Dec. 2000
President's
Message
Portrait
of Mark Friedman
In Perspective...
Club Contests - What Do the Point Scores Mean
- Erik Kissa
Let me emphasize that the judging of slides or prints is not a quantitative analysis. Judges look at the images and express their subjective opinions with numbers. The points given by two or three judges may not be numerically the same, for two reasons. Firstly, every judge may have a different rating curve. As an example, a number 5 from one judge may be a number 6 from another. As long as the judges are consistent, this has no effect on the relative order of the slides or prints evaluated. Secondly, photography means different things to different people. A pictorialist appreciates the esthetic beauty of an image as photographic art. Composition is very important and the technical quality is a prerequisite. In contrast, for a photojournalist the impact is most important. The image should tell a story, captured at the decisive moment. The composition and technical quality are of secondary importance. Hence, if the judges are different photographers, the points given by each judge will be different.
Are the point scores given by the judges useful? If competition is your main objective, the situation is simple. You submit your slides or prints, get a point score and the game is over. However, if you try to use the judging process for improving your photography, the situation is more complex. Firstly, try to compare your images to those with a higher score. Can you see a difference and learn from it? Secondly, ask the judges for a comment - how could the image be improved? Often cropping can improve the image considerably. Thirdly, if you believe that your image deserves a better score, submit it again. Even in international exhibitions the total score given by three qualified judges may vary by ± 2 points from one exhibition to another. Finally, never feel discouraged or disillusioned. Failure is the catalyst for learning.