Royal Photographic Society Forums

artona · Moderator

Hi

I would say there is a lot of expertise in what Roy says Philip and yes, let me emphasise the bit about not taking any comment personally.

I thought there was a bit of work to do with the composition and cropping. Bear in mind that my background is in newspapers where as a photographer we would try to take a photograph so tightly cropped that a sub editor (like my wife Laughing

) could not touch it. I am working on this built in desire lol

parigby

Hi Roy,

I think the whole concept of the panel is what causes a great deal of confusion to a number of applicants going for the LRPS. At least that is my experience from the " workshop day". Not one potential applicant really understood what was required of them - and that to me is a failure of communication by the RPS.

Now l suppose the " workshop " did have a major benefit to me, in that l suddenly became aware that the panel, was more important than the ten individual images. The following is an extract of an e-mail to a friend, which l think sort of sets out nicely what l mean :

" Bloke puts up a panel all in B&W, all taken of country type folk at a sheep dog trial thing. Both the assessors looking at the panel spend a few minutes hmmming and ahhhing, and then point to two images and tell everyone that these are the best two images they have seen that day. They then go on to say that they ruin the panel ; they remove them from the panel, choose two other images from the five reserves the guy had brought along, and then declare that these, in their own words " inferior images " work better with the panel, and now they have been inserted into the panel the panel works. The blokes face was a picture in itself. They then ask if he would like a one to one session outside. He just picks up his images, tells them not to bother and stalks out of the room. "

Now if you consider that in conjunction with a telephone call l had with the RPS, you may begin to see the confusion. I ring the RPS to get some advice on this panel thing :

(Q) does the panel have to be theamed

(A) No

(Q) Can the subject matter of each image be different

(A) Most certainly

(Q) Can the locations be different, or do they have to be the same

(A) Whatever

What l think l am sort of struggling with is all the above, and yet l am told that the panel must have continuity etc, etc.

I've sort of decided that the "Beach Hut " shot is likely to be dropped and that the following image will replace it . Anyway thanks for the import which is appreciated.

artona · Moderator

Hi Philip

Its hard to get over the concept of a panel. Maybe if you think about cars it might become clearer. A Ford Focus is completely different to a Ford Mondeo but even if you did not know what they are you would probably guess they were built by Ford.

Its the same with the panel, it needs to say they were taken by the same photographer with a certain style running through them

stew

parigby

Stew,

Thanks for the input.

One, two, three and seven, l had tweaked this afternoon, almost exactly along the lines that you suggest. I must be learning.

Four, five and six l will look at again.

What do you think about replacing image one with the proposed new image. I had all the images laid out on the floor this afternoon and the panel seemed to work better with the new image, than with the beach hut.

My only concern is if the panel is now starting to look a bit too Venice orientated.

I don't want to appear to be having too much of a pop at the RPS, but unless we are all extremely thick down here in Oxfordshire, a whole batch of Applicants are as confused as l am, and feel that the message coming from the RPS could be clearer.

Having read your suggestion as to understanding a panel, maybe you should e-mail the RPS with your " Ford " idea. It's certainly clearer than what they have said to me.

philip

artona · Moderator

Hi

I looked at the beach huts for a some time and I did not like the lines on the ground, they drew your attention away from the huts. Problem is with the beach huts have been done many many times. I wonder whether its a problem with a theme of Venice?

I am not too sure about the balloon on the ground pic, I can't work out what it says to me, if anything. As to the new shot is it leaning to the left and can you do anything about lessoning the posts in the foreground, they seem to stop you entering the photograph.

As to the RPS I guess they might appear to being unhelpful but then they want you to put a panel down in front of them that they will say wow, this guy is a photographer, probably like Steve Carter's website did to us all.

I would forget looking for guidance from them and just hit them with a panel that will knock their socks off. Its not unknown for these organisations to offer an associateship if the photographs are good enough even if you are going for a Licentiateship.

stew

parigby

Thanks for that Stew.

What l find interesting about taking photographs in Venice is nothing is straight. Everything leans every which way, and once you get onto the Grand Canal, the mooring posts become an integral part of almost every image.

l have an image on my computer of a Venetian scene that l straightened, l'll post it here if l can find it. It looks sooo weird, almost unnatural, and then it hits you, the problem is that it's straight, and nothing in Venice is.

Thanks for all the help.

philip

takeaflight

Hi Philip

IMHO you are trying to hard !

bravocharlie

Hi Philip,
Just caught up with the latest posts on this so here is my tuppenceworth on your panel. I stress that it is only my opinion but I have sat through several workshops on this plus an actual assessment day so hopefully my comments will be of some help.
Firstly it is possible for the panel not to have a theme, be of different subjects shot in different locations but still present a cohesive approach. I don't think you should get too hung up about this though. When I applied for my associateship I left out some of my best images simply because they didn't fit! How you view this aspect of the RPS's stance will be up to you but I know that many people have a problem with it.
Turning to your 10 images I think the advice provided by Stew is sound. However, I wouldn't rush to replace the beach huts with the other Venice shot which I think is a bit cluttered at the bottom of the frame. Stew is right that beach huts have been a popular subject but this image is stronger than your Venice alternative in my view. If you decide to use a cropped version I would suggest removing all traces of the white hut on the left and make sure that your cloning is flawless.
The balloon on the ground is, I think the weakest image and I would consider a substitute if possible.
If you intend cropping several images you should give some thought to their placement within the panel as lots of different shaped prints may not go down well. Also make sure you have enough pixels left after cropping for the size of prints you are making.
In my view the two bird photos are not as good as the fox on your homepage which is superb and the otter in the reeds on your animals page which is also very good.
I hope the above comments won't give you more sleepless nights. I don't think your panel is very far away from doing the business. The fact that its not easy is what makes it worthwhile going for.
Good luck.
Brian

parigby

Brian,

Thanks for the input. The Robin shot slightly worries me, in that l feel l may get down marked for lack of focus on the feet. Trouble was the little blighter was only a foot or so away in poor light, so l had to shoot him wide open, hence the lack of depth of field. I'll have a re-think re your suggestion about the fox and otter.

philip