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DPChallenge Forums >> Current Challenge >> Fine line between the challenge & just a good shot
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 05/05/2004 12:50:20 PM · #1
Maybe I am reading the challenge wrong:

Your challenge is to find something rusted, and then look for ways to compose an interesting picture around it.

From this, I take it as it's not a "take a shot of something rusty", which is what I see a lot of. Many of these shots are great photos.
So regarding scoring, a picture might be an 8 or 9 based on the stand alone quality of the shot, but when it comes to how well a shot was composed around the challenge, it doesn't, making it hard to cast a subjective vote.

Hate to shoot down a fantastic shot, but don't see how anything was "composed around it".

???
05/05/2004 12:55:13 PM · #2
Originally posted by BradP:
Maybe I am reading the challenge wrong:

Your challenge is to find something rusted, and then look for ways to compose an interesting picture around it.

From this, I take it as it's not a "take a shot of something rusty", which is what I see a lot of. Many of these shots are great photos.
So regarding scoring, a picture might be an 8 or 9 based on the stand alone quality of the shot, but when it comes to how well a shot was composed around the challenge, it doesn't, making it hard to cast a subjective vote.

Hate to shoot down a fantastic shot, but don't see how anything was "composed around it".

???


I agree, Brad. That's how I read and interpreted the challenge instructions. It will be a challenge in and of itself to wade through 447 photos to try to determine which ones did or did not, IMHO, meet the instructions as I interpet them.
05/05/2004 01:04:22 PM · #3
Brad...I'm confused...To me, to compose a picture is just what we always do in framing, focus, lighting, DOF, etc. How are you taking the meaning? Please elaborate on how you think a shot of something rusty might not meet the challenge.

[edited to ask Brad the question]

Message edited by author 2004-05-05 13:41:41.
 05/05/2004 01:17:50 PM · #4
I personally thought that when speaking about composition, an important part of that composition is how the subject relates to its environment and it is either enhanced, dimished, or is otherwise reflected in that environment. Many times, although a picture of an object can be beautiful in itself, so much more can be said if it is composed with concern given to the varying impact of its environment.
 05/05/2004 01:21:01 PM · #5
I think everyone will interpret the Challenge instruction differently, so I don't think I can judge a photo based on my personal interpretation. I just have to assume that everyone knows what they thought the challenge was and vote on the important things: contrast, quality, composition, lighting, originality and overall feel.

Art is rarely ever literal, so to interpret a challenge and vote your interpretation the entire time can be potentially harmful when critiquing. Just my opinion.
 05/05/2004 01:41:53 PM · #6
Originally posted by dahved:
I'm confused...To me, to compose a picture is just what we always do in framing, focus, lighting, DOF, etc. How are you taking the meaning? Please elaborate on how you think a shot of something rusty might not meet the challenge.

"find something rusted, and then look for ways to compose an interesting picture around it."
That says to me to aquire something, then place it in a setting suitable, or spot a rusty "object", then compose the shot so the background/setting tells the story.
Agreed, composing a shot is a fine line here. A fantastic shot of something rusty with an out of focus background wouldn't meet the challenge (IMHO).
Am I reading too much into this?
 05/05/2004 01:52:01 PM · #7
Originally posted by BradP:
Am I reading too much into this?


Well, I think you are but that's just MHO. To me, the {compose a shot around it} meant the very basic "take a picture" - every time we take a picture we "compose a shot".
 05/05/2004 01:55:00 PM · #8
I think the subjective nature of the challenges makes it tough to create a hard and fast rule. Ignoring the technical details of the images, I capped off anything that wasn't rusty at <= 5 and made a comment as such. All images that contained rust in any sort then seemed to fall into two categories. The first was an image of something rusty. The second was an image which incorperated rust, but didn't necessarily have the primary subject being the rust. I weighed the latter higher than the former.
 05/05/2004 02:01:06 PM · #9
looking back thru my voting, i found almost 20 pictures that had no rust whatsoever ... other than that, i voted everyone as if they met the challenge ... regardless of the "primary" subject of the photo.
 05/05/2004 02:29:45 PM · #10
Originally posted by BradP:
Maybe I am reading the challenge wrong:

Your challenge is to find something rusted, and then look for ways to compose an interesting picture around it.

From this, I take it as it's not a "take a shot of something rusty", which is what I see a lot of. Many of these shots are great photos.
So regarding scoring, a picture might be an 8 or 9 based on the stand alone quality of the shot, but when it comes to how well a shot was composed around the challenge, it doesn't, making it hard to cast a subjective vote.

Hate to shoot down a fantastic shot, but don't see how anything was "composed around it".


Hi Brad, i'm not sure there is a way to read the challenge wrong. I agree with Mirdonamy about everyone interpreting the challenge in different ways. I think many of the people on this site will vote on photos in a way that is based only on their level of experiences.
I think the "technical" folks will pay more attention to the technical aspects of a photo and the arty voters might be paying more attention to the feel of the shot or depth of thought it provokes.

It might be a learning experience for you and many others to go back and review your own votes in the challenge photos after they close and post the standings. Ask yourself; why did this picture do so much better than I voted it, or why did I see this one as so much better than everyone else thought of it. I find this a helpful game in showing me things I feel I should have picked-up on when viewing a picture.

My work is always just as I want it to be before I enter it in a challenge. If it's "My" picture, I already know what I'm trying to express. It's only after I see the work of other minds I realize I still have so much to learn. If a picture paints a thousand words, I usually find out mine are all misspelled after the contest.

I do like the the "different" ways people approach a challenge like RUST. To "compose an interesting picture around it" To me its implied. To "compose" is to select all the visual elements, including the color, the frame and even the title as a complete package. Rust can be a color, it can be "out of practice" it can be seen so many creative ways. Don't let it hurt your work as an artist to be only about the score here. Look at the over-all presentation in all the photos you critique. I hope it will help you to expand your mind and fill it with experiences to pull from in the future.
05/05/2004 02:50:32 PM · #11
I interpreted the 'compose a picture around the rusted object' (paraphrasing) to mean that the rusted element could be a part of the environment but the photo did not have to be a strict representation of a rusted object.
I thought I included a rusted element in an obvious way which added to the overall mood of the shot but apparently that is not how the voters are seeing it as my shot is doing pretty bad (holding steady at 3.7-ish).

05/05/2004 02:56:27 PM · #12
Originally posted by melismatica:
I interpreted the 'compose a picture around the rusted object' (paraphrasing) to mean that the rusted element could be a part of the environment but the photo did not have to be a strict representation of a rusted object.
I thought I included a rusted element in an obvious way which added to the overall mood of the shot but apparently that is not how the voters are seeing it as my shot is doing pretty bad (holding steady at 3.7-ish).


Don't let it hurt your work as an artist to be only about the score here. There are so many great shots that never win a ribbon here. Being different isn't a bad thing in art.
 05/06/2004 03:39:14 AM · #13
for a first submission , my "rusted" entry is not doing so bad :) < at the moment >
i interpreted the challenge in the same way some of you have expressed here and a few comments said that my entry wasn't " rusty enough " and that I should have cropped to the rusted element some more.
oh well.
i had one nasty comment though ... but as someone once said ... " live and learn " :)
05/06/2004 04:36:25 AM · #14
I interpreted it as a photo with something rusty in it, not as a picture of rust... but that's just my opinion. I did my shot that way (where the rusted item is merely the main item, but not the entire picture) and it looks like it'll be taking the brown ribbon, so I guess my interpretation was wrong - hehe.
 05/06/2004 05:13:03 AM · #15
" and it looks like it'll be taking the brown ribbon, "

err... what's a brown ribbon ?

thanks
 05/06/2004 06:13:59 AM · #16
Originally posted by bayonic:
" and it looks like it'll be taking the brown ribbon, "

err... what's a brown ribbon ?

thanks


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