Virtual Meeting, Image Assessment Evening - Tuesday 18th May 2021.
At its Zoom meeting on Tuesday May 18th, Morpeth Camera Club held and Image Assessment Meeting, where
members had each been invited to send in up to five images for discussion, feedback and advice on how they
might possibly be improved. After starting the meeting, the club’s chairman handed over to Peter Downs LRPS,
a club member who is also a photographic competition judge for the Northern Counties Photographic Federation,
to lead the meeting.
Peter proceeded to show and comment on the images that had been submitted by nine of the club’s members,
giving the photographer of each image and other members the opportunity to contribute to the discussions.
Members had submitted a total of forty two images covering a diverse range of subject matter, including close
ups,landscapes, buildings, wildlife, people, flowers and as well as a small number of abstract images.
As each image was shown Peter described what he liked and considered to be the strengths of each photo,
considering factors such as the subject matter, the composition, appearance and balance of the images, as
well as how they had been edited by the photographer.
With those images that he felt offered scope for improvement, Peter explained how this could be done in a
friendly, light-hearted manner. In many cases he illustrated how individual photos may be improved by showing
alternative versions incorporating his suggested changes. The authors of the images and other club members
also took the opportunity to comment.
In most cases the advice offered on how individual images might be improved included simple processes such
as cropping images to help the viewers focus on the main subject of the photograph, and cut out distracting
elements (particularly around the edges of images), adjusting images to ensure that horizons were level and
verticals were truly upright and removing unwanted distractions. Where appropriate Peter also gave advice on
how some localised and more sophisticated changes might be made to improve an image’s appearance e.g. by
darkening distractingly bright areas and adjusting areas where the colour looked unnatural.
While the overall the quality of the images shown during the evening was very high, some were outstanding
and it was Peter’s view that many of them had the potential to do very well in photographic competitions. One
of the most praised photographs was an image entitled ‘Sea and Sand’ by Paul Appleby – a delightful, pastel
coloured, photo of a beach, which was excellently composed with the shape of the ‘furniture’ on the beach
being mirrored by two boats in the sea.
Another much praised image was an image of an original black and white sign that had been duplicated and
converted into red, black and blue abstract image entitled ‘Nightmare’ by Dave Bisset. Abstract images such
as this provoked some debate as to whether they should be regarded as being ‘Photographs’ or ‘Art’. The
consensus of opinion was that they should be regarded as being ‘Photographic Art’. At the end of the meeting
club chairman John Barnes thanked Peter for his contribution to an excellent evening.
Glyn.
members had each been invited to send in up to five images for discussion, feedback and advice on how they
might possibly be improved. After starting the meeting, the club’s chairman handed over to Peter Downs LRPS,
a club member who is also a photographic competition judge for the Northern Counties Photographic Federation,
to lead the meeting.
Peter proceeded to show and comment on the images that had been submitted by nine of the club’s members,
giving the photographer of each image and other members the opportunity to contribute to the discussions.
Members had submitted a total of forty two images covering a diverse range of subject matter, including close
ups,landscapes, buildings, wildlife, people, flowers and as well as a small number of abstract images.
As each image was shown Peter described what he liked and considered to be the strengths of each photo,
considering factors such as the subject matter, the composition, appearance and balance of the images, as
well as how they had been edited by the photographer.
With those images that he felt offered scope for improvement, Peter explained how this could be done in a
friendly, light-hearted manner. In many cases he illustrated how individual photos may be improved by showing
alternative versions incorporating his suggested changes. The authors of the images and other club members
also took the opportunity to comment.
In most cases the advice offered on how individual images might be improved included simple processes such
as cropping images to help the viewers focus on the main subject of the photograph, and cut out distracting
elements (particularly around the edges of images), adjusting images to ensure that horizons were level and
verticals were truly upright and removing unwanted distractions. Where appropriate Peter also gave advice on
how some localised and more sophisticated changes might be made to improve an image’s appearance e.g. by
darkening distractingly bright areas and adjusting areas where the colour looked unnatural.
While the overall the quality of the images shown during the evening was very high, some were outstanding
and it was Peter’s view that many of them had the potential to do very well in photographic competitions. One
of the most praised photographs was an image entitled ‘Sea and Sand’ by Paul Appleby – a delightful, pastel
coloured, photo of a beach, which was excellently composed with the shape of the ‘furniture’ on the beach
being mirrored by two boats in the sea.
Another much praised image was an image of an original black and white sign that had been duplicated and
converted into red, black and blue abstract image entitled ‘Nightmare’ by Dave Bisset. Abstract images such
as this provoked some debate as to whether they should be regarded as being ‘Photographs’ or ‘Art’. The
consensus of opinion was that they should be regarded as being ‘Photographic Art’. At the end of the meeting
club chairman John Barnes thanked Peter for his contribution to an excellent evening.
Glyn.