September 2019 Digital Photography Competition Results

The September 2019 Digital Competition’s theme was “Seeing Double“.

Judging

This competition introduced a new judging method pioneered by Mark Laussade.  Judging was done by a four-member panel and was moderated by Mark.  For each photo, Mark chose three of the judges, and each one of them would rate the photo from 1 to 10 via a keypad.  Thus, the total score for each photo could range from 3 to 30.  After rating a photo, one of the three judges would give a critique of the photo.

Mark moderated the judging by choosing which three judges rated each photo and which judge gave the critique.  Since some of the judges had submitted photos to the competition, Mark chose the judges so that no one judged their own photos.

When all photos were rated, the winners were chosen using their ratings.  In the case of a tie (there were three), the judges would vote again on the tied images.  In one case (class 2), the tie could not be resolved, so an additional award was issued.

Popular Voting

Clay Leben introduced another new concept which allowed the audience to vote for their favorite photos.  Anyone who wished to vote could download the Android or Apple app “Sli.do“.  The app asked for a code which Clay supplied; the code for this meeting was “A364”.  For each class, people could vote for their two favorite photos using their smart phones or tablets.  When the judging for each class was done, Clay announced the results, which were also available on the app to everyone who voted.

The results of class 3 voting are shown in the screen shot below.

Keep in mind that the popular voting is for fun only; it is not used in the competition results.  The judges spend a lot of time before the meeting studying the photos for composition, focus, framing, white balance (on calibrated monitors), etc., and many of the details cannot be seen on the TV screen at the meeting.  For example, even though “Fight” won the popular vote, it was slightly out-of-focus, which is why the judges did not rate it higher.

Download the “Sli.do” app and come prepared ready to vote next month!

Winners

Class 1 – Novice

There were 12 Class 1 submissions with 3 awards.

Class 1, 1st Place – “Maroon Bells” by Daniele Gambassi

Class 1, 2nd Place – “Railway Bridge from Kayak” by Daniele Gambassi

Class 1, 3rd Place – “Great Heron Reflection” by Donna Smith

Class 2 – Advanced

There were 19 Class 2 submissions with 5 awards.  There would normally have been only 4 awards, but there was a tie for honorable mention which could not be resolved.  Thus, there’s a extra award for class 2 this month.

Class 2, 1st Place – “Double Trouble” by Deborah Cole

Class 2, 2nd Place – “Morning Walk” by Deborah Cole

Class 2 – 3rd Place- “Double Tulip” by Ruth Masciarelli

Class 2 – Honorable Mention – “Mr. Wood Duck” by Roberto White

Class 2 – Honorable Mention – “Right Side Up Upside Down” by Stephen Brkich

Class 3 – Expert

There were 12 Class 3 submissions with 3 awards.

Class 3, 1st Place – “Goose Island” by Mary Day Long

Class 3, 2nd Place – “The Vision Thing” by Mary Day Long

Class 3, 3rd Place – “Canoes” by Mark Laussade