I think monitor calibration is a conspiracy. It doesn't really exist.
This is a rant, not connected solely to this challenge and entirely unrelated to the desire for feedback:
It bothers me that anyone could vote a photo that obviously meets the challenge and isn't overwhelmingly horrible anything less than a 5. Everyone has their own scale and that's fine, but 89 votes of 4 and under on an okay photo that meets the challenge is just ridiculous. Heck, I would have waffled between 5 and 6 myself, in that it's an okay photo that meets the challenge, the extra point coming in if I decided that its originality was enough to override its flaws. It should have come in around a 5.3-5.4 - not great, but not so pissed on as it was, either. My voting average isn't high, but it isn't because I hand out a copious number of ones twos or threes, so it's rather useless to attack me for it in response to that comment. I used to be utterly disgusted if I got less than a 5.8. Now that same 5.8 will rarely score better than a 4.9. I think it's sad that the voting on this site has deevolved to a point where I'm quite ridiculously relieved just to see an entry break a 5.0.
My scale, for those looking for a rebuttal, because there's always someone:
1-3 are reserved for photos that don't meet the challenge. A 3 is an otherwise okay photo. 2 would be a bad photo that doesn't meet the challenge. 1 is a bad DNMC photo in bad taste or just born of sheer idiocy. You're obviously gunning for the brown, and I'll certainly help you there.
4 - could either be a photo that meets the challenge but has severe technical defects or a DNMC that is just otherwise outstanding.
5 - an okay photo that meets the challenge
6 - a slightly better photo that meets the challenge, or an okay photo with something clever about it which doesn't quite hit the target it was aiming for. I like to reward a creative idea.
7 - nice photo, good technicals, meets challenge, but just lacks the wow factor, or a nice photo with okay technicals that otherwise really nails the creative aspect of the challenge.
8 - anything with a wow factor that I want to see in a second pass
9 - bumped because it stands out from the field of 8s
10 - personal favorites
Okay, enough of this for tonight. I hope the rant didn't turn folks off. I'm not trying to be combative, but it is frustrating to go from being a 6.0 photographer to just praying to stay above a 5 when I know I'm improving by leaps and bounds. I do want feedback. Did anyone else find the lower left corner too distracting? Is the reedit really worse than the entry as faidoi has opined? Does my monitor need more work? Is the meaning of life really 42?
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