Mid-Atlantic Region – February 2016 – Portrait/Illustration

Judges Comments

Two thoughts, a nice side-light does not a portrait make. It's useful, but if the photo tells us nothing about the person then it best be perfect. And, just because someone will let you get up in their mug to take a photo does not mean you should. In-your-face portraits may be all the rage on the covers of the news magazines, but it's not very flattering and not really very revealing journalism. The first place image was the only side-lit image that we liked and we liked it a lot, we felt like we got a lot of context. Second was a nice use of outdoor light, with nice texture and a sense of personality and context. The background was a little busy, but we felt like that was also part of the context. Third was a perfectly executed job of outdoor mixed lighting ... we only had to question how a portrait of an athlete would give no sense of motion or action.

Judges: Sean D. Elliot/The Day, Peter Huoppi/The Day