Amateur Photographer & Cinematographer (1933)

December 27th, 1933 Every week an article will appear under this heading dealing with a topic of interest to the novice in photography. COMPETITION PRINTS. — III. NOTES l NOTIONS Jor the LESS ADVANCED WORKER ALL the prints I am using to illustrate these notes on competition work are taken from one set of entries to the monthly Beginners’ Competition. It follows that the originals of Figs. 1 and 2 were in the same contest. I show them together because there is a fundamental similarity in subject — foreground interest, mountains and sky. In each of the three elements Fig. 1 far transcends Fig. 2 ; it was also miles ahead on technical quality. The group of figures with their cast shadows makes an interesting note in Fig. 1, and although the tourists are looking out of the picture, there is a suggestion that there is further grandeur and beauty beyond what is shown in the picture. The closed huts in Fig. 2, with their inadequate strip of foreground, are a poor substitute for the figures, and the cliffs beyond are tame in comparison with the jagged towering peaks in the Alpine scene. In Fig. 1 there is a real sky, while in Fig. 2 there is but a blank space. It is possible to imagine the subject material of Fig. 2 presenting itself un¬ der such conditions of light and atmos¬ phere that a skilled photographer could make a striking and effective picture of it. As it presented itself here there was only one thing to do with it — give it a miss. There are further lessons to be learnt from Fig. 3. The title, " One of the Brixham Fleet,” sug¬ gests that it was the fishing boat that caught the photo¬ grapher’s eye The eye of the camera saw it, too, and re¬ corded it beautifully, with pleasant distant details, and quiet sea and sky. But the lens was also com¬ pelled to record at Fig. 2. the same time things that the photographer should have seen and avoided — particularly the slab of man at the edge. The post and even the iron rail might have been endured, but that mutilated chunk of humanity is fatal. I will take this opportunity of giving a serious word of warning. In my opinion the competitor who has to rely on the mass-production work of a D. and P. department is often most heavily handicapped. It is not only that he is debarred from a great many competitions altogether, but he is tied down to certain stereotyped forms of work. The print under consideration could not be made alto¬ gether satisfactory, but it could certainly be made less hopeless by masking out that section of man. In hundreds of cases mass-production prints demand something other than the regulation masking. The photographer who does his own work can exercise his taste and discretion, and select a mask that will show what is wanted and no more. The AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER ta 6 CINEMATOGRAPHER o 14 584 Fig. 1.