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06/16/2004 06:59:00 AM · #1 |
There is a huge difference between now and when I discovered the site about 6 months ago. Is DPC a victim of it's popularity?
It looks like there is more washed out "snapshot type" of picture.
Looks like more and more people take picture and try to have the challenge meet their picture, instead of taking picture that meet the challenge. There seems to have less set-up for the challenges.
There seems to have alot more complaining about results than before.
Am i seeing things?
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06/16/2004 07:07:10 AM · #2 |
Nope. I've been away for 6 months but there's just as much moaning, whining and complaining as there ever was.
; )
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06/16/2004 07:11:08 AM · #3 |
Nope things are still the same. And by starting this thread, you have just participated in the whining. Tag... you`re it! :P
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06/16/2004 07:31:52 AM · #4 |
I think the snapshot entries and the attempts to "shoehorn" images into the challenges tend to run in cycles. The fact is, spring and early summer is "newbie season" on the Internet in general (as people who got computers over the holidays start making their way onto the Internet and eventually get confident enough to contribute to sites, and as college students wrap up for the summer and have time for other things). For a site like this, it is further compunded by all the people who got digital cameras over the holiays and have recently started exploring the idea that the camera is good for something besides family and vacation snaps.
A certain percentage of these users enter the site with an abundance of enthusiasm, and want to enter every challenge that comes by. Often, this leads to one of two things. The first is what I like to call the "scavenger hunt effect," where the photographers says "Oooh! I found an airplane!" and fires off a shot or three with little additional thought into the matter. The second is the shoehorning that we are all familiar with... in which the photographer will try to find the closest match they can to the challenge and "make it fit." Both of these have been going on since the very early days of DPChallenge, and neither will go away any time soon.
As for the complaining about results, I think this has actually dropped somewhat (relative to the number of active users). There are two types of low-score forum posts I see. One is, "my score is low, the voters don't understand me or there is a vast conspiracy against me" post; the other is the "my score is low, how can I make myself a better photographer" post. Most of the recent score-related posts I have seen fall into the second category. I do not consider that complaining, I consider that trying to learn.
-Terry
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06/16/2004 08:05:18 AM · #5 |
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06/16/2004 08:09:25 AM · #6 |
| I haven't bothered to research it, just a gut feeling, but does anyone else sense an overall, gradual downward trend in scores? |
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06/16/2004 08:27:04 AM · #7 |
I wish we had some member challenges with Basic rules.
Pretty please?! :-)
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06/16/2004 02:39:41 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by ClubJuggle:
I think the snapshot entries and the attempts to "shoehorn" images into the challenges tend to run in cycles. The fact is, spring and early summer is "newbie season" on the Internet in general (as people who got computers over the holidays start making their way onto the Internet and eventually get confident enough to contribute to sites, and as college students wrap up for the summer and have time for other things). For a site like this, it is further compunded by all the people who got digital cameras over the holiays and have recently started exploring the idea that the camera is good for something besides family and vacation snaps.
A certain percentage of these users enter the site with an abundance of enthusiasm, and want to enter every challenge that comes by. Often, this leads to one of two things. The first is what I like to call the "scavenger hunt effect," where the photographers says "Oooh! I found an airplane!" and fires off a shot or three with little additional thought into the matter. The second is the shoehorning that we are all familiar with... in which the photographer will try to find the closest match they can to the challenge and "make it fit." Both of these have been going on since the very early days of DPChallenge, and neither will go away any time soon.
As for the complaining about results, I think this has actually dropped somewhat (relative to the number of active users). There are two types of low-score forum posts I see. One is, "my score is low, the voters don't understand me or there is a vast conspiracy against me" post; the other is the "my score is low, how can I make myself a better photographer" post. Most of the recent score-related posts I have seen fall into the second category. I do not consider that complaining, I consider that trying to learn.
-Terry |
I am one of those "newbie" enthusiasts and am going through all the growing pains described above. I have already learned to pull back on some of the challenges, learned a whole lot of what goes into good photography, insight into the skills you need to develop in post-editing, etc. I read, I ask questions, I study the work here. When I look at some of the early DPC challenges, before the cameras evolved and the people here evolved in their knowledge and skill, many of the best photos would never stand up to the best here today. Likewise, I hope my own skills evolve each week and year and that I can look back and see how much better I do in various ways, largely with the help and motivation of DPC. I don't fret over scores; I pretty much know what is true and on target in regards to the quality, or lack of, in my photos. The "taste" part will always be there, but I want to simply be able to produce what I "see" in my head througfh truly good photography. I know I am making progress, even though it doesn't show up in the challenges yet. And even I hate the large amount of "snapshots" just thrown into the challenges, thinking even I could take a picture of a Pepsi can in a "Pepsi Challenge". But the point is, I am very thankful for those who allow room for those of us who really do want to learn here. The ones who don't will drop away, with new ones in their wake. But a few will really make something out of all this. Popularity of something always brings the median down some, but I am glad, too, that DPC is popular enough to attract some really great people and photographers, also.
Edit: And I just avoid the whining over scores and debating over what meets the challenges for the most part! lol
Message edited by author 2004-06-16 14:42:48.
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06/16/2004 02:48:58 PM · #9 |
I agree with terry. It seems to be cyclical to me.
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06/16/2004 02:54:06 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by terje:
I wish we had some member challenges with Basic rules.
Pretty please?! :-) |
You can use the basic rules with every single shot you enter - so all the member challenges can be basic rules if you like :)
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06/16/2004 04:01:08 PM · #11 |
When I first started coming to DPC almost all the images were amazing and I was in awe. Over the last year or so I find there are less and less images that awe me, but of course some still do. I'd like to think that it isnt the site that is changing, but rather that I am.
As for the moaning - there always has been moaning. I think it just seems more now because there are more people, and more vocal people at that. With watched and ignored threads, it's even more easier to ignore them if you dont like that. DPC is about so much more.
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06/16/2004 04:08:21 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by moodville:
When I first started coming to DPC almost all the images were amazing and I was in awe. Over the last year or so I find there are less and less images that awe me, but of course some still do. I'd like to think that it isnt the site that is changing, but rather that I am.
As for the moaning - there always has been moaning. I think it just seems more now because there are more people, and more vocal people at that. With watched and ignored threads, it's even more easier to ignore them if you dont like that. DPC is about so much more. |
I wonder how much of that is being awed by your first look at a crisp frog, bug, or flower, or . While I say this simewhat humorously, the fact is that there are many excellent photots which become cliche after you've participated in rating a few months of challenges. At some point you cna predict what you'll see, and it becomes (at least subconsciously) a disdappointment when you come to one of those.
I can't say for sure whether or not the image quality has dipped, but I can feel myself becoming desensitized to some of the images. In the process it has raised the bar for my own images. I can tell a "cliche" shot from an innovative shot when I'm staggering around taking pictures now.
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06/16/2004 04:24:48 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by cghubbell:
I wonder how much of that is being awed by your first look at a crisp frog, bug, or flower, or . While I say this simewhat humorously, the fact is that there are many excellent photots which become cliche after you've participated in rating a few months of challenges. At some point you cna predict what you'll see, and it becomes (at least subconsciously) a disdappointment when you come to one of those.
I can't say for sure whether or not the image quality has dipped, but I can feel myself becoming desensitized to some of the images. In the process it has raised the bar for my own images. I can tell a "cliche" shot from an innovative shot when I'm staggering around taking pictures now. |
I'm not even talking about the so-called cliche shots. If a shot is good and appeals to me it will do so no matter what the subject or how many times it has been done or I have seen it done in the past. I dont want to get bigheaded but in the past I have always certainly looked at images that I considered better than my own photography and wondered how they did it and the images were so much better. Even without the technical know-how you can still know what you like or dislike, but certainly after you have learnt about composition and the use of shadows and leading lines etc that the images you see tend to take on a new level and you appreciate them for more than aesthetic beauty. There are still far many photographers and photographs that are better than mine, but I also feel like there are images that do not quite compare. In the beginning the amount of exceedingly better images were far more than there are now, which is a way for me to believe that I have improved since starting DPC.
There will always be newbies on DPC, and there will always be intermediate, and there will always be advanced. The thing that changes is at what level we find ourselves.
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