Half the score I expected - DPChallenge Forums

02/28/2011 07:15:16 PM · #79

Originally posted by missysue78:

Votes: 47
Views: 74
Avg Vote: 4.4894

I don't get it. The photos I think will do well tend to tank. The ones I think will do poorly, do well. Maybe it's my taste.

Perhaps you're more of an artist than the average voter.

JuliBoc

Apple iPhone 6s+

02/28/2011 07:16:17 PM · #80

Originally posted by Tammster:

Votes: 48
Views: 75
Avg Vote: 5.3333

It started off over a 6 this morning. It's pretty crazy... I think with just two exceptions all day, it has gone down every single time I look at it.

With the way things are going, you may have a winner there. ;)

MinsoPhoto

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

02/28/2011 07:28:23 PM · #81

Originally posted by Tammster:

Votes: 48
Views: 75
Avg Vote: 5.3333

It started off over a 6 this morning. It's pretty crazy... I think with just two exceptions all day, it has gone down every single time I look at it.

I'm right there with you. Started off over a 6 then down fast...

daisydavid

Canon EOS-5DS R

02/28/2011 08:15:38 PM · #82

I've only got half a score ;(

lynnesite

Canon EOS-1D X

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

02/28/2011 11:48:34 PM · #83

As usual, I pick the wrong subject for a challenge that can be narrowly interpreted. Sub 5 with 61 votes!

bjoern

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

03/01/2011 06:22:52 AM · #84

Originally posted by jminso:

I'm right there with you. Started off over a 6 then down fast...

Same here.

Votes: 59
Views: 124
Avg Vote: 5.4237
Comments: 3

CNovack

Canon EOS-600D/T3i Rebel

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

03/01/2011 08:18:26 AM · #85

Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:

Ah, you forget this is DPChallenge. Good is not good enough. You have to totally blow some people away for them to declare an entry as average. And as a reminder of that...

Votes: 33
Views: 55
Avg Vote: 5.0909

I knew better and should have passed, but entered it anyway.

Steve, I understand what you are saying BUT I do think that the winds have shifted having been here so long. I think the focus has become more & more on looking for the flaws (real or perceived--taking into consideration that not all monitors are calibrated the same) instead of BALANCING the critique with strengths and cons. I know that many would say that my assessment is biased or colored for I am experiencing 3 challenges all with scores of 4.8- to 5.05 range. True, perhaps SOME of it is - but when I do participate in challenges I see more and more disillusionment of the people who enter. I think it is a sad state of affairs when an individual/voters ACTIVELY looks for all the flaws in the photograph that they FORGET to look for the strengths or beauty or even look at the clues of composition & title to see what the photographer wanted to share. It...oh what does it matter - I'm just blowing to the winds no matter how or what I say. It's all just a waste of energy at this point. The dice will roll where they will. Taking a cue from the penguins :: you didn't see anything ::

Happy March everyone!

Sirashley

Nikon D7200

Nikon AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR

03/01/2011 10:26:04 AM · #86

Here's how I voted

Stats: You have rated 150 of 150 images (100%) in this challenge.
You have given an average score of 5.4200.

Here is where my image sits

Votes: 67
Views: 115
Avg Vote: 5.2239
Comments: 2
Favorites: 0
Wish Lists: 0
Updated: 03/01/11 10:13 am

I think the reason that scores are the way that they are.... if I can be blunt... is that there are 20 or so INCREDIBLE images... and the rest are just Blah... I rated 22 images a 7 or above but from there, there is some serious fall of in the quality of images, and that includes my shot. When a photographer is wowed to the point that his/her jaw drops to the floor, and then the next 10 images are bland, its hard to score them well. There were two times through voting that I caught myself just pressing 5 repeatedly without giving much thought, so I went back and reviewed the images I glossed over to be fair, and in some cases, I actually wanted to vote them less (I didn't though because once I vote on an image, I won't vote it down because the initial vote was based on impact.) Anyway, I can understand people's frustrations, trust me, I'm frustrated too. For me though, the frustration is with the fact that I'm not at the level I'd like to be, not with the way people are voting my image. Anyway best of luck, and hopefully next challenge will be better for us

kleski

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

03/01/2011 10:34:38 AM · #87

Originally posted by Sirashley:

I think the reason that scores are the way that they are.... if I can be blunt... is that there are 20 or so INCREDIBLE images... and the rest are just Blah...

I think you left out, "in comparison to", which is how I think many of the voters do. They see the incredible images and vote the others around the middle of the scale. How about judging the photo on it's own merits and not in comparison to the others...

Sirashley

Nikon D7200

Nikon AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR

03/01/2011 10:43:52 AM · #88

Originally posted by kleski:

Originally posted by Sirashley:

I think the reason that scores are the way that they are.... if I can be blunt... is that there are 20 or so INCREDIBLE images... and the rest are just Blah...

I think you left out, "in comparison to", which is how I think many of the voters do. They see the incredible images and vote the others around the middle of the scale. How about judging the photo on it's own merits and not in comparison to the others...

Truthfully, because its a contest. Its a competition... How could I justify giving two photos 8's, when one photo is clearly a much better image? That's not fair to the photographer who rightfully had the better shot...

03/01/2011 10:44:37 AM · #89

Originally posted by kleski:

Isn't that what competition is about?

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

03/01/2011 10:45:39 AM · #90

Originally posted by Sirashley:

+1. Completely agree.

JonoTucker

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

03/01/2011 11:28:31 AM · #91

Votes: 65
Views: 121
Avg Vote: 4.9692
Comments: 0

crowis

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

03/01/2011 05:11:34 PM · #92

Originally posted by missysue78:

Votes: 47
Views: 74
Avg Vote: 4.4894

I don't get it. The photos I think will do well tend to tank. The ones I think will do poorly, do well. Maybe it's my taste.

One of the things I am learning after actively submitting for a couple of months again is that taste is incredibly subjective. . .

However, another thing I am beginning to learn is that many of the folks on this site were justifiably hammering photo's I thought were amazing at the time. What I have found--after working hard on learning better processing and photography/technical skills for only a copule of months (which I have worlds still to learn about both)--is there were a lot of things I had no clue I wasn't doing to help a shot or was doing to harm a shot, that I didn't even realize I was doing.

While my score in this challenge is abyssal (4.6 so far). I knew it wasn't going to do well when it entered (and I think from my comments I was accurate as to why, as well) which is a huge leap from my first entries when I couldn't comprehend the difference between my picture and one scoring a point or two above it.

I've got lots to learn.

nickyb

Apple iPhone 16 Pro

Sony 50mm f/1.8 e mount

03/01/2011 05:24:26 PM · #93

4.0986!

Goin for the brown

MargaretNet

Sony DSC-RX100 VII

03/01/2011 05:31:41 PM · #94

A bit of improvement but not much happening today:
Votes: 67
Views: 137
Avg Vote: 5.7612
Comments: 6
Favorites: 1

Message edited by author 2011-03-01 17:31:58.

lynnesite

Canon EOS-1D X

03/01/2011 09:06:41 PM · #95

Well, I registered in 2002.

CNovack, I'm with you. I am incredibly disillusioned by the the scoring, tried several months off, skipped the "best of" after years of participation and a few years in the free study marathon, never missing a month. "Half" is currently scoring a 4.9. Pretty sure it's due to voters' narrow interpretation of the theme, not about composition, sharpness, post-processing or artistic impact. I have little tolerance for "measurebators", going to disappear again after these two challenges, since nothing has changed around here. 5 seems to be the new 6.

03/01/2011 09:10:28 PM · #96

Originally posted by lynnesite:

Well, I registered in 2002. CNovack, I'm with you. I am incredibly disillusioned by the the scoring, tried several months off, skipped the "best of" after years of participation and a few years in the free study marathon, never missing a month. "Half" is currently scoring a 4.9. Pretty sure it's due to voters' narrow interpretation of the theme, not about composition, sharpness, post-processing or artistic impact. I have little tolerance for "measurebators", going to disappear again after these two challenges, since nothing has changed around here. 5 seems to be the new 6.

But, it's all relative. Rest assured, it's not just your scores that are "lower", but everyones. What's more important to you, the score or the competition and how you scored relative to your competitors?

JuliBoc

Apple iPhone 6s+

Nikon AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR

03/01/2011 09:45:32 PM · #97

Originally posted by gcoulson:

... What's more important to you, the score or the competition and how you scored relative to your competitors?

For me, it's neither. I enter to stretch myself and force myself to try new and perhaps uncomfortable things (even when its been done before). I like the challenge of coming up with an idea and image when given specific criteria.

Sirashley

Nikon D7200

03/01/2011 10:08:08 PM · #98

Originally posted by JuliBoc:

Originally posted by gcoulson:
... What's more important to you, the score or the competition and how you scored relative to your competitors?

For me, it's neither. I enter to stretch myself and force myself to try new and perhaps uncomfortable things (even when its been done before). I like the challenge of coming up with an idea and image when given specific criteria.

I must say that I feel the exact same way... When I started here, I had my camera for about 3 months and had just figured out it had a light meter on it...LoL... So I feel like I've come a long way. I love Landscapes and HDR, and I really grew into a comfort zone with those. So now, I've decided to break that mold and I'm trying some new things. I bought some new gear, and am anxious to get out and learn some new techniques. I want to get into bird photography, adding people to my landscapes, and photographing people more in general. I plan to use this site as a tool to get better at that. Both of my entries at the moment are not landscapes and they are both about 5.2... So with that said, I'm looking to increase that with each challenge and get better and better.

and on a side note not directed at the quote, if you think the voting is unfair, look at the challenge when its over and ask yourself, "Did the best photos win?" and usually, 9 times out of 10, the photos which best met the theme and were technically the best are in the top 20... So the system we have works...That being said, there's always a few trolls lurking to give you a 1 or 2, so you have to take that for what its worth. I've been here since May of 2008, entered 37 challenges and haven't won a damn thing, and you know what, I don't care. The knowledge I have gained from this site is invaluable and for that I'm thankful.

lynnesite

Canon EOS-1D X

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

03/01/2011 11:09:50 PM · #99

Originally posted by gcoulson:

Appreciate your perspective. That's a good question. In the free studies, I am not judging my entries against others, I guess, just the score of my images compared to how they have done in the past. In the themed challenges, it's still mostly my score, then when I look at how it placed compared to others, my conclusion is it comes down to a narrow interpretation of the theme, skewing its placement.

Examples of a narrowly interpreted theme would be High Key or Bokeh. I didn't, but I'd enter Rule of Thirds or Negative Space with more confidence that those with the razor-sense of what's "right" couldn't base their score solely on theme. Sometimes the voters surprise me such as when I entered something on the fringe for one of the color challenges and it got 20th or so.

It's just not fun any more when voters won't use anywhere near the entire voting scale. Admittedly most of my voting is 4 (OOF/not for effect, poor comp, snapshot) to 5 (meets the theme but is tres ordinaire) to 6 (theme, post processing, comp) to 7/8 and up (truly outstanding). I think I had 5-6 8s and above when voting this one.