Bribie Island Photography Club

What Judges Look for in a Photograph

Obviously this may vary with different types of photographs eg Landscape, Nature, People, Pictorial, Social Documentary or some specific subject.

Generally judges look for-

Impact: The “Wow!” factor. Often achieved by bright colours, size of the main subject in the frame, something unexpected, strong emotional appeal, humour, “strong” composition etc

Composition: The arrangement of the parts of a photograph, eg “Rule of Thirds”, leading lines, curves, “S” curves, dominant foreground etc

Mood or Feeling: can be cheerful [bright, airy or sunny]; brooding or threatening [dark and gloomy]. Sometimes achieved by varying exposure from the “norm”

Story Telling Effect: Very important in Nature and Social Documentary photography

Technical Quality: Sharpness, Depth of Field, Appropriate Exposure, Presentation of Slide or Print [absence of dust spots hairs] etc

Overall Appeal: Really a Combination of all the above which judges use to evaluate a photograph [sometimes without analysis]

Different Judging Situations influence the way a judge operates. In a normal club judging we usually have the club’s entries to study for up to two weeks. This allows some photographs to “grow” on the judge. Sometimes the story telling element or emotional appeal is subtle and the photograph needs to be viewed several times before it becomes obvious. Occasionally photos that are lacking in impact or technical quality can score Merit or even Honour awards from the judge as a result. Also judges are human beings, influenced by their background, experiences and psychological factors. Consequently different judges can score the same photograph very differently. Panel Judgings involve 3 judges each supplied with a hand control that allows them to each give a score from 1 to 5. The individual judges scores are added in an electronic control box that transfers the total score onto a screen [which should not be visible to the judges]. Total scores can range for 3 to 15. These are usually used for Inter-Club Judgings, Salons, Club Annual Judgings or for National or International Exhibitions.

Because judges on a panel see each photograph once and for a few seconds only at the first viewing where they allocate a score, impact is a vital factor. The panel then views the higher scoring photographs for longer periods of time and discusses them in detail to select the award winners. Different subjects, especially Nature, can call for a judge with specialist expertise and generally, judges need appropriate experience to comment authoritatively on colour or monochrome prints.