RPS Panel Advisory Day

Spooky

Spooky

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Simon
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OK - so having bitten the bullet and decided to go for my LRPS, I have signed up for one of the advisory days and need to get a panel of 10 images (+10 spares) ready. No problem, I thought, I have a decent range of images but now I find I am walking round in circles trying to get 20 together and not really knowing which ones to choose and which ones to discard.

The other problem I am having is with creating a coherent panel; my main area of photography is people and portraiture - I shoot the occasional wedding, family portraits and for actor / model portfolios - should I be choosing to focus on one area or could my panel contain images from all areas?

And finally, can heavily edited images be submitted? I do quite a bit of design work and was contemplating putting forward some of my theatre poster designs - would these work?

I appreciate it is an ask but if any kind souls would be lovely enough to take a look at my Flickr stream - link below - and let me know your thoughts - what works and what doesn't.

Cheers

Spooks

Spooky's RPS Boot Camp
 
One of the primary things they look for at LRPS level is variety of approach, and I think your shortlist has that. I'd avoid showing the posters though, they don't really fit in with the rest IMO. You might want to have the bottom 5 of your panel as studio, and the top row as outside / natural light.
 
I think I agree with Andy, you have a great set of images to choose from and I think that the theme of portraiture should be enough of a thread to tie the set together. I would perhaps look at each image to see if it will flow nicely from and to its neighbour, maybe tonally or by shade.
Bare in mind that I'm no expert though and am in the same boat as you having decided to have a go myself sometime over the next 12 months...except I haven't even got one image I like enough to put in yet. :bang:

Andy
 
Thanks Andy and Andy - appreciate you taking the time to look at my images and pass on your thoughts. Agree with comment about the posters - could not quite see how they might fit in to the final 10 but may take 1 along in the 'stunt' 10 just to see what kind of comment it might get.

I like the suggestions for panel layout - sound advice from both of you - cheers

Were there any specific images that stood out for you?

Spooks
 
I liked a lot of them, but portraiture isn't my area of expertise, so I'm the wrong person to ask!

Two other things to bear in mind - 1) the panel has to work as a cohesive set, which may lead to 2) you leaving out your favourite images. That's why it's always worth getting an objective outsider who has no emotional attachment to any of the images, to advise / mentor you.
 
A difficult question is that, they all have merit and they all look good. I shall have another peruse tomorrow and let you know, at first glance I like the b&w portraits but I always do, being colour blind leads me that way.:D
 
Thanks again for your time; I think I am starting to whittle the selection down - the digital artwork is not going to be included.

I am having an issue with including images of children alongside images I might label as being close to NSFW.

Also looking at the combination of colour and mono images and how these work together in a panel.

Aiming to start assembling the final 20 tonight

Spooks
 
mortimerhill said:
This might be stating the obvious, but have you read the LRPS Distinction handbook?

http://www.rps.org/resources/downloads/LRPS_Handbook_March_2012.pdf

there is good advice in there

For a LRPS, the RPS is looking for technical competence plus the beginnings of a "photographer's eye" Not my words, but those of an advisor
Click to expand...

No worries about stating the obvious; I have read the distinctions handbook and looked at the advice there - that is how I started to whittle 150+ images down to 60.

Cheers

Spooks
 
Ok, so having been on the RPS advisory day, what did I get out of it? *Well, it was a bit of a mixed bag; on the one hand it was insightful to get a feel for what the L and A panels look like and what standard is required, but, on the other hand, it was a reality check having my work pulled apart by the advisors.

Biggest Lesson: the panel consists of 11 images, the 10 individual prints and then the overall picture of the panel. A lot of re-arranging, balancing, experimenting with layout took place (it was certainly useful to have spare prints) - balance, symmetry, co-ordination seemed to be the key words.

Biggest Lesson #2: the amount of digital manipulation that seems to be allowed, even actively encouraged. *One A panel consisted of several stunning flower images *but they had been so heavily manipulated that they looked more like illustrations from a botanical text book rather than a photograph. *The photographer was encouraged to submit their panel for submission. *Others were told to crop heavily, and even reversing images was sanctioned in order to make a panel work.

Biggest Eye Opener: the amount of physical cropping taking place - images of all shapes and sizes - letter box crops were the most popular! What does this say about framing and composition in camera? *I would have thought extensive cropping would be frowned upon, but clearly not.

Interesting Revelation: the discussions that take place between the adjudicators as the panel goes up, the agreements and disagreements, and the scrutiny of the work. Is this an insight into what happens as panels are assessed?

Attitude of Advisors: I liked them. *As an educator it was interesting to see how they would discuss / advise; I had heard that they could be quite pompous. I liked the way they stated their remit was to get people to pass; cynics might suggest they would say this so as to get the RPS more coins in their coffers but their commentaries were positive and constructive, and honest! A lot of what they had to say about my panel was a bitter pill to swallow, but I could see where they were coming from even where I disagreed with what was being said.

What was a moment of embarrassment for one of the advisors was when he decided to refer to one of the models in my images as a 'bird'! The full sentence went along the lines of, "I don't get it. You get a young bird put her up against a wall and try to make her look sexy". He did back track after the sharp intake of air conveyed he had perhaps said something he shouldn't. He tried to claim he was talking about the feathered kind and laugh it off but I did wonder if this faux pas betrayed an underlying attitude towards glamour / editorial portraits?

What will I do next? *Well, I am going to attend another advisory day, this time armed with a range of images that hit the requirements of the L. *They may not be the most exciting or risk taking but it strikes me that the L is all about the classic rules of photography whereas the A is more about experimenting and finding a technique / style. *My second outing will also be made up of images other than portraits; a panel containing a range of genres seems to be the preferred approach.

Watch this space for more adventures of Spooky and the RPS

Spooks
 
Spooky said:
Ok, so having been on the RPS advisory day, what did I get out of it? *Well, it was a bit of a mixed bag; on the one hand it was insightful to get a feel for what the L and A panels look like and what standard is required, but, on the other hand, it was a reality check having my work pulled apart by the advisors.

Biggest Lesson: the panel consists of 11 images, the 10 individual prints and then the overall picture of the panel. A lot of re-arranging, balancing, experimenting with layout took place (it was certainly useful to have spare prints) - balance, symmetry, co-ordination seemed to be the key words.

Biggest Lesson #2: the amount of digital manipulation that seems to be allowed, even actively encouraged. *One A panel consisted of several stunning flower images *but they had been so heavily manipulated that they looked more like illustrations from a botanical text book rather than a photograph. *The photographer was encouraged to submit their panel for submission. *Others were told to crop heavily, and even reversing images was sanctioned in order to make a panel work.

Biggest Eye Opener: the amount of physical cropping taking place - images of all shapes and sizes - letter box crops were the most popular! What does this say about framing and composition in camera? *I would have thought extensive cropping would be frowned upon, but clearly not.

Interesting Revelation: the discussions that take place between the adjudicators as the panel goes up, the agreements and disagreements, and the scrutiny of the work. Is this an insight into what happens as panels are assessed?

Attitude of Advisors: I liked them. *As an educator it was interesting to see how they would discuss / advise; I had heard that they could be quite pompous. I liked the way they stated their remit was to get people to pass; cynics might suggest they would say this so as to get the RPS more coins in their coffers but their commentaries were positive and constructive, and honest! A lot of what they had to say about my panel was a bitter pill to swallow, but I could see where they were coming from even where I disagreed with what was being said.

What was a moment of embarrassment for one of the advisors was when he decided to refer to one of the models in my images as a 'bird'! The full sentence went along the lines of, "I don't get it. You get a young bird put her up against a wall and try to make her look sexy". He did back track after the sharp intake of air conveyed he had perhaps said something he shouldn't. He tried to claim he was talking about the feathered kind and laugh it off but I did wonder if this faux pas betrayed an underlying attitude towards glamour / editorial portraits?

What will I do next? *Well, I am going to attend another advisory day, this time armed with a range of images that hit the requirements of the L. *They may not be the most exciting or risk taking but it strikes me that the L is all about the classic rules of photography whereas the A is more about experimenting and finding a technique / style. *My second outing will also be made up of images other than portraits; a panel containing a range of genres seems to be the preferred approach.

Watch this space for more adventures of Spooky and the RPS

Spooks
Click to expand...

Very interesting report, thanks - I had been thinking of trying for 'L' but had held back due to thinking it may all be a 'pompous exercise' ... will be interested in hearing about your next experience.
 
Hi Simon. Congrats for getting prepared for an L panel. Its not easy to pull it together. I would agree with you, the advisors are not pompous at all. But the standard is high, so like any professional body, they want to maintain and improve. People have told me that panels that passed years ago might not today get through, such is the march of progress. Get yourself a mentor if you haven't, though. They can advise on lots of aspects. As far as I am aware, you need to display a variety of images that show your competence in technique, so not all images shot in the same lighting with the same lens etc. So looking at your Flickr, there are clearly lots of choice. My first reaction and a 5 second scan was black/white/red, in all sorts of combination stands out. Might be worth investigating. The panel doesn't have to have a 'theme' like 'landscape' or 'portrait' but does need to hang well together. Think about how the panel might work, there are no 'rules', so if you go 2 rows, top can be color, bottom b/w, or mix them up but be consistent. Portrait and landscape orientation, can mix, but make the visual aspect work. Then there's the content, outside images looking in, for example. Flip an image if you need to make it work. Digital manipulation has to be very well done, so there's a challenge! I'd recommend getting your proposed images printed 6x4, then lay them on the floor and play around until you begin to get somewhere. Go for it!!
 
Good to read that you've gone along to an advisory day, I got a lot out of the one I went to a few years back.

Unlike some circles, I've never come across any anti-cropping comments in the RPS events I've been to. In fact my mentor is a big advocate of cropping, and always says to cover up the area of an image you are NOT thinking of cropping and then looking at the bit you are thinking of cropping and seeing if there is anything in it that adds to the overall image.

As Carol recommends, get some prints done and start laying them out on the floor - for my F panel, I got a load of cheap A3 prints done by DSCL and have been working with them, although this is tricky as 20+ A3's take up a lot of room!!! However, that's the size the prints in my panel will be, so it makes it easier to visualise how they will look when the panel is done.
 
Hi Both

Thanks for your responses.

Carol; all sound advice and the points you make about the panelling (image order) echo those that were given on the advisory day. Thanks also for taking a look at my Flickr account - the 20 images I took on Saturday were from the Boot Camp collection.

Andy - am trying to visualise 20+ A3 prints - sounds like my classroom on an A Level moderation day so I know exactly the kind of space that number of big prints can occupy. I did the same on Friday night but kept print sizes to a respectable 6x4!

I am intrigued about having a mentor - how would I go about getting myself one? Do I approach the RPS directly? i can't find anything about it in the handbook.

Next advisory day is in January.

Cheers

Simon
 
Simon

I'm fortunate to have a large conservatory where I can (just) fit 20 A3 images on the floor. Thankfully my F panel is on 3 rows rather than 2, otherwise I'd have to chuck the settee out of the window to make room.

Regarding a mentor, I'm fortunate (again) in that the photographic society I am a member, of runs workshops a couple of times a year where a former RPS assessment panel member comes and gives advice. As I was the only one going for A rather than L, I ended up getting additional guidance via phone and email. I'm not entirely sure how you could go about finding a mentor, might be worth asking at the next advisory day.
 
I'm not sure if you need to have joined the RPS to benefit from a mentor, but do ask, phone or email the head office. See if there is someone available in your part of the country.
 
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