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DPChallenge Forums >> Individual Photograph Discussion >> Okay ... where'd I screw up with this one?
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02/08/2017 09:27:36 AM · #1
I'm baffled how this ended up near the bottom of the results for Best of 2016.

Perhaps I'm looking at it with a non-critical eye, but I thought it was decent. There are many times I'll submit something that is borderline, but this, IMO, wasn't one of them.

I knew the letterbox would throw some people off, but otherwise I'm not seeing the faults (not to the degree of end placement).

Thoughts please?

02/08/2017 09:31:02 AM · #2
Beats the heck out of me......I have the same question on this one!


02/08/2017 12:02:17 PM · #3
Originally posted by glad2badad:

I'm baffled how this ended up near the bottom of the results for Best of 2016.

Perhaps I'm looking at it with a non-critical eye, but I thought it was decent. There are many times I'll submit something that is borderline, but this, IMO, wasn't one of them.

I knew the letterbox would throw some people off, but otherwise I'm not seeing the faults (not to the degree of end placement).

Thoughts please?



I didn't vote in this challenge but if I did I would have given you a 6 (and I think I am a generous voter). To me it's just a boat, just a snapshot. Not said in a bad way, it's just what it is. Nothing exciting (I see lots of boats where I live), no interesting weather to have the boat in (fog, high waves, etc.) The framing doesn't bother me.
02/08/2017 12:03:40 PM · #4
Originally posted by NikonJeb:

Beats the heck out of me......I have the same question on this one!



Again, didn't vote but probably would have given this a 5 or 6. It's dark, lots of "nothing to look at", not enough of a view of the starry sky and it looks tilted, just enough to annoy me.
02/08/2017 12:37:22 PM · #5
Originally posted by glad2badad:

I'm baffled how this ended up near the bottom of the results for Best of 2016.

Perhaps I'm looking at it with a non-critical eye, but I thought it was decent. There are many times I'll submit something that is borderline, but this, IMO, wasn't one of them.

I knew the letterbox would throw some people off, but otherwise I'm not seeing the faults (not to the degree of end placement).

Thoughts please?



I just added a comment under the photo about using LR Dehaze in photos taken of or near the sea. It's often one of the first steps I do in my processing since we essentially "live" in sea air at this end of the Cape.
02/08/2017 01:50:46 PM · #6
Originally posted by NikonJeb:

Beats the heck out of me......I have the same question on this one!



Same with mine. thought I had a winner!!!! sorry just adding to the angst!!
02/08/2017 02:14:43 PM · #7
I squeaked out a 5 last minute with this one:



It was in the 4s practically the whole time. I was quite excited, because getting one of these small, fast moving birds from the side is extremely unusual for me. But it seems like the middle of the range photos are hit a lot harder than they used to be. Probably for the reason that we've seen it before too many times, there's nothing that stands out, it's nice, but doesn't hold the interest at all, or simply isn't memorable.

There's been debates as to whether the quality here has gone up or down, but I don't think it really matters. I think what matters is that we've seen some wonderful stuff, and it's just not as easy to be impressed anymore. I give mostly 5s and 6s, rarely 4s, and almost never 1-3. But things need to be more special now for the 7-10 range. It has to make more of an impact on me that just "nice".
02/08/2017 02:48:50 PM · #8
I always find it hard to find "an image not already submitted to a challenge"
02/08/2017 03:44:48 PM · #9
I'm baffled by mine as well and it was good lol

None of the images shown in this challenge deserved low scores

I guess that's why working Overtime on my end hasn't helped much, and not being able to vote or spend time on this site.

Message edited by author 2017-02-08 15:48:28.
02/08/2017 04:03:41 PM · #10
Originally posted by hajeka:

I always find it hard to find "an image not already submitted to a challenge"

I also find it hard to find an image I haven't already submitted to a challenge ... :-(

Circle V (Jan. 2016): "Best of" 2016:

And the "best" image I could find was taken January 1 ...

Message edited by author 2017-02-08 16:05:48.
02/08/2017 07:54:43 PM · #11
Thanks for the comments everyone. Much appreciated.

Jeb, left one on yours.
02/08/2017 10:19:05 PM · #12
Originally posted by NikonJeb:

Beats the heck out of me......I have the same question on this one!



In full res it's a stronger image, but on this site verticals just don't translate and this was all sorts of dark for me in voting. The details in the sky and the difference between the trees and sky was largely lost. Gave it a 5 in voting, would have been a 6 or higher if I saw then what I can see now.
02/09/2017 07:45:59 AM · #13
Originally posted by JakeKurdsjuk:

Originally posted by NikonJeb:

Beats the heck out of me......I have the same question on this one!



In full res it's a stronger image, but on this site verticals just don't translate and this was all sorts of dark for me in voting. The details in the sky and the difference between the trees and sky was largely lost. Gave it a 5 in voting, would have been a 6 or higher if I saw then what I can see now.

"In full res it's a stronger image... " ??? I'm only seeing a 1200px image. Is there a larger one?
02/09/2017 08:11:48 AM · #14
Originally posted by JakeKurdsjuk:



In full res it's a stronger image, but on this site verticals just don't translate and this was all sorts of dark for me in voting. The details in the sky and the difference between the trees and sky was largely lost. Gave it a 5 in voting, would have been a 6 or higher if I saw then what I can see now.


On this topic, i saw an Fstoppers video recently, where the guy was paying attention to the thumbnail preview, as well as the full image during postprocessing in Photoshop.
02/09/2017 11:01:52 AM · #15
Originally posted by damjanev:

Originally posted by JakeKurdsjuk:



In full res it's a stronger image, but on this site verticals just don't translate and this was all sorts of dark for me in voting. The details in the sky and the difference between the trees and sky was largely lost. Gave it a 5 in voting, would have been a 6 or higher if I saw then what I can see now.


On this topic, i saw an Fstoppers video recently, where the guy was paying attention to the thumbnail preview, as well as the full image during postprocessing in Photoshop.


I think it's critical to check the preview of the image after you submit it from the submission screen because it's different from what you see if you click on it from your profile or portfolio. The preview in the upper left-hand corner of the post-upload submission window opens the image as it will appear during voting - everywhere else opens it at full size. On vertical images that can mean a reduction of as much as 50% in image size.

The uploaded image here is 1200px on the vertical. Here's how much of that is cut off when I view it in full-res on my 15" MacBook Pro Retina display...



It essentially cuts it off at 700px on the vertical. But when I'm voting it will automatically resize it for viewing, which can lead to all sorts of loss in detail. It's why I will rarely submit a vertical any more, particular in a 2:3 ratio. I'll crop to 4:5 or 1:1 instead. Nothing you can do about it because to do otherwise would prohibit a voter from seeing the full image.

As for the specifics of this image, it's overly dark as a whole and particularly in the middle to bottom. Using a levels adjustment I need to run the midpoint to about 1.5 to 1.6 for it to look OK and then selectively mask out the stars and the bright area at the bottom center by about 1/3 for it to look "right". And for the record, I calibrate the monitor about every 3 to 4 weeks.

I should also point out that the default Lightroom and Photoshop backgrounds are dark grey. The light grey background here can significantly alter the contrast perception of an image that you've only looked at against the dark grey backgrounds of editing applications. I resize and save from Photoshop and after processing the image as I want I create a resized (1200px) copy using an action I have in a toolbar from Tony Kuyper. It stacks a curves, levels, and saturation adjustment layer over the resized image. I then right click in the viewing window, change the color to "Light Gray" and adjust the Curves midpoint as necessary before flattening and saving.

Message edited by author 2017-02-09 11:10:03.
02/09/2017 11:23:31 AM · #16
Oh. It sounded like you had viewed Jeb's photo at full res and I couldn't find it (usually there'd be a link).

I usually resize to 1200 max before submitting so I don't have to worry about the DPC auto-resizing. Not that it helps me that much anyway. LOL
02/09/2017 11:48:01 AM · #17
Originally posted by glad2badad:

I usually resize to 1200 max before submitting so I don't have to worry about the DPC auto-resizing.

That's not the issue, though. What Jake's referring to is that DPC now resizes any image to fit the available screen real estate during voting: if your screen doesn't support 1500 pixels or so vertically, you're gonna see a 1200-pixel vertical image at less than that size. Next time you're voting, try resizing your window to way less than it's normal full-screen presence and watch what happens :-)

Message edited by author 2017-02-09 11:48:34.
02/09/2017 01:22:15 PM · #18
Originally posted by damjanev:

Originally posted by JakeKurdsjuk:



In full res it's a stronger image, but on this site verticals just don't translate and this was all sorts of dark for me in voting. The details in the sky and the difference between the trees and sky was largely lost. Gave it a 5 in voting, would have been a 6 or higher if I saw then what I can see now.


On this topic, i saw an Fstoppers video recently, where the guy was paying attention to the thumbnail preview, as well as the full image during postprocessing in Photoshop.


Here is the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlZWVBUxhH0. The thumbnail/navigator tip is at 17:58.

Question for the SC. Would this image be admissible under Standard Editing rules?
02/09/2017 01:30:39 PM · #19
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Originally posted by glad2badad:

I usually resize to 1200 max before submitting so I don't have to worry about the DPC auto-resizing.

That's not the issue, though. What Jake's referring to is that DPC now resizes any image to fit the available screen real estate during voting: if your screen doesn't support 1500 pixels or so vertically, you're gonna see a 1200-pixel vertical image at less than that size. Next time you're voting, try resizing your window to way less than it's normal full-screen presence and watch what happens :-)


Oh. Hadn't noticed that before. It also will resize the long side on landscape oriented images too if you resize the window. Interesting. I wonder if this was put in place for people that vote using their phones? I'll have to check what it looks like on a phone screen later this afternoon.
02/09/2017 02:35:09 PM · #20
Originally posted by glad2badad:



Oh. Hadn't noticed that before. It also will resize the long side on landscape oriented images too if you resize the window. Interesting. I wonder if this was put in place for people that vote using their phones? I'll have to check what it looks like on a phone screen later this afternoon.


I didn't think you were allowed to vote on a phone.
02/09/2017 03:52:29 PM · #21
I truly appreciate the feedback. For the record, I was actually kind of amused.

One thing I have figured out is that it's easy to get dismayed with the results of a challenge if you're in love with the image. That was moderately the case except that I had already inured myself against disappointment. You shoud see this image 17x22, matted, framed, & hanging! My framer did a triple mat with divergent dark blues & black. At this scale it really looks good.

I have noticed that a lot of my work lately seems to only really look good big. The upside is that my sales of the bigger images have gone well.

My scores.......well.... There's a thread on that! LOL!!!

There's a decided talent to being able to make an impressive image......small.

Again, thanks to the people who took their time to communicate their thoughts on my image.
02/09/2017 04:01:44 PM · #22
Originally posted by NikonJeb:

There's a decided talent to being able to make an impressive image......small.

That's one reason I thought the last Stamp challenge should have had a maximum size of 320 pixels or so ...
02/09/2017 10:12:38 PM · #23
Originally posted by KarenNfld:

Originally posted by glad2badad:



Oh. Hadn't noticed that before. It also will resize the long side on landscape oriented images too if you resize the window. Interesting. I wonder if this was put in place for people that vote using their phones? I'll have to check what it looks like on a phone screen later this afternoon.


I didn't think you were allowed to vote on a phone.

Confirmed ... you can vote using a phone. Just tested it and it worked fine.
02/10/2017 01:07:33 AM · #24
Originally posted by glad2badad:

Originally posted by KarenNfld:

....
I didn't think you were allowed to vote on a phone.

Confirmed ... you can vote using a phone. Just tested it and it worked fine.


Apparently not for everyone:

02/13/2017 04:27:26 PM · #25
It works on my phone.....and worked on my last one, too.

I don't vote on a phone, but I check every now & then just for S&G....
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