Whole Lot of Editing Going On

Remember that amateur photography contest I told you about? The juried one where you pay money just to enter your photos to see if they are good enough to be judged? And do you remember me deciding I was way out of my league?

Well I was right.

None of my photos made the cut.

Bummer.

But the good news is that I was able to get one of the judges to critique my pictures! He said he thought the black butterfly pic probably should have made the cut but different judges on different days will have different opinions.

In other words.....

Subjective.

(I always dreaded college classes in which there were no objective measures as to what grade a professor would give on an essay. Some of them would be purely subjective. I always had issues with that.)

He liked the pic of the tiger swallowtail but thought it had not been edited to it's full potential. So he edited it to show me what he thought would look better.

It really does pop!

And then he also told me that there is a Photo Society in the town that I entered the contest. And then he mentioned that there were some very competitive "amateurs".

I actually took a peek in the envelopes of some entries that had made the cut. The pictures were truly incredible. Mine really did pale in comparison.

But I was so excited to get feedback and enter my first contest. I've learned a little. Like I need to get a macro lens and Adobe Photoshop (like that is going to happen anytime soon, unless I win a PW contest or something). And also that most of the people who entered spent hours outside being still, waiting for the perfect moment to take a picture of an insect (like I would be able to find a still quiet spot for even 3 minutes). And I was very excited to look at the pictures of the judge who was so helpful.

His name is Mark Alberhasky and you can see his photos here. He also has a blog with some of the most incredible pictures I have ever seen. Ever. You should go look at the first entry. He took that picture at the Georgia Aquarium. The same Georgia Aquarium I just went to. What an incredible picture!

Anyways, I think I will continue to work on my photography skills and maybe by the time my kids graduate, I might consider entering another contest.

Just keepin it real.