2019 Grampian Eye
Grampian Eye was held on 27th April and hosted by Visions Camera Club and held at the International School in Aberdeen. A well run event held in an excelent venue.
Forteen clubs from across the NE of Scotland entered the competition each submitting twelve images. This gave the judge Peter Preston an unenviable task of looking through 168 photographs. Of course photography judges enjoy what they do and Peter is no exception. He said that as well as looking for technical quality in a photograph he wanted to see 'a little bit of you, the photographer'. For natural history photos he wanted them to be pictorial and he took into account how difficult it was to take the shot.
It took all day for Peter to present his findings and comment on each of the images in turn. Seven images received top marks of 20 points. Peter chose 'Eye Spy' by Alan Meek of Visions Photography Club as his top image
Forteen clubs from across the NE of Scotland entered the competition each submitting twelve images. This gave the judge Peter Preston an unenviable task of looking through 168 photographs. Of course photography judges enjoy what they do and Peter is no exception. He said that as well as looking for technical quality in a photograph he wanted to see 'a little bit of you, the photographer'. For natural history photos he wanted them to be pictorial and he took into account how difficult it was to take the shot.
It took all day for Peter to present his findings and comment on each of the images in turn. Seven images received top marks of 20 points. Peter chose 'Eye Spy' by Alan Meek of Visions Photography Club as his top image
'Concentration' by Billy Watson of Fraserburgh Photographic Society was the 'President's Favourite Image' awarded by the president of the host club, Susan Gordon.
The overall winner with a total of 213 points was Bon Accord Camera Club, Visions Photography Club was in runner-up position with 203. Fraserburgh Photographic Society had its best year ever scoring 190 points and was placed in eighth position.
Billy Watson Has the Best Image
On Saturday 30th April the Grampian Eye photographic competition took place in Peterhead, excellently hosted by Craigewan Photography Group. Thirteen camera clubs from around the region took part. Each club submitted 12 images which were judged and marked out of twenty by Margaret Elliot DPAGB EFTLAP. Margaret is a member of Dumfries Camera Club, one of the top clubs in the country. She has been a judge with the Scottish Photographic Federation since 2014 some of her images can be found n her camera clubs web site http://dumfriescameraclub.co.uk/gallery/margaret-elliot/images.
There was a tie for top Grampian camera club with Donside CC and Moray CC each scoring 199 points. Bon Accord CC was in third place with 198 points. Fraserburgh Photographic Society with 181 points shared in joint 9th place with Peterhead CC and Mearns CC. In 2015 FPS was in 10th place
Four images were given the top marks of 20 points. Margaret Elliot picked out 'Heavy Seas' by Bill Watson of Fraserburgh Photographic Society as the best image of the competition.
Here are all twelve of the Fraserburgh Photographic Society entries.
Margaret Elliot gave constructive criticism on each of the images in the competition. Although she did stress that any comments she made were here opinion and could differ from someone else’s point of view.
There were however a few themes in her comments.
1) For many of the images she said that there could have been more detail shown in either the brightest and darkest parts of the pictures. In some cases she recommended cropping out these areas where that would not interfere with the main subject of the image.
2) It was clear that she did not like to see blocks of a single colour. She praised images where there was some 'interest' in the sky however minor, usually wisps of cloud that broke up a monotonous blue. But the same was said for the sea and snow when she thought it appropriate.
3) Here advice for quite a few images was to boost the contrast particularity selectivity on the subject of the image to make it stand out more from the background.
4) For the black and white images in the competition she said that she wanted to see the full tonal range and was critical of B&W images where there was no pure black or no pure white. She said that providing the full tonal range would give the image 'lift'.
5) Margaret did not like bright backgrounds and recommend where possible that the are cropped out or toned down for instance by slightly desaturating.
6) Images, she said, should have a focal point. As an example, she said that in 'Lest We Forget' above there should be one or more of the poppies that stand out from the others.
Here is 'Lest We Forget' with a different crop and the poppies moved about a bit to make a prominent cluster on the left hand 'third'. Is it a better image?
Post your thoughts on the FPS Facebook page and while you are there make sure you 'like' and follow the page as well.
There were however a few themes in her comments.
1) For many of the images she said that there could have been more detail shown in either the brightest and darkest parts of the pictures. In some cases she recommended cropping out these areas where that would not interfere with the main subject of the image.
2) It was clear that she did not like to see blocks of a single colour. She praised images where there was some 'interest' in the sky however minor, usually wisps of cloud that broke up a monotonous blue. But the same was said for the sea and snow when she thought it appropriate.
3) Here advice for quite a few images was to boost the contrast particularity selectivity on the subject of the image to make it stand out more from the background.
4) For the black and white images in the competition she said that she wanted to see the full tonal range and was critical of B&W images where there was no pure black or no pure white. She said that providing the full tonal range would give the image 'lift'.
5) Margaret did not like bright backgrounds and recommend where possible that the are cropped out or toned down for instance by slightly desaturating.
6) Images, she said, should have a focal point. As an example, she said that in 'Lest We Forget' above there should be one or more of the poppies that stand out from the others.
Here is 'Lest We Forget' with a different crop and the poppies moved about a bit to make a prominent cluster on the left hand 'third'. Is it a better image?
Post your thoughts on the FPS Facebook page and while you are there make sure you 'like' and follow the page as well.
Here is 'Heron Leaving the Reeds' alongside the same image with more contrast and sharpening. Is there an improvement?
Grampian Eye 2014
This year the Grampian Eye competition was held at Phoenix Hall, Newton Dee, Aberdeen. The hosts were the Bon Accord Camera Club. Fourteen clubs from throughout the region took part and it is sad to report the Fraserburgh Photographic Society finished next to the bottom. On the plus side FPS was only 34 points behind the winners, Mearns Camera Club.
This years judge was Duncan McEwan a member of Paisley Colour Photographic Club and a leader/organiser/tutor of photographic holidays and workshops for over 20 years.
The Cup for Best Image was presented to Pat Copner of Mearns Camera Club for her image ‘ Between the Bridges ’. The FPS image with the highest mark was 'Sunrise at Rattray Head' by Stuart Fenty.
This years judge was Duncan McEwan a member of Paisley Colour Photographic Club and a leader/organiser/tutor of photographic holidays and workshops for over 20 years.
The Cup for Best Image was presented to Pat Copner of Mearns Camera Club for her image ‘ Between the Bridges ’. The FPS image with the highest mark was 'Sunrise at Rattray Head' by Stuart Fenty.
Grampian Eye Report 2013
On 27th April all the camera clubs and societies met in Stonehaven for the annual Grampian Eye competition. Each club submits 15 images and they are marked out of 20 by an external judge. The club with the highest total score being declared the winner. A trophy is also awarded the best image of the competition. This year it was Richard Speirs who is currently chairman of the Morton Photographic Society in Carlisle. He is an executive member of the Photographic Association of Great Britain and a member of the Awards for Photographic Merit subcommittee.
The day started with a short illustrated presentation from Mr Speirs entitled ‘Carpe Lux’ or ‘Enjoy the Light’
His main advice was to expose for the highlights using a RAW file format and then work on the highlights and shadows to make the image stand out. He said that the eye naturally gravitates to the brightest part of an image and therefore this should hold the images main point of interest. The eye also naturally reads from left to right so it was worthwhile thinking of this in terms of composition and if necessary flipping an image to achieve a left to right ‘flow’ can often be an improvement. Mr Speirs used Topaz filters to increase detail and balance the light in his images.
One technique he used with several of his images he showed was to put a transparent white ‘layer’ on the whole image which took away detail contrast and then remove the ‘layer’ on the focal point of the image to make it stand out.
With so many images the judging process took all day and could quite easily have been tedious. However Mr Speirs commented on each before awarding a mark and was entertaining, informative and educational throughout the day. Many of these comments related to the way in which light had (or had not) been used to good effect. He also commented on what he called ‘Judges Bait’, those bits of the image that distract the viewer from the main subject. It could be a highlight on the wrong place, stray twigs or litter in a landscape, writing in an image, unless it was the central point of the composition could also be a distraction.
Grampian Eye 2014 will be hosted by Bon Accord Camera Club of Aberdeen
The day started with a short illustrated presentation from Mr Speirs entitled ‘Carpe Lux’ or ‘Enjoy the Light’
His main advice was to expose for the highlights using a RAW file format and then work on the highlights and shadows to make the image stand out. He said that the eye naturally gravitates to the brightest part of an image and therefore this should hold the images main point of interest. The eye also naturally reads from left to right so it was worthwhile thinking of this in terms of composition and if necessary flipping an image to achieve a left to right ‘flow’ can often be an improvement. Mr Speirs used Topaz filters to increase detail and balance the light in his images.
One technique he used with several of his images he showed was to put a transparent white ‘layer’ on the whole image which took away detail contrast and then remove the ‘layer’ on the focal point of the image to make it stand out.
With so many images the judging process took all day and could quite easily have been tedious. However Mr Speirs commented on each before awarding a mark and was entertaining, informative and educational throughout the day. Many of these comments related to the way in which light had (or had not) been used to good effect. He also commented on what he called ‘Judges Bait’, those bits of the image that distract the viewer from the main subject. It could be a highlight on the wrong place, stray twigs or litter in a landscape, writing in an image, unless it was the central point of the composition could also be a distraction.
Grampian Eye 2014 will be hosted by Bon Accord Camera Club of Aberdeen
'Wish you were here' by Alister Henderson
Grampian Eye 2013 Stonehaven
Tickets are £8 (this includes food)
Grampian Eye Competition Rules
Background
The Grampian Eye regional interclub competition was introduced in 2008/9 by Forres Camera Club in conjunction with clubs from Forres to Stonehaven to replace the Grampian Cup Competition which had fallen into disuse. The competition is hosted by a different club each year. In 2009 it was hosted by Forres Camera Club and in 2010 by Moray Camera Club.In 2011 it will be hosted by Peterhead Camera Club on 09 April at Score PLC Building, Wellbank, Peterhead. tickets are £5 per head. Conditions of Entry
Background
The Grampian Eye regional interclub competition was introduced in 2008/9 by Forres Camera Club in conjunction with clubs from Forres to Stonehaven to replace the Grampian Cup Competition which had fallen into disuse. The competition is hosted by a different club each year. In 2009 it was hosted by Forres Camera Club and in 2010 by Moray Camera Club.In 2011 it will be hosted by Peterhead Camera Club on 09 April at Score PLC Building, Wellbank, Peterhead. tickets are £5 per head. Conditions of Entry
- The competition is open to all clubs within the Grampian Cup League.
- There are three separate sections, digital, print and slide. The entries may be either traditional or contemporary in style.
- There is a maximum entry of 15 images; these can be submitted in one single format or a combination of digital, print or slide to a maximum of 15 images. The same image may not appear in more than one section; the club submission must comprise 15 individual images. There is no restriction on theme or subject matter.
- The trophy will be awarded to the club with the highest aggregate score, in addition an award will be made for the best image.
- The following restrictions apply for submission of images based on club membership:
Clubs with a membership in excess of 20 members – no member may submit more than 2 images;
Clubs with a membership of more than 10 but less than 20 members – no member may submit more than 3 images;
Clubs with a membership of less than 10 members may submit up to 4 images per member. - Images used in previous Grampian Cup Competition or Grampian Eye are not permitted.
- Electronic images must be submitted on CD ROM, the CD submitted must be of CD-R type. Images submitted by E Mail will not be accepted. The electronic images will be submitted in JPEG or format; sRGB, maximum image size 1400 pixels horizontal; or 1050 pixels vertical. (This format is the native resolution of the projector so these dimensions will ensure optimum viewing quality. The image file name: - The images should be numbered as per the entry form; number and section followed by _ and the title (maximum 15 Character title with no spaces) – for example (D1_titleofimage.jpeg) (D2_title of image.jpeg)……. The authors name must be recorded on the entry form. Print the club name on the CD case
- Prints must not exceed 50cm x 40 cm (approximately 19 x 15 inches) including mount. The use of mounts behind glass is not permitted in the print section. The print will be identified by a numbered spot on the reverse side of the mount at the bottom left side. Prints submitted from an electronic version must be accompanied by a CD containing the images; the image file name: - The images should be numbered as per the entry form; number and section followed by _ and the title (maximum 15 Character title with no spaces) – for example (P1_titleofimage.jpeg) (P2_title of image.jpeg) and author name. Prints submitted from negative will be photographed to convert to a digital image for viewing during the judges adjudication
- Slides must be 5cm x 5cm mounted. The slide will be identified by a title on the bottom of the slide and a numbered spot on the bottom left of the viewing side of the image. The author name will be recorded on the entry form