| Author | Thread |
|
|
02/11/2009 11:27:17 AM · #51 |
Votes: 58
Views: 100
Avg Vote: 6.5862
Comments: 4
Favorites: 0
Wish Lists: 0
Updated: 02/11/09 11:17 am
Like my image for 'Grey'; I'm really surprised at this score - I don't think my image is any better than a 5.8
As for the overall quality, there certainly is a range! One of the disappointing things is that I think many people haven't really approached this as a 'portrait' and as such have made little attempt to control or choose a backdrop / background and this omission contributes to a 'snapshot' look. In my honest opinion, there is a world of difference between those images which have been composed in a 'portrait-like' way and those images which have just featured pets as part of the household context.
|
|
|
|
02/11/2009 11:36:02 AM · #52 |
Originally posted by paulbtlw:
Votes: 58
Views: 100
Avg Vote: 6.5862
Comments: 4
Favorites: 0
Wish Lists: 0
Updated: 02/11/09 11:17 am
Like my image for 'Grey'; I'm really surprised at this score - I don't think my image is any better than a 5.8
As for the overall quality, there certainly is a range! One of the disappointing things is that I think many people haven't really approached this as a 'portrait' and as such have made little attempt to control or choose a backdrop / background and this omission contributes to a 'snapshot' look. In my honest opinion, there is a world of difference between those images which have been composed in a 'portrait-like' way and those images which have just featured pets as part of the household context. |
I looked at all of the photos and the challenge description eluded to being "creative". Animals are animals and their best qualities come out in unposed for ways, in their natural environments, doing their normal things. Isn't a portrait supposed to bring out the personality of the subject? I think that some of the most valuable shots in this challenge have had NO background set up, no real posing or props...just natural shots in natural settings, allowing their pets' personality to shine through. Some were more or less snapshots but, all in all, I found that the ones that were less prop and background and pose, were the most interesting of all. Many pet portraits are overly posed and one can see the lack of personality in those shots. I see far more in ones that are unposed for and natural settings than I see in the ones that have lovely backgrounds and props and are "set up". That's just my personal tastes and reasoning being an animal lover. Nothing more. :) |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 11:36:17 AM · #53 |
Votes: 54
Views: 91
Avg Vote: 5.7037
Comments: 3
Favorites: 0
Wish Lists: 0
Updated: 02/11/09 11:34 am |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 11:53:28 AM · #54 |
Originally posted by PhotoInterest:
I looked at all of the photos and the challenge description eluded to being "creative". Animals are animals and their best qualities come out in unposed for ways, in their natural environments, doing their normal things. Isn't a portrait supposed to bring out the personality of the subject? I think that some of the most valuable shots in this challenge have had NO background set up, no real posing or props...just natural shots in natural settings, allowing their pets' personality to shine through. Some were more or less snapshots but, all in all, I found that the ones that were less prop and background and pose, were the most interesting of all. Many pet portraits are overly posed and one can see the lack of personality in those shots. I see far more in ones that are unposed for and natural settings than I see in the ones that have lovely backgrounds and props and are "set up". That's just my personal tastes and reasoning being an animal lover. Nothing more. :) |
I think you make some excellent points here and I should perhaps clarify a little; I don't have a problem with the household context per se, but I do have a problem if care isn't taken to control how that background appears in the photo - especially where a crop or a slight tilt would help. I don't believe that the only opportunity people would have had to shoot their pets would have been in front of a particularly conspicuous piece of furniture. Certainly, you are right, clear communication of personality should be rated just as highly as composition - perhaps both is required? If I review the high scores I have given so far (one 10; two 9s; and three 8s) they all have both in spades.
Cheers
Paul |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 11:54:17 AM · #55 |
I really love environmental portraits. But I do NOT love snapshots in a portrait challenge. I looked at every single image, and only voted the ones that weren't snapshots. Simply couldn't bring myself to vote on the others. So my average vote, on 27% of the submitted entries, was 5.8+. There were more candidates for the brown in this challenge than any I have ever viewed. Don't understand why people would think that shots with no care in background choice, overly lit, out of focus (as opposed to purposeful soft focus), action from a distance, or a small portion of a face would be rewarded here. I started voting by making several comments, with the idea of sharing some of my background as a pet photographer, but was quickly overwhelmed.
My own I'd forecasted at 5.7, it's at 5.8. |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 12:02:19 PM · #56 |
Votes: 59
Views: 85
Avg Vote: 5.8136
Comments: 4
My score is surprisingly low compared to what I expected. My conclusion is foul play!
|
|
|
|
02/11/2009 12:04:03 PM · #57 |
| To me portrait means "thoughtful attention" to the aesthetics - background, lighting, scene, etc. That does not mean in a studio but some mastery of their environment needs to have happened for me. Now, I saw plenty of shots that were in the studio that oozed personality and I also saw some in their natural environment which appeared to be portraits too. |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 12:04:22 PM · #58 |
Votes: 51
Views: 78
Avg Vote: 5.3137
Comments: 1
One glowing comment, the rest, *THHBBBBLLLLT!*
So very disappointed in this score.
|
|
|
|
02/11/2009 12:04:26 PM · #59 |
Originally posted by Strikeslip:
My score is surprisingly low compared to what I expected. My conclusion is fowl play!
|
Slippy- I didn't think you were suppose to tell people what kind of animal your shot contains.... |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 12:06:28 PM · #60 |
Originally posted by Strikeslip:
Votes: 59
Views: 85
Avg Vote: 5.8136
Comments: 4
My score is surprisingly low compared to what I expected. My conclusion is foul play!
|
After the 3 I just got on a shot that I don't think is below the average of 5.5 I am a bit dissapointed but I think this happens with every challenge. Oh well. |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 12:17:15 PM · #61 |
Very disappointed here too! In fact, this appears to be the trend lately..
Votes: 51
Views: 80
Avg Vote: 5.4118
Comments: 3
Favorites: 0
Wish Lists: 0
Message edited by author 2009-02-11 12:18:27. |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 12:19:31 PM · #62 |
Votes: 52
Views: 79
Avg Vote: 6.0192
Comments: 2
I thought my score would be a bit higher, but I guess I can't complain :) |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 12:22:14 PM · #63 |
Originally posted by digifotojo:
Very disappointed here too! In fact, this appears to be the trend lately..
|
It's all that recent DPC traffic over to 1x.com; the expectations - they are-a-changin'! |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 12:27:30 PM · #64 |
The open exclusives always seemed to score lower than the members only challenges, but this is ridiculous. It really looks to me like the gap between the two has widened quite a bit. I would have called my shot - a portrait, not a snapshot - somewhere between 5.8 and 6.2. It's not like I was expecting a ribbon, but a 5.3, and that being up from 5.0, is just sad and seems to have more to do with the voters than with the picture's merit. It especially seems so when I see so many people reporting sub-5 scores, which, having voted the entire challenge, are so obviously undeserved. I think I only gave out a handful of fours in this one - and the photo had to be pretty bad to get there.
|
|
|
|
02/11/2009 12:39:46 PM · #65 |
Originally posted by Rebecca:
The open exclusives always seemed to score lower than the members only challenges, but this is ridiculous. It really looks to me like the gap between the two has widened quite a bit. I would have called my shot - a portrait, not a snapshot - somewhere between 5.8 and 6.2. It's not like I was expecting a ribbon, but a 5.3, and that being up from 5.0, is just sad and seems to have more to do with the voters than with the picture's merit. It especially seems so when I see so many people reporting sub-5 scores, which, having voted the entire challenge, are so obviously undeserved. I think I only gave out a handful of fours in this one - and the photo had to be pretty bad to get there. |
I just have to remind myself by visiting any past challenge front page images that there will always be folks who vote low for whatever reason no matter how phenomenal the shot. I am not saying my shot is phenomenal but even blue ribbon winners get drug through the mud of low scores. |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 12:43:34 PM · #66 |
| I don't think there is a problem with environmental portraits. If it's interesting/emotive/etc., the score will likely reflect that. I agree that, for pets, the environmental portrait can be more interesting than the "studio" shots. Two different animals! ;) |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 12:44:36 PM · #67 |
Originally posted by Rebecca:
...I see so many people reporting sub-5 scores, which, having voted the entire challenge, are so obviously undeserved. I think I only gave out a handful of fours in this one - and the photo had to be pretty bad to get there. |
And that's the joy of being able to express our differing opinions with a vote. You saw a handful worth four or less, I saw 87. |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 01:11:15 PM · #68 |
Slowly dropping...this is an abomination. All good comments but something's definitely amiss here with the voting.
Votes: 57
Views: 86
Avg Vote: 5.3860
Comments: 4
Favorites: 0
Wish Lists: 0
|
|
|
|
02/11/2009 01:17:19 PM · #69 |
Originally posted by digifotojo:
Slowly dropping...this is an abomination. All good comments but something's definitely amiss here with the voting... |
I agree and I demand an immediate investigation! Where is the SC and Langdon? Something stinks!
|
|
|
|
02/11/2009 01:27:13 PM · #70 |
Votes: 64
Views: 100
Avg Vote: 4.9688
Comments: 5
Favorites: 0
Yeah baby! |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 01:30:41 PM · #71 |
Mine has gone down .15 since the last 10 votes. Of course I figured there are some voters who disagree with my style, but it is quite a bit hit for just 10 votes.
Anyway, I also have noticed the low trend happening lately. It's sad when you see a sub 6 rating makes it to the top 10 of a challenge. It tells me that people are being too harsh on their voting |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 01:31:38 PM · #72 |
Originally posted by timfythetoo:
Votes: 64
Views: 100
Avg Vote: 4.9688
Comments: 5
Favorites: 0
Yeah baby! |
Votes: 67
Views: 94
Avg Vote: 4.9104
Comments: 1
Hey Tim, we are in the same score area! Anybody want to start the 4's conga line! Maybe we can dance/march to the 5's:-)
Message edited by author 2009-02-11 13:33:16. |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 01:38:56 PM · #73 |
You have rated 119 of 280 images (43%) in this challenge.
You have commented on 119 of 280 images (43%) in this challenge.
I haven't commented on 100% in a while, but I am going to do it this time (Having just been laid off, I can't say that I don't have the time). There are a number of very good shots, but an awful lot of snapshot quality ones as well.
I think the challenges where it is relatively easy to enter (who doesn't have access to a pet?) makes it too easy to enter just any old shot without much thought. |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 01:40:11 PM · #74 |
Originally posted by bspurgeon:
I don't think there is a problem with environmental portraits. If it's interesting/emotive/etc., the score will likely reflect that. I agree that, for pets, the environmental portrait can be more interesting than the "studio" shots. Two different animals! ;) |
I think this may be a problem with voting in this challenge. There are those who read the challenge to mean a portrait in the traditional sense and there are those who read the challenge to read "creative" and shot their portraits from a more creative angle/viewpoint. This is likely where there will be the huge discrepancies in the votes that do come in. There will be those who will consider it a portrait, only if the background and surroundings appear to be a traditional portrait style and will therefore, mark anything outside of that lower. Those who interpretted the description for the challenge as a portrait to be one that is creative in nature, will likely mark down the more "traditional" styles. And, then, we have those who will vote according to eye appeal only and those who will vote it according to technicals....and the list goes on.
By and large, my bet is that a more traditional form of pet portrait is going to make up the higher ranking shots. That will include the ones that look like they are "greeting card ready" or, the traditional form of "technically well done, cover/billboard advertising look" that often tend to be the ribbon winners. :)
In all reality, I think that there are a heck of a lot of photos in this challenge that while not the "traditional portrait", are really fabulous pet shots and are showing a great deal of who the animal is, their personality and their charm. There are quite a number of very well done portrait shots, complete with set up, props, backgrounds etc. that are cute and well executed but, the animal's personality is lost in the props, background, uneasiness of the animal in the setting etc.. In that case, I personally, find that I'm not looking at a portrait of the pet, but rather a portrait of a setting, lighting and technicals in the shot. To me, some of the most precious shots in this challenge are the ones where the animal is doing its own thing, looking naturally and unfortunately, that is likely going to come with furniture in the background or, cupboards or even un-pleasing lines. It's in capturing the animal's personality/portrait, where they are, doing what they are doing, naturally that intriques me most.
I have given out 1 10, 1 9, several 8's, lots of 7's and 6's. I have some adjusting to do in a day or two when I go back over the shots but, most of them will remain the same or elevated in score. I really got a chuckle out of what I was seeing in these shots, snapshot look or not. There's a lot of them that as an animal lover, have plenty of value to me. Technicals, a certain look/style have not been a big factor in my scoring. It had to be a really bad shot for me to call it a bad shot. :)
ETA: I was agreeing with you! :) (Just long winded in getting to that point!)
Message edited by author 2009-02-11 13:42:42. |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 01:44:50 PM · #75 |
Originally posted by JaimeVinas:
Mine has gone down .15 since the last 10 votes. Of course I figured there are some voters who disagree with my style, but it is quite a bit hit for just 10 votes.
Anyway, I also have noticed the low trend happening lately. It's sad when you see a sub 6 rating makes it to the top 10 of a challenge. It tells me that people are being too harsh on their voting |
Just dropped another .1 in the last vote. I bet that was a 1 handed out. |
|
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: 08/01/2025 09:49:56 AM EDT.
