Photoclub Submissions APAC: November 2011: dltphoto

So I recently signed up for the local Photoclub (APAC) to try my hand at some competitions, see how other people would judge my images. Clearly most professionals think their images are wonderful and perfect, obviously others have different opinions. Judging someone elses images is incredibly awkward. Everyone has there own tastes, some people like landscapes, some like portraits and some like experimental. So I submit my images fully expecting to get scores/ results that I don't expect would be favourable, but some other days who knows what they might score....
Here are the first images I submitted and here are the surprising results, at least surprising to me!
My best score this month was a 9/10 for a images shot right out of an Olympus E-PL2 with the 14-42 lens. I used the fun ART filters ( dramatic tone) they have built in to the camera for easy effect. I was able to shoot this shot with the original Raw file and the edited Jpeg at the same time. Here are the two images below so you can see how effective the filter really was.

"weathered"

Here is the un-edited " as Shot" version which has a terribly uneven exposure due to the dark land and bright clouds... a graduated neutral density filter here would have been ideal....

Score #1 for the $699 mirrorless Pen Camera with no editing or computer ability needed!!

The second image was a sweet little Mushroom shot I found whilst on my last camping trip in the mossy, damp low-light confines of Alouette Lake, BC. The little guy was perched all alone on the side of a fallen tree. I was on all fours in the wet moss with a couple of wireless flashes set off by my Nikon D200 with Nikon AF-S 60mm 2.8 Macro. After experimenting with the flashes and using different flash location I ended up with this result straight out of the camera, again no editing required.

"on the edge"

This image scored a lowly 7/10. Hard work and effort didnt pay off this particular time!!.. A loss for the digital SLR... boooo! However, after talking to others I may have  put it into the wrong category, I assumed it would have been deemed a macro shot but the rules for macro suggest I would have to have filled the frame with the mushroom a lot more, but for this shot had I have cropped it down to the mushroom you wouldn't have seen the mushrooms situation.... you live and learn!

Lastly for the assigned category for that month was "glass". I happened to shoot a little glass scene in a junk store with my little Sigma DP-1s, it was low light and tough lighting I nailed a decent shot with those tough circumstances with only the fixed 28mm f4 and lousy high ISO but the detail of the shot was pretty magnificent due to the wonderful Foveon Sensor. Minimal editing was done and I was really pleased with the final outcome.

"Empties"

I believe it scored a combined aggregate of 19 which means three people scored it 6.3-ish each.... Not very good, but they are not notified what camera was used, etc... and its also competing against other peoples images...But try, try again... don't ever be discouraged about when someone else judges your own art, art is subjective. As long as you are happy with your product and that you fulfilled your creative expression within your chosen media, sleep well!

Overall I am enjoying the process and I look forward to my next batch of images to be uploaded.