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Showing posts 26 - 50 of 72, (reverse)
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 03/04/2004 01:47:19 PM · #26
Originally posted by scalvert:
I agree with the general lack of originality here- there were quite a few 'expected' shots. Within each group, though, there are always some that obviously spent more effort or took a more original approach to the same subject. I tend to score those entries a little higher since they have the added challenge of standing out from a crowd.

I also score higher those that "focus" on the challenge rather than just happening to fall within the scope. In this case, I look at each image and try to think, "is it just silent or is it "about" silence?" The challenge was to "convey" silence- not just show a quiet scene. In my mind, an image might communicate silence without actually BEING silent. Opinions vary, of course, thus I'm on track to finish with my lowest score to date. :(

Edit- This is a pretty raucous thread given the subject matter. ;-)

I definitely score shots higher if they really convey the challenge subject...I think the challenge is to set up a shot and not just stumble upon one, although there are some great opportunities when you least expect it--the idea is to be challenged.
 03/04/2004 02:30:46 PM · #27
Originally posted by gpierson:
I definitely score shots higher if they really convey the challenge subject...I think the challenge is to set up a shot and not just stumble upon one, although there are some great opportunities when you least expect it--the idea is to be challenged.

I try to look at as if I were a professional photographer working for a magazine or something similar and the editor tells me, âGet out there and get me pictures of yada yada yada, and they better be good or you donât get a dime!â Under those conditions I think that most of the photographers in the Silence challenge would be making the editor a little angry. ;^)

P.S.
As far a judging goes, I think that a few people actually take the time to impartially judge each photo based on the proper criteria, but, for the most part itâs just a popularity contest. Sort of like, âI like pretty flowers, the photo has pretty flowers, it gets a 10.â For myself, I try to be impartial and judge the photos as they should be judged. Sometimes though it can be very hard to do, especially when there are over 300 entries and a lot of them a so similar or just... uhh... lackluster.

Message edited by author 2004-03-04 14:47:07.
 03/04/2004 02:43:06 PM · #28
Originally posted by Albertmdh:
how bout leaving a damn comment next time...

Silence
Votes: 7
Avg Vote: 3.8571
Comments: 0

yeah thats nice.

well you only have 7 votes. give it time. i have over 100 votes now.. and only 3 comments :(
 03/04/2004 02:46:37 PM · #29
People like me better than you. I have 140 votes and 16 comments. :P
 03/04/2004 03:51:06 PM · #30
To the people that are saying you need to spend more time looking at the photos:

In one professional competition, the judges would pull up one of the images on a large projector screen. Each image would be on the screen just long enough for a majority of them to say "yes" or "no." They probably spent no longer than 5 seconds on each one.

The second time through, they scrutinized the cropping, exposure, color, lens, etc. This process still only took them about 15 to 20 seconds.

They repeated this until they finally had to start looking at the more detailed stuff - like meaning and symbolism.

Even though we are shooting challenges with themes, I think those priorities should probably hold true for our photos. Yes, it's cool to try to convey a message, but it should be an excellent photograph first.

I'm not saying it's the best way to judge, or even that there is a best way to judge. I'm just saying that, if professional competition judges zoom through photos - a person shouldn't be blasted if he or she judges quickly on this site.

But, to all of you that submitted a photo that was a common theme:

This site has proven time and time again that a really good photograph is obviously recognized by those looking for meaningful photos and also by those looking for technically-good photos.

Message edited by author 2004-03-04 15:52:04.
 03/04/2004 04:52:47 PM · #31
Originally posted by ScottK:
People like me better than you. I have 140 votes and 16 comments. :P


And they like you better than me, too! 125 votes, just 3 comments, which are all VERY positive, which is actually frustrating, since my current score is just 4.8800. SOMEBODY must be voting it low -- so why don't they tell me what's wrong with my picture?
 03/04/2004 05:04:40 PM · #32
Originally posted by oldwisemonk:
To the people that are saying you need to spend more time looking at the photos:

In one professional competition, the judges would pull up one of the images on a large projector screen. Each image would be on the screen just long enough for a majority of them to say "yes" or "no." They probably spent no longer than 5 seconds on each one.......

This all may be well and true, but, these judges apparently were well qualified and had tons of experience on what to look for and when. Still, it sounds like a stupid way to judge to me. If I were a professional and knew that is how they were going to judge my work (and considering the artist usually pays an entry fee), I would be very pissed off.
 03/04/2004 05:23:15 PM · #33
Whenever I get a negative comment I go check the persons account to see the quality of their work. If they have done well overall I make note of the comment as a way to improve myself. If I disagree with the comment and the person has never done too well in any of the challenges I just blow it off.

PS: I bet the average vote on the Silence challenge is over 4.9.
 03/04/2004 05:27:40 PM · #34
Originally posted by louddog:
Whenever I get a negative comment I go check the persons account to see the quality of their work. If they have done well overall I make note of the comment as a way to improve myself. If I disagree with the comment and the person has never done too well in any of the challenges I just blow it off.

PS: I bet the average vote on the Silence challenge is over 4.9.


I used to do it that way, too until I realized that I don't even really like my own entries that much, lol, they just fit the challenges at the time. I know, poor attitude on my part. Actually, I never checked the person's scores, just whether or not their work was along the lines of my own taste.

Message edited by author 2004-03-04 17:29:00.
 03/04/2004 05:39:23 PM · #35
Originally posted by louddog:
Whenever I get a negative comment I go check the persons account to see the quality of their work. If they have done well overall I make note of the comment as a way to improve myself. If I disagree with the comment and the person has never done too well in any of the challenges I just blow it off.

PS: I bet the average vote on the Silence challenge is over 4.9.


I guess it depends on what you mean by a negative comment. A comment/s stating the picture is out of focus or over sharpened (for example) is not a negative comment but constructive critisism in the eyes of the commenter and should be taken as such. Now something like "it sucks" is negative and without foundation and belays anything other than stupid commenting and should be ignored.

I look at the profiles of all my commenters and might (as you do) pay more attention to a 'good' photographers comment. However, just because somebody is not at the very pinnacle of this art does not mean they do not know what is good or bad (in their eyes) and I welcome all constructive critisism from good and not so good photographers.

Tonight I saw (another) 1 for my fire challenge and it cut me, if there had been a comment I might have learnt why.
 03/04/2004 06:02:09 PM · #36
Negative meaning they point out something they don't like. On my Gear shot I got a lot of great comments (thanks all). Some comments that pointed out what they thought could be done better conflicted with the comments of what people liked about it. Granted both points of view, being opinions, were right. I wanted to see if I should put more weight behind the people that liked it or the people that didn't.
 03/04/2004 06:19:45 PM · #37
I try to comment on most of the photos I score low, but I know that I check commenter's profiles and I don't want to come off sounding like an authority when clearly I am not. On the other hand, I have taken photography classes and I am well aware of what my own photography is lacking...
It's just easier to tell someone what you do like about their photo. No one will ever tell you you're wrong or argue with you because you LIKE the lighting in their photo...
 03/04/2004 06:21:10 PM · #38
I guess if we all liked the same thing life would be pretty dull?

I think it was Abe Lincoln that said "You can please, all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time...but, you can not please all of the people all of the time."

Possible dpcers epitaph?
 03/04/2004 06:24:36 PM · #39
I started out at 6.000
Now I am down to 4.6 and 5 comments.
Ugh.... guess my shot is too common?
 03/04/2004 06:30:22 PM · #40
On a previous challenge, I got this comment: "More time preparing the shot could have made this better." Well, I suppose that's almost always true! Not very helpful, however. I mean, howso?

I could only think, "More time preparing this comment could have made this criticism better."
03/04/2004 06:57:12 PM · #41
Actually I don't think that's a bad comment at all. How many time have you gotten home and looked at your pictures and wished you'd had spent a little more time on a few?
I almost just made a similar comment while voting. The picture has a great subject, but it looks as if the photographer walked up to it, snapped one shot and walked away. Spending just a few minutes figuring out a different angle or playing with the lighting would have made it a 10 in my book. (I didn't make the comment yet, so it wasn't me..)
 03/04/2004 07:06:17 PM · #42
I think I see boomers dispair at this comment, it could have taken an age and hundreds of shots to reach. Maybe it would have read better suggesting the composition may have been different? like another comment suggesting the other hand would have helped. I didn't vote on this challenge but have never heard of the game so probably would have wondered how it met the challenge.
 03/04/2004 08:08:40 PM · #43
Originally posted by louddog:
Actually I don't think that's a bad comment at all. How many time have you gotten home and looked at your pictures and wished you'd had spent a little more time on a few?
I almost just made a similar comment while voting. The picture has a great subject, but it looks as if the photographer walked up to it, snapped one shot and walked away. Spending just a few minutes figuring out a different angle or playing with the lighting would have made it a 10 in my book. (I didn't make the comment yet, so it wasn't me..)


See. that's my point. If the reviewer had said "Spending just a few minutes figuring out a different angle" or whatever is excellent feedback. At least I know what the reviewer was concerned with. It's when he or she simply says "spend more time before taking the picture" that I don't know what to spend that time ON. Make sense? Anyway, I'm not major whining here. Just pointing out that sometimes the comments are hard to decipher.
03/04/2004 08:17:10 PM · #44
133 votes, 13 comments, 4.2, most of the comments were bashing the part of the pic i liked best... so not really helpfull, i took 10 shots or so with different settings a lighting, i picked this one cas i liked it, guess i like crap. not a complaint, just a frustrated realization.
 03/04/2004 08:36:01 PM · #45
Originally posted by Albertmdh:
133 votes, 13 comments, 4.2, most of the comments were bashing the part of the pic i liked best... so not really helpfull, i took 10 shots or so with different settings a lighting, i picked this one cas i liked it, guess i like crap. not a complaint, just a frustrated realization.


I'm sorry to hear that. This is my first entry.. I've got 157 votes, 3 comments, and 4.5 average. I wish that I had more comments, though. I know that my shot isn't the best.. I was hoping for some pointers. But all of the comments are pretty much exactly the same comment.. about my title. I hadn't realized that the little description about the photo doesn't show up on the challenge (and yes, I realize that it said it, now. Guess I should read more carefully!) So.. well at least I've learned to title blatantly obvious or people vote you lower!
 03/04/2004 08:43:38 PM · #46
Votes: 143
Avg Vote: 4.3497
Comments: 1

Technically, my photo is well taken. I guess its the subject that isn't fascinating/original. I think that the site should use a different voting system which includes Originality, Lighting, Composition, etc... so the voting could be fair.

Its just a thought I had. I'm not complaining, I like my photo and thats what matters to me.
03/04/2004 09:06:27 PM · #47
I'm getting exactly the score I deserve 4.3(?). My shot is not interesting, not exposed well and something I've never tried before. I am pretty happy with it anyway and will try to retake a decent shot as soon as it gets warmer.
 03/04/2004 09:22:10 PM · #48
Originally posted by scalvert:
I agree with the general lack of originality here- there were quite a few 'expected' shots.


Personally, I don't really care if the same subject has been chosen by many. It's really unfair (although understandable) to vote down the nth mountain just because it's the nth mountain that came onto your screen during voting. The picture quality is the most important factor here. A mountain, for example, can be breathtakingly well captured or feebly shot.

Judge the photo on its own merits, please.

03/04/2004 10:26:57 PM · #49
Originally posted by Ecce Signum:
Originally posted by louddog:
Whenever I get a negative comment I go check the persons account to see the quality of their work. If they have done well overall I make note of the comment as a way to improve myself. If I disagree with the comment and the person has never done too well in any of the challenges I just blow it off.

PS: I bet the average vote on the Silence challenge is over 4.9.


I guess it depends on what you mean by a negative comment. A comment/s stating the picture is out of focus or over sharpened (for example) is not a negative comment but constructive critisism in the eyes of the commenter and should be taken as such. Now something like "it sucks" is negative and without foundation and belays anything other than stupid commenting and should be ignored.

I look at the profiles of all my commenters and might (as you do) pay more attention to a 'good' photographers comment. However, just because somebody is not at the very pinnacle of this art does not mean they do not know what is good or bad (in their eyes) and I welcome all constructive critisism from good and not so good photographers.

Tonight I saw (another) 1 for my fire challenge and it cut me, if there had been a comment I might have learnt why.


Good point. But still, if they haven't done well in challenges doesn't mean they doen't have something to offer.
When I comment I like to give constuctrive critism, but then also give something that I liked. So it balences it out
 03/04/2004 10:38:13 PM · #50
Originally posted by Koriyama:
Originally posted by scalvert:
I agree with the general lack of originality here- there were quite a few 'expected' shots.


Personally, I don't really care if the same subject has been chosen by many. It's really unfair (although understandable) to vote down the nth mountain just because it's the nth mountain that came onto your screen during voting. The picture quality is the most important factor here. A mountain, for example, can be breathtakingly well captured or feebly shot.

Judge the photo on its own merits, please.


sure, yes, i agree, but if i felt that a finger over the lips was unoriginal or uncreative, my position is only strengthened after the nth finger over the lips... hopefully i will vote them all down equally enough.. (however, not to say that a person can't do a finger over the lips creativly. .it is just more difficult)
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