May 2008 Votes

[Neil Hulme]

Congratulations to the worthy winners and nearly-winners! A very fair critique Roger. I was pleased to get some positive comments about my rather drab Small Heaths, even though I got a big fat 0! Always next month!
Neil

[Pete Eeles]

This was probably the closest competition we've had - so well done to all of the winners:

=1 Gruditch
=1 Markulous
3 jackharr
4 Pete Eeles
5 Gwenhwyfar
6 FiSHiEE

Cheers,

- Pete

[Denise]

Congratulations to Gary, Mark, Jack and Pete for our top four places, and to Lisa and FiSHiEE, close runners up.
All excellent photo's.
Thanks to the two people that voted for me, (mental note to self, try harder!) and to Roger who put a lot of time and effort into what I think is a pretty fair assessment with some ideas for future comps.

Cheers
Denise

[Gwenhwyfar]

Well done all, it really takes some doing, trying to pick out just three. My three were Roger Gibbons, SteveH and Markulous.
Many thanks for my votes and cheers Roger for the comments.

[Jack Harrison]

Roger suggested that the large depth of field can be a disadvantage when using a small-sensor compact as the background can be too sharp. He suggested that I need a DSLR to LIMIT the depth of field.

I am minded ("minded" is good politician-speak) to agree about DoF but I don't need a DSLR in order to achieve limited depth of field. Instead of using F/8 (my default setting) I could use F/4. Alternatively by crafty use of PhotoShop, I could blur the background. (cheat).

Jack

[Bryan H]

What a splendid competition this month!

Thank you for the feedback, Roger. What a feat of diplomacy! You have been particularly kind to some of us also-rans and ne'er-do-wells!

Well done to the those on the podium - I think this has been the hardest monthly competition to vote on to date.

I would like to add my admiration for Steve H's wood white; a beautiful and delicately lit study of a beautiful and delicate butterfly. Those speckles on the underwing remind me of nutmeg sprinkled on a custard tart!

Also a word for Andrew Mc's marsh fritillary. I do like to see butterflies depicted in a wider scene like this: a wonderful pose and a lovely setting!

(I can be sensible when I want to!)

Bryan

[NickB]

Great set of photos guys! Congrats to all the winners and everyone who contributes

Roger - Thanks for your kind and constructive words!

And with that in mind,your entry:

Exposed the difficult white perfectly. Sharp and well composed - maybe a bit too much bare space for some; background perhaps a little uniform.
Nice shot; just lacking that wow factor.

Nick

[Gruditch]

That was a great comp, at least 8 images were good enough to win, which of course made it hard to pick three to vote for. After a long debate with Lisa, in which we looked at the pros and cons of each entry, we ended up with the same three.
Markulous, just stunningly arty, Roger Gibbons, I'm a big fan of Rogers photography, just check out his web site, and you'll understand why, and SteveH, for all the reasons Bryan H said, but surely that's a Small White .
Well done to jack for a superb third place, and honourable mentions to the others that scored high, in my book anyway, Pete, Eccles, RogerDodge and Lisa. My thanks to those that voted for me, and well done to all that entered apart from Flybywire, cuz he's an awful photographer and a bad loser.

Gruditch

[Jack Harrison]

I very nearly voted for Markulous but one reason deterred me.

It is a convention - and a good one - that the subject should be looking INTO the frame, not out. Just think how TV close-ups have the person talking positioned off centre and looking into the frame. The otherwise superb shot by Markulous was for me spoilt for this one reason. It was unbalanced and the butterfly was (although very reasonably) off centre, it was the wrong side of centre and that simply jarred with me.

Sad to say it Markulous but cropped to make it a vertical image and you would have had my vote and would have won:-(

And Denise

entry with a descent camera

Sounds pretty clever to take it with a camera while it is falling.
Sorry, typos can be very silly at time. One hotel I saw on the net proclaimed that the lounge had an "atmosphere of cosines". Amazing what a missing final S can do.

Jack

[Charles Nicol]

well done to everyone; especially the winners

the lounge had an "atmosphere of cosines"

Jack

i think you are going off on a tangent Jack

[Jack Harrison]

Guy Padfield has suggested that the lounge might have a "sine" on the door.

Jack

[Denise]

And Denise

entry with a descent camera

Sounds pretty clever to take it with a camera while it is falling.
Sorry, typos can be very silly at time. One hotel I saw on the net proclaimed that the lounge had an "atmosphere of cosines". Amazing what a missing final S can do.

Jack

Denise

[Bryan H]

...and SteveH, for all the reasons Bryan H said, but surely that's a Small White Gruditch

Might be.....

Bryan

[Jack Harrison]

Roger suggested I need a bigger one.

Sadly, the small sensor on your camera has made the background sharp and distracting.

to which I replied

Alternatively by crafty use of PhotoShop, I could blur the background. (cheat).

Now on this miserable Saturday, I have been doing some cheating - big cheating! (Good old Paint Shop Pro - the version that came free with cornlakes).
The picture does bear some resemblance to a certain winning shot in style but great photographers do of course think alike.

Jack

[eccles]

Interesting critique, Roger, and thanks for being kind to me.
But no one has cast an opinion on your shot of the green veined white, so I shall:

Technically, there is little to fault with this shot. It obeys all the rules and it is almost difficult to believe that this was shot with a live subject. Great care has obviously been taken, with exposure and sharpness spot on, and the background is well diffused. I think the main thing that might explain the voting position it is that although a diffuse background can really enhance a subject, the background here is a little bland. It still 'pops' though, and I'd print it if it was mine.

LOL@Jack. I'm glad you didn't submit that.

[Rogerdodge]

Thanks for that Eccles.
I agree that the background is a little bland.
I have had a print made of this, and by having it done at 20" x 16", I had to crop some off the bottom.
This has answered the (fair) criticism from Nic B, and has reduced the amount of background.
Perhaps a less dramatic crop for he competiion may have helped.
I was fortunate that I found the subject on an overcast and chilly day at about 08:00.
It was very docile and gave me lots of time to fiddle about with the tripod (new to me!) and the really flat lighting has removed the harsh contrast bright directional light can give.
I must say that your Green Hairstreak was one of the ones I had in mind when I said

Also, the standards in these competitions have become so high lately that even those that don't get many votes would have done really well a few years back.

Cheers
Roger

[FISHiEE]

Like the idea of the critique on the images. You must have put quite a bit of time and effort into this. Must read the rest in detail. In response to mine:

Fishiee - Pear-bordered Fritillary
Sharp as a tack, beautifully exposed, but square in the centre of the frame! An interesting subject, but not the subject for a photo competition. I wouldn't want it on my wall, but I would have loved to have taken it myself!!
I have seen you post so many better pictures in the past that I am at a loss as to why you chose this one for the competition?

Simply this is a fun comp. It was something I'd not seen before so thought it would be good to enter. Perhaps better somewhere else maybe as I didn't realise this wasn't a thread we should really comment on and I was hoping for some feedback on why it had uneven wings. I got a couple of privete messages about that so that's fine. As I say it's just for fun so come here when I have a nice pic and post it. I don't go through my pics and filter through to find what I think will be a winner. Generally I just pic something nice from early in the month and run with that. Perhaps the winter comps I would be more selective when I am looking for an archive pic to meet a theme. This month was an 'oh that's a bit unusual' pic. The next one is one I think is a stunner mostly because it's a new species for me. However there are a lot of stunners in this month!

[Rogerdodge]

FISHiEE
The crits didn't actually take that long as I just did them as they were entered, and then I just went through at the end to check that the pictures hadn't been changed - and loads had!
I think it would be a good feature at the end of each competition, perhaps from a volunteer from the highest 3 or 4 placed in the previous competition?
I quite agree that it is all "a bit of fun", and think that your interesting PBF would have attracted more debate had it been in the Sightings or Species forum or similar. As I said - a photo that I would have loved to have taken, and 6 people seem to agree!!!!
I also agree that your SPBF is a cracker, but we shouldn't really make comments on the entries as it may skew the voting!!!
Cheers
Roger

[FISHiEE]

Hm... where did the critiques go?

[NickB]

Hm... where did the critiques go?

Errrr - try Page 1!
N