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.