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09/16/2006 06:50:16 PM · #1 |
How many of you immediately have ideas for your challenge entries as soon as you see what the challenge is? Along the same lines, how many of you spend a great deal of time planning how you will take a picture, versus the spontaneous crowd that happens to see something that fits, during their daily life, and quickly take a shot of it?
I'm just curious what the overall preparation trends are.
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09/16/2006 07:00:26 PM · #2 |
I guess I'm a mixture of all of the above but tend to find the shots I take time thinking about and preparing specifically for a challenge are often my lowest scoring images.
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09/16/2006 07:05:10 PM · #3 |
| It's a rare challenge where I have an idea immediately. I'm not much for set-up/studio shots, so I'm generally looking for something that I can shoot while out and about. |
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09/16/2006 07:08:47 PM · #4 |
| Once in a while I will try and stage something. Without fail, all such entries do miserably. Better scoring entries are things I shoot while carrying my camera around with me all the time. Probably because they were interesting enough to catch my eye and that holds with others who look at the photo as well. |
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09/16/2006 07:20:42 PM · #5 |
I've been trying to refraim from challemges where I don't have a solid idea, lately.
//www.dpchallenge.com/forum.php?action=read&FORUM_THREAD_ID=464106
In this thread, scalvert tells that he brain storms for quite a while before executing a shot. Works very well for him.
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09/16/2006 07:29:06 PM · #6 |
I wait until 1-2 days before the deadline and then go on a mad shooting spree, both of setup shots and just random stuff. Inevitably something meshes and I enter it.
There are times when I have a specific idea from the outset but, in general, I still wait until almost too late to shoot it. Combination of procrastination, mandatory OT at work and the thrill of last minute deadlines.
Or something.
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09/16/2006 07:42:46 PM · #7 |
Sometimes I know immediately what I'm going to do. Sometimes an idea occurs to me and I immediately recognize it as the first thing likely to have occurred to everyone else and so I either drop it or try to put a different spin on it. Most of the time (now that my team's WPL run is over) I keep it in the back of my mind all week and shoot something on Saturday while I'm out adventuring. My Leading Lines shot came about today as something I just happened to run across.
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09/16/2006 08:45:33 PM · #8 |
I usually get an idea immediately after seeing the challenge topic. Then I discard that idea and normally don´t go for my first idea, rather sleep on it for 1-2 days and then get an idea. Probably 90% of my challenge entries are planned, set up or at least I now what kind of shot I want, then go out and take it, I usually post process it in my head before even going out and taking it.
Like my photojournalism II shot, went to a handball game where the champions were crowned and got a shot of them celebrating and a swim meet where I wanted a shot like the one I submitted. |
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09/16/2006 09:05:39 PM · #9 |
| I get an idea in the first day and let it stew for a while, usually am able to come up with modifications, especially after shooting the first idea if it is a staged shot. |
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09/16/2006 09:41:19 PM · #10 |
I find out about the topic, then think about it for a day. I come up with a couple of ideas and run them by my daughter. She's has a knack for composition and does really well with her point-and-shoot. A day or two later, I'll gather up (or buy) any props needed (if it is a studio shoot), or I'll go to the outdoor site to "size it up".
The next day or so, I'll do the shoot. If I don't like it. I repeat the aforementioned process, but at a much greater pace so as to not miss the deadline. If at that time, I still don't have something I don't like, I won't submit. I do not want to risk lowering my overall average, just to have something entered into a challenge.
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09/16/2006 10:47:59 PM · #11 |
I think about it all week and try to come up with a great idea. Fail, try, fail.
If I do get an idea, I usually procrastinate the shoot until the last day. Things go wrong. Can't get the edit right,
Then get it uploaded 30 min. before deadline, only to find it looks like hell on the web. Re-edit. Upload and hope I beat the deadline.
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09/17/2006 02:11:32 AM · #12 |
Sometimes I have an idea immediately, some times not, sometimes I only have bad ideas, mostly my ideas involve landscapes, boats and/or skiffs and/or water, or my kids.
One other thing, I have never won a ribbon, so I need to do something different:) |
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09/17/2006 02:20:46 AM · #13 |
Originally posted by shanksware:
I think about it all week and try to come up with a great idea. Fail, try, fail.
If I do get an idea, I usually procrastinate the shoot until the last day. Things go wrong. Can't get the edit right,
Then get it uploaded 30 min. before deadline, only to find it looks like hell on the web. Re-edit. Upload and hope I beat the deadline. |
I thought I had adequately demonstrated that this is not a winning procedure ... : ) |
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09/17/2006 02:27:05 AM · #14 |
Originally posted by aguapreta:
One other thing, I have never won a ribbon, so I need to do something different:) |
That's hard to believe, actually...
For myself, I gave up on "preparation" when I retired. I take my images as they come, nowadays; and since I'm mostly a landscape photographer, that just means seizing the opportunity. I'll have certain locations in mind for certain challenges, and a certain time of day, and then I just hope the conditions cooperate. Most of my "setup" shots have been last minute things, frankly, when I haven't stumbled across anything better and the deadline is looming; the scores on these tend to reflect that :-)
Exception: the "Bookbinder" shot that finished 4th in "Environmental Portrait"; for this one I knew immediately exactly what I wanted to do, and set up an appointment with Jim Talin and spend over an hour making the shot in his workshop. I suppose if I did more of this I'd get some better scores, but I tend to thrive on equal parts spontaneity and procrastination.
R.
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09/17/2006 02:46:41 AM · #15 |
| Last day shoot + last hour post-processing = no ribbons :( |
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09/17/2006 05:12:51 AM · #16 |
| I do it all. Some are first day of challenge shots with the idea that came immediately to mind. Some are last minute throw togethers. Some are spur of the moment finds. Of the 6 pictures that I have up either for voting or submitted for upcoming challenges - 2 are finds on my flash card that I did not expect, 1 I went out specifically to shoot and had the idea for a month or so waiting for the right challenge, 2 were straightforward set up shots (one with alot of forethought one without), and 1 was a setup shot to get something in that failed and then a lucky find bailed it out. Results are quite mixed at the moment - but I will enter just to appease my update button addiction. |
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09/18/2006 11:01:55 AM · #17 |
| I don't immediatly have an idea of what I'm gonna do and I usely make a setup for my pictures. I first think of a concept,elements related to a theme and then I try to figure a scene in my head that would be great to capture on a picture. |
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09/18/2006 01:02:26 PM · #18 |
I go to a location that might have something related to the challenge and just try to find a picture there. Leading Lines is an exception: I have a location and a model and I'm trying to arrange for it to happen today. Interestingly, I did have a plan for my highest scoring shot, though  meanwile and I found the location spontaneously (and the final shot didn't quite fit my plan, since I couldn't isolate a cloud that day/week).
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