Reply #13 - September 01, 2008, 07:29:20 PM
Sorry about the border, that's competition ready as it was displayed. If you haven't done any professional print competition, there are 12 elements that are used to determine a total score. One of the elements is print presentation. Typically, if the image is too large in the 'mat' it will lose a little of its score in this area. It's somewhat difficult to tell how the presentation is being judged, but after some conversations with some Master photographers in the years I've competed, I've learned that prints will often do better when presented as a somewhat smaller image inside of a larger 'mat'.
So, the short answer is that I agree with you, if the image were for display, gallery exhibits, or for sale. However, this image was posted "comp-ready" instead (sorry for the confusion). Honestly, if I were to sell it or display it, I would probably do something different also, as you have noted. In this particular case, I think I'll leave it for competition.
I don't normally post images ready for competition, because I do things a little differently when they're for competition. Judges are tough to please, and even more difficult to out-guess. You aren't presenting images for sale, nor can you impress them, so you kind of have to learn to play by their rules and learn what you can and apply that to your everyday work. I think competition is great, I've learned a lot from doing it. But it is a little different than what I would typically do for any other purpose.
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I love out of the way type places like that. You truly get the feel of how the early pioneers felt when they crossed this beautiful country of ours. 
