Panel Competitions

[Quicksnapper]

Not wanting to de-rail the other thread on marking club competitions (which improving to be interesting reading for those of us who are into that sort of stuff ...), my club are proposing a new event for our calendar, to replace something we've done for years nd which has run its course.

We are looking to start a panel competition, which would be for a panel of 4 images judged as a whole. So, four images which share a common theme, complement each other visually or have some other connection such that, when viewed as a panel of four, they present a harmonious "picture" to the eye.

We've never done this before and proposals are still under discussion, but has anyone ever entered such a competition, judged one or had any experience they could share with someone who is very much a newbie in this field?

Many thanks for any insights you can offer.

 

[Maggie52]

Yes, the club I used to be a member of ran a yearly "theme" competition. As you describe the idea was to submit four images with a shared theme. I recall seeing panels of four images of flowers all processed in a similar way complementing each other. Another was four images showed various beach scenes. We were tol the images should relate to each other or perhaps tell a story.
I entered four images using Lego characters and the games Cluedo. Sadly the judge looked at them and said "well this doesn't really tell a story" Perhaps he'd never played Cluedo
Anyhow I hope this helps

.

 

[blakester]

The club I am a member of run an annual 'panel of six' competition, same idea as your club just six images instead of four.
The competition is judged by the members at club level with the the panel with the most votes going through to represent the club at a regional competition.
The committee then choose a further panel to also go forward to represent the club. The panels start life as projected digital images (PDI's) with each image shown individually then with a final 'panel' image.

I think there is a knack to putting a panel together, I certainly found it more difficult to firstly choose images which could/would work well together and secondly playing around with different layouts in a digital format. Much easier if they were prints.
I found printing the images at say 6x4 allowed me to swap them around manually on the table as opposed to on a computer screen.

I found success (at club level) with the panel below a few years ago.



Now there is an obvious theme running through my panel but when it went to the regional competition, I saw a whole variety of panels.
The winning panel that year was of a football manager who was very animated on the touchline. Not to everyones taste but I thought it a worthy winner.
There were landscape panels, abstract panels, people panels etc. There was possibly a panel for any genre of photography you care to mention.

I think the secret to it is to have many more images than the four you require, then you can chop and change the images to try and find a balanced arrangement.
Simple things, like symmetry or contrasting colours can be effective. Composition too is important for example if you were to say choose a wildlife panel. Have the creatures facing inwards or outwards on either side of the panel so as they balance.
Have fun with it, let your imagination run wild, its quite satisfying when it comes together and you know it looks 'right'.

HTH

 

[HopefulM]

Yes! We just had a panel of 3 competition at Southampton CC, sadly I missed the judging night and my submission didn't get anywhere, but you can see the result here and I believe it went down very well at club as it was a bit of fun and everyone was judged on a level playing field http://www.southamptoncameraclub.co.uk/News/panels-evening-digital/

It's such a good idea to do things like this, especially if any club members are considering doing any of the RPS accreditations because it makes you realise that you don't have to have 'stand out' images - just ones that work together with a common thread running through them - be that style, colour, subject etc.

My submission :

 

[DG Phototraining]

I've come across '3 on a theme' in the past but not for some time

To keep costs down such triptychs were actually 3 images on the one print/dpi so basically joined together like HopefulM's dogs above, or layered one on top of another; so you still only need one print on the standard 20x16 mount

Judging would be fun as you effectively have 3 images to consider, then a 4th in them as a whole

Dave

 

[Brian G]

Our club runs a panel of six themed prints competition every year.

It's judged by an independent judge who has the prints to view a couple of weeks before the judging night.

 

[meaks]

Our club runs a panel of 4 competition with the 4 images having to be mounted on a 400x500 mount board. The original intention was that any member could enter as they could easily mount any four 6x4 prints. These days it has evolved a bit with the emphasis being now to thing about the arrangement and how the images work together as a Panel. This is so as to get members thinking about there presentation if they want to go and gain distinctions where a Panel of images is required. E,g Our regional AWPF distinction requires a Panel of 12 images, where the images have to have a display plan for the images as well as the 12 images.

Here are some samples of my Panels to show what can be done on a 400 x 500 board

London

Like A Virgin

Final Approach

Very Trying

 

[Quicksnapper]

Thanks all for the input. Some lovely work there Meeks and HopefulM ... exactly what we were thinking of. We were actually thinking of having people print images and having 4 400x500 mounts, but this has shown me that you can actually be achieved using just one, which is great.

Could I ask you all how these are judged. What scoring process you use? Is each panel scored out of 20? Or do you have a higher mark given that there are 3 or 4 images to consider.

Thanks again. Just the sort of info I needed.

Cheers all ...

 

[Photodiva]

Hi. We have a 3-image panel comp, other clubs I know have 5-image. Its usually an odd number, but not necessarily. The RPS Distinctions are judged as a panel, the first Licentiate is a 10-image panel. I would imagine a panel would be judged on similar criteria to a single image - exposure, composition, framing, focus, print quality etc. The thing to bear in mind is that the 4 images have to make a fifth image - i.e. the four when viewed together need to 'work'. So things like composition, color tone etc take on another dimension. We do our images separately because that way a single image can be ready to enter another compositions, but if the club's rules are all displayed on one board, then there's no reason why they shouldn't. If your scoring is usually out of 20, then it would be out of 20. Its not each image that gets a score.

 

[Photodiva]

Yes! We just had a panel of 3 competition at Southampton CC, sadly I missed the judging night and my submission didn't get anywhere, but you can see the result here and I believe it went down very well at club as it was a bit of fun and everyone was judged on a level playing field http://www.southamptoncameraclub.co.uk/News/panels-evening-digital/

It's such a good idea to do things like this, especially if any club members are considering doing any of the RPS accreditations because it makes you realise that you don't have to have 'stand out' images - just ones that work together with a common thread running through them - be that style, colour, subject etc.

My submission :

View attachment 90520

I like the dog images. I just wonder if the right-hand one might work better in the middle (with 2 similar shots either side), but overall the middle image is the strongest. This panel stuff is quite difficult! Came across this on Dungeness Gallery