June Competition Results

The local photography club held their competition meeting Monday before last, with the theme being Scenic North Alabama/Southern Tennessee. Since I decided to print some photos to enter, I attended in person which is usually pushes me over the edge in an anxious mess. This time, not so much as I walked away with a 3rd place in color digital, and a 3rd place in color print. With those wins, I am now in 9th place in points, and 4th in wins. Pretty excited to be moving up.

I was still more anxious and stressed than I should have been during the judging of the prints, but I felt it was better than the last few times. More work needed on my end for sure.

The judging was quite consistent this time, and there was no lengthy contemplation when selecting winners. When they judged the printed photos, it was quick. First impressions seemingly meant a lot. While there were some weak photos that placed, overall, I was pleased with the judging.

The 3rd place in color digital was my photo of the trees on Lake Ocoee in Southern Tennessee. The judge liked that there was a lot to marvel at. There were several layers to the photo. The 3rd place in color print was my photo of First United Methodist Church in downtown Huntsville. I had taken a test photo of the church a few weekends before and I liked my composition, so I revisited the Saturday morning before the meeting.

On that morning, I made it downtown at 6:15, got my gear ready and walked to the church. When I arrived, a vehicle was parked in front of the church, and had been there overnight. This meant my composition had to change. Since I used an elevated planter box on the sidewalk as my foreground, I was able to manuever my camera to exclude the vehicle and actually became a better composition. I love the photo I took, the print turned out even better than I thought, but I have one nitpick, one of the leaves on a plant covers the front door of the church.

Anyway, to the technical aspect of the photo, it's a 2 shot focus stack and exposure blend. There was no need for any more than that. Hellicon Focus did an amazing job with the focus stacking, and then I did a mixture of editing in Lightroom, then finishing touches in Photoshop to blend the exposures. The judge loved the composition, the sharpness, and the vivid colors. It's one of my favorites photos I have taken, this year, and maybe ever.

Without further ado, here are my two 3rd place winners.