Our third and final PDI league competition of our season proved to be one of the best. We had a very high standard of images and an excellent judge in Judge Tillman Kleinhans ARPS EFIAP/g DPAGB BPE5* Hon LCPU who had the difficult task of choosing the winners. He told us he’d viewed the images 3 times before arriving and had marked them, but that could change after seeing them on the big screen.
Congratulations to Stephen Coyne who took the first three spots in the Colour General section. Tillman told us Stephen’s ‘Desert Scene’ was his favourite the first time he saw it. It has that ‘Wow’ factor! Tillman liked everything about it. The colour pallet, composition, side lighting and the mirroring, shadows. Stephen’s ‘Evening Fishing’ was equally appreciated by Tillman. It scored 19 and he told us it was well balanced with a strong composition. He enjoyed the atmosphere it generated by the warm sunlight and gentle water. Stephen’s ’On the Edge’ scored 18 and Tillman told us it was a bit different. Again, Stephen demonstrated his fine eye for a photograph giving it a strong composition. It has a solid base and the subject is framed and contrasts well to stand out. Tilman couldn’t fault Wallace Baxter’s dramatic biker photograph called ‘Wet Wet Peter Hickman BMW’ and awarded it 19. Tillman enjoyed seeing the biker’s eyes through the water spray, plus the close crop gave it more impact. Wallace also scored 18 for his wonder photo of canoeist ‘Mall Davies’ and Peter Robinson scored 18 for his ’SuperBikes’.
For the second PDI Mono competition running, Paul Hill’s had the winning entry. His atmospheric photograph of ‘Whitby Peir’ was award 20 marks by Tillman. He told us Paul had chosen exactly the right shutter speed to blur the waves making the soft, but with enough texture. The waves gave the photo a good foreground and contrasted nicely with the static pier. Paul also scored 19 for his mono landscape of ‘Snowy Mounts’. Tillman liked the composition, lighting and shape of the peaceful scene. Keith Mullier scored 19 for his portrait of professional model ‘Carla with Flowers’. Tillman told us that it was well posed with good eye contact and he liked the tonal range and vignette. Stephen Coyne’s strong monochrome architecture photo, ‘Night at the Museum’ scored 18, as did Wallace Baxter’s photo of canoeist ‘Edward McDonald.
There were 16 PDIs in the high-quality Nature section and Ian Whiston once again won the section with his wonderful ‘Alpha Male Lion Warning Cub’. Tillman told us it was a natural photo with a subtle colour pallet and layered composition. It told a story of animal behaviour with good action and was well timed. A worthy winner. Ian also scored 19 for his ‘Cheetah Carrying Gazelle Prey’. Tillman liked the natural environment, the shape and texture in the photo and that the cheetah was doing something. Kath Hill nearly piped Ian to the top spot with her wonderful ‘Peregrine Falcon with Meal’. Tillman awarded it 19 and told us the square format gave it a strong composition and the differential focus gave it a selective depth of field. Stephen Coyne’s ‘Kingfisher ejecting food pellet’ was awarded 18, as was Keith |Mulliner’s ‘This is my post’.
All the images that scored 19 and 20 can be seen in the slideshow above. All the results are in our Results page here.