Photography News Issue 42

Photography News | Issue 42 | absolutephoto.com

Profile

Before the judge

JennyHibbert Join us for our monthly chat with a photographic judge. Jenny Hibbert became a judge so that she could pass the things she’d learned and help photographers improve their images

I became a photographic judge around eight years ago now. My motivation for taking up judging was because I wanted to help others to improve their images. After all, we all started as novices and had to learn to get better. I had to go to a seminar where I was checked to see if I was good enough to become a judge and then I started judging for local clubs here in Wales. I have progressed so I am now a PAGB judge, judged a lot of international salons and have assessed applicant panels for the Associateship of the Welsh Photographic Federation (AWPF) distinction. So I do a variety of judging and I don’t have a favourite subject or event, they are all special. I do find that it can be very rewarding but it is also occasionally frustrating too. Most notably, I get frustrated when judging with fellow photographers, especially when they give a cracking image a lowmark. On the other hand, one time when judging the AWPF panels, there was one entry that has remained in my memory, it was simply breath taking in every way and inspirational too. The overall standard of photography in our clubs here in Wales is very high. In fact I’d say that the standard in amateur photography in the UK is high. Of course you have the beginners who are just dipping their toes in the water but as I said earlier everyone has to start somewhere and newcomers need all the encouragement you can give them. When judging, sometimes I try to suggest how a picture could be improved but at times it’s very hard. You might have what is essentially a snapshot in front of you and it is not very challenging or even interesting in the context of a photo contest but you have to give encouragement and suggest how they can improve their work so they have greater success

Biography

Howmany years in photography? Since I was 11 years old but seriously over the past 12 years. Home club Bridgend in Wales. I am external competition secretary. What is your favourite camera? Canon EOS-1D Mark 1V. What is your favourite lens? Canon 300mm f/2.8. What is your favourite photo accessory? My tripod with a gimbal head. Who is your favourite photographer? Danny Green. What is your own favourite photographic subject or technique? Wildlife, especially dippers. What awards/distinctions/ medals have youwon? I have my EFIAP, MPAGB, AWPF. I have been lucky enough to win three gold medals numerous silver and bronze medals as well as ribbons. I won a ribbon in a Royal Photographic Society Exhibition. Also a FIAP Blue pin in the Arctic Exhibition.

One piece of advice I would give: less is more and a strong image is as much about what you leave out as what you include. I mentioned cropping before but it is worth repeating because it is such a simple way of improving a picture. Good cropping will take the viewer’s eye to the subject and hold attention while poor cropping means the eye wandering around the frame before disappearing into space. Uncluttered backgrounds work best, so try different viewpoints. In wildlife a lowone usuallyworks best and that helps blur the background too. It’s the same with action. Last thing is: get to know your camera inside out, practise in the dark changing your settings, because you can guarantee the moment you look down to change a setting is the time something special happens and you end up missing it.

next time round. My advice might be to suggest using the rule of thirds, even if I don’t always agree with it and many images work perfectly well without it. But to a relatively inexperienced photographer it could prove very useful. In club competitions, a lot of pictures don’t make the mark for the same collection of reasons. A lot of people are over zealous with the unsharpmask inPhotoshop andyou see a nasty halo effect and enhanced noise. Cropping is another big one. Just taking off parts of the image can have such a huge benefit and give a much stronger picture wheremy eye would go straight to the focal point. Some photographers would do better with more control when they are editing their pictures. So, for example, better control of highlights and shadows would improve many pictures instantly. Not only that but such major improvements can be made with very little effort. It is just a matter of using the tools provided as standard in editing software and there is plenty of advice and technique tutorials available for free on the web. Then, of course I see a lot of similar images too and that is a challenge. For instance, in natural history I see a great many puffins and some judges think, ‘oh no, not another puffin shot’. But we as judges have to assess the pictures as individual images in their own right and not as just another puffin shot.

A while ago, bright, contrasty colourful HDR images were all the rage and such images didwell which encouraged more but that seems to be wearing off now. Judges do get a raw deal at times. Do I think it is justified? Yes, sometimes. It might be that a judge has only just started out and while they try hard they don’t have much of a clue. If you are on the receiving end of being judged by one, it can be very disappointing and frustrating. As a judge I do understand but judging is not an easy job. One piece of advice is to carefully and critically check your images that you are going to enter into a contest and make sure there are no obvious failings. Be very honest with yourself too and if you spot something the odds are that the judge will do so too, so do something about it at this point. Or better still ask a photographer friend to look the pictures over and give you some honest feedback. The point of this is to see if there is anything that jumps out at them and how the image can be improved. You might find, for instance, that there is a strong highlight and because our eye always goes to the lightest part of the image the picture could be improved by darkening or even removing the offending area. Of course, if you do such remedial work it needs to be done competently because a badly done correction can exacerbate the problem and draw attention to it.

jennyhibbertphotography.co.uk

What do you think?

Have you seen a photographic judge at work who you’d like to see profiled in Photography News ? If so please drop us a line to opinion@photography-news. co.uk with the judge’s name and, if possible, their contact details.