A Splash Of Colour 8 7.5 7 22.5 David Evans Creative Gold
J1 Very creative image that looks like an artistic etching. Nice composition, exposure and colour. Good positioning of the figure in the frame. Suggest narrowing the tree trunk on the left side so that its' width is a little more uniform just above the centreline of the image.
White Pelican Nature Silver
J1 Interesting subject, but the image is very noisy, there is little detail in the feathers and the neck and back are "blown out". Next time use camera settings that minimize noise, such as low ISO settings and expose for the highlights to retain detail in the whites. J2 Use faster shutter speed to eliminate over exposure. Image appears very grainy (perhaps lower your ISO setting). Work on better composition, better positioning of the bird within the frame).
Blue Heron And Chicks On Nest 8 7.5 8 23.5 GPP Geoff Dunn Nature Gold
J1 Strong nature story and nice feather detail. Crop 2/3 of the space on the right side and add a little on the left side, if available, to balance the composition. Crop a tiny bit off the top to remove the bright, white spot, which is a distraction. Darken the bright branches in the background which distract from the main subject.
Painted Lady 7.5 7.5 6.5 21.5 Heather Engel Nature Master
J1 Very nice image. Although the orientation may be correct, the butterfly's position looks awkward. Try rotating 90 degrees clockwise and, possibly, flipping horizontally to see if one of these orientations is more pleasing and still looks natural.
Snowy Being Funny. 7 7 7 21 Marcus Kelly Nature Silver
J1 Very good and interesting image of a snowy owl. Be careful when naming nature images for competition. For example, use the correct name of the animal. This is an owl and the maker has not stated that in the title. "Snowy Owl" would be fine, but "snowy" is not the proper name. Also, "funny" is not a term which is an appropriate description for a nature image for competition. Instead, try to best describe what the animal is doing, for example "calling".
Snowie Owl 6 7.5 7.5 21 Gary Love Nature Master
J1 Very nice image, but it appears to have been over-sharpened and has a colour cast, both of which make for an unnatural look. Reducing the sharpening and correcting the colour balance would result in a higher score.
J1 Nice attempt at a frame-filling flight shot. Leave more room on the left side, if available. Crop some off the top to eliminate the dark area at the top, right. Lighten the darkest feathers to show more detail. Unfortunately, only the near wing is sharp and most of the rest of the subject is slightly soft with little feather detail visible. Next time, provide sufficient depth of field to keep the entire subject sharp and leave more room so that the extremities of the subject are not cut off. J2 The whole photo is very soft and the main subject is out of focus due to motion blur. Use faster shutter speed. The background is nice.
White Pelican Group Nature Silver
J1 This image has a good composition and shows interesting pelican behaviour. Unfortunately, it contains substantial digital noise, which diminishes the feather detail visible in the birds. In addition, the highlights are over-exposed. In the future, try to keep noise levels at a minimum by using lower ISO settings and be careful to not over-process. Expose for the highlights to retain detail in the whites. J2 Image offers good nature story, however you need to work on your composition a bit. The grain in this image is not very appealing and the main issue is the over exposed highlights.
50 Point Pier 8 7.5 8.5 24 HM SPP Carey Hope Pictorial Silver
J1 This image has an excellent composition and a peaceful mood, good colour, exposure and detail. Clone out the distracting, tiny black spot near the centre of the image. Increase the saturation and/or vibrance of the sky to accentuate the colour.
Skilful Work 8 8 8.5 24.5 HM GPP Ed Espin Pictorial Gold
J1 Very interesting image. Good exposure and nice colour tone. Great detail in the hand. The hand looks cut off, so suggest showing more of the hand, up to the wrist, if available, as well as more wood shavings in the foreground. This will move the wood block to a more off-centre position in the frame. Lighten the dark shadows to bring in some detail. Assuming that the tool is a plane, some wood shavings inside the plane would give an even better sense of work being actually done.
A Beautiful Moment 6.5 6.5 6.5 19.5 Valerie Goodfellow Pictorial Silver
J2 Consider vertical crop for this beautifully lit image. The soft light in her face is very pleasing, but it is competing with the over exposed background. Crop from left (to just beyond where her shadow on the wall starts) and from right (to just beyond the wooden railing she is holding onto).
Working Hard Pictorial Silver
J1 Interesting image of the woman, but she is out of focus because the camera has focused on the background. Next time, make sure that the focus point is on the main subject before releasing the shutter and ensure that the highlights are not over-exposed. J2 Unfortunately the overexposure and over saturation of this whole photo are hard to look at. Also work with faster shutter speed to not only make the image less bright but also freeze the motion in your image for sharper subject.
Castle Mountain Alberta 7 7.5 7 21.5 Andy Langs Pictorial Gold
J2 Good panoramic capture. Nice soft light on peaks. Good mid-tones exposure. Sky is a bit uneven and becomes overexposed towards left of the image. Watch out for minor distractions poking in from the bottom right (crop). Would have liked to see a bit more of the treeline at the bottom as it offers a layered composition OR crop them out completely.
Married Life 8 7.5 7.5 23 GPP Kathy Leisti Pictorial Gold
J1 Very nice portrait that brings out the character of the individuals. Good lighting and colour. Suggest a very thin, white line to delineate the boundaries of the image. Darken the woman's hands, which are quite bright and distracting. Lighten the feature-less dark areas to bring in at least a hint of detail and to create separation between the subjects and the background, especially on the right side. Brighten the man's eyes a little.
James 7.5 6 8 21.5 Victor Turczynski Pictorial Gold
J2 This is quite interesting portrait, but the fact the cigarette is the brightest object in the entire image makes this quite unappealing. I wish his eyes were a bit brighter as well. The texture is super cool.
