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02/18/2004 11:41:09 AM · #1 |
I've viewed over 1/4 of the texture entries. It seems many of them present texture, but the subjects are just so bland or uninteresting. Seems to be a lot of those. I've left a lot of "Shows texture, but doesn't hold my interest" comments, and that makes me feel bad. It makes me wonder if I'm scoring too low.
Does anyone else view many of the entries that way? (My score's not so great, so other's probably feel the same way about mine!)
Are you scoring based solely on the texture being present, or are you incorporating the interest and creativity of the subject also into your scores? Most of my scores seem to be running 4's and 5's but then I stopped and just started viewing...will go back later to score after I think about it abit.
Message edited by author 2004-02-18 11:42:41.
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02/18/2004 11:44:10 AM · #2 |
| Have to say my scoring is always partly based on visual interest and creativity, not just whether the theme was met. Seems to me it is a given that the object of the contests is to meet the challenge in as interesting and creative a way as possible. |
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02/18/2004 11:45:14 AM · #3 |
I think it's important that you call them as you see them.
:) |
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02/18/2004 11:47:01 AM · #4 |
The point is not necessarily the blandness or otherwise of the subject, but the blandness or otherwise of the photograph, surely.
I score on the photograph, not the subject unless it is particularly contentious.
E
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02/18/2004 11:47:53 AM · #5 |
I think you have to add interest and creativity and the whole package of visual interest when voting, just as IMO to vote low because haven't met challenge is nt so great, neither is giving someone who has an awful shot a great score just because they met the topic....
(not to open up that topic again) |
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02/18/2004 11:48:24 AM · #6 |
Originally posted by jpochard:
I've viewed over 1/4 of the texture entries. It seems many of them present texture, but the subjects are just so bland or uninteresting. |
Agreed. There is a lot of texture and a lot of uninteresting images. They meet the challenge but what else do they do?
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02/18/2004 12:06:41 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by jpochard:
I've viewed over 1/4 of the texture entries. It seems many of them present texture, but the subjects are just so bland or uninteresting. Seems to be a lot of those. I've left a lot of "Shows texture, but doesn't hold my interest" comments, and that makes me feel bad. It makes me wonder if I'm scoring too low.
Does anyone else view many of the entries that way? (My score's not so great, so other's probably feel the same way about mine!)
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Bah! Judy having been the recipient of one of your comments, you have absolutely nothing to feel bad about. I can see your point. I had the same feeling about my picture when I first started working on it.. I should have titled my image "It grows on you". It would have been more appropriate for the image... and a statement of how I started to feel after working with it. |
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02/18/2004 12:17:39 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by jpochard:
I've viewed over 1/4 of the texture entries. It seems many of them present texture, but the subjects are just so bland or uninteresting. Seems to be a lot of those. I've left a lot of "Shows texture, but doesn't hold my interest" comments, and that makes me feel bad. It makes me wonder if I'm scoring too low.
Does anyone else view many of the entries that way? (My score's not so great, so other's probably feel the same way about mine!)
Are you scoring based solely on the texture being present, or are you incorporating the interest and creativity of the subject also into your scores? Most of my scores seem to be running 4's and 5's but then I stopped and just started viewing...will go back later to score after I think about it abit. |
Like de'javu - I have left comments on about 35 entries in the Texture challenge.... most of the entries do show texture but do definitely lack interest (in my opinion)...I have also made suggestions to a few as to how I would have maybe added that spark of interest.
I think it was a good challenge within the forums in which people were encouraged to leave comments. Generally, I find it easier to leave comments to the images that I score higher. This time I went back to the images I scored lower to offer suggestions. Might be a good idea for more of us to consider...
Personally, I currently have a 5.0 and only 2 comments...... where is there justice? |
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02/18/2004 12:23:29 PM · #9 |
Well.. I guess I got lucky with my first attempt... two of three of the comments about my picture were "i have no idea what this is".
:) |
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02/18/2004 12:31:20 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by yeoua:
Well.. I guess I got lucky with my first attempt... two of three of the comments about my picture were "i have no idea what this is".
:) |
LOL, glad you have a great sense of humor! |
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02/18/2004 12:51:32 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
Originally posted by jpochard:
I've viewed over 1/4 of the texture entries. It seems many of them present texture, but the subjects are just so bland or uninteresting. |
Agreed. There is a lot of texture and a lot of uninteresting images. They meet the challenge but what else do they do? |
Is this a photography site or a site about photographic illustration? Like the editor says "We're doing on a story on textures, people, we need pictures!" and then the editors sit around and determine whether the photos fit the story. Sometimes great photos get tossed because they are not within the guidelines and sometimes so-so pictures end up on the front page because they do meet the guideline. But the primary criteria is the theme.
Honestly, I have come by here the past few days and all I see are discussions on the theme and topic and endless extistential arguments as to what is and what is not a "proper" interpretation of theme. Do you all not realize that you're KILLING your creativity? My personal sense is that the joy of art is to see things in new ways, to introduce people to new experiences and to show your version of things. Just because I do not see a guy NOT letting go of a bike in the air as being particularly "on topic" for a "letting go" challenge does not mean I did not give that photograph a "9" or whatever I did - it was a great photrograph and the person who took it clearly thought it met the challenge topic - that's good enough for me. If I were judging by being "on topic" based on my own sense of it, I would have given him one of the 3s or even 2s that I got. Which seemed pretty stupid considering the photograph.
I'd like my mind to be opened, not imprisoned in itself for the rest of my life. The artist, the photographer, gets to decide on the interpretation and I, for one, am pretty tired of getting slammed because people don't "understand" how it meets the topic. Do they need to? I made it, I am the artist. I know how it meets the theme. An example is my fork into water shot for the "letting go" challenge. If anyone else doesn't get the feeling of relief when the last dish goes into the sink after a big meal then I guess I am the only one who sees things that way. Maybe the photo wasn't all that and a piece of cake, too - but to be so slammed for not being on topic just got under my skin. I will NEVER do well here because I think in metaphor and alliteration. I rarely think in absolutes and concretes and, frankly, I have been told it is the greatest part of what makes me "good" (and, despite evidence, I do okay with photography).
Seriously, it begins to feel small minded. Perhaps photographers judging work in which they are an active competitor is not such a good idea. We bring to the judging arena our own ideas and prejudices based on our particular interpretation of the theme.
I know this is a rant. It didn't start out as one. Sorry. And I know it sounds like sour grapes - but I hope it is not. Part of this is surely my frustration at being so terribly bad at "planned" photography that I feel like a neophyte with a disposable plastic camera at a convention of Ansel Adams students.
Catherine
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02/18/2004 01:05:46 PM · #12 |
| Excellent post Catherine, could not agree more!! |
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02/18/2004 01:14:47 PM · #13 |
Ah Catherine - if you're so bad at planned photography, at least your un-planned stuff shines.
Given the chances of accidentally taking a shot which fits any particular challenge (which has happened to me only once, in Letting Go), it is inevitable that most challenge entries here will be planned. However, it does not prevent most of us (well, a lot of us) from taking other photographs at other times - and I think most of the people here who are serious about their photography have other projects on the go, also. I certainly do - one of which has come directly from a planned shot taken for a challenge, which I'm in the process of developing from that point. So I can use this place as a jumping-off point.
As to voting - I doubt any of these threads will change people's processes, and we will all of us continue to get comments which treat us like idiots, and a rare few that treat us like grown-ups (i.e properly critical). So it goes, especially in the odd world of on-line communities.
E
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02/18/2004 01:26:02 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by Catherine:
I know this is a rant. It didn't start out as one. Sorry. And I know it sounds like sour grapes - but I hope it is not. Part of this is surely my frustration at being so terribly bad at "planned" photography that I feel like a neophyte with a disposable plastic camera at a convention of Ansel Adams students.
Catherine |
Everyone has their own expectations from photos that appear in challenges. None of them are right or wrong. All of them are acceptable.
No matter what the challenge topic is, I look for something I consider to be artistic in some way.
A face-on photograph of sandpaper would meet the 'texture' challenge. To me, it would be a boring photo. I wouldn't score it very highly. Its not something I would consider trying myself or hanging on my wall. It woudln't inspire me in any way. Sure... it meets the challenge, but it doesn't meet all my personal expectations.
How can you know what everyone's personal expectations are? You can't and it's not even worth worrying about. Shoot something you like... something you are proud of...
:)
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02/18/2004 01:39:48 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by Catherine:
...I think in metaphor and alliteration... |
I understand and, I'm sure, there is a sizable minority who agrees with you, well... with the gist of your post, that is. The fact that you think in alliteration, however, is less credible. :-)
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02/18/2004 01:43:21 PM · #16 |
What I do is I grade it based on the photograph alone. How well it stands out just being an photo. Then I compare it to the theme. If it meets the theme very well, I bump a few points, if it's just okay for the theme, which I find most are, then it stays, and if it doesn't meet the theme, I cut the score in half.
So I agree. I'm giving low scores, because while they all meet the theme since it's not a hard theme to meet, they're just not very intereting photogrpahps. |
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02/18/2004 02:49:56 PM · #17 |
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
No matter what the challenge topic is, I look for something I consider to be artistic in some way. |
but of course, this is a photography site - the challenge is just a theme of an assignment, but it's got to be a "good pitcher" if it's a serious submission... or at least something one believes is a "good pitcher"... |
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02/18/2004 03:28:13 PM · #18 |
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
...No matter what the challenge topic is, I look for something I consider to be artistic in some way... |
And so do I.
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
Shoot something you like... something you are proud of... |
Move me.
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02/18/2004 03:59:44 PM · #19 |
Originally posted by zeuszen:
Move me. |
What, 412 times?
E
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02/18/2004 04:07:41 PM · #20 |
Originally posted by Catherine:
The artist, the photographer, gets to decide on the interpretation and I, for one, am pretty tired of getting slammed because people don't "understand" how it meets the topic. Do they need to? I made it, I am the artist. I know how it meets the theme. Catherine |
How does this compare with comments you tagged on other artist submissions?
"Rewind" - Point of View Challenge
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"Wonderful photograph but I am unsure as to how it meets the challenge critera."
"On a Roll" - Point of View Challenge
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"I like the abstract and grainy quality of this image - but am unsure how it meets the challenge topic."
I'm not always the sharpest pencil in the pack but I don't understand.
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02/18/2004 04:11:12 PM · #21 |
Originally posted by e301:
Originally posted by zeuszen:
Move me. |
What, 412 times? |
I can't know how many entries you submit per challenge. ;-)
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02/18/2004 04:37:23 PM · #22 |
Well, I didn't mean to start a rant, but since I'm still pretty new I didn't want to drop scores needlessly. I DO try hard to not score particularly low on photos which may not "move" me, but which are obviously well thought out, technically sound and even excellent, and which have a connection to the topic. Kind of like different music... I can appreciate a wide variety of styles, but my own collection isn't all that varied because I know what I like.
I want my votes to be fair and consistant, but truthful too. My own entries I guess I love to hear what people have to say, but I don't put a great deal of weight on the vote. (This is NOT to suggest I wouldn't like to wear the blue ribbon some day :) )
My own creativity is not changed by the voting process, except for the better. Digital allows us such a wonderful freedom to take what we want, when we want. I take many more photos than what is entered or even shared here. The DPC is a great way to get me to think about what I'm doing with my photography (both for the challenges and for my own enjoyment shots) and to help me learn new techniques and the details of my camera.
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02/18/2004 08:01:58 PM · #23 |
Originally posted by zeuszen:
Originally posted by Catherine:
...I think in metaphor and alliteration... |
I understand and, I'm sure, there is a sizable minority who agrees with you, well... with the gist of your post, that is. The fact that you think in alliteration, however, is less credible. :-) |
LOL. Indeed.
Catherine
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02/23/2004 03:38:26 AM · #24 |
| I agree. My score on my entry isn't doing too well either. I admit that this was not one of the more interesting challenges I've seen lately. It seems that people are playing it too safe and not really trying to do anything too radical or different. |
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02/23/2004 04:04:00 AM · #25 |
I'm new to the site and this is the second challenge I've voted on. (letting go was the first). Both had pictures I thought we're very boring however described the topic exellently. These I did not score very high. I think a theme is just a way to get started. It is something to base your creativity around. I understand that sometimes you get so caught up in depicting something that your photo turns out uninteresting. It's happaned to me before.
Anyway, the point is I score high on photos that have excelled in various ways including: techinical ability, composition, effective use of color, use of DOF, and just plain beauty. It has to hold my attention long enough to evaluate the rest of these ellements. |
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