Photojournalism and Street Photography By Mark Chamberlain LPSNZ
Image post-processing, how far do we go? Last year, it was refreshing to come across a competition run by the New Brighton Photographic Club in Christchurch, open to all PSNZ members and NZ Residents – The Annual New Zealand Photojournalism Competition. The 30th annual competition opens again this year on 6 June and closes on 31 July 2021. The judges include a former newspaper photojournalist who should provide very useful feedback. The competition will be a refreshing change from many competitions relying on heavy image post-processing. As a primarily landscape photographer living in New Zealand, I spend an unhealthy amount of time doing image post-processing in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. This competition persuaded me to try something different. One can invest as little or as much time as one chooses on post-processing. It’s a personal choice on time investment, and it depends on the photographer’s overall objectives.
Most photographs do require some postprocessing, especially if shooting in RAW format (recommended). Post-processing, in this competition, permits only minor editing – removal of dust spots, colour conversion (if choosing black & white), contrast and sharpening tweaks, and image cropping. No object removal from images, use of filters, vignetting or extensive pixel manipulation in Photoshop layers! This competition forces a different approach – enjoying photography on the streets or at community events. The competition has two categories: • Sports / Action • Street / Social Entries may also include travel and documentary photography in more exotic overseas locations (current COVID-19 issues aside).
The New Zealand PJ competition has strict rules, ensuring only minimal image postprocessing.
Images by Pixabay
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