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DPChallenge Forums >> Challenge Results >> Frustrated with Time Capsule Resuts
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08/19/2005 08:12:39 AM · #1
I'm a little frustrated with the results of time capsule. Here's my image:


I didn't expect to win, or be top 20 or anything, but I thought my image was better than a 5.2xx. Its composition may not have been perfect, but I thought it was good enough, and it fit the challenge perfectly. I was beaten by MANY pictures that didn't meet the challenge as well, pictures that needed description in the title to link it to the challenge, and even some that I don't think meet the challenge at all.

I don't mean to whine. I am a very new photographer with only a few submissions on this site and I feel I have improved already. I guess I am just looking for some insight so I can do better next time. Any comments are appreciated.
08/19/2005 08:27:43 AM · #2
5.2xx isn't anything to get frustrated about. I agree that the comments you rec'd are pretty generic - nothing constructive or negative to help.

IMO the photo is ok. I remember being overwhelmed the first time I saw it...it's very "busy". Some creative lighting may have given this a boost. For this to work we didn't need to see all of the details on every game cartridge. Just needed to know what they were. Maybe a low angled light that lit up the Mario game and some cartridges diagonally, then let the rest fall into shadows?

Not sure what else to tell you...hang in there and keep having fun!
08/19/2005 08:30:37 AM · #3
5.2xx isn't a bad result. Really.

The photo is alright. Composition is good. Lighting is eh. Perhaps the DOF to blur the tower going upwards with just the focus on the highlighted game would be more appealing. Or maybe it'd work better with those suggestions and the camera angled just so so that the lines of the "towers" of games would follow along a diagonal of sorts.

Keep trudging along.
08/19/2005 08:31:41 AM · #4
Well I didn't mean to echo Glad's post word for word. I must've been in the middle of typing when their post submitted.

<giggle> We're on the same wavelength today.
08/19/2005 08:36:50 AM · #5
I'm not sure, really, why you think this score is out of line. Whether you were "beaten" by images that didn't meet the challenge is really neither here nor there. You need to evaluate your image independently of any others, on its own merits. And on its own merits it's a pretty average picture. So it's no surprise that it garnered a pretty average score.

Technically, it's nothing special; the lighting is pedestrian, with a noticeable (and annoying) hot spot on the featured Mario Bros game. The composition, as you yourself pointed out, is nothing special. In particular, the "gap" at the top of the frame where one of the games is pulled out further than the rest is what I call an "eye trap"; within this otherwise pretty regular arrangment that black hole is drawing attention to itself, and once attention is diverted there there's nothing to reward it — there's no REASON for the thing to be there. The DOF is mildly frustrating; I want to be able to READ more of those titles, and I can't.

As you pointed out, the image meets the challenge head-on, and it has good nostalgia value for a lot of viewers for sure. But meeting the challenge is no guarantee of a better-than-average score. Take the following (my entry in "accidental letters") for example:



This image meets the challenge square on. The lighting is interesting. The composition is serviceable. And it scored 5.060... Just not an image that had a lot of visceral appeal to the voters, right? The same can be said of your shot. It's strongest point is that ti meets the challenge, and that just isn't enough to break out of the low 5's.

I'd be content with that score for that shot if I were you. But then, of course, I'm not you :-)

Robt.
08/19/2005 08:41:03 AM · #6
That's TOO funny! ;^)

Originally posted by marmalade1121:

Well I didn't mean to echo Glad's post word for word. I must've been in the middle of typing when their post submitted.

<giggle> We're on the same wavelength today.

08/19/2005 08:43:03 AM · #7
I agree with bear on the black hole being an eye trap, and the lighting is a bit hot on the Mario game.
08/19/2005 03:35:22 PM · #8
I appreciate the comments. I guess my ego was a little blown up since all of my comments were positive, and nobody gave me any constructive criticism (average vote from commenters was over 7). I guess I was just dazzled by my own photo because of my love for NES games... I plan on doing a panoramic version with all of my games..I'll definitely take your reccomendations into mind!
08/19/2005 03:55:17 PM · #9
NES? You're living in the past! Time for an upgrade - ;-)
08/19/2005 04:10:43 PM · #10
I sometimes find myself liking a photo because it resonates with something inside me ... usually a memory, an event from childhood, or a fondness for a subject. So I LIKE the photo and feel it deserves a good score. If others don't have that same "something" inside them that would resonate with the photo, they will score it lower than I might.

I'm not talking about lowest common denominator here. But the photos that score highest need to be technically excellent and touch a "something" that is universal to the human spirit to really score well. Or they need to show us "something" unique ... something we knew but didn't know we knew. This is out-of-the-box at its best.

The comments above seem generally right to me but I suspect only a small subset of DPC voters have the same resonance with the subject you have. Maybe that's why it scored inthe middle of the pack? Just a hypothesis.

In any event, best of luck and keep shooting.
08/19/2005 04:20:20 PM · #11
5.2 - that was better than average which was 5.144. I gave the photo a 5. It fit the challenge IMO. However, it appeared as if it were a quick shot of something that you just happened across. There isn's much umf or wow factor. I think most will agree, here on DP you definitely need to have that something if you want to score higher. I also agree with the comment that suggests the image is very busy.
08/19/2005 04:30:46 PM · #12
do you have "Rygar" that was my favorite. anyway. i agree with most on here. it fits the subject, its a good idea for a shot, but it just doesnt have that something special. i would have givin it a 6, because for me it brings back memories, but probably not for most voters. i didnt even see it when i was voting. unfortunately i didnt have much time to vote for that particular challenge.
08/19/2005 04:33:56 PM · #13
I think yours is an image that would have benefitted from a border.
08/19/2005 04:38:16 PM · #14
Originally posted by aronya1:

I think yours is an image that would have benefitted from a border.


I agree.
08/19/2005 04:44:23 PM · #15
Remember also that this is an international contest with a wide range of voter ages. Perhaps your subject didnt resonate with all the voters.
08/19/2005 06:50:40 PM · #16
I'm not tryin' to steal a thread here, just prove a point...



We all have those shots that make us wonder why they didn't score so well. Here are three of mine from just the last six challenges. Just keep your head up, keep shooting and one Monday or Wednesday you just may have a ribbon that makes you shake your head and wonder why the voters LIKED it so much...

Message edited by author 2005-08-19 18:51:43.
08/19/2005 06:55:27 PM · #17
Mine didn't even break 5, just 'cause it's not pretty -- but neither was the year ... : (
08/19/2005 07:02:25 PM · #18
Same here with this ones

4.848
4.909

I expected to have higher scores with them. But I keep trying to meet what the voters want (in Live Music, I didn't)
08/19/2005 07:34:44 PM · #19
ya, i was kind of dissapointed too, well thats not the right word, more of a suprised feeling~! i got a 4.66 and i oersonally thought it met the challenge! check it out... telephoto, my second entry
08/19/2005 07:35:39 PM · #20
Originally posted by Netwalker100:

Same here with this ones

4.848
I thought that one would have done better than 4.848 tbh. I gave it an 8.

Actually, I remember now - My attention was drawn to the hands, and especially the wrist bands! - The console ended up fading into the background. Which meant I had three subjects wanting attention; the hands/wrist bands, the console, and the TV.
08/19/2005 07:38:08 PM · #21
Originally posted by Telephoto:

ya, i was kind of dissapointed too, well thats not the right word, more of a suprised feeling~! i got a 4.66 and i oersonally thought it met the challenge! check it out... telephoto, my second entry
Yea, I gave it 10 - I was expecting at least a top ten for that one. Don't know what some people were thinking! :)
08/19/2005 08:52:36 PM · #22
I know on my time capsule entry, I did receive many chastisements for the length of my title. I was told that I really did not need to be so exacting. The image spoke for itself. Anyway, I am guilty as charged. I sort of didn't realize when I titled it what I was doing. It was very late. Anyway, I did find your image to be very busy. I am not much for gaming, so I would imagine that your subject may have brought your score lower than you expected. I would say that is the main reason your score was not where youe wanted. People do vote on liking a photo or not liking, and don't always look at it technically. They also want everything to be perfectly focused, which is my main complaint against most of the voters. Sometimes creative focus and lighting is what the image is about.
08/19/2005 09:03:23 PM · #23
I'm not sure how the rest of you vote but....

Example...

If the theme is "Rain" and the photo has a wet dog standing in the grass with NO rain visible I will not rate it higer that a 5. A 5 would be IMO the best photo ever taken but out of "theme".

Then....

On any photo with "visible" rain I will start with a 5 and work up from there. So....no photo without rain could ever beat a photo WITH rain no matter how good it was...
08/19/2005 09:38:39 PM · #24
So a crappy picture with a raindrop is equal or better than a well lit, focused good shot of something obviously in the topic of rain but without the "raindrop"?

How is that judging a picture on it's quality?
08/19/2005 10:05:39 PM · #25
Think of it this way. If you had to guess what the challenge was by looking at ten photographs sans titles, you would expect all ten photos to have something in common. If the challenge was 'Cookies' and you shoot cake I will vote you down to a ONE no matter how stunning your shot is.

Message edited by author 2005-08-19 22:06:21.
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