CCC Forum

Taken from the roof of our first month's accommodation before we found our own place, I only found this rooftop garden the day before we left which was a shame as I think the location had potential.

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Urban Jungle by cedarsphoto, on Flickr

Interested to know people's thoughts? Also, I did wonder, what about giving scores from 1-12 as though we were judging? That means if people revise the image and repost they can see what effect it's had. Obviously it's all indicative but the more people providing feedback the more someone can see how they are improving over time.

I did wonder, what about giving scores from 1-12 as though we were judging?

Good idea but I wonder how many people actually look at the forum let alone the critique section.

davidb wrote:Good idea but I wonder how many people actually look at the forum let alone the critique section.

It' s a fair point and although personally I'm not worried about scores, the majority of the membership are I think so it might be another reason to draw people in. Certainly having it as an option for people to say "this feels like an 8" or "it's a 10 now but could be 11+ if you did XYZ" then it'd add more context to the feedback and couch it in terms people are used to?

Personally I just value all the feedback, whether I necessarily agree with it or not, because it makes me think about the shot again from someone else's perspective. A score is a relative indicator, nothing more really.

It's a pity the club doesn't have one or two judges amongst it's members. It would be good to get a judge's point of view before entry into a competition.

Ordinary members though will probably give a truly honest view (after all they are after the same prize!).


Urban Jungle - 10 points. It's a nice juxtaposition of rural and commercial landscape. The foreground looks a little dark but with the sun partially hidden behind a building that seems right. A small tweak might be possible.

Woohoo thank you, I will print myself a certificate

The dark corner you mention was one of the things I was thinking about but thought dodging it introduced too much noise - the other thing I wasn't sure about was a "void" at top right perhaps? Not sure, what do you think? In an ideal world I think I'd have a more interesting building there. If I could, you know, choose the skyline

As for the judging, if it interests you I think that SPA do training/assessment courses and pretty sure they'd welcome an interested party. I think they pay moderate expenses too.

the other thing I wasn't sure about was a "void" at top right perhaps

Top right is not as interesting (architecturally) as the rest of the top of the image. As an aside I would like to see some more of the architecture in Singapore.

As for the judging ...

No, I don't think I can be a judge. Have you seen many of my photographs? Although SPA and other organisations judging training might actually improve my photography!

davidb wrote:Top right is not as interesting (architecturally) as the rest of the top of the image. As an aside I would like to see some more of the architecture in Singapore.

Your wish is my command

No, I don't think I can be a judge. Have you seen many of my photographs? Although SPA and other organisations judging training might actually improve my photography!

I think you do yourself a disservice but even if you disagree, being able to take "good photos" yourself doesn't preclude being able to judge. And you might be right about the training being another way to improve
Cheers for the feedback!

davidc wrote:Taken from the roof of our first month's accommodation before we found our own place, I only found this rooftop garden the day before we left which was a shame as I think the location had potential.

x100s
f5.6
1/240th
iso800


Urban Jungle by cedarsphoto, on Flickr

Interested to know people's thoughts? Also, I did wonder, what about giving scores from 1-12 as though we were judging? That means if people revise the image and repost they can see what effect it's had. Obviously it's all indicative but the more people providing feedback the more someone can see how they are improving over time.

I do quite like this. The symmetry of the buildings contrasts with the foliage and the curve of the path. The light is warm and attractive, with the sun just peeking around the edge of the building on the left. I do wonder whether we are given enough context about the relationship between the greenery and the architecture. Ideally I would have liked to have seen the path less centrally positioned on the vertical axis, but given the density of the planting I can see that there might not have been much choice about where to stand.

Personally, I have never been comfortable with the concept of awarding marks to images. Sometimes there is a benefit when a judge's marks are ambiguous or misleading, for example when they try to be positive about an average shot in order to provide encouragement to an entrant in the Standard class. On occasion they do not get the balance right and give a glowing review, followed by a lowish mark. Words and figures do not match, to borrow a banking term. Other than that, such an assessment is so subjective that I feel it is valueless and will vary judge by judge anyway.

davidb wrote:No, I don't think I can be a judge. Have you seen many of my photographs? Although SPA and other organisations judging training might actually improve my photography!

davidc wrote:I think you do yourself a disservice but even if you disagree, being able to take "good photos" yourself doesn't preclude being able to judge. And you might be right about the training being another way to improve
Cheers for the feedback!

davidb wrote:It's a pity the club doesn't have one or two judges amongst it's members. It would be good to get a judge's point of view before entry into a competition.

Ordinary members though will probably give a truly honest view (after all they are after the same prize!).

A while back I did make a kind of informal enquiry about attending the SPA judging course. Given that my tenet was that some judges occasionally make such bizarre pronouncements that I wanted to find out what happens during their instruction, perhaps the response that I would not be welcome is hardly surprising.

I would expect anyone who volunteers to be a judge to have a photographic backkground going back several years and/or at least one distinction equivalent to ARPS or higher. There are a lot of nuances to assessing images and without the benefit of the experience of producing one's own images, submitting them into competition, seeing the work of others and watching judges in action, an already difficult task is made harder. The biggest challenge which any judge faces is when they are presented with a good image which does not fit in with their personal taste. There are very, very few who can successfully accomplish that.

Given the unavoidable subjectivity any opinion has little worth when it comes to competition, whoever makes the assessment. As I have remarked elsewhere, both winning photos in this year's Projected Image and Print of the Year competitions had not fared well on their initial outings. Shots which had previously done well both in internal and external competitions were dismissed on the first pass, not even being held back for further consideration. One of the benefits of this Image Critique forum is that we know each other in real life and are open to constructive criticism, which avoids the bland and frequently meaningless blandishments that typically occur elsewhere online.