Don't you just love judges

[Muscat]

It was one of our camera club competitions last night so I thought that i would enter the following image to see what the jusge had to say.

He spent ages saying how he had never seen an image similar to this and that it had all the right detail but wouldn't it have been so much better if the author (how I hate that term) had simply focused on the splash and not bothered with the coffee pot
To be fair to him he did give this a 19 and my other image which wasn't a splash shot a 20 so not too bad an evening

[secondintime]

Re: Don't you just love judges

And had you just shown the splash, he would have said "shame you can't see the coffee pot"

Great shot. We'll done.

[AndyA]

Re: Don't you just love judges

Who judges the ability of the judges?

[colin C]

Re: Don't you just love judges

Who judges the ability of the judges?

Generally, there is a panel in each area, which takes care of training and judges awards. Clubs are encouraged to report on the effectiveness of each judge and positive comments will assist with that judge moving up the ranks of judges within the region, to ultimately judge International Salons etc. Negative comments will often bring in extra specific training, or possibly an arm around the shoulder and a conversation to include " not every one is necessarily cut out for judging".

In my area, clubs have voted to make their comments anonymous from the individual judge. I do not agree with that - if you are going to make a comment, stand up and justify it.

In fairness to the judge, 19 out of 20 was a good result ......... 20 would have been better, but he already gave you one. Whilst some judges are quite prolific with 20's (it does guarantee a positive response from the club), I was a little more frugal and would only look to award a couple. It may be that none were up to a 20 standard and I wouldn't award any, but that would have been rare. Similarly, if more were worthy, I would have awarded more. I believed in using the full range of marks available to me, so that there was a reasonable differentiation between work, rather than just one mark between something mediocre and another which was outstanding. Bunching all marks at the high end was good for a judges popularity, but did not adequately reward the better photographers.

Judges are also human and will inevitably have their own preferences, but even that can be a double edged sword. Put a good wildlife shot in front of me and I will praise it and mark accordingly. Put a poor one in front of me and you would get a worse response than another judge, who didn't have any specific expertise with wildlife.

Also don't forget that judges don't have the entries a week in advance to prepare a considered and coherent critique, with marks exactly aligned to their comments. The picture comes up, they describe it, critique it and mark it all in under 2 minutes, highlighted in front of a bunch of strangers, all hanging on their every remark to point out any error by the judge. And of course every entrants expects a 20 ......... possibly more.

Definition of a poor judge: Awards you a mark lower than you were expecting.

Definition of a good judge: Awards you a mark higher than you expected.

[Stan]

Re: Don't you just love judges

At least he was turned on to something different and although 20 would have been better 19 is not to be sniffed at. I will be trying one of mine in a few weeks but it will be in the macro section so I am hoping it will be considered something different from the usual close ups of bugs etc

Stan

[Muscat]

Re: Don't you just love judges

Thanks for looking and commenting also thanks Colin for explaining how the judges are trained and get feedback, out clubs feedback for his session was positive.

Don't get me wrong the statement was made in jest, he was and is a good judge, it just made us all laugh as many people knew the type of thing I had been working on and I had very nearly swapped the coffee pot shot for one of the latest milk splashes.

I am very happy with my scores he gave a pretty full range of scores going from 13 up to 20 with only 2 twenty's for ~40 prints being given so to get one 20 and a 19 I considered it a very good night

[AndyA]

Re: Don't you just love judges

Colin, thanks for your in-depth reply. Very interesting.

[crunch]

Re: Don't you just love judges

Great shot Mustcat and worthy of the 19.

Good explanation of the judges Colin.

I think we have a slightly different setup up here as we have a handing in night 2 weeks prior to judging and think the judges have time to mark them. Previously the judges have notes written down and have the time to explain why they have marked them so.

I am having 3 of my entries judged tonight, not splash photography, a couple of birds and a castle. Last time I entered I received 14's on each and just hoping for an improvement.

[Muscat]

Re: Don't you just love judges

Thanks for the feedback Chris, talking with the judge before the meeting really got underway he was telling me that his club insist on all prints being submitted 2 weeks before the meeting along with a DPI copy which they project Long with showing the actual print, the judge however doesn't get to see the images until the night of the competition.

i wish you all the best with your images for tonight

[crunch]

Re: Don't you just love judges

Thanks Muscat I will let you know the outcome.

[tesarver]

Re: Don't you just love judges

Still Ian, even though the judge gave you a 19, it's a 20 in my book. Nicely done.

Also thanks for the explanation on judging Colin

Tom

[colin C]

Re: Don't you just love judges

Good luck with the competition Chris.

Many years ago I was involved with a club in another area and they transported all entries to the judge, so that he had a week to form his opinion.

[djguk47]

Re: Don't you just love judges

Well done Ian.
I have been waiting for one of you guys to enter a "splash" image or print to hear the judges reaction.
A 19 AND a 20.... bet you had a huge grin...

David

[colin C]

Re: Don't you just love judges

I only got a 10 for mine!

[crunch]

Re: Don't you just love judges

I only got a 10 for mine!

Top marks

Well tonight I got 2 15's and a 17 I'm quite impressed
Apparently I would have got more marks for the birds if I printed them slightly smaller. The only trouble I have with that is I buy pre-cut mats with standard apertures, think I'm going to have to start cutting my own.