Challenge Winners

[sirhc55]

I had the pleasure of being one of the three judges for this challenge - White on White.

The following diatribe is based on my observations and I am sure that both Gary and Matt will add there comments in due course.

Firstly I would like to congratulate all that participated for the high level of both photography and conceptualisation.

Now, how did I go about judging? Basically I start by looking at all of the pics on one page to see if any one photo grabs my attention. In fact one did straight away. This particular pics did make the final four but at this time I will not say which one.

I have a calibrated monitor and my first impressions of virtually all photos was that they all required some attention to levels to obtain the optimum result. I did not mark down any photo because of this simply by knowing that not all people have a calibrated monitor.


And now to the winners:

#1 White Gardenia by Steve Griffin




After a levels adjustment this image came alive and demonstrated a superb white on white theme. The stunning contrast between the white background and the white flower justed popped. The subtle yellow within the centre of the pic emphasised even more this contrast. A well executed pic that justly won for Steve first place.

#2 In a Spin by Shane Gerrish (Big Red)



This image just fascinated me and you will probably guess that this is the pic that first hit my eyes when viewing all image as one. The simplicity, the positioning and, for me, the lack of any further adjustments made this a standout image. I would still like to know what the pic is of and I am sure Shane will let us all know in due course.

#3 Swan Lake by Radar (Andre)



I felt that this was an imaginative image that deserved to be in the top four. For me a small let down was the slight loss of definition in the ballet shoes but not enough to discount this excellent image.

#4 Rough and Smooth by Peter (Stubbsy)




This shot by Peter was chosen by me because of the difficulty in obtaining a contrast difference in such extreme conditions. Viewed on a calibrated monitor shows the quality of this shot. Anyone that has ever tried to photograph snow on ice will know what I mean.

Finally I would like to list all of the entrants in no particular order. We have done away with the descending list so no one now ends up at the bottom of the pyramid.

Marshmallows on a White Plate - Cricketfan - Trevor Newman
Milk and Sugar - Louie - Elena
Quarter to 11:01 - Dawsey - John Dawes
Sounds of Spring - Manta - Simon
White on White 2 - ATJ
Icy Blast - Alpha7 - Craig
Gold Coast Day 4 etc - Pa
6835crp.jpg - Colin
5705b - Onyx - Chi
3643 2000p - Russell Flower
Copy of DSC_3935 - PhilipB
Comp Image 1 2000 - Reschsmooth - Patrick
D2X_4957b - Yi-P
White Tea1 V01 - Mr Darcy - Greg K

Congratulations to all that entered and stay tuned for the next challenge in 2008.

[Onyx]

Congrats to the winners, and thanks to the judges and comp organisers. It was a good concept, and I thought for such a strict literal theme there were plenty of colourful entries.

Well done Steve Griffin for coming up trumps, it's a great image in itself, and also very much adhering to the white on white theme.

[Poon]

Congrats to the winners, your photos brighten our forum.
Cheers
Poon

[Killakoala]

Well done to Steve Griffin and all ye who entered. There were some pretty cool images in that lot and well done to the judges coming up with a worthy winners list.

[the foto fanatic]

Congratulations to Steve and the other place-getters.

Thanks to our judge, Chris, and to Gary and others who organized the comp.

There really were some outstanding entries.

[ATJ]

A worthy winner, indeed.

Thanks to the organisers and judges.

[sirhc55]

Congratulations to Steve and the other place-getters.

Thanks to our judge, Chris, and to Gary and others who organized the comp.

There really were some outstanding entries.

And Matt

[radar]

Congrats to Steve for is beautiful entry in the challenge. I'm very happy with my placing too

Thanks to the judges as well, it wouldn't have been easy as there were lots of great entries.

Cheers,

André

[gstark]

As a judge, I too was impressed by the standard, and the creativity expressed, in the images submitted.

I went through a similar process to Chris, looking to see if there was any image that shouted at me. Steve's Gardenia image did exactly that, and thus it was my initial top choice. I didn't, however, play with the curves or the images at all: I chose to look at them as they were presented, and I looked at things like compliance with the theme, white balance, composition (of course) and, for this theme, gradation of the colours, which I considered to be important.

As Chris mentions, Steve's image contains a multitude of gradations of white, blending to a yellow in the centre of the flower. Beyond just the colour though there's also the texture of the petals, which Steve has managed to not let escape from this image.

And that was a part, I think, of the purpose, of the difficulty, of the "challenge" in this challenge: to be able to capture what Steve has done in this image.

Shane's image is just pure white, and shade. Fascinating stuff, and just beautiful to look at and enjoy.

Andre's image, for me, started with an advantage in terms of his concept: The name, Swan Lake, combined with the presentation of the ballet shoes ... I'm already in the mindset of white, white, white with those objects, and adding the tulle in the background ...

Again, he has presented in the image a level of fine detail that is a pleasure to behold, and apart from following the theme of white on white, he has, at least in my eyes, embellished that with, through the use of grace that we associate with ballet, an air of delicacy or fragility.

Shooting in the snow can be a challenge at the best of times. White on white, by literal definition, might well be purely monochromatic - all white. Stubbsy went and produced a black and white image in full colour.

Peter has been producing images that we all envy for quite some time now; that he is amongst the top images here should come as a surprise to nobody.

Congratulations to all who entered for your participation, and congratulations to the winners.

Prizes:

1st Prize: a three light lighting kit from Poon. Steve, we need to talk. I have your lights in my living room!

2nd Prize: A gift certificate for Red Bubble, courtesy of Craig and Katie (Alpha_7). Shane, we too need to talk.

3rd Prize: A 2 GB CF card, courtesy of Poon. Andre, when are you next in town?

Thank you to all for your entries, and to Poon and Craig and Katie, a very big thank you for your generosity and your support.

[blacknstormy]

Congratulations to all !!!
What fantastic shots - and all fit the theme to perfection
I don't envy the judges the job of judging the comp !!

Is there anywhere that we can see all of the entries Gary ??

Hugs
Rel

[gstark]

Is there anywhere that we can see all of the entries Gary ??

Try here, Rel.

[blacknstormy]

Thankyou

[joet]

Fantastic work by all entrants

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to the judges.

[marcotrov]

Congrats to all the winners and entrants Thank you to Poon, Craig and Katie for your wonderful prize donations.
cheers
marco

[Manta]

Congratulations Steve! Guess all that experimentation paid off. Now where are you gonna put the new lights??!!

Well done also to Shane, Andre, Peter and the judges. Top stuff all round!

Some terrific images in the gallery; just further testament to the talent we have here.

[SteveGriffin]

Yippee..... Yahoo......

Thanks to the judges and the other entrants. If only you knew how many days I laboured over this challenge and how many different ideas I tried. In the end I had another image which I intended to submit but forgot about it until after entries closed - just as well by the looks

[wendellt]

congratulations to the winners and everyone who participated
excellent effort to all involved

[stubbsy]

Congratulations to the winners and a big thank you to all who participated.

[phillipb]

Ditto on everything that's been said so far.
I was especially pleased that the top photos as picked by the judges were also what I considered to be the outstanding ones

[Matt. K]

Well done Steve! Enjoy the lights!

[Matt. K]

My take on the images as a judge...

1. White gardinia….Once again a simple theme, the purity of the gardinia is enhanced by the white background…white itself being a symbol of purity. The construction is pleasing, somewhat constrained, but nicely balanced and easy to look at. The composition does not force the image onto the viewer but rather invites contemplation.
2. In a Spin…..A mysterious subject that involves a suggestion of movement and some very subtle high key tones. This image is easily dismissed at first glance but then seems to call you back to look again and look closer. There’s a suggestion of sea shells rolling on a white surf or balls of white wool rolling on the wind. It’s hard to decipher this image yet it has an appealing sense of charm. The photographer took a risk with this image and I think it payed off.
3. Swanlake…Despite a colour cast (may be a monitor calibration problem or a conversion for web problem) this image has a simple theme and plays the texture of the tutu against that of the points (shoes). The composition is similar to that of the earphone in flower in that it is balanced and central. The 2 objects are related
I did not place Stubbsys image (snowfields) as 4th but agreed with the other 2 judges to place it. I liked the earphone in the flower but the other judges did not agree. Congratulations to all of the photographers who entered for a high standard of work. For those of you who did not enter....it was a magnificent prize and would have looked good in your living room.

[SteveGriffin]

I forgot to make special mention of Poon!

Thankyou for providing the major prizes for this challenge. All of the forum members (and especially me today) appreciate your ongoing support.

[Reschsmooth]

Congratulations to the winner and place getters. I was not surprised to see these three take out podium places.

Well done.

[colin_12]

Congrats to the winners. There was some nice stuff sent in.
Sorry lads, The 6835crp.jpg - Melissa ??? was mine.
I thought that I had written a note on the email. oops.
Our email comes up with my lovely lady's name.
Regards Colin

[sirhc55]

Congrats to the winners. There was some nice stuff sent in.
Sorry lads, The 6835crp.jpg - Melissa ??? was mine.
I thought that I had written a note on the email. oops.
Our email comes up with my lovely lady's name.
Regards Colin

Fixed Colin

[Big Red]

WooHoo

mine was a very simple image done in a very simple manner and i didn't expect much with it so i am very surprised to come second
i had fun doing it and thats what i enjoy about these challenges.

The white gardenia really stuck out for me and was also my pick as #1 and is a very deserving winner so congrats Steve

I suppose i better give ya's an explanation of my entry...

Once i read the challenge rules and realised it was going to be hard to get suble white tones on a non calibrated monitor I looked around the lounge room and saw a white cloth napkin i could use as a background and then just looked for something white to put on it and spied a momento of one of my holidays which had an interesting texture.

i thought i would try and merge the background with the object on one side and use the shadows to define the shape on the other side

i then grabbed the table lamp which has a flouro bulb in it and moved it back and forward with my left hand until i had the shadows where i wanted them and took a few pics with +2 overexposure on the camera in my right hand to get rid of the napkin texture.

next i loaded the image on the computer and picked the image with the nicest shadows and and cropped to suit.

i tried to colour match as the object came up with a browney hue of white compared to the napkin on my non corrected old monitor so i tried gradient map to convert it to black and white to get rid of the brown tinge and spot healed a few bits and saved it ... i really liked it but that usually means no one else would but i thought stuff it ... resized and posted it.

all up about 5 minutes work but it was a simple idea and simple to do and i was lucky enough to have a white cone shaped sea shell at hand

[Slider]

Congratulations Steve. Top shot and excellent interpretation of the theme.

Congratulations also to Shane, Andre, Peter. Top stuff

[Oneputt]

To the winners congratulations. To all who entered well done Good intentions counted for nothing in my case.

[Oscar]

Congratulations Steve. And to all the other entrants...well done indeed.

Some excellent images.

Cheers, Mick

[PiroStitch]

Congrats to all who won and entered the comp! Appreciate the behind-the-scenes work that goes into preparing and judging these challenges as well.