Thank you all for participating this month’s contest and congratulations to the following winners.

Results

First Place

Second Place

Third Place

Honorable Mentions

Best of Show

References

Judge James T. Stover’s Bio

I am a retired software engineer. I received my first camera in college. I started shooting slide film and continued with slides over the years. I upgraded cameras and eventually abandoned slides for digital. Most of my early photography simply documented my travels and family events. So many record shots.

I joined the Plano Photography Club over 25 years ago, and I credit joining the club with greatly improving my photography. The activities, classes, and competitions sharpened my skills and my eye, and I am currently in the Masters Class. My photography evolved from snap shots to art. I highly recommend being involved with your photography club; your skills will improve immeasurably.

I have served on the board of PPC in many positions; I was president three times and have been editor of the newsletter, The Flash, since 2010.

Judge’s general comments on the images

In most contests, the images may not have any name or identification on the image. I noted this for many images but did not count off for it.

Some of the images could use a little cropping. Several has either distracting elements at the edge or included too much dead space.

Some of the images were too centered. It is too easy to put the subject in the center, but the Rule-of-Thirds really does improve the image.

Several of the images had foreground elements that were either too small, too centered or just not as dramatic as could be.

Finally, I liked the images. Nighttime is not easy, especially with long exposures, light painting and wide dynamic range, but does make for some very dramatic images. I could have given out a few more HMs, but I had to limit myself to the ones that called out to me.

Grading sheet

All participating photos

link