CWAS David Malin Awards 2013

iceman (Mike) · #1 26-02-2013, 05:00 PM

Announcement from John Sarkissian about the 2013 David Malin Awards.

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The Central West Astronomical Society is proud to announce the 2013 CWAS Astrophotography Awards judged by Dr David Malin - the "David Malin Awards".

Entry submissions will be accepted from Monday, 1 April 2013, and will close at mid-night on Saturday, 1 June 2013 (AEST).

The theme for this year's Open Themed Section is "People and Sky". Many photographers include people interacting with the night sky in their photographs, and this special section is intended to encourage the exploration of the emotional and human elements of astronomy. The intention is to encourage people with vision, imagination and creativity, using simple equipment, such as a tripod and ordinary camera, to make attractive images of people interacting with the night sky.

For more information on the competition, the conditions of entry and to access the submissions page, see the following web site:

http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/news...astrofest/DMA/

The 2013 CWAS "David Malin Awards" are proudly supported by CSIRO's Astronomy and Space Sciences, Canon Australia and the Powerhouse Museum.

Canon Australia continues to support the awards with the major prize this year being the Canon EOS 5D Mark III with 24-70mm f/2.8L lens.

Regards, John Sarkissian
2013 CWAS "David Malin Awards"
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The PDF has similar news, and the website has more information too.

The open theme of 'people and sky' is going to be very interesting this year, especially with nightscapes being such a popular genre now and so accessible.

I can't wait to see what the talented guys and gals from IceInSpace produce again this year!

iceman (Mike) · #2 21-05-2013, 06:31 AM

Entries close in just 10 days, so don't forget to enter soon!

You must register before-hand to receive a username/password via email, so don't leave it until the last moment!

Rob_K · #3 21-05-2013, 01:03 PM

Thanks for the reminder Mike. I had an absolute bomb of an idea for this year's awards but work and other factors have conspired to leave me entry-less this year!

All I needed was a week or so with no distractions, to sit down and....

Good luck to all those entering, looking forward to seeing the results!

Cheers -

iceman (Mike) · #4 27-05-2013, 06:57 AM

Trying to pick just 5 photos for the widefield category is killing me!

h0ughy (David) · #5 27-05-2013, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

Trying to pick just 5 photos for the widefield category is killing me!

well if you cant decide then dont enter - gives us mortals a chance, except for all those other aurora images and rocks and stars shots.....

iceman (Mike) · #6 27-05-2013, 08:51 AM

I don't envy the judges this year. The number of 'widefield/nightscape' photographers has exploded over the past year, and the quality of images has improved out of sight too.

And so many comet shots, aurora shots etc.

In any case, I can't wait to see the results from everyone. There's always a few surprises in there.

rustigsmed (Russell) · #7 27-05-2013, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

I don't envy the judges this year. The number of 'widefield/nightscape' photographers has exploded over the past year, and the quality of images has improved out of sight too.

And so many comet shots, aurora shots etc.

In any case, I can't wait to see the results from everyone. There's always a few surprises in there.

I had nearly forgotton about all the comet lemmon shots. I agree, its going to be a rich field!

Can't wait to see the pics

iceman (Mike) · #8 27-05-2013, 04:37 PM

Don't forget Panstarrs, and the combined Lemmon Panstarrs!

colinmlegg (Colin) · #9 28-05-2013, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

Don't forget Panstarrs, and the combined Lemmon Panstarrs!

Must render my timelapses of those someday... Drowning

rogerg (Roger) · #10 29-05-2013, 09:03 AM

Two minutes is a severe limitation for timelapse. Not saying its unreasonable, but not much fits in 2 minutes! It'd take editing to get any of mine down to that, they're all about 2:30+

colinmlegg (Colin) · #11 29-05-2013, 01:36 PM

Agreed Roger. I think 3 minutes is a better limit. I prefer longer running astro scenes.

iceman (Mike) · #12 29-05-2013, 01:44 PM

Perhaps we could propose it to John. Did anyone mention it after last year?

rogerg (Roger) · #13 29-05-2013, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

Perhaps we could propose it to John. Did anyone mention it after last year?

This is the first time I've considered submitting timelapse, so didn't encounter it last year.

Good idea to suggest it Mike, but probably only fair to those who have already submitted if it is upped for next year. (as much as I would love it to be 3 this year!)

I gave it a bit of a shot this morning cutting one of mine down, but with the choreography of the music to the pictures/video etc it's just doesn't gel with my creative juices cutting it down, didn't work

Seems evident now I needed to specifically start one from scratch to be less than 2 minutes, for the awards.

Peter Ward · #14 29-05-2013, 06:17 PM

My cheerful prognostication is Martin Pugh will once again dominate Deep-Sky.
(unless some other seriously-skilled operator has some top-shelf gear on a remote mountain-top

)

The rest however is going to be tough...with two (!) eclipses, comets and some sublime wide field work in the last 12 months I suspect the finalist images will be of the highest calibre yet to be seen at CWAS.

Good luck to those who have entered!

Octane (Humayun) · #15 29-05-2013, 07:42 PM

I have nothing of note worth entering. :~(

Good luck, all.

H

leon · #16 29-05-2013, 08:24 PM

I'm with you H, good luck to all the members that have contributed.

Leon

alexch (Alex) · #17 29-05-2013, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

Perhaps we could propose it to John. Did anyone mention it after last year?

I did consider suggesting to expand the time limit to three or four minutes to John, but instead tried to shorten my pieces to fit into two minutes.

It did take some time to edit but must say I think that 2-miunute clips turned out better than longer versions. From what I have seen online, around 2-minute mark seems to be the "golden" duration to keep the attention span of an average internet viewer.

lacad01 (Adam) · #18 31-05-2013, 09:39 AM

Just stumbled across this article today featuring many great shots from IIS members

http://www.abc.net.au/science/photos...27/3720997.htm

Phil Hart · #19 31-05-2013, 12:50 PM

Can only agree with the comments about videos.. 2 minutes has been tough for me too as I've had to re-edit visuals and music to cut them down. But I also agree with Alex that 2 minutes makes for a short-punchy video and the internet audience does not care for anything much longer.

It prompts the question about the purpose of the category as anything longer than 2 minutes becomes a seriously lengthy video production and hard to compare to animated sequences of other astronomical objects/events which already struggle against the night sky timelapse vids. Tough question.

For info.. if you're struggling to upload large video files you can also contact the organisers (quick!) to send larger file size versions.

Phil

cazza132 (Troy Casswell) · #20 01-06-2013, 05:31 PM

I'm trying to cut down my eclipse vid from cairns. Just looses too much of its purpose. Currently runs at 4 min but considering uploading it as is. Would I get disqualified for exceeding the length?