Here is an image of mine which got somewhat poor feedback from a judge at my local photography club, basically stating a nice enough image, but lacking in contrast.
So it’ll be interesting to see what others can make of it 
Steam train at Bo’ness Railway.
IMG_0141_02.CR2.xmp (13.5 KB)
IMG_0140.CR2 (28.4 MB)
This file is licensed Creative Commons, By-Attribution, Share-Alike.
Can we just disagree with them?
???
I wonder, were the images in the competition reviewed as prints or files, and if files did the judge have a calibrated monitor? I’d hope so…
I suppose maybe he didn’t mean lack of contrast in the technical sense, but something else.
To me, and I do mean this is only my own very inexpert opinion, your (great!) image looks a little too ‘HDR’ for want of a better word. But that’s on my small screen… 
Thanks for sharing! I’ll give it go later hopefully 
I think he was being ironic. You’ve got some sort of demon local contrast going on there, one that I can’t duplicate with just global tools… 
Ah, your posted rendition is IMG_0141, and the CR2 is 0140. I was peeping at the smoke and there’s detail coming through in your rendition I just couldn’t see in the raw…
Here’s my rendition of 0140 in rawproc, using a double-logistic curve further shaped with a control-point curve, some HSL saturation, and a crop to bring into prominence the oh-so-interesting subject:
Well I am not sure that I have done a great job here, but I wanted to try a monochrome conversion in DT. Usually I do this sort of work in GIMP using curves to replicate the color contrast filters used by film photographers. I decided that the color zones module gave me suitable creative control for this sort of work. In my version you will notice that the round windows on the engine are very bright (maybe too bright) I achieved this by firstly desaturating the whole color range in the saturation tab of color zones. I then went to the lightness tab and brightened the yellows and darken the blues. I guess this replicates a yellow contrast filter used in film photography.
I feel I will explore monochrome conversions in DT a bit more now I have had this first attempt. Thanks for the opportunity.
I agree with paperdigits - the judge expressed his personal interpretation, but should he impose it on others?
If you process an image and are satisfied with the result, that is your own interpretation and just as valid as that of anyone else.
I couldn’t resist playing with this. Play Raw is part of my learning process. Done in GIMP as always.
I desaturated the image, using curves I set the black and white points and applied a very slight “S” curve - mainly at the top end to whiten the steam.
I also like the colour version, because the only substantial areas of saturated colour focuses attention on the star of the show - the locomotive. The same crop to both images.
That’s what judges do; differentiate. If each entry were of equal value, then judging would be pointless. If you don’t want judgment, don’t ask for it.
And that’s precisely why I submit images to my photography clubs monthly competitions , to get feedback from judges to hopefully improve my images
Feedback is ALWAYS good; we are the worst judges of any situation, for we only have one narrow view into the scene…
But, IMHO if you know the mechanism of your medium, you can readily put the views of others into perspective, regarding what you’re trying to convey in your rendition. Don’t lose sight of that…
DT 4.0.1
Nice image. Thanks for sharing.
Photo that should be approximately 188x (where x = [0…9]). 
Ingredients:
Tonal variations → authentic sepia preset.
2 grain modules at maximum.
Diffuse/sharp → preset Imitate line drawing (2 iterations)
and other ingredients.
If you want b/w, change tonal variations module to monochrome module and that’s it.
Cheers!
To everyone: enlarge this to the full width of your monitor. Wow!
To @arturoisilvia: yes, that little diff trick is superb!
Have fun,
Claes in Lund, Sweden
Thank you Brian for posting and making it possible to edit a real life Thomas tank engine
My version is with colours but with a little bit more focused crop. DT4.0.1
Ultimately as a judge we have to have a personal opinion. If I was to judge the original posted image I would have to say it looks unnatural. I thought it was trying to imitate an infrared look. It just looks surreal to me.
As a teacher of photography I do not impose my personal interpretations upon students but rather embrace their unique interpretation. I want to give them the skills to achieve what they want, not what I want. As a commercial photographer and portrait photographer I had a saying, “beauty is in the eye of the person with the wallet”. But as a judge I ultimately fall back on my personal opinion and that is why I have been asked to judge.
Have fun with your photography and ignore everyone’s opinion and listen to your own heart for what you like and enjoy.
