low votes and comments - DPChallenge Forums

07/09/2002 09:05:37 AM · #26

I vote based on whether I like something and sometimes I can't explain in clear terms why.

My daughter does not eat hot dogs. I love hots dogs with chili and slaw and mustard. She is 15, intelligent, eats other types of meat products but she does not like hot dogs. I asked her why...she says she just doesn't..and won't go into detail. I leave it at that. :-)

rkymtndream

Fujifilm FinePix 4900Z

07/09/2002 10:33:35 AM · #27

I think the best is when you get great comments like "too dark" Well Hello! That doesn't tell me anything and furthermore if you even tried to look at the picture it was blatantly clear why the picture was dark. Those 2 word comments just kill me. Even if it was That's great. Why was it great? Enen though the Greats are better than the darks I usually still want to know why. JMHO

Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM

07/09/2002 10:53:09 AM · #28

Originally posted by rkymtndream:
I think the best is when you get great comments like "too dark" Well Hello! That doesn't tell me anything and furthermore if you even tried to look at the picture it was blatantly clear why the picture was dark. Those 2 word comments just kill me. Even if it was That's great. Why was it great? Enen though the Greats are better than the darks I usually still want to know why. JMHO

In reality...do you want folks to tell you anything more than a gut reaction?

Nobody here that I know of(including me) is a trained art professional or teacher. So whether their opinion is a simple number vote or a 3 page novel..the only person in the long run that can best affect your photos is you.

And sometimes even the person that took the photo may scrutinize their photo too much. So many small things go into making a good photo and who knows if any of the changes were even possible or would not detrimentally effect other aspects?

Take my "Bubblicious!" photo. I shot that photo outdoors at 8:30 pm..dusk. Plus, that is a 4 foot long bubble and it moves while being formed.

I needed better light to increase my shutter speed to clear up any blur along the edges. But..who is to say a change in light would have allowed me to get the color variations? Plus, a different crop or a push on the saturation would change the photo and lose the crystaline effect..believe me..I tried.

And after all those changes..the photo would not be 'Bubblicious!" anymore.. It would be another photo..maybe more interesting, maybe less interesting but definitely different. The flaws sometimes make the photo more interesting :-)

Gene L.

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

07/09/2002 01:38:18 PM · #29

I've heard some people complain that they don't get enough comments about what was good or not good about their photo, but I've also heard people complain that comments are too technical or the voter missed the point of the photo. Since this is a public forum open to persons of all levels of expertise, it seems reasonable to expect a little bit of everything, one must simply sort through the comments to extract something of use. I still can't believe that anyone would vote my favorites (including top rated) photos as a 1 or 2, but for some reason beyond my imagination, that happens in every challenge.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

07/09/2002 02:10:15 PM · #30

Originally posted by Gene L.:
...I still can't believe that anyone would vote my favorites (including top rated) photos as a 1 or 2, but for some reason beyond my imagination, that happens in every challenge.

I think my "practical" voting scale really runs from 3-9. I haven't seen anything so patently offensive (IMO) or technically inept to warrant a 1 or 2 -- I think in the last challenge my lowest vote was a 4. Nor do I expect to see a "perfect" photo, although if we voted with fractions I'd have probably given some 9.6s.

Next database request: Re-calculate results with all 1, 2, and 10 votes discarded (maybe post list but not thumbnails to save time/space). My guess: top 20-30 photos will remain so (maybe shuffled a bit) and some of people's "overlooked favorites" will move up.

Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 E-mount

07/09/2002 02:13:25 PM · #31

We just need to take what we can get, and be happy. If you get one's, you can probably figure that the person did not like your subject. If there are any major technical flaws, it will get pointed out.

Gotcha

07/09/2002 05:14:04 PM · #32

Originally posted by jmsetzler:
Why must we hold a voter accountable for the vote they cast? This is too much like 'big brother is watching you'. Are we gonna hold voters who give 10s to the last place photos accountable too?

John, you received â��7â�� 1â��s for the photo that scored higher than any other in the challenge. I canâ��t imagine why anyone would give this a 1 unless they are trying to sway the voting. If 7 names were consistently giving John Setzler 1â��s it would eventually pull that persons credibility down. â�� But then again, I guess they might be giving twenty 10â��s too â�� (all right, it was just a bad brainstorm).

jmsetzler

Sony Alpha a6000

07/09/2002 05:24:05 PM · #33

Originally posted by Gotcha:
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
[i]Why must we hold a voter accountable for the vote they cast? This is too much like 'big brother is watching you'. Are we gonna hold voters who give 10s to the last place photos accountable too?

John, you received â��7â�� 1â��s for the photo that scored higher than any other in the challenge. I canâ��t imagine why anyone would give this a 1 unless they are trying to sway the voting. If 7 names were consistently giving John Setzler 1â��s it would eventually pull that persons credibility down. â�� But then again, I guess they might be giving twenty 10â��s too â�� (all right, it was just a bad brainstorm).[/i]

I think know where the votes come from...

1 - some people don't like the flag concept. 1 is their way of telling me that.

2 - some don't like the idea because it has been done before, so I get a score of 1 for lack of originality.

3 - some vote ones on certain photos trying to improve their own chances in the challenge :)

I don't worry so much about the score. I know that's easy to say with a winning photo, but I don't complain about my lower scores either. I haven't submitted a photograph here yet that I didn't like :)

Gotcha

07/09/2002 05:46:19 PM · #34

I don't worry so much about the score. I know that's easy to say with a winning photo, but I don't complain about my lower scores either. I haven't submitted a photograph here yet that I didn't like :)

With that being said, My last two submissions were mediocre at best. I knew that before I submitted them. With time restraints I was not able to do what I wanted.. Should I have not submitted them? Or should I enter them just to play the game?

07/09/2002 05:50:44 PM · #35

07/09/2002 05:50:44 PM · #36

I can only speak for myself. I will not enter a photo that I do not think is finished just to sit and watch it get hammered. It is hard enough when I like the picture.

Although I did think my "On the Road" entry was ok, it was just a test shot, I did not want to submit a photo taken in my garage. I can''t even say I really learned much from the comments I recieved, because most of them pointed out things I already wanted to fix.

but if people only entered work that they poured hours into, and they thought was the best effort they could do, we probably would only have about 20 entries per week.

* This message has been edited by the author on 7/9/2002 5:52:11 PM.

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

07/09/2002 06:20:28 PM · #37

Some wise person once said...It is not the destination but the journey... I think it was on an old Kung Fu movie of the week or something.

I have learned stuff every time I take a photo for a challenge..some of the stuff I learned while thinking about what I wanted to shoot. Some stuff I learned preparing for the photo shoot. Some stuff I learned actually shooting the photo. Some stuff in the editing process and finally some stuff in the critique.

As you can tell...what I get in the critique is only a small portion of what I get from the process although it is valuable. Some of the stuff I have submitted I shot and editied in the 15 minutes before the deadline "C''est La Vie". That photo had a few tech glitches I didn''t have time to catch but I went with it anyway.

Some photos like "Web Rose" and "Mainstreet Bizarre" were one of 10 finished ideas I chose from.

And some photos like "Waiting on the three two" and "Bublicious!" were spur of the moment happenstances.

I guess what I am saying is sometimes submitting regardless of what level of finish you have on the photo is not a bad thing :-)

* This message has been edited by the author on 7/9/2002 6:22:07 PM.

Ronin

Sony DSC-S85

07/09/2002 06:28:19 PM · #38

I think its important to enter each contest as long as you can. I find that each topic brings out different photographers strong side, while it unveils other photographers weaker side, so the only way to grow as a photographer is to explore both our strengths and our weaknesses. if photographers only submitted shots that only favored their strong side I would have only submitted to like 3 challenges,.. I thinks fun to shoot things I would have never shot before in a way I would normally never had done... im not sure where im going with this.. so ill just end.

magnetic9999

Canon EOS-20D

07/09/2002 06:32:57 PM · #39

Originally posted by Zeissman:
but if people only entered work that they poured hours into, and they thought was the best effort they could do, we probably would only have about 20 entries per week.

i think that's right. but even a week really doesnt give the time to really really flesh a photo out. . . not to the degree that full time employed people can really use : ) .. i guess that's part of the challenge part of it. what amazes me is that everyone expects these total masterworks - hello, it' s just a week!

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f2.8D

07/09/2002 06:36:45 PM · #40

Originally posted by ezns:
I think its important to enter each contest as long as you can. I find that each topic brings out different photographers strong side, while it unveils other photographers weaker side, so the only way to grow as a photographer is to explore both our strengths and our weaknesses. if photographers only submitted shots that only favored their strong side I would have only submitted to like 3 challenges,.. I thinks fun to shoot things I would have never shot before in a way I would normally never had done... im not sure where im going with this.. so ill just end.

Dude..you are starting to sound like me :-P

I agree 100%. Everybody has strengths and weaknesses. I depend on props a bit more than I like and being able to manipulate the circumstances of a photo. I am trying to add more spontaneous shots to my portfolio.

"Bublicious!" was a total departure for me in that I just grabbed a wire hanger..dipped it in some Dawn dish detergent and started to blow bubbles..seeing what happened. Portrait stuff is also a bit of an achilles heel and that is my next mountain to climb.

I agree though..it's cool that you might like a certain type of photography but if you don't stretch a bit you'll never get better.

David Ey

Nikon D80

07/09/2002 06:37:24 PM · #41

Originally posted by hokie:

------ sometimes submitting regardless of what level of finish you have on the photo is not a bad thing :-

That is what I did with pyramid and then had a much improved version only to have my service provider go down---rats.
btw--(does that mean by the way?) I think the winner this week will have a low relative score. Why? cause mine is by far the best but has a very low score. haha

sheyingshi88

07/09/2002 09:07:44 PM · #42

Originally posted by ezns:
I find that each topic brings out different photographers strong side...so the only way to grow as a photographer is to explore both our strengths and our weaknesses

With all the frustrations with the voting and the people who don't understand what is so obvious to me, I think this is the main reason I like this site. It forces me to do something different, to get out of that comfortable rut. Also, if someone wants to start selling photos, it's a dose of reality. It's good to find out what the public says. They usually won't grade your stuff either, they'll either buy it or not.

queen 91

Kodak DC280

07/09/2002 09:21:10 PM · #43

are we taking the voting too seriously? i must admit, it is humbling to get low scores. but not matter what we submit, someone is going to dislike it. i do like the constructive criticism. however, i think just for putting forth the effort submitting something deserves no less than a 3. some of these photos might sell for big money one day. then you'll have the last laugh. just my opinion. ;-)

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G DX VR

07/09/2002 09:40:18 PM · #44

Here is something I thought was interesting filter ended up at 62, but had no 1''s. Summer Storm only had 1.

* This message has been edited by the author on 7/9/2002 9:42:25 PM.

myqyl

Nikon D3100

07/09/2002 10:20:22 PM · #45

Originally posted by ezns:
I think its important to enter each contest as long as you can.

I think so too. Mainly because I've seen the agonized posts from folks that were sitting on the sideline for a week. I'm a three week veteran now and I'm hooked. I'd rather be raked over the coals than sit and watch everyone else enjoying THEIR coals while I sat in the shade.

Gotcha

07/09/2002 10:48:13 PM · #46

Originally posted by Zeissman:
Here is something I thought was interesting filter ended up at 62, but had no 1''s. Summer Storm only had 1.

5&6 = 48&48 with four 10's
5&6 = 51&51 with four 10's
Odd parallels