| Author | Thread |
|
|
04/12/2004 10:04:51 AM · #1 |
I'm curious as to how certain things affect the way people score when rating photos. I find myself giving allowances despite seeing a lot of over-sharpening, over- and under-exposure, and unintentional blurriness, due to the differences in monitors and my not really knowing how the photos looked to the person who submitted them. Since mid-February, when I got my ultrasharp LCD monitor, I've really been made aware of the difference in their sharpness, contrast, and even colour saturation - though both are calibrated. Because of this, I use both monitors to test my own submissions and to look at any photographs that I find to be "off" in any way.
I'm just wondering, do others make these allowances as well? If not, how much does it affect how you score? Many comments that I have and, I'm sure, everyone else has received have cited these faults, oftentimes varying to completely opposite views (too light/too dark on the same image, etc.), and, while my photos are nothing special and the scores are generally fitting, I still wonder how much these things affected what people thought of them and how they rated.
I also wonder if I'm being too lenient in making allowances for monitor and calibration differences, since it should technically be the responsibility of the photographer to consider these things before submitting their photographs - especially when it comes to calibration. What, then, do the rest of you think is "fair"? |
|
|
|
04/12/2004 10:10:04 AM · #2 |
| I see posts from both my work computer and home computer and there are differences, I agree. However, I think it all balances itself out. I vote on what I see ... and I assume others do the same. What's else can we do? |
|
|
|
04/12/2004 10:22:22 AM · #3 |
It is always the photographers responsibility to produce an image that is pleasing to the client, in this case, the other members that cast votes!
To that end, the photographer must supply the best quality possible and depend on the 'discerning eyes' of the voters. I don't know how to compensate for the variations in video monitors and I'm not too sure of the calibration of mine!
There are some factors that are unaffected by monitor calibration, so that is where I concentrate my efforts. Among those factors are Composition, image sharpness, style, and whether or not the image is in color. Of these factors, the first, composition, is the most important. If the client doesn't like the subject, its 'no sale'!
|
|
|
|
04/12/2004 11:40:13 AM · #4 |
Perhaps of equal importance are the type, level, color, and intensity of the light in the room that the viewer is in at the time. This became quite apparent to me as I was editing my entry for the March Free Study challenge. I began editing the photo at night when there was no light coming in the windows, and the room lighting on. This provides a fairly low level of light with no reflections on my monitor. Since I was mainly concerned with the colors in the image, I adjusted the saturation and color balance until I had what I wanted, then saved a copy of the result. The next morning when I opened that photo the colors looked totally different. The photo had a distinctly magenta cast, which I didn’t like and had not noticed the night before. So, I opened the original photo and re-adjusted, then saved another copy. But, that night the colors looked wrong again. Since then I have re-edited that photo dozens of times, and they all look different at various times of day or night. I finally uploaded what I thought was the best version. The next day I looked at my entry and it looked magenta’ish again! So I uploaded a different versionâ€Â¦ and a while later another version. I finally gave up and said, “To hell with it!” The photo ended up in 12th place and got 31 nice comments—one of my best finishes to date. But I can’t help but wonder how it would have done if I had entered the first version. 8^)
--Mick
|
|
|
|
04/12/2004 12:25:12 PM · #5 |
| I will often qualify my comments with the statement "On my monitor, the ___ looks ____ ..." |
|
|
|
04/12/2004 12:54:28 PM · #6 |
| This is way off topic, but I just had to tell Mick that your profile and autobiographical statement is one of the funniest things I've read on this site (or anywhere else, for that matter). How creative! |
|
|
|
04/12/2004 01:04:31 PM · #7 |
you're right ... that is funny
Originally posted by boomer:
This is way off topic, but I just had to tell Mick that your profile and autobiographical statement is one of the funniest things I've read on this site (or anywhere else, for that matter). How creative! |
|
|
|
|
04/12/2004 01:38:21 PM · #8 |
| I like Gordon’s (Elgordo) approach in that given the certainty of monitor-to-monitor variations, the lightness or darkness should be secondary to composition, sharpness and creativity. On the other hand, I went through several challenges getting a large number of comments saying that my entry(s) were too dark. I recalibrated my monitor and, by golly, they looked to dark to me too. |
|
|
|
04/12/2004 02:26:27 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by boomer:
This is way off topic, but I just had to tell Mick that your profile and autobiographical statement is one of the funniest things I've read on this site (or anywhere else, for that matter). How creative! |
Thanks Gary. I'm glad that someone got a laugh out of it. I had a regular bio and photo originally, but they were boring.
|
|
|
|
04/12/2004 02:34:54 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by boomer:
This is way off topic, but I just had to tell Mick that your profile and autobiographical statement is one of the funniest things I've read on this site (or anywhere else, for that matter). How creative! |
Of course, it was written by someone else, unless Mike Myers is here under a pseudonym.
|
|
|
|
04/12/2004 02:56:44 PM · #11 |
| I would guess there is a fair number of people who vote who's monitors cannot pass the gray bar test. In one of the current challenges I have an image that I've received about half a dozen comments of "I cannot see..... " I simply shrug it off. On 3 of my 4 monitors I see the photograph as I intended, and the printed copy is even better. I don't think you can please everyone. |
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 11/12/2025 06:33:35 PM EST.
