Judges Comments

This category wasn't well entered and most of the lit portraits struggled with technical execution or lacked a creative vision. Our first place winner had a great character to work with and the symmetry of the bland office is an okay way to make the best of his surroundings. The whole color palette is working together but backing up and using slightly longer glass could have improved those super-wide optics. Second place was a nice depiction of a formerly homeless couple. It's tactful but doesn't connect us emotionally to the couple or give us a sense of what their lives under the bridge were like. Sometimes there is no time to build emotional depth with the people we photograph, but if ever there was a time to try it would be this one. If anything having the couple connect with each other in the photo would add something other than a person-person-place-we-lived depiction. Our third pace winner found a textured wall and used some outside balanced light to make this portrait pop. Many of the other lit portrait entries used off-camera flash effectively for exposure but poses and expressions were bland. We've all been there. This guy gave an engaging smile and the light and texture complemented the scene