Deciding on which photo to submit to a competition

[Redseele]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to enter a black and white photography competition where I can only submit one picture (it is a general competition, so there's no particular theme other than the pictures having to be in B&W).

I don't know if I am allowed to do this here (if not, please feel free to move this), but I was wondering if you could help me decide which one to submit. I am torn between three of them. So I've set up a poll. If possible, I would also love to get your critiques on the pictures. I love these three pictures, but I am sure I cannot help being subjective about it. So in order to get better at composing, I would love some input.

Thank you very much in advance.

Veiled (Leica M3, Summicron 50mm collapsible with Tri-X film):

Dancers In The Night (Fuji X100):

Berlin Alexanderplatz (Fuji X100):

 

[mfogiel]

The last photo, in my opinion, is non descript at best. The first is only strange, the second is by far the best, as it has a story (people dancing in the street at night), the composition is OK, there is a main subject in evidence, and this subject is also photographically interesting, because of blur which enhances the impression of movement.

 

[Redseele]

The last photo, in my opinion, is non descript at best. The first is only strange, the second is by far the best, as it has a story (people dancing in the street at night), the composition is OK, there is a main subject in evidence, and this subject is also photographically interesting, because of blur which enhances the impression of movement.

Thank you so much for your comments. I think you are very right. The problem is that I know the stories behind the pictures, so sometimes I add in my viewing information that is not available to viewers. Once again, thank you for the critique 🙂

 

[Roger Hicks]

2 at best. Neither 1 nor 3 begins to work for me,

Cheers,

R.

 

[erikhaugsby]

The last photo, in my opinion, is non descript at best.

But that's exactly what I like about it! The unidentified man behind the hoodie in bottom-right, the downtrodden and downwards-looking pedestrians in the back, they're all ever so slightly relatable. But at the same time, there is a great deal of empty space in the top of the frame that distracts from the scene below.

For a competition with "no particular theme" I'd be hard-pressed to say that any of these three would place well. They're just not engaging. The first and second look as if they're trying too hard to please the rule of thirds. I would like the second one more if there was a more definite focus (not just literal in terms of focus plane) on either the dancer or audience - as is it feels indecisive.

 

[Redseele]

Thank you for all your comments so far and also for those who are voting in the poll. This is great input. I have always strived to create narratives with my pictures, so whilst hearing that these do not have them was a little shocking, it helps me grow as a photographer. Thank you.

I also wanted to know what you think of this other photo I have. I just left it out in favor of the other three, but do you think it might actually be better than the other ones?

An instant of magic:

 

[Griffin]

If I'm brutally honest, then none of these tickle my interest. The frames are too busy. The first one is more quiet, but has nothing going on.

 

[thegman]

2 is probably my favourite, but 1 is striking, and for a competition entry, that's unlikely to be a bad thing.

 

[johannielscom]

Here's my 2C.

I voted No. 1. Has interesting parallels between hairdo and veil, and the 'nothing going in' makes you wonder, while the other two images are (IMHO) very easy to swallow. And, it's a pretty woman but there's nothing more to be said about her since she is unrecognizable.

If the hairs or dust in the bottom right corner are on her jacket you should keep them (they make the eye wander) but if they are on the negative, clone them out.

How about including the negative edges, since it's a film image, and frame it in a white border? Would possibly add something 'organic' to a very clean image.


Re. Instant of Magic: like the title, has a bit more grain than I'd sign for but that can be adressed in post, too bad the subject is 'diffused' by the people walking in front of her.
Now that they are, I would really like her to be a 'whole' person, i.e. no cut off head. Since that would make her stand out from the other two, who also are cut off.
Really like the gesture and the blurriness and the texture on the leaves but still I'd pass up on this one due to the cluttered people in it...


Good luck on your competition!

 

[Richard G]

I agree with Johann.

 

[Redseele]

Here's my 2C.

Re. Instant of Magic: like the title, has a bit more grain than I'd sign for but that can be adressed in post, too bad the subject is 'diffused' by the people walking in front of her.
Now that they are, I would really like her to be a 'whole' person, i.e. no cut off head. Since that would make her stand out from the other two, who also are cut off.
Really like the gesture and the blurriness and the texture on the leaves but still I'd pass up on this one due to the cluttered people in it...


Good luck on your competition!

Hmmmm, that can be fixed to an extent. I cropped the main person in order to use the rule of thirds to focus on the hand. I can just crop a little less to make sure the girl's head not be cropped out. On the other hand, this will make the photo "busier" because it will include more of the people in the backgrouns. Unfortunately it is difficult to get a shot like this in Central Park in New York, where there's so many people around all the time 😉

I can also do away with some of the noise. I left it there on purpose so that it would give some texture to the image and so that it would distract the eye from the blurriness, but I guess this might be too much.

Thank you for your input. I really appreciate it.

 

[MIkhail]

I really don’t understand how can one ask for help choosing print…
Your pic is an expression of “you”. What you want to say to the world, so to speak. Your “message” will be heard with many variations, sometimes completely opposite to your intentions anyway, that’s inevitable.
Why limit yourself to what I, or he, or she thinks your image should look like? Stand your ground, show what YOU think represent YOUR vision, really..

P.S.
Those who votes are equally surprise me.
You are voting to make the image look more like you would make it. But that's not your vision to begin with...
This is so amateurish...

 

[ottluuk]

Consider that most contest juries get swamped in photos, way beyond their ability to carefully weigh each submission. It is rather likely that on the first round, they will only spare a few seconds on each image, tossing out anything that fails to engage them from first sight (as well as anything that appears to be technically lacking).

Forget what you know about the subjects and locations of your photographs. Forget personal attachments. Look for graphic effect, drama, subjects that naturally evoke a sense of curiosity or wonder. Look for something that could work as a one-liner at a glance but has depth on a closer look. Of the original three, no. 1 comes closest, IMHO, and I don't get the "Instant of magic" one at all, I'm afraid.

Personally, I've given up on contests although I lucked out one time and won something. Actually, I think the experience of preparing submissions was more useful than the prize I got. It forced me to re-think my editing process thoroughly and to try and look at my photos with a fresh set of eyes.

 

[MIkhail]

Actually, I think the experience of preparing submissions was more useful than the prize I got. It forced me to re-think my editing process thoroughly and to try and look at my photos with a fresh set of eyes.

I found Portfolio review PREPARATION process especially useful in this regard.
Not the presentation itself even, but the thought process as you are gathering the pieces and building a story.

 

[DominikDUK]

I agree with Griffin none of the three, cropping the first one down to the head and veil might make a decent image. Cropping the second one closer to the dancer might help as well. I also agree with ott luuk posts.
Good Luck and don't forget cropping can be your friend

 

[johannielscom]

I really don’t understand how can one ask for help choosing print…
Your pic is an expression of “you”. What you want to say to the world, so to speak. Your “message” will be heard with many variations, sometimes completely opposite to your intentions anyway, that’s inevitable.
Why limit yourself to what I, or he, or she thinks your image should look like? Stand your ground, show what YOU think represent YOUR vision, really..

P.S.
Those who votes are equally surprise me.
You are voting to make the image look more like you would make it. But that's not your vision to begin with...
This is so amateurish...

Hi Mikhail,

Personally I benefited greatly from discussions like these in the past. It's not that the OP in his first post is handing us the steering wheel, it's that he is asking for opinions and critique to help him shape his own opinion and preferences.

IMHO, someone who does not discus his photographs cannot ever be certain that he got the most out of them, for the reasons Ottluuk mentioned: personal commitment to event, image, subject, location, etc.

Hopefully most of us in this thread are willing to offer advice, and are equally thrilled when the OP discards it for good reasons as they would be if he agreed for good reasons. It would mean he formed his own set of good reasons🙄

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I agree with Griffin none of the three, cropping the first one down to the head and veil might make a decent image. Cropping the second one closer to the dancer might help as well. I also agree with ott luuk posts.
Good Luck and don't forget cropping can be your friend

I was nominated at international photo contest only once. With real judges. Like printed in the magazine and some $$$ goodies. With b/w, kind of, picture.
So, in my amateurish opinion, cropping will not help, either.
But, if it is contest where pictures voted by FB/twitter no-name-no-brain crowds, anything could go, because it is not photocontest, either.

 

[MIkhail]

it's that he is asking for opinions and critique to help him shape his own opinion and preferences.
:

To me that's strange to say the least.
Not somebody's opinion is what should be shaping your own.

Hopefully most of us in this thread are willing to offer advice, :

For that I have no doubts.
My doubts are: weather advice like "crop this here" has any value at all. On a larger scale, that is. On a scale where your picture is expression of you, not an attempt to impress somebody..


Look, I know it's pretty common practice. So common that fallacy of it is lost under pile of good suggestions like "correct the light here" and "crop there"...
Can you imagine if G. Pinkhassov will post pictures here with “do you think it’s clear enough what I was trying to do” or Alex Webb will be asking “is it OK that I cropped the head of this guy and legs of this one?” They do what they think is right and you are free to accept, or reject…
Seems like a simple concept to me…

 

[Redseele]

Thank you so much for your comments, even the very critical ones. Just to clarify, I am looking for opinions because I want to know what people think of my photographs. For instance, to begin with, now I know that at least one of them doesn't convey the ideas that I originally had. As I said above, the narratives in my head are not necessarily what people read in the pictures.

I do not have a photography artist background, so I never received formal education on it or anything like that. If you care to know, I am a social sciences PhD and I started working with photography seriously in the last 2 years or so. My intention is precisely to use photography to be able to show things that as a writer and researcher I cannot say with words. Therefore, my photography is directly associated with my research work.

In the social sciences and other academic endeavors people work on different topics but we are constantly asking for each other's opinions, bouncing ideas back and forth not because we want to incorporate the input others have into our own work. Rather, it's because we are writing for a public, and we have to constantly be aware that without common understandings our point cannot come across to the people that we are trying to tell something to. Likewise, we are also striving to discover points of view that might benefit what we are trying to say. As a professor (which I have to be as part of my doctoral work) in a media studies and design department, I have to constantly remind my students that art is also inscribed within a language and a culture without which one cannot get one's own artistic vision across.

As I said, thank you for all your input. I am taking it all into consideration to a good extent. I am humbled, as, of course, in theory it is true that I am a photographic "amateur".


And by the way... of course I am in this competition to learn more and to learn from the necessary input. There's no way that I can win anything at my level of experience.

 

[Coopersounds]

And by the way... of course I am in this competition to learn more and to learn from the necessary input. There's no way that I can win anything at my level of experience.

Pick YOUR favorite photo and enter it. Then learn from OTHER PEOPLES photos.😉

It does seem your attitude is right though, best of luck in your photographic journey.