Atherton & District Amateur Photographic Society

Hi Everyone

Well I've wracked my brains all day today to try and come up with an original topic for the on line competition, and after 72 competitions, I was struggling. So I started to think outside the box a bit. The idea came to me after my camera failed me on my recent trip to Africa - yes, can you believe it, I dragged all my gear, 10 ton lenses and everything across 3 countries for my camera body to not work - I was absolutely gutted to say the least and have had to rely on my compact for some of my game reserve shots, I'm not joking, I was nearly crying with frustration. I haven't looked at my pictures yet (I don't know if I can face them) plus I only got back today but it gave me inspiration for this months topic.

You can submit any image as long as it was taken on a compact camera - when you submit your entry, it would be good if you could name the make and model of your compact camera.

Deadline: Friday 5th August (midnight)

Good look.

Tracey

The Packet House, Worsley:

This was shot on the Olympus XZ-1 compact, ISO200, 1/640sec, f7.1

Catnap - taken with a Nikon Coolpix L1- [f5 1/304sec ISO50] (not that I set these, it was on auto)

Valletta harbour in Malta taken on a Fuji 2.3 m pixel camera in 2003. no metadata available.

Taken on a Canon G9

The Falkirk wheel.. Taken yesterday on an old Samsung S830 8mp

Hi Tracey,
My photo was taken on a Nikon ( of course) Coolpix s3000, 250 @ f8 200 iso.
Bert.

The Jelly Family - Hyde Park, London taken with HTC Touch2 phone 5Meg pixels, sorry don't have a compact

Dawn - Canon Powershot S45 1/800 f3.5

Rock formation Mt Teide Tenerife

Corfe Castle in Dorset - taken with my iPhone and unedited apart from a little cropping. I use my iPhone all the time to take pictures for Facebook / Blogs.

Play Fighting Meerkats taken on my Fuji F50

Taken on an Olympus 1050sw waterproof compact in the maldives, not a clue what the fish is, but it's ugly.

Ladybower reservoir - Nikon Coolpix S200

Hi All

Thank you all for taking part in this months on line competition, it was a good response and I'm glad to see some of our newer members having a go. Although this months subject was open, the fact that it required compact cameras only would have been a challenge, especially after being used to using an SLR, so I applaud each and every one of you entries. How do I judge though....!!! I have tried to look at each image and weigh up the the composition and subject matter against the quality of the image produced using your compacts, it was hard but here goes.........

John - The Packet House (Olympus XZ)
This was a well composed shot which benefited from good lighting on the building, it's fairly sharp however I feel that if streightened would have had more of an impact, it looks like it is sloping to the left.

Carl - Catnap (Nikon Coolpix L1)
Good colours produced in this image, not overly saturated and it's fairly sharp. It's a pity about the mesh behind the lion as this distracts slightly from the lion itself, however there is no evidence of taking the picture through mesh, so you have either done a good job there getting the lens between the mesh or you shot it through glass, but either way, it's good.

Stelee - Valletta Harbour (Fuji)
A really nicely composed shot of the harbour with the town as a backdrop. The blues are quite vivid and seem to dominate as a colour against the rest of the image. I like that there are clouds in the sky to break up the blueness. The picture could be mistaken for a painting, it looks a bit blocky, which is a shame because the composition is so good.

Pauline - Fellbrigg (Canon G9)
This is a good record shot, the composition has allowed for nice symetry in the frame, although the building looks like it has eaten too many pies and bows a little bit at each side. I really like the way the building is lit up against the dark grey sky, the image is fairly sharp.

StuB - Falkirk Wheel (Samsung S830)
This is an insteresting subject and is not something I have seen before, I wasn't sure what it was at first then I realised it was some kind of lift for barges and boats. Although well composed, the image itself is very soft, which has let it down slightly.

Bert - Bath Street, Bolton (Nikon Coolpix S3000)
This is another necely composed shot showing the contrast between a modern building against an old building. The colours are good and look true, the image looks sharp.

IanUK50 - Jelly Family (HTC Touch Phone)
Interesting subject matter, the colours are not bad but the image is very soft which is also suffering from being blown out on the bellies, particularly the pink and blue jellies. I think with a little less sky, the composition may have been improved. Having said that, not a bad effort at all considering it was taken on a phone.

Bazzasmeg - Dawn (Canon Powershot S45)
This is a nicely composed shot with good colours in the sky and I particulary like the mist with the sun reflecting through it, I also like the pool of water at the bottom giving some foreground interest.

SteeWood - Rock Formation (Canon Powershot SX200)
This is another well composed image using the rock tower on the left to hold the image together. I liked the use of people in the shot to give scale. The blue of the sky is very vivid and the other colours, especially the greens seem to by trying hard to compete with it, if the greens could have been boosed a bit it may have balanced the colours better.

KT - Corfe Castle (iPhone)
Good colours here in this nicely composed shot, I like the clouds in the sky which give balance to the image, you have made good use of the trees on the left to act as a frame. The image is faily sharp considering it was taken with a phone.

Sue - Play Fighting Meerkats (Fuji F50)
A well composed shot showing good close up detail especially to the fur. The image looks nice and sharp considering these would have been moving quite quickly.

PhilHowe - Fish (Olympus 1050sw)
Great colours, nicely composed with good lighting, especially on the ocean bed, it's a pity the lighting wasn't more on the fish as this would have made it stand out more and show off those lovely colours, but for an underwater shot with a compact, this was a really good effort.

KevinLowe - Ladybower Res (Nikon Coolpix S200)
Another nicely composed image with the wall and water line leading the eye right into the image. The colours are good, especially the greens in the trees and the blue of the sky reflecting in the water, the image looks a bit soft though.

Phew... That was tough, I hope I have not offended anyone.

What I've found with each of these images is that none of them hold the same quality, especially with sharpness, that an SLR can give. Whilst the judging was tough, there is one image where the subject matter has benefitted from not needing to be sharp and this has helped me decided that this was the winner, and that is.........

1st - Bazzasmeg - Dawn
2nd - Sue - Play Fighting Meerkats
3rd - Pauline - Fellbrigg

Thanks again everyone for all of your entries.

Now over to you Bazzasmeg for the next subject.........

Tracey