What Makes a Winning Image

Today's two images show the high ISO images produced by the Samsung EX1. The likeable in-camera vignetting effect aside, the nicely balanced noise adds a great film-like quality to the final images. They are as good as the GRD III's in my opinion, if not better.

The reason to show the two photos -- there is something in them I really wish to show you -- sort of echos a recent post on Mike's TheOnlinePhotographer featuring a disturbing winning photo of a British photo contest. It is disturbing because the photo is a very casual, and actually awful, shot which no one would even think about it otherwise. Long story short, Mike later concludes from his experience that as judges of past photo contests, he would pick the ones as winners in which there was something he really wished to show the viewers.

Talking about that "man on the grass" winning photo, a similar story immediately sprang to mind: this year's Hong Kong Ricoh Photo Contest. Since GX Garnerings had asked readers to vote for the winners as a show of support (well, lots of us are Ricoh camera fans), we hoped to follow up and bring back the news of the result for the voters. But when we went over to the organiser's page, what we found were comments of frustrated participants to protest against the result.

The result poses a challenge to the usual understanding of what makes a winning image. Surely, there are rules for different contests. In this case, maybe the rule just overrode photographic considerations. But for those who agree with the conclusion of "something in an image the judge really wants to show viewers" as the judging criteria, the "man on the grass" shot and the winning trios really shed new light on the matter.

Comments

Comrades, Arise!

(Ricoh GR) In their own unique style, the squatting Mainland Chinese tourists have become an eyesore a common sight in the usually narrow walkways around the more busy areas in Hong Kong since the r eturn of Hong Kong's sovereignty to China (Editor-in-chief's note: Officially banned phrase for political incorrectness) Chinese Communist Party resumed sovereignty over the city. Hordes of the likes are too generous in their estimation of either the width of the sidewalks or the number of people passing by them, so stretching out an array of luggage cases in a disarray fashion for making rearrangement or taking a recess never seems to be too unedifying a bother to them. No location can dampen their determination in doing so, not even if it is right at a shop front, which is a somehow laudable national quality potentially in a positive way. Well, there are always two sides of a coin. Through the artistic eye of a photographer, can't these scenes be reproduc...

Final Verdicts: GF2 in Action

(The rest of the GF2 review posts can be found here ) It is widely believed that the GF2 is a paradoxical downward-upgrade version of the GF1. So, after all the discussions of its bells and whistles, how does it perform in reality? First things first. Which or what kind of cameras should we measure the GF2 against for that matter? We believe that potential buyers of the GF2, maybe except for serial fad chasers and the diehard loyalists, are attracted by its smallness in size with a larger sensor to achieve better image quality, especially at ISO 800 or above. However, given the less satisfactory handling with for example just one dial, the GF2 cannot assume the place of a primary camera. Put together, these assumptions suggest that the GF2 is more suited to be used as a backup camera for social and street shots. Let's grill the GF2 on this basis. In the Hand An obvious merit of the GF2 is size. It feels much less bulky in the hand than the GF1 or the NX100, and just lik...

New Low Prices

The window shopping some hours ago has almost provoked my AgIDS illness. Just in case you’re in Hong Kong or are coming here, and have the money to burn (All in HK$/ body only): GX200 = $3,280 GRD2 = $3,380 LX3 = $3,180 G10 = $3,280 Prices are available form a gear shop on the 1st floor of the Mongkok Computer Centre. Besides these new low prices, I found that Wing Shing Photo (55-57Sai Yeung Choi St., MK Tel: 2396 6886/ 91-95 Fa Yuen St., MK Tel: 2396 6885) is offering a Sony A700 + Carl Zeiss Lens package for HK$9,980 (hopefully, a bargain will make it some hundreds cheaper).

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