATIONS 2016

Inter-Society Digital Image Competition

WHAT WERE THE JUDGES THINKING?

MOTORSPORT PHOTOGRAPHY 10 PHOTOGRAPHIC FACTS SELLING PHOTOS

ONLINE

CONTENTS

MONITOR - APRIL 2016 5 16

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4 NATIONS 2016 10 PHOTOGRAPHIC FACTS

Editorial

08 Motorsport Photography

24 What Were the Judges Thinking?

17 Selling Photos Online

EDITORIAL TEAM Stephen Wong, Robert Dettman, Rachel Dettman CONTRIBUTORS Ewan Arnolda, Rene Martens, Keith Seidel, and Ron Speed. Special thanks to Ewan Arnolda for assistance in redesigning the front cover.

THIS MONTH’S COVER PHOTGRAPHY Bike Fast by Rene Martens.

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Unlike an armchair detective who solves a case without visiting the scene of the crime, photography is very much a physical activity. It requires you to visit a location personally to make your photo. Shooting from an armchair would be rather challenging and somewhat restrictive. Or, if you were wheelchair bound like Jimmy Stewart’s character in Hitchcock’s 1954 classic thriller “Rear Window”, it could be absolute murder. Of course, with the availability of modern technology, remote photography is possible. You could if you so wished conduct aerial photography with a radio controlled drone from the comfort of an armchair. But I consider this type of photography outside the realm of general photography, at least for the present. With Stephen Wong [email protected] Editor

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diminishing cost interest in aerial photography is growing and so are the issues relating to privacy and to airspace safety regulations. Nowadays we perform more and more of our daily activities on our computers tablets or smartphones. We don’t have to venture beyond the comfort of our homes to shop online, do our banking, or socialise online. Many of us use computers to organise, process, share and print our photos. But first, you need to capture your image. Whether you’re using a smartphone to grab a quick selfie or whether you’re a professional shooting an editorial, you still need to be at the right location at the right time to capture that perfect image. Getting to location could be as strenuous as trekking through the outback for days to find a unique landscape or it could simply be a matter of extending your arm, a smartphone in hand aimed directly at your face and

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LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

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pressing the shutter. Regardless, the key ingredient is that you need to be somewhere physically. This month, Rene Martens shares his love of motorsport photography. Definitely something that can’t be done from an armchair. Ewan Arnolda shows us how to earn some money by selling photos online, and location is definitely a consideration when it comes to making your images saleable. Dick Jenkin takes us on a bird-watching trip to beautiful locations in Argentina. Keith Siedel lists ten photographic facts and shares his insights into the judging process and offers some suggestions to help us score more points in competitions. Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for me to recline my armchair and reacquaint myself with “Rear Window”. See you next month.

No Smoking. Model: Ivory Flame. Photo: Stephen Wong. Canon 5D Mk III, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM @50mm, 1/10sec, f/2.8, ISO 640.

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Contributions, comments, suggestions, and letters should be emailed to [email protected] with a subject header prefixed by “MONITOR”. Please include your name, email address, contact daytime telephone number and address (including state or territory) in all correspondence. You can also submit files to Dropbox, even if you don’t have an account. Go to: https://www.dropbox.com/l/Abzk2jcw3JNG7Gwq6exqpF

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Ron Speed

BA Vis Arts, AAPS, LRPS, LSWPP, SSVAPS Coordinator of 4 Nations for APS

The Australian Photographic Society, as host Society for 2016, cordially invites entries from the Australian Photographic Society (APS), Photographic Society of South Africa (PSSA), and the Canadian Association of Photographic Art (CAPA) to participate in the 4 Nations competition for 2016. This is THE competition open to ALL members of APS, irrespective of which Special Interest Group they belong to. If your image is selected then you will represent Australia under the umbrella of the Australian Photographic Society Inc. It is a great honour and it is rewarding. APS members are invited to submit 2 digital images to the 4 Nations coordinator for APS, Ron Speed Ba Vis Arts, AAPS, LRPS, LSWPP, SSVAPS as an attachment by email to [email protected] by Friday 17th June 2016.

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4Inter-Society NATIONS 2016 Digital Image Competition

Inter – Society Digital Competition Details Competition Format Each country entry consists of 80 digital images WWW.A-P-S.ORG.AU

by 80 individual photographers in the following categories: A: Open 35 images B: Monochrome 15 images C: Nature 15 images D: Our Country 15 images

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This format is the same as previous years, which means 80 APS members each with one image. The 4 countries each submit 80 images making a total of 320 images for the competition.

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Awards 4 Nations Award Awarded to the winning Society with the highest cumulative score of the four categories. APS Medal Awarded to the first place in each category. 4 Nations place and Honourable Mention Certificates Awarded to individual images that receive 2nd and 3rd places along with up to 3 Honourable Mentions in each category. An audio visual presentation of the results and top entries of all countries will be made and announced to all delegates at APSCON in Adelaide in October 2016. How to submit your images 1. Submit your images as an email attachment to the coordinator, Ron Speed. 2. Only digital projected images are acceptable. 3. No image previously entered in this competition is permitted to be used again. 4. Current images are encouraged.

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Image Format 1. The maximum resolution of each image is to be 1600 horizontal x 1200 vertical (1600w x 1200h). using the sRGB colour space and jpeg format. 2. The maximum file size to be kept to under 1000Kb (1Mb) where possible. 3. All images need to be titled as outlined here: Section_Title_Author name . For example: Our Country_Outback Tree_Ron Speed. 4. Images may be acquired on traditional film and scanned to an electronic file or acquired electronically with a digital camera.

1.5 Copyright and use of individual images Individual entrants must hold and will retain at all times the copyright of their image. By entering this competition the individual entrant agrees to use of their image for publicity and promotion purposes of the 4 Nations Inter Society Digital Image Competition in publications and websites of all four participating Societies. So members, you can submit your entries in whatever category you wish, either 2 entries in one category or one entry in each of 2 categories. It is your choice. You are encouraged to submit good acceptances from National and International competitions.

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5. All processing procedures performed on the digital image must be the work of the photographer. 6. As photographers, all elements must be photographic. If graphic elements are included, they should enhance the photographic image, not dominate it.

All APS members are invited to submit up to 2 digital images as an attachment by email to [email protected] by the closing date: Friday 17th June 2016.

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Motorsport Photography Rene Martens

Winterbottom.

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I have been interested in motorsport photography for a number of years. Living close to a racetrack that has some well known events, such as Super V8’s, Superbikes and Super Trucks means that I get to photograph some well-known racing personalities as well. Rather than talking comprehensively about technical issues and equipment I will simply talk about the settings and techniques I use for the photos that accompany this article. First, some general advice before talking about the images. 1. I set my camera to single point focus with the focus point set to the centre of the field of view. This helps ensure that the camera doesn’t focus on a background or foreground object instead of the subject vehicle.

2. I set my Canon camera to AI servo focus mode. This allows me to focus-track the moving vehicle

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Practice panning without taking a photo so that you get an idea of how it feels. Hold your elbows tight against your body. Start off with a shutter speed of 1/125 sec and progressively select slower shutter speeds. (I still do that when I haven’t had a photo shoot

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with good sharpness. 3. I always set my camera to manual mode. This allows me to select the shutter speed that I want for the image. 4. I use a 50mm – 500mm telephoto lens but I usually find that I don’t go beyond 250mm. This means that people who have for example, a 50mm - 300mm zoom lens, can achieve similar results. 5. Aperture settings depend on the shutter speed I am using at the time which is determined by the effect I want to achieve. For example, I change my aperture only when I change my shutter speed. Whenever I get the chance I check my image to ensure that I have a reasonable exposure. 6. I use RAW format as this gives me greater latitude with exposure corrections in post processing. 7. My camera is set to continuous high-speed shooting so that when I hold the shutter button down it will take multiple images. This is particularly helpful when taking images at slower shutter speeds because I would hope that 1 of the 5 or so shots will be in focus. (Well, that’s the theory!) 8. Other photographers use a monopod to help them steady the camera. I have tried this but feel that it restricted my ability to pan freely. 9. Learn to pan. This is a vital skill. I have a stance that I use that helps keep me steady while handholding at slow shutter speeds. Here are some suggestions: • Move at a steady speed with the car.

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for awhile.) Only pan on single cars, bikes or trucks. Having more than one object in a shot could mean that one object might be sharp while the other is not. This can be a distraction in the finished image. 10.When you are starting out get to the track as often as you can to practice. This also allows the officials to see you regularly and you might be granted track access to get closer to the action. •

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Courtney - Wet.

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Fiore - Wet.

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Super Trucks.

Porsche GT3.

Courtney – Wet, Fiore – Wet, Super Trucks and Porsche GT3

might be other areas of the track where cars tend to go off track. This is either learned from experience or, if you don’t know the track, by asking officials. These

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These examples show that you need to be at the right spot at the right time and that depends on the conditions on the day. For example, wet tracks tend to lead to more ‘off track excursions’ and some turns produce more action. I have found that ‘incidents’ often happen at the very first set of corners as each driver is trying to gain the lead or track position. This is usually where you will find most photographers at the start of the race. Then, while the cars are racing, there

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Bike Cornering.

Superbikes.

photos were shot at higher shutter speeds – anything from 1/320 – 1/1000 sec. I use ISO 200 only so the fastest shutter speed I use is 1/500 sec.

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Bike Cornering and Superbikes These show what it looks like when a bike is cornering and what the riders are doing to maintain the speed and keep the bike going. In most cases, the bike is either coming towards you or is near you, which means that a fast shutter speed is needed. The focusing systems of the camera does have issues with tracking anything that is coming at you. Another image similar to this is ‘Winterbottom’. It also required a high shutter speed of about 1/320sec to achieve sharpness.

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Steve Richards, Tim Slade – Testing, ROH Wheels, Fast Red and Bike- Fast All these images were taken with shutter speed of 1/25sec to 1/50sec. Speeds as low as 1/25sec require a lot of panning practice and careful choice of location. I have found it is best to have the vehicle passing straight in front of the camera. This results in it being sharp from front to back while giving the impression of speed. Having practiced the technique, it can be applied at corners with cars going up on two wheels. This combines the slow shutter speed technique with action that isn’t seen in most photos. With the practise I have had over the years I have been able to take these pictures handheld. I can get even slower shutter speeds

Steve Richards.

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Tim Slade – Testing.

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ROH Wheels.

Fast Red.

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Bike - Fast.

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Pulsars.

with a monopod but prefer to work with just my camera rather than lug extra equipment around the track. Using RAW format means I have to do some post processing. I hate this part as it is the most time consuming . It would not be unusual for me to take over 3000 photos in a day of shooting so it takes time sorting through the photos. In most of my photos I don’t do much processing in Photoshop. I usually tweak the contrast and apply a levels adjustment prior to exporting them as JPEG images. For me to process and save all the images that are good (typically about 10%) I would have them up on the web for all to see about a week after the event. The main thing about any form of photography is that you need to practice and learn as you go. I am always learning – even with motorsports. To see more of Rene’s work, visit: www.rensmartphotography.com www.facebook.com/rensmartphotography www.flickr.com/photos/rene52 WWW.A-P-S.ORG.AU

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10 Photographic Facts

Keith Seidel

AFIAP FAPS SSAPS

Fact 1 We live in a time that is rich in imagery, both photographic and computer generated, across all media. This makes it harder for good photographs to be noticed. Fact 2 Not everyone you show your photographs to will understand the story or share the emotion behind your photograph. Fact 3 Not everyone you show your photographs to will share your interests or excitement with the subject matter in your photograph. That is not your problem, nor is it theirs. Fact 4 Camera club judges are human and therefore when you show your photographs their reactions may be covered by one or both of Facts 2 & 3. Fact 5 Facebook and Instagram likes and comments do not help you improve as a photographer. Your willingness to listen and learn does. Fact 6 Listen to why other people react the way they do to your photographs. You can learn from others’ objective reactions. Fact 7 It is undeniable that good camera craft and processing will enhance any photographic opportunity. Fact 8 Good photography relies on a combination of inspiration and technique, with an occasional dose of luck.

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Fact 9 Apart from issues of technique, peoples’ reactions to your photographs are subjective. Fact 10 Only you know why you took the photograph. The photograph must tell others.

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Ewan Arnolda

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SELLING PHOTOS ONLINE After a few years of taking photos and filling a hard drive to overflowing with images I wanted to find a way to have my work seen and to make some extra cash. After days of research I came some websites where I have had moderate success in selling my photos.

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All these websites are free and easy to use. You simply upload your image, select products to which you want to apply the image, set your profit margin then publish it to make it available for purchase. The websites take care of production and logistics. You must upload a high resolution image suitable for printing. Images can be up to 50MB in size. You can choose to sell your image as a poster, a canvas print, a T-shirt, a mug, a greeting card, a mobile phone case, a sticker, as stationery and more. All these sites require PayPal as the payment method. You are paid on either a monthly basis or when a certain amount is reached in your account. You make money by deciding upon a commission. For example, if I want to make $20 on a product I set the commission to that amount and the sale price is calculated automatically.

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Redbubble www.redbubble.com • Australian company. • Some printing is done in Australia while a majority of the printing is done in the US. • Photography and Graphic design. • Easy uploader - easily allows you to apply your image to various products. • Quick delivery. • Popular/in demand: abstract/creative images. My store: www.redbubble.com/people/ea-photos The following are my most sold items:

Retro Camera. Simple product photography using two lamps on a white background.

We are What We Make of this Planet. This photo was taken in Canada. Using Adobe Illustrator, the wording and the circle with a textured background was added.

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Infrared Sunset. This beautiful sunset was taken on Brighton Beach. An infrared effect was added to bring out the purples and pinks.

Society6 www.society6.com • US Company. • •

Photography and Graphic design. Initially, upload an image for sale as a print. Then you’ll need to resize the image and re-upload for varies products i.e., Throw pillows, T-shirts, iPhone cases, etc. Templates for each product are provided. Simply add your image to the template, save, then upload to the product. An app is available for mobile phones. Popular/in demand: minimalistic/pop culture images.

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My store: society6.com/moviereplicars The following are my most sold items:

X-Wing Fighter. This image was taken at a Star Wars exhibition held in 2007. I applied HDR effect to bring out the detail in the X-Wing fighter.

Retro Camera. Simple product photography using two lamps on a white background.

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Mad Max Diorama. This image was taken with the use of two lamps, a glass top, and black cardboard to give the dark effect. HDR and vignetting was added around the edges.

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TWENTY20 www.twenty20.com • US Company. • Stock images. No products. • Only need to upload once. • Has daily themed competitions with cash prize for the best image chosen by one of the editors. • Has a ‘Signature’ series curated by the editors. Twenty20 considers these to be the most sellable images. • An app is available for mobile phones. • Strict on model releases. • Popular/in demand: advertising based images with human elements. My store: www.twenty20.com/EA_Photography/photos The following are my most sold items:

Emoji’s. Straight off the camera. I used a flash and available light to capture this photo.

Calling home. I took this for one of the daily competition ‘People Using Tech’. Self-portrait, using a flash and tripod with a timer. Image straight from the camera.

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Melbourne Taxis. I applied an HDR effect to bring out the colours.

My store: www.zazzle.com.au/moviereplicars The following are my most sold items:

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Zazzle www.zazzle.com.au • US company with many local websites. • Most printing conducted in the US. • One of the oldest on demand commerce sites. • Boast major brands, NBA, Adidas, National Geographic, Hallmark and More. • Popular/in demand: Travel and Wedding based graphic design.

Eiffel Tower. An HDR Effect was applied to bring out the clouds and the details in the image.

Panorama Eiffel Tower. Is a combination of two images stitched together and converted to black and white.

Flinders Street. HDR effect was added to bring out the colours. WWW.A-P-S.ORG.AU

Rolling Hills. Simply enhanced the colour to bring out the landscape.

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500px www.500px.com • US company. • Stock images. No products. • Portfolio site. • Image requirements are very strictly (images must be crisp, no business logos on buildings). Curated to be sold via 500px Prime site. • Model and property release required where applied to sell. • One of the harder sites to sell from. Image must be amazing or something different. • Popular/in demand: Nature, wildlife photography and fine Art portraiture. My store: 500px.com/ewanarnolda The following are my most sold items:

Aussie Beach Life. This is a combination of three different exposures to create a HDR look and to enhance the colours.

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Cape Schanck. This was taken on camera HDR.

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Don’t expect sales to start immediately. It can take months before you make your first sale. Once this happens a sense of achievement and satisfaction will come over you. Keep your store fresh with new images on a regular basis. Maybe update at least once a week. Some of the sites recommend uploading about 2-6 images a week. Be selective on which images you upload. Read the blogs on these sites, they recommend the kind of images buyers are looking for. Make sure appropriate titles, descriptions and keywords are filled when you upload your work. Very important for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). This is important not just for the above websites but it helps with Google searches as well. Share your work on social media. Don’t expect buyers to automatically come to you. You need to get the word out there. The website will email you discount codes and special sales. Share these too via your social media pages together with a link to your store.

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Finally, unless you’re willing to work full time don’t expect to make a living from these sites. But saying that, I have heard of people making a living from selling their work on these sites. I personally have made monthly pocket money and was able to save up to upgrade from my first Sony A-100 DSLR to my current Canon 5D Mk III. Don’t be discouraged if no sales happen immediately, just keep at it. Take it from me, it will happen.

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SOME TIPS

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WHAT WERE THE Judges Thinking?*

Keith Seidel

AFIAP FAPS SSAPS

Have you ever received your judging results from an exhibition and wondered what the judges were on about? The judging process, the sensitivity or senility of judges and even the judges’ parentage are all called into question when we get low scores for one or more of our favourite or most successful images.           So what has gone wrong when this happens?

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Is it the Judging Process? Lately the APS National and ADPA have been judged by three judges each independently judging the entries out of 20 points.   Judges are advised to allocate points across the full point range.   This makes the judges’ scores a ranking, or relative comparison, of the entries judged and NOT an absolute score. Low and mid ranking scores are indications of the judges’ relative ranking of the images in the overall set.   * Originally written in 2014, revised March 2016.

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Despite a satisfactory exhibition record Solitary Walk by Keith Seidel once scored 4 out of 30 in an international exhibition.

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When I judge a projected image exhibition the first thing I do is take the entries into Lightroom and use the five star ratings to begin to sort them into point groupings through several reviews over a period of a couple of days. O   nce I have settled the groupings I then take a further couple of viewings to allocate points within each of the five groupings.   In a strong exhibition good work will settle into the middle point scores and may miss out on an acceptance

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MONITOR NEWSLETTER - APRIL 2016 Wind-Shaped by Keith Seidel was the Champion Print at the last APS Print National in 2013

due to the strength of the competition.   I think most exhibition entrants can accept the logic of this fairly easily, the difficulty comes with the low scores, especially when not all judges give the same low score. So how does an image score less than 6 out of 20 in an exhibition?   Whilst it seems harsh there are common features in lower scoring images in any exhibition.   From my experience here are a few areas to think about when preparing your next exhibition entries. Getting past these will give you a better chance of higher points for your entries. Or is it something to do with me?

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Processing Errors Omissions and File Preparation Viewing images on a quality, calibrated monitor will reveal processing and digital errors that may escape a poorly calibrated or set up projector.   Whilst it is easy to attribute processing errors to inexperienced entrants, it is also evident that many of our senior members continue to struggle with the computer environment.

Many processing errors are correctable in either processing or by getting it right in the camera in the first place. Common examples of process errors I have noticed too frequently include: • high ISO leading to the presence of visible digital noise and image softness not corrected in processing; • image processing failing to adequately rectify under and over exposure and soft focus issues in key parts of the image; • poor HDR - strong evidence of ghosting and halos are a dead giveaway that the image has been produced using high dynamic range techniques; • dust spots and/or poor cloning producing sharp edges and/or repetition patterns in the cloned area; and,

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Bold colours cannot hide the cut out and other processing problems with this composite photograph.

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in composite images, poor cut out techniques, differences in scale, size or perspectives of objects within the photograph, and particularly light coming from different directions across the elements of the picture, all point to technique problems rather than the photographic content itself. If the technique applied to the image is more evident than the content then it hasn’t worked for you.  In recent years I have judged far too many strong images that were significantly let down by issues in presentation and file preparation, including: • poor cropping of margins & borders that resulted in slivers of border appearing unevenly on part of one or two sides of the photograph; • the use of thick borders (white or coloured) that dominated the actual photographic content;  • colour borders that clash with the dominant colour or tone of the photograph; and, • thick “tram-track” borders (white or black) on just two sides of the photograph - supposedly to fill in the empty space to make the image file fit the specified file format eg. 1024 by 768 pixel format. In such cases the final result of the photograph is let down by a lack of finish - the final photograph looks sloppy to an independent observer and the observer is distracted from the photographic content. This is no different to a poorly presented print.   A photograph that looks sloppy is not going to feature much above a low acceptance level, regardless of the actual content, and will not score as highly as a well presented photograph of similar content and aesthetic interest.   Never give a judge a reason to score your photograph at the lower end of the point scale. When judging regularly it is inevitable that you will judge many photographs more than once.   Recently I was surprised to see some that I had previously judged presented in a ‘softer’ focus than I had seen them before - indicating some problems that were subsequently

found to be in the image downsizing done in a hurry by the author. 

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Camera Craft I have also been surprised at the number of entries at national level that have missed out because of errors in basic camera craft and photographic techniques that should easily be picked up in a camera club or folio grouping.   Unfortunately the panel judging system does not allow specific feedback to address common exposure issues concerning aperture, shutter speed and/or ISO settings. These issues show up as: • shallow depth of field, where large apertures such as f2.8 to f5.6 are used to maintain a fast shutter speed when the picture requires greater sharpness and clarity across the main subject. Increased depth of field by using smaller apertures of, for example, f8 to f16, are the solution; • too slow a shutter speed, producing distracting motion blur and camera shake, again where sharpness and clarity are necessary. Use of a tripod or a faster shutter speed are solutions; • higher than necessary ISO settings, leading to noise/softness. Keep ISO settings as low as you can handle and have a good noise reduction process; and, • long exposures at high ISO/shallow depth of field unsuited and unnecessary to the image subject. Again a tripod (or monopod) can help with your overall exposure problems. As I use Lightroom to sort and judge the images, I look at the metadata for some of these images after, and ONLY after I have completed the judging.  That data frequently confirms that the understanding of camera equipment and photographic techniques of many

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Always check your images before submitting them, and if you can get someone else who you trust to give you their opinion.   They may see something amiss that you don’t.

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MONITOR NEWSLETTER - APRIL 2016 Siuse Morning by Keith Seidel has a strong international exhibition record – an acceptance rate of over 86% with one quarter of those acceptances receiving awards.

exhibitors is in need of improvement.   Whilst automated or program settings are often a culprit, that could also be a dangerous generalisation to make.   As a photographic society the exhibition system is not the best venue to address these issues.

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What does this all mean? You will note that this article does not address issues of content, style, composition, impact or aesthetic merit of the photographs to be judged.   One of the beauties of exhibition photography is that nothing is simple and clear cut and we all see the world (and photographs) differently.   Entering exhibitions is a journey of photographic discovery, not just about yourself, but also about how other people and people from other cultures respond to your photographs.   It would be truly boring if everybody’s photographs were the same and judged the same. Ansell Adams once wrote that  “There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.” 

My final observation is that this sentiment can also be drafted into the judging debate: “There are

Keith Seidel AFIAP, FAPS, SSAPS Keith has been involved in APS matters since beginning work on the 1992 APSCON Committee in 1990. Longer term members of the Society may be aware of Keith from his four stints as an APSCON Master of Ceremonies (1992, 1997, 2004 & 2009 Conventions) and six years on Management Committee from 2001-2006 where he served as Junior Vice President and Senior Vice President before stepping back due to health issues at that time. Since 2012 Keith has been the Judging Coordinator for the South Australian Photographic Federation and has now been involved in the identification and training of judges in South Australia for over a decade. Keith is also a life member of the Edwardstown Photography Club. Keith is an active international exhibitor through his membership of the Printworks Group in South Australia, and like all exhibitors appreciates the awards and acceptances that come along, but will occasionally be bemused by negative results that surprise him.

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no rules for a good judging, there are only good judgings.”   For most of us this occurs when the judges give us good points and awards.

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ISSUE 53 | APRIL 2016

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KAROLIS JANULIS Drone inspired WWW.A-P-S.ORG.AU

STEVEN EDSON Hitting the road ILAN WITTENBERG Faces of Jerusalem

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