Image above - Graham Mills, Trace of Empire hard knot Roman Fort - Eskdale

Home > Competitions > External Competitions >  Melbourne Cup > Melbourne Cup 2020

PPS UK won by 8 points scoring 401 to PPC Australia's 393.

Judge - Terry Donnelly MPAGB, FRPS, FBPE, EFIAP.

Melbourne Cup 2021 Preston Photographic Societies Images

Harry Mountain with Big Don - 19 Points - Lots of impact and good composition. Some haloing along the lower back in particular and loss of details in some of the shadows stopped this scoring higher.

Samuel Leach with Through Pain I Smiled - 18 Points - An unusual portrait that works really well. Good monochrome conversion which is only let down by the claw shape of the hands.

Trevor Southward with Male Kestrel (Falco Tinnunculus) - 17 Points - Beautiful colours and soft light on the bird. An unusual picture with the foot raised, but the bird isn’t shown to its full beauty by showing its shape and form. The tail is hidden and the bird is in an awkward position.

Dave Duxbury with Lady Olivia In The Dark Woods - 16 Points - Good exposure, pose and expression. The image lost points due to the lack of context between the woman and her environment resulting in lack of narrative.

Mick Porter with Red Kite Feeding On The Wing - 16 Points - Good clear sharp image of the bird which perhaps does not show its form off to its best, with the far wing being partially concealed by the birds body and side on.

Andy Phillips with Glencoe Dawn - 15 Points - Good colour palette and viewpoint. It needed a bit more from the light to bring it alive.

Ian McGill with Ruby Throated Hummingbird - 15 Points - Good diffused background. Bird appears to be over sharpened with evidence of haloing visible.

Lee Inskip-Clarke with The Stealth Walker, Grey Heron - 15 Points - Sharp reflection image of the bird with good eye to detail. Lacks slightly in behaviour or impact to lift it up in the points tally.

Lucy Allen with Tribal Woman - 14 Points - A good intense stare at the camera giving good connection to the photographer. The crop and composition could have been stronger. Her eyes are in the bottom of the frame and that unbalances the composition.

Robert Turley with The Gunslinger - 20 Points Classic monochrome conversion with good lighting providing form shape and depth in the image. The frame to the top is a bit tight and might have been better with more space in this area. Removal of the bits from the dark clothing would have improved the image also.

Tim Gilbert with Dangerous Position - 17 Points - Interesting sports picture with intense stares from the players. The player in the middle dominates the picture, but is slightly soft on focus. The man in the background protrudes from the other player’s back.

Angela Kershaw with Jet ski Acrobat - 16 Points - Good moment with good sharpness. The leg protruding from the man’s back detracts and the image would have been stronger with more spray creating separation from the trees.

Helen Hatch with St. Cwyfan’s - 16 Points - Image suits a square crop and is beautiful in its simplicity. There is evidence of banding in the sky.

Andrew Watkin with Canisp and Suilven - 15 Points - Good composition and mirror reflections. The image lacks contrast and the centre of the image is to busy with the reeds dominating and stopping the viewer seeing into the image further.

Mick Rawcliffe with Looking Towards Taransay - 15 Points - Crop works well on this image and it has good layering, leading the viewer through the image. It appears over sharpened which is counterintuitive against the softness created by the water with the long exposure and has also introduced noise into the image.

Karen Browne with Johanna - 15 Points - Plenty of good detail and sharpness. Colours are good. The woman’s eyes are to low in the frame and her hair is untidy and distracting

Iain Jack with Times Are Changing – Plastic Doesn’t Belong - 14 Points - This image has the ingredients to make a good narrative on the use of plastics, unfortunately it is far to busy to get the message across. The author could have improved this by singling out a single person with a plastic bag and used the poster and clocks to add narrative and depth. As it is, it’s far to random.

Paul Yates with Marvin - 18 Points - Good strong portrait sitting well in the frame with good expression. Quality issues stopped this scoring higher, there is evidence of colour noise in areas of the image and the eyes could have been sharper.

Stephen Riley with James In Black - 17 Points - Good monochrome conversion, good contrast, lighting and mood. Only let down by small things such as the amount of fluff and bits on the sweater.

Anne Edwards with The Flower Girl - 17 Points - A compositionally strong image with the girl being well placed in the frame. There are colour differences in the skin tones from the face to the neck, arms and hands which detract from this image. The shape and position of the hands could have been placed better to improve this image

Lynda McGennity with St Lynda's at 2.30 on a cold winter's day - 16 Points - A good view of the church through the snow and trees. To score higher in competition it needs another element to add a narrative.

Ryszard Kosik with North Pier, Blackpool - 16 Points - Good composition and verticals handled well. The image lacks impact and perhaps a different viewpoint might have improved that and enabled more of the sky to be shown.

Alf Myers with Crossing Over - 15 Points - A good monochrome conversion with the portrait presentation working well to show the route thought the street. The man appears to be soft on focus and there is little interest further up the street. A landscape crop around the man could have improved this image by bringing the focus of attention in on the man.

Anthony Sharples with The Staircase - 15 Points - Good composition and shapes. Would have benefited from taking some of the distractions off the walls and handrails.

Neil Fleming with Mad Hatter - 14 Points - Unusual picture with plenty of colour and good expression on the person. The composition needs to be much stronger in competition photography; a lower viewpoint would have helped improve the impact. The background is busy and perhaps increasing the distance between the person and the background would give better separation.

2020 Preston Photographic Societies Scores

	Image Name	Author Name	Score (out of 15)
1	Big Don​	Harry Mountain​	19
2	Canisp and Suilven​	Andrew Watkin​	15
3	Crossing Over​	Alf Myers​	15
4	Dangerous Position​	Tim Gilbert​	17
5	Glencoe Dawn​	Andy Phillips​	15
6	James In Black​	Stephen Riley​	17
7	Jet ski Acrobat	Angela Kershaw​	16
8	Johanna​	Karen Browne	15
9	Lady Olivia In The Dark Woods​	Dave Duxbury	16
10	Looking Towards Taransay	Mick Rawcliffe​	15
11	Mad Hatter​	Neil Fleming​	14
12	Male Kestrel (Falco Tinnunculus)​	Trevor Southward	17
13	Marvin​	Paul Yates​	18
14	North Pier, Blackpool​	Ryszard Kosik	16
15	Red Kite Feeding On The Wing​	Mick Porter​	16
16	Ruby Throated Hummingbird​	Ian McGill​	15
17	St. Cwyfan’s	Helen Hatch​	16
18	St. Lynda’s At 2:30pm On A Cold Winter’s Day​	Lynda McGennity​	16
19	The Flower Girl​	Anne Edwards​	17
20	The Gunslinger​	Robert Turley​	20
21	The Staircase​	Anthony Sharples​	15
22	The Stealth Walker, Grey Heron	Lee Inskip-Clarke​	15
23	Through Pain I Smiled​	Samuel Leach​	18
24	Times Are Changing – Plastic Doesn’t Belong	Iain Jack​	14
25	Tribal Woman​	Lucy Allen	14
Total			401
PPC Australia			393

Melbourne Cup 2020 Preston Photographic Society Images in a slideshow