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DPChallenge Forums >> Challenge Results >> voting in 2002 vs voting in 2007
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 06/20/2007 03:22:02 PM · #1
5 years.

Literally thousands of new voters and pictures.

In another thread, I saw someone comparing voting from transition 1 to voting in transition 2. I want to take that a step further and show something interesting (I think) that I did last week.

In transition I, I entered this picture, shot with a 1.3 mp sony


It placed 24 out of 104 (78%)
Scored 6.0398
37 comments

Last week, in transition II, I entered this picture, shot with my rebel

It placed 85 out of 302 (72%)
Scored 5.8133
10 comments

Yea, the picture is better, and the score is lower (though the percentage is close). I think it speaks more of the quality of shots entered now as opposed to 5 years ago, than any one, individual factor.

06/20/2007 03:25:55 PM · #2
it's good to see that the site is attracting more and more talent and pushing people to develop their photography skills
 06/20/2007 03:26:19 PM · #3
i agree with Karma.
 06/20/2007 03:27:10 PM · #4
i think that over the years, it has gotten more competitive. more professional photographers are logging in, and with all of these challenges, everyone is getting more and more practice.

i also think that we have seen so many fantastic shots on this site that it's taking more and more to impress us, thus the shots that we think are "good" are being judged harder because they are being compared to the shots that are "great."

what a great experiment! good thinking!!
 06/20/2007 03:28:05 PM · #5
The first thing I noticed was the difference in comments. I will try to comment more, even if it means I don't reach 20% voting.
 06/20/2007 03:33:30 PM · #6
I just posted this in another thread not too long ago:

Originally posted by artyste:
Just a short mention for anyone that compares the scores on photos they've submitted in the past to the ones they got, or are getting, on photos with a similar look/feel/style/quality/etc. now.

You simply *cannot* expect the same type of scoring on them. You just can't. There are too many factors that exist. Just to name a few:

1. Type of Challenge
2. Different voter base
3. Different mentality of existing voter base
4. Style/trend change since original entry
5. Mood swings.

Etc, etc, etc. So if you state that you are getting lower scores due to the fact that older entries scored better than current ones.. nuh uh. Doesn't wash. It's just not a valid complaint.


I think it has some relevance here.. I'm finding that far too many people are trying to compare their old photos with new ones.. or trying to submit photos that are practically identical to their old work, and expecting the same kind of scoring.

It's just silly.
 06/20/2007 03:39:38 PM · #7
It also shows that when you compress a photo to 72 dpi and 640 pixels the quality of the camera is not as important. Now when you try to print photos then the quality of the camera is very important. Many if not a majority of the photos entered at DPC are cropped to a level that the final photo would not print well at all. Many with 8, 10 or 1v3n 13 mp cameras have learned that a very small part of the photo can be cropped, and processed to 72 dpi and made to look great.
 06/20/2007 03:41:26 PM · #8
I like to think about this and laugh. Really.

These are the two images I'd most like to get off my profile page.



They were both entered in 2003 and received, respectively, a 6.6230 and a 6.4541. Hahaha! I'd be lucky to scrape by with a 5.1 on those these days.

In comparison, these are the better scoring of my more recent entries and only the last one topped even a 6.3.



(I don't *think* it's that I'm just getting worse but...)
 06/20/2007 03:44:10 PM · #9
wonder if we could beg langdon to program it so that it is our top entries for the year rather than forever . . .

I agree mk. There is a shot on my profile page (actually two) that I would like to top, but I don't ever see it happening.
 06/20/2007 03:46:50 PM · #10
Originally posted by karmat:
wonder if we could beg langdon to program it so that it is our top entries for the year rather than forever . . .

I agree mk. There is a shot on my profile page (actually two) that I would like to top, but I don't ever see it happening.


i second this. i actually ahte a couple of shots on my front page. And my team needed a good score this week so i entered a cliche' shot that is pretty and all but not what i want on my front page and sure enough it may be heading there.
 06/20/2007 03:48:16 PM · #11


This is #5 of my top 5 photos on my portfolio.

It scored a 6.7 at the time. Honestly.. Can you imagine that shot, even in a stopped motion challenge, getting over a 4.8 these days? I can't.

I have a chance of knocking it off.. but a slim one. I'm not a 6.7+ scorer on DPC anymore.. my style of photography has changed and I don't even *like* conforming to DPC style anymore.. so it'd have to be a fluke.

Still, yah.

Just goes to show how much stronger the competition is these days.
 06/20/2007 03:49:13 PM · #12
Originally posted by karmat:
wonder if we could beg langdon to program it so that it is our top entries for the year rather than forever . . .

I agree mk. There is a shot on my profile page (actually two) that I would like to top, but I don't ever see it happening.

Maybe knock a point off all your shots every time they get a year older? ; )
 06/20/2007 03:55:08 PM · #13
Originally posted by bod:
Originally posted by karmat:
wonder if we could beg langdon to program it so that it is our top entries for the year rather than forever . . .

I agree mk. There is a shot on my profile page (actually two) that I would like to top, but I don't ever see it happening.

Maybe knock a point off all your shots every time they get a year older? ; )


yea. boxofficemojo.com lists all the box offices for all movies going back decades. they have a feature that can adjsut for inflation. so you can see how much Gone with the wind (or any movie) would have made at todays movie prices. we could do the same except adjsut for defaltion:)
 06/20/2007 04:17:59 PM · #14
What seems sort of funny to me though is that often I "liked" the ribbon winners in the past better than the images that win now. They seemed to have more soul, even though technically they probably were not as good.

Sometimes I think it's not so much that DPC has changed, but that some of us, or many of us, that have been around DPC for a long time, have changed. We look at pictures differently, we pursue different interests. For myself, I feel sad at times that I seem to have lost the spontaneity to some degree, the freedom to shoot whatever and find joy in it - now, I'm preocupied with technicals, with making it "perfect". In the past, everything was a discovery, a wonder in the making. Now, it's a repetition at times, and finding a wonder is more difficult. Not less enjoyable, but much more difficult. Weird.

But I don't think the voters are that much different now than in 2002.
 06/20/2007 04:22:44 PM · #15
Originally posted by ursula:
What seems sort of funny to me though is that often I "liked" the ribbon winners in the past better than the images that win now. They seemed to have more soul, even though technically they probably were not as good.

Sometimes I think it's not so much that DPC has changed, but that some of us, or many of us, that have been around DPC for a long time, have changed. We look at pictures differently, we pursue different interests. For myself, I feel sad at times that I seem to have lost the spontaneity to some degree, the freedom to shoot whatever and find joy in it - now, I'm preocupied with technicals, with making it "perfect". In the past, everything was a discovery, a wonder in the making. Now, it's a repetition at times, and finding a wonder is more difficult. Not less enjoyable, but much more difficult. Weird.

But I don't think the voters are that much different now than in 2002.


Actually, I agree a lot with this.. although before the DPL, I had found a way to shoot stuff with that element of spontaneity and "soul" if you will. To an extent. I shall be returning to that again. Heck, even with DPL, I couldn't shoot for DPC anyway. That carbon-copy stock image crap that screams "two dimensional".

You mention the recent ribbon winners, and I'm seeing a trend again I'd hoped was dead an buried. The super-smoothed, fantastically over-sharpened look that makes me wonder how anyone can consider it good photography... but then, we live in an area of "HDTV" and "Playstation3" where everything has this hyper-sharp look, and it's what people expect now.

*sigh*.
 06/20/2007 04:24:19 PM · #16
I started voting again (voting for all of the entries, not just as many as possible) a couple of challenges ago after taking a couple of years off.

Consistently, I have found in the past two or three weeks the shots that are rating high are my 5, 6, and 7s, and my 8 through 10s are finish somewhere in the middle. So, yeah, ursula, I agree with you to a large extent. What I *value* in a picture now is different than what I used to.

That, I think, is a good thing. It would be boring to stay the same.

Sometimes, though it is good to repeat an earlier entry just to convince yourself that you have improved -- regardless of what the score shows.

06/20/2007 04:25:12 PM · #17
Originally posted by ursula:
What seems sort of funny to me though is that often I "liked" the ribbon winners in the past better than the images that win now. They seemed to have more soul, even though technically they probably were not as good.

Sometimes I think it's not so much that DPC has changed, but that some of us, or many of us, that have been around DPC for a long time, have changed. We look at pictures differently, we pursue different interests. For myself, I feel sad at times that I seem to have lost the spontaneity to some degree, the freedom to shoot whatever and find joy in it - now, I'm preocupied with technicals, with making it "perfect". In the past, everything was a discovery, a wonder in the making. Now, it's a repetition at times, and finding a wonder is more difficult. Not less enjoyable, but much more difficult. Weird.

But I don't think the voters are that much different now than in 2002.


POssibly just the fact that as more PP is added to shots, the freshness and impact has changed from originality to processing and Digital Art...sorry I will wash my mouth out with soapy water from mentioning those words!
 06/20/2007 04:27:09 PM · #18
Originally posted by formerlee:
Originally posted by ursula:
What seems sort of funny to me though is that often I "liked" the ribbon winners in the past better than the images that win now. They seemed to have more soul, even though technically they probably were not as good.

Sometimes I think it's not so much that DPC has changed, but that some of us, or many of us, that have been around DPC for a long time, have changed. We look at pictures differently, we pursue different interests. For myself, I feel sad at times that I seem to have lost the spontaneity to some degree, the freedom to shoot whatever and find joy in it - now, I'm preocupied with technicals, with making it "perfect". In the past, everything was a discovery, a wonder in the making. Now, it's a repetition at times, and finding a wonder is more difficult. Not less enjoyable, but much more difficult. Weird.

But I don't think the voters are that much different now than in 2002.


POssibly just the fact that as more PP is added to shots, the freshness and impact has changed from originality to processing and Digital Art...sorry I will wash my mouth out with soapy water from mentioning those words!


Go wash your mouth with soapy water! :)))

You're right though. And there are some times when I like the more "digital art" approach. I think that as we change, sometimes we lose our footing, and for myself, I'm slowly finding it again, I think - but it's different than before.

What I'm very glad about for myself (and others also it seems, like Karma) it's not that we lost the love of it, just that we changed.

I need some sappy music here to add to this :(

Message edited by author 2007-06-20 16:29:08.
 06/20/2007 04:29:08 PM · #19
Originally posted by ursula:
For myself, I feel sad at times that I seem to have lost the spontaneity to some degree, the freedom to shoot whatever and find joy in it - now, I'm preocupied with technicals, with making it "perfect". In the past, everything was a discovery, a wonder in the making. Now, it's a repetition at times, and finding a wonder is more difficult. Not less enjoyable, but much more difficult. Weird.


I think this describes becoming an expert in all things. Being good is hard and takes effort. There's that sweet spot of the learning curve where things seem easy and you just get better no matter what, but at the top of the curve it's hard.

But what are you going to do? Stay at the bottom because it's more "fun" down there? I think after time that would be less fun as well.
 06/20/2007 04:29:51 PM · #20
I think the difference in score is merely cause you forgot to add the "?" to the newer photo and that cost you 0.2 points off the average :)

Hehe but seriously, interesting comparison and you have most definately improved since then, the new one is as good as the old one was bad, think the one taken 2002 would have scored a high 3 or low 4 if it had been submitted now.
 06/20/2007 04:54:59 PM · #21
I am reading this with interest, after being away for ages from this site, I am finding it impossible to knock anything off my front page....

the winners seem to go in circles, I remember when super sharp and clean shots became the big winners here in 2002 (ish) and at that time I tried to get my pictures more like that...and again now
the winners are so amazingly sharp and processed, I don't know how they do it.....I just want to take pictures that I like.....

but the picture I submitted to neg. space is my highest score in a long time and to be honest, the picture itself doesn't really interest me, I just put it in because of DPL.... I tend the love the arty pictures that others do and they usually are not ribbon pictures.
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