DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register
 

DPChallenge Forums >> Current Challenge >> Post challenge discussion: light and dark
Pages:  
Showing posts 1 - 11 of 11, (reverse)
AuthorThread
04/18/2022 09:30:00 PM · #1
I’m disappointed in myself for forgetting to vote on this challenge.

I appreciated the comment that Tangy found it a total shoehorn. I was worried that more people would think it was. This was my thinking.

The description said to approach it however we wanted. “ Show us light and dark any way that you want to, literally or metaphorically.”

I wanted to go for the metaphorical. I do like photos that are “dark” - this is still one of my favorite photos I’ve taken:



So dark usually meant death or morbid, etc.

so I was thinking death-dark. Does life=light? The more I thought about it, the more these hunting photos were polar opposites in the same photo. The sheer amount of time/effort/everything that these Osprey put into fishing is amazing. Continuously flying, back pedaling into the wind, craning their next down in search for food. Jesse and I sat for hours watching many types of birds trying to hunt for fish to feed themselves and their young. Failure brings a possibility of losing your young, succeeding means something else loses it’s life. It’s a game that will always have a winner and a loser.

that was my view on light and dark.

I wish I had voted. Posthumous’s and markwiley’s were real gems.





Both of which remind me that I should pay attention to titles. The photos were interesting, but the titles slammed me in the back of the head with a very large, very heavy board. Perfect examples or dark and light, imo.

04/19/2022 12:20:46 AM · #2
Maybe sometimes I get too literal for my own good. The bulk of my vote is based on how well an image fits the theme as I see it. After that I factor in concept and technique. So while I can appreciate what to me might be excellent technique or concept, it will not get the highest marks if it does not "fit the challenge". Sometimes, though, I'm surprised by interpretations that I hadn't considered, but which ultimately DO fit the challenge for me. This just didn't happen to be one of those times, even though it is a spectacular wildlife photo.
04/19/2022 08:58:19 AM · #3
Originally posted by tanguera:

Maybe sometimes I get too literal for my own good. The bulk of my vote is based on how well an image fits the theme as I see it. After that I factor in concept and technique. So while I can appreciate what to me might be excellent technique or concept, it will not get the highest marks if it does not "fit the challenge". Sometimes, though, I'm surprised by interpretations that I hadn't considered, but which ultimately DO fit the challenge for me. This just didn't happen to be one of those times, even though it is a spectacular wildlife photo.


Yup -- I get that completely. And I appreciated the comment. It's always helpful to know what works and what doesn't. And I'm the same way -- a large portion of my vote goes towards whether I think it fits the challenge. IMO, that's the whole point of the challenge! If anything goes, why bother having a theme? What's exciting is when something really hits you. Hitting you over the head is obvious, sneaking up and blindsiding you when you weren't expecting it is the type of thing that's memorable. Don's and Mark's I'll remember for quite awhile. Because I've had a number of sleepless nights. Which is where light and dark meet physically, metaphorically, and any "cally" else of which you can contemplate!
04/19/2022 10:33:29 AM · #4
I'm glad I was able to haunt you a bit. I must be part ghost because I love to haunt.

I'm impressed that your score was as high as it was, since it did force the voter to think metaphorically to accept it.

I think of the challenge topics as a spur to creativity. When I vote, the first thing I do is consider the image on its own. The challenge topic is usually an afterthought for me. I might adjust the score a little if I remember to consider the challenge topic.
04/19/2022 01:37:09 PM · #5
I'll wade in here wondering why my entry scored near the bottom of the pack. I thought for sure I had a high score coming on this one. I did get two excellent comments, both very favorable. Why didn't more voters agree? Any ideas?

04/19/2022 04:23:25 PM · #6
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

I'll wade in here wondering why my entry scored near the bottom of the pack. I thought for sure I had a high score coming on this one. I did get two excellent comments, both very favorable. Why didn't more voters agree? Any ideas?



Had I remembered to vote on this one, it probably would have been a 6, but could have been as high as an 8 or possibly 9 with a different shot. For some reason, the bubbles/foam just didn't do it for me. I found the left 1/2 of the photo to be absolutely stunning. Incredible colors and very interesting. But then my eyes hit the right side, and it was just disappointing. The left had mystery. The right was a bunch of bubbles. It even took away a good chunk of the mystery of the left. "oh, ok, now I know what I'm seeing. Yeah, that's kind of interesting." Square crop and get rid of the right side, you'd have even mystery to keep people wanting to explore and figure out what they're seeing.
04/19/2022 04:30:15 PM · #7
Originally posted by posthumous:

I'm glad I was able to haunt you a bit. I must be part ghost because I love to haunt.

I'm impressed that your score was as high as it was, since it did force the voter to think metaphorically to accept it.

I think of the challenge topics as a spur to creativity. When I vote, the first thing I do is consider the image on its own. The challenge topic is usually an afterthought for me. I might adjust the score a little if I remember to consider the challenge topic.


I'm the polar opposite (surprise! ;) The challenge is gives the difficulty. Especially on hard challenges. When I'm confused and frustrated about what to do with a difficult challenge topic. I really look forward to seeing how others master it. I'm thrilled when someone comes up with something awesome. And disappointed when the entries are lackluster. I'm frustrated when someone shoehorns something into a challenge, but rarely vote those lower than a 4 or 5, because I figure it just could be me not understanding their vision. It is up to the photographer to get their point across. But I'm also not out to punish someone for my lack of insight. :)

I would love to have a "gallery" challenge -- where people could actually have a paragraph describing their vision/intent. I don't go to galleries (I'm more of a natural history museum type person). But I know it can be fascinating to get a glimpse into the stories behind the works. It would be fun to be able to vote on that for something different.
04/19/2022 04:32:16 PM · #8
Originally posted by vawendy:

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

I'll wade in here wondering why my entry scored near the bottom of the pack. I thought for sure I had a high score coming on this one. I did get two excellent comments, both very favorable. Why didn't more voters agree? Any ideas?



Had I remembered to vote on this one, it probably would have been a 6, but could have been as high as an 8 or possibly 9 with a different shot. For some reason, the bubbles/foam just didn't do it for me. I found the left 1/2 of the photo to be absolutely stunning. Incredible colors and very interesting. But then my eyes hit the right side, and it was just disappointing. The left had mystery. The right was a bunch of bubbles. It even took away a good chunk of the mystery of the left. "oh, ok, now I know what I'm seeing. Yeah, that's kind of interesting." Square crop and get rid of the right side, you'd have even mystery to keep people wanting to explore and figure out what they're seeing.


Well said, Wendy. I marked it with 5. Beautiful hues on the left but quite uninteresting foamy of not beaten enough egg whites. Light and dark? Yes. But not enough to want me to look again at the image. None of your tapestry weaving obsession Bear.
04/19/2022 04:36:51 PM · #9
I gave it a 6, the bubbles did me in, love the left side with the fish and the movement.
04/19/2022 05:14:30 PM · #10
I think it had more to do with the concept of light and dark, and while the left portion could certainly be considered "light", the right is less light or at best darker, but it's hardly "dark".
04/19/2022 05:21:50 PM · #11
"Bubbles=Bad" is what Penelope told me when I was processing it. I kinda' ignored her, didn't I? :-)
Pages:  
Current Server Time: 03/28/2024 05:22:51 PM

Please log in or register to post to the forums.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Prints! - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 03/28/2024 05:22:51 PM EDT.