Winners Weekly Challenge #153 – The Decisive Moment

This was a tough one! I guess it always is, but I found this one very difficult.
There were 18 entries, all fitting the subject nicely in one way or the other.
Therefore, I had to judge the photos on technical and esthetical aspects, like
sharpness and composition. And of course, like always with the judging of photos
and other creative expressions, there was a lot of subjective ‘feeling’ involved….

John (xjjohnno) – Nice street shot with those two men, just in time indeed!
Could have been a tad sharper, but this could be due to the rain too. And…for
street shots there are no rules eh? So unsharpness is not a problem a priori…. I like this shot!

Ash – Great photo, quite hard to make, I guess. It looks easy, but
then…the speed must have been quite high…. Sharp, nicely composed, and with a
great expression on the face of the misses…! And with a very accurate timing…

Lisa (Casil403) – Wonderful photo imo, with a great timing! Not sharp at
all, but with lots of dynamics and movement! Nice colours too. I kept looking and
coming back to this one….

Tamia – Difficult photo to make, well done! Must have been movement all
over, and what you mentioned: highlights and deep shadows all over. Would
have loved to see a bit more face (in fact, it’s zero now ), but probably this
would have destroyed the drama…?

Michael (Clou) – Moody photo of the woman above the candles. I love this
kind of photos, shot a similar one myself in Echternach some weeks ago.
Somehow I would have preferred a bit more action in this one…. Btw: did you
darken it, or were there such deep shadows? Difficult lighting!

Paul (Oldschool) – Yikes . What a bloody mess! Well done great timing!
Only the composition could have been better, the players are a bit cluttered at
the left side of the photo.

Tom (ramseybuckeye) – Good photo, but a bit unsharp, and that distracts
me too much. But I agree: the man and the woman together make this photo.
Oh, probably it would have been better for my taste if you were a bit closer.

Tim (atupdate) – Great action photo, sharp, well composed, and with a
very good timing. Love the expression of the guy, and the levitating calf. Well
done! If there could have been any comment: I personally would have wanted
some more movement in the photo, so a slightly slower shutter speed would
have been nice to try. Just a thought….

Pete (Paleo Pete) – Nice shot, sharp. A bit cluttered, but hey, that’s how
they do it eh? Well done, but there is not much ‘tension’ in the photo, it’s not very
exiting (sorry, here my English falls short…)

Vaughn (VaughnA) – Wonderful shot, uncle Harold…. Good composition,
sharp enough, and captured at the very right moment! Nothing to add, just great!

Bruce (Bramela) – Great, with plenty of detail! Want to make a birdshot like
this myself once. And white feathers are hard to get right, and the exposure here
is spot-on! Good photo!

Willem (Wllm) – Yeah. Seen this before, and I love it. You knew! This is an
example of a photo with not too much movement (at least I guess this lady
wasn’t one of the quickest anymore), but where a good eye and quick decision is
needed to get the photo right. Truly HCB, if I may say….

Mark (bbluesman) – Good shot Mark! And at the right moment, you can
hear him start singing… Another good example of what street photography is
about, imo!

Rob (rob1234) – Frozen action, well done! Indeed right in time, very good.
The lighting is a bit weird though, harsh. Did you use flash? Otherwise I would
advise to boost the lights a little just to let the subject stand out a bit better.

Iris – Very nice. A known photo too, like the one Willem entered. I think it is
a great shot, well timed, with lots of emotion. And B&W fits the theme very well!

John (jheu02) – Wonderful summer shot. Well timed, good composition,
and really sharp. The splash makes their faces invisible, and that’s a shame. I
guess it’s a question of luck, or a question of taking tens of photos….

Robin (rparmar) – Very nice! The type of shot I love, and in which timing is
really important. Sharp, nice composition, and that is what it’s all about here. Well
done, couldn’t have done better….

Dave (daacon) – Hilarious! And really cold-blooded, you must have been
playing with the camera already . Well done, good sharp, and just at the right
moment. Could have been set-up…

Okay, here the winners.
Honourable mentions, two this time, just because I couldn’t decide… (I could have chosen
six, but had to restrain myself…)

Dave


Vaughn


Third: Robin


Second: Lisa


First: Willem


Congrats to Willem, and the other winners and HM's. And to all of you, you
did very, very well imo!!!

[Iris]

Congratulations all!
I absolutely love your shot Willem, saw it before, but it's still amazing.
Great judging Rense and thanks for this contest.

[bbluesman]

Good deal all nice shots-congrats.

[daacon]

Thanks for the HM as much as that looked like a set up it was real and yes I just happened to taking a picture of somethng esle at the time so I was camera ready (and I forgot to mention while the beer was saved the chair did not fair so well ...)

Nice job of judging Resne congrats to the winners.

[wllm]

Wow, thanks Rense!
Lisa, Robin, Vaughn and Dave congratulations.
And now thinking for a new challenge, it's gonna be harder and harder to choose something.

[ramseybuckeye]

Some good stuff here, congratulations to all of the winners, and Rense, thanks for hosting and you did as great job judging (I agree with them all!).

[Clou]

Kudos to the winners and everybody who participated. This was a great deal of different approaches to the subject. A good showcase of what 'Decisive Moment' can be.

Rense, thanks for judging. This was indeed a difficult one, but I perfectly agree with the result.
To answer your question: It was very dark, I had to lighten up the initially pitch black backgound to reveal some of the structure which explains the increased noise. The photo was taken with b/w in mind.

Willem, I liked your photo right from the beginning. It also represents what I see in a decisive moment: It is not necessarily the action but the moment itself. A posture, a facial expression, a constellation of people around can change so quickly but without any haste.

Robin - your take on the subject is a pleasure to see. You managed to capture the moment, when both create a mirror-like expression.

[bbluesman]

Wow, thanks Rense!
Lisa, Robin, Vaughn and Dave congratulations.
And now thinking for a new challenge, it's gonna be harder and harder to choose something.

Man up Willem! I'm sure you'll have a good choice.

[Tamia]

Congratulations Willem, Lisa, Robin, Vaughn and Dave. Great job judging, Rense, and thanks for the comments on everyone's entries. As for "Would have loved to see a bit more face (in fact, it’s zero now ), but probably this would have destroyed the drama…?" I'll go back and ask the guy to go over the waterfall again to see if I can catch him before his boat sinks.

[Ash]

Well done to all amd congrats to the chosen winners. Rense, you put it a lot of effort into judging these entried. Thanks for the hard work.

[jheu02]

Thanks for the comments and overall judging Rense and congrats to all the winners. I'll ask the waves not to splash so big next time.

[VaughnA]

Thanks for the judging on the difficult subject Rense. And great job everyone. Willem, that shot is a wonderful capture to put it lightly.

[bbluesman]

Kudos to the winners and everybody who participated. This was a great deal of different approaches to the subject. A good showcase of what 'Decisive Moment' can be.



Willem, I liked your photo right from the beginning. It also represents what I see in a decisive moment: It is not necessarily the action but the moment itself. A posture, a facial expression, a constellation of people around can change so quickly but without any haste.

Michael-excellent words here. Couldn't agree with you more.

[casil403]

Nicely done to everybody and congrats to willm, Robin, Vaughn and Dave.
And many thanks Rense for the kind words..

[Oldschool]

Congrats to all the entrants and especially to Wllm (great capture). Thanks to Rense for a great job judging.