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DPChallenge Forums >> Challenge Results >> Best of 2014 Results Observation
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01/22/2015 07:08:09 AM · #1
Over 30 challenges in 2014 resulted in a higher score for the eventual winner than the high score merited by the winner of the Best of 2014 challenge.

Possible takeaways from that?

1. Those who submitted photos had wasted all their good shots on other challenges throughout the year.
2. There exists a phobia among voters here to reward great photos with proper scores in "Best of" challenges.
3. Everyone grades on a curve, beginning with the first photo they see, which is technically impossible to do.

Regardless, it's all good, and I understand that people may just "raise their expectations" with these challenges. But I have to say that it's frustrating as hell when you put in the time and effort on a shot that good and it rolls in with a "World's Tiniest Violin" score, and it's why I won't bother submitting in those challenges any more (I am not in this one either, so there's no sour grapes here).

But I just wanted to take the time to let those folks who rolled in at 91st place and below that they should hold their heads up, because most of those photos are worthy of scores much higher than they received. Well done.

Message edited by author 2015-01-22 07:09:21.
01/22/2015 07:14:41 AM · #2
Yes and no.

The top image in previous challenges may have had higher scores than the Best Of, but overall the Best Of received higher votes throughout.

It's not every day that all 3 ribbon winners have scores above 7, and what amazes me more, is that you have to go into the 4th page of results to see your first score below 6.5 which is incredible.

Normally there's a precipitous drop in score from 1st to 10th ... not so in Best Of.
01/22/2015 07:27:01 AM · #3
Originally posted by Parabelle:

...Normally there's a precipitous drop in score from 1st to 10th ... not so in Best Of.


Very true. My entry scored 6.225 and wound up 60th!
01/22/2015 07:39:37 AM · #4
Yeah, I finished at 31st with an even 6.5. The last few votes drove down my score and I was worried there that I wasn't going to make my goal of finally hitting that mark. In any case though, I scored a personal best and got some great comments. A very funny one by Tiny.

For anyone that is interested, the original of my image (which I couldn't publish here due to editing constraints) is on my Flickr stream.
01/22/2015 07:42:37 AM · #5
out of 200 photos, how can one compete, but still its fun to see the best of the best of what people do that they could not submit otherwise.

Message edited by author 2015-01-22 07:51:11.
01/22/2015 07:43:18 AM · #6
That's an interesting observation, backdoorhippie. Is this the case in other "best of the year" challenges? Or is "Best of 2014" unique in this manner?
01/22/2015 07:58:55 AM · #7
Some more interesting observations.

The blue ribbon winner AllenP had 4 other 1st place entries in 2014. All off them, including the winner in the Best 2014, are very similar in style and execution and all of them scored around 7.4/7.5. Talking about consistency.

Two entries scored 6.0000 and found themselves just above the middle at 90th place (59%).

Mond's Spendthrift scored 5.79, which is a full point more than a shot from the same photoshoot scored in Photograph Becomes a Painting II.
01/22/2015 08:08:15 AM · #8
Originally posted by damjanev:

Two entries scored 6.0000 and found themselves just above the middle at 90th place (59%).


I was one of them and I'm happy about it.
Anything 6 and up againt that competition is a good score in my book.

I feel when a challenge gets 100 or more votes it about as accurate as your going to get and most every day challenges are less.
01/22/2015 08:38:43 AM · #9
I scored a 5.6 on a photo that I loved enough to submit as my favorite shot of 2014. I know that 5.6 isn't a bad score but in this challenge it's not so good. I feel unsure of myself and don't know if I want to keep doing this. It's a huge let down! I'm not getting down on voters, I'm questioning my choice of photo and editing.
01/22/2015 08:54:51 AM · #10
there were a lot of good shots but nothing really blew me away. I only gave out two 10s, one got the blue, the other came in 25th.
01/22/2015 09:03:35 AM · #11
Originally posted by nygold:

Originally posted by damjanev:

Two entries scored 6.0000 and found themselves just above the middle at 90th place (59%).


I was one of them and I'm happy about it.
Anything 6 and up againt that competition is a good score in my book.

I feel when a challenge gets 100 or more votes it about as accurate as your going to get and most every day challenges are less.


While I understand that, my point is that monthly and yearly challenges are a combination of adjusted expectations, both from the voters and (hopefully) those who enter. I struggle looking at the low scores I get in Free Study challenges when I compare them to the scores I get in topic-specific challenges. Looking at 7 months of entries I would personally rank my #4 & 5 images much lower than ANY of my Free Study entries for the year, and yet only 3 of those 8 entries scored above a 6, the highest being a 6.08.

Does that say that we judge specific challenges too lightly or are we overly harsh on the larger ones? Probably both. I understand that most folks come in with an expectation and if it's "OK" it gets a 5 and you're off (God forbid you're the first entry in the queue). So, my post is for folks like Hipychik who, like me, can get discouraged as hell with the score they get. Yes, it's all relative, but dammit, the number does have an impact, particularly when you can recognize that you're 5-to-6-ish is once again being squashed by land/cityscapes awash in clouds and water yet again. No, you don't expect to win, but you want to know that you were actually considered when the person slapping the 5 or 6 on it did it and that they didn't just do it to move on to the next one hoping for an "Ooooooh" or "Aaaaaah".
01/22/2015 09:17:39 AM · #12
Originally posted by jgirl57:

out of 200 photos, how can one compete,


I would like to nominate this as the weirdest statement ever ☺️
01/22/2015 09:29:01 AM · #13
hahahahah!
01/22/2015 09:41:51 AM · #14
Originally posted by FromDaRock:

The last few votes drove down my score and I was worried there that I wasn't going to make my goal of finally hitting that mark.


the last few votes pushed mine over 6 lifting it to 6.15

Message edited by author 2015-01-22 09:42:04.
01/22/2015 10:01:54 AM · #15
I think there is almost always a bump in scores for meeting the challenge well. Without a specific topic for the challenge, the bump is likely not there. This may or may not be replace with individual voter taste on subject matter.
01/22/2015 10:02:38 AM · #16
"no one goes there because it is too crowded" ;)

Originally posted by Tiny:

Originally posted by jgirl57:

out of 200 photos, how can one compete,


I would like to nominate this as the weirdest statement ever ☺️
01/22/2015 10:08:27 AM · #17
Originally posted by tate:

I think there is almost always a bump in scores for meeting the challenge well. Without a specific topic for the challenge, the bump is likely not there. This may or may not be replace with individual voter taste on subject matter.


That's exactly it. It boils down to people's tastes in the end. Many people don't care for bird shots -- but if it's a challenge for flying birds, they vote accordingly. If it's a best of challenge, there are probably other shots that impress them more. And while the flying bird photo is good, it's not as impressive in a group of shots that meet your own personal tastes more.

Portraits aren't my favorite things on the site. If it's a portrait challenge, the truly impressive ones will rise to the top and impress me in comparison to the others. To stand out in a best of, they have to go even one level farther than that, simply because I'm probably awed by the things I understand and appreciate more. The difficultly in getting the bluebird catching the dragonfly in mid air will keep my interest a lot more.

Message edited by author 2015-01-22 10:09:25.
01/22/2015 10:48:16 AM · #18
i think everyone should disclose their votes so we can weed out the trolls.
01/22/2015 11:26:54 AM · #19
DPC is a world unto itself and it's taztes cannot be quantified by scientific study. It is clear that when there us no specific challenge topic, there is a preference for certain subjects.

I find my own entry to be a perfect example of the irony at work here. My entry finished at 114th place out of 218 - in the lower 50% - while in the "real world" it won the Americas Region from among 11,500 entries.

People who win consistently on DPC have either found a style with mass appeal, are technically brilliant, very creative, interpret the challenge theme well, and/or all of the above.
01/22/2015 11:35:47 AM · #20
Originally posted by tanguera:

People who win consistently on DPC have either found a style with mass appeal, are technically brilliantskilled, very creativerepetitive, interpret the challenge theme wellin a simplistic way, and/or all of the above.


I completely agree.
01/22/2015 11:50:24 AM · #21
:-)
01/22/2015 12:23:02 PM · #22
Originally posted by tanguera:

I find my own entry to be a perfect example of the irony at work here. My entry finished at 114th place out of 218 - in the lower 50% - while in the "real world" it won the Americas Region from among 11,500 entries.

But, of course, DPC is "by popular vote" and your "real world" competition was juried...
01/22/2015 01:13:53 PM · #23
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Originally posted by tanguera:

I find my own entry to be a perfect example of the irony at work here. My entry finished at 114th place out of 218 - in the lower 50% - while in the "real world" it won the Americas Region from among 11,500 entries.

But, of course, DPC is "by popular vote" and your "real world" competition was juried...


Yep, that's the kicker. I gave it a 6 in the challenge while some of the outtakes you posted from that competition I would have given 8's or 9's. But the judges must value other attributes than I do, nothing wrong with that.
01/22/2015 01:54:37 PM · #24
I just meant that DPC is not the only place to compete, and that it's different everywhere. I understand how disappointing scores can be, but I finally realized a while ago that scores are hardly the main reason I'm on DPC. And that scores on DPC are but one opinion. The same image elsewhere can do superbly. It just has to find its audience, and that appreciative audience might NOT be DPC.
01/22/2015 02:13:44 PM · #25
I'm happy with the comments I got in my image
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