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DPChallenge Forums >> Rant >> No artsy fartsy pictures?
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05/08/2003 05:02:25 AM · #1
OK, I have to rant a little. My camera sucks, my software sucks, I have no money to go get a better camera so... I make do with what I have. What I've done with the glass competition is take a relatively boring picture and change it drastically- hue, saturation, and yes, even sharpening (gasp!) the bejeezus out of it. I've come to realize that people don't like artsy fartsy pictures that aren't perfect. My picture was sharpened to the point of looking very um, wierd, but I liked it. I thought it would stand out in the challenge as being very different and eye-catching. Oh well, I was wrong. I've learned my lesson.

Alrighty, that was my rant. Thank you for listening. :)

P.S.- That was my second entry ever. I'm learning a lot from this site and I absolutely love the stuff here!

Message edited by author 2003-05-08 05:06:00.
05/08/2003 05:12:56 AM · #2
You are correct, and it does feel good, doesn't it.

Artsy things should be submitted to the "artsy" challenge, if there ever is such a thing.
05/08/2003 08:31:06 AM · #3
Leah, you're right with your observation. I learned that the majority of people here doesn't like photos which are manipulated too much or generally look "weird". They draw a subjective line of "still must look like a photo". Everything past this line is "digital art" and doesn't belong to this site.

Personally I don't draw such a line. But I also hesitate to speak about "art" just because it's a minipulated photo, that lessens the term "art" for me. I just love the visual impact such modifications can have. Photos which are blurry and grainy also catch my interest, so you have a good chance to get a high score from me ;-)

My photos karmacoma and faith in chaos, which belong to my personal favourites scored, very low. I think partly because they look weird and partly because people didn't see in the photos what I see (or feel).

On the other hand I was very surprised that my Implosion photo scored 5.9 which is pretty high I think. So when people get the message and feel that the manipulation was justified then they are more likely to accept the manipulation. But that's just a theory of me :-)

Anyway. I'm also a bit disappointed that photos which look a bit weird and strange get shoved aside so fast. I more and more come to the conclusion that the DPC system encourages photos which look like clean "advertisement shots" and discourages imperfect but, because of this imperfection, interesting photos. In my DPC favourites I very often am the only one who selected a photo as a favourite and I think "How on earth can nobody else see the genuine greatness of this photo?". Well, but that's probably the normal diversity of peoples taste around the world.

Ok, seems I joined the ranting ;-)
05/09/2003 09:43:42 AM · #4
Oooo Stephan, I really liked your Implosion picture! I can definitely see why it got high scores! The others are cool too, but Implosion just says "look at me!!" Wow, I'm impressed.

Thank you so much for making me feel better. I'm just glad that someone out there feels the same about making a statement with pictures. Yeah... let the creativity flow!! hehe

Message edited by author 2003-05-09 09:45:18.
05/09/2003 12:55:40 PM · #5
I agree! This has happened to me several times- you would think I'd learn!
My transportation photo was the latest victim. I adjusted the colors and contrast and sharpened to get a certain feel, but it wasn't all that popular with the voters. Oh well, this week it's better :)
05/09/2003 04:49:28 PM · #6
I'd love an artsy challenge although I'm not sure how you'd write a description for it.
This was my weirdest submission so far. I had my camera "repaired" by Canon, and it came back taking pictures like this. All I did was adjust levels a tad.
05/10/2003 07:16:24 AM · #7
Indigo, to what challenge did you submit the photo? It looks interesting, but I think I wouldn't go so far to wish my camera breaks too to produce images like these ;-)

Terry: just made a comment on your transportation photo.
05/10/2003 10:03:49 AM · #8
The best chances to play with this stuff, which I also love, is in the challenges where "editing rules do not apply" like the recent triptych challenge. Even then, however, most folks want to see photography as opposed to digital art. I don't see much difference. Whether you slide the saturation level 10% or 90%, you're still sliding it.
05/10/2003 11:30:42 AM · #9
I certainly agree.I tend to like "artsy fartsy"lol, also but even with the "no rules" editing,they won't do well in the voting. In the "tript" challenge I put 3 photo's together well then added only a painterly effect to it and it didn't do well. Some really liked it but even if they did,they still commented that it was no longer a photo. Oh well, Live and learn. Oh,can't seem to get it to post here,but it was titled "alisha".
Sherryk471
05/10/2003 11:34:46 AM · #10
PS.Sages,I loved your "fauna" pet or no pet,it was beautiful. I happen to likes snakes and this guy was beautiful and posed to perfection. Just wanted to add that.
sherryk
05/10/2003 11:39:35 AM · #11
Can we put in a request for an Artsy-Fartsy gallery?

Sometimes I like to see how far I can push an image within the general DPC rules. Check out my before/after pictures for the Fear Challenge for an example...not that it did that well, but I had nothing else at the time either.
05/10/2003 12:07:26 PM · #12
can i ask some questions, please?

1) does it have to be unrecognizable, distorted, blurred, or overprocessed to be arty, or are there other ways?

2) if someone can tell what you were trying to do, does that make it NOT arty?

3) if you have an arty idea and you do it well enough that it's effective and has a positive impact, and therefore maybe even do well in a challenge, does that make your picture no longer arty?

4) what's more arty? something weird that happened by accident (like indigo's example) or something weird that you did on purpose?

OK, that's all for now :).

Thanks
05/10/2003 12:17:45 PM · #13
I'm with you General. Maybe if everyone is doing "artsy fartsy" we might do better.LOL.
05/10/2003 12:21:01 PM · #14
Originally posted by GeneralE:

Can we put in a request for an Artsy-Fartsy gallery?


We do have a Digital Art Gallery, and I've put some of my "pushed" stuff there.
05/10/2003 12:34:18 PM · #15
I forgot about that, although I think it applies more to composited, filtered, and otherwise "illegally" processed images. I'm suggesting a gallery for "non-naturalistic" but legally-made photos.
05/10/2003 04:08:29 PM · #16
Originally posted by GeneralE:

I forgot about that, although I think it applies more to composited, filtered, and otherwise "illegally" processed images. I'm suggesting a gallery for "non-naturalistic" but legally-made photos.


Kinda like this one. LOL
05/10/2003 09:51:25 PM · #17
Originally posted by sherryk471:

PS.Sages,I loved your "fauna" pet or no pet,it was beautiful. I happen to likes snakes and this guy was beautiful and posed to perfection. Just wanted to add that.
sherryk


Thanks Sherry! ...and Homer thanks you too.
05/11/2003 10:09:46 AM · #18
OK. Well .. no one answered my questions, that's ok :) ..

What I was getting at was that people are saying 'artsy fartsy' doesn't do well, but I am wondering how much of that is poor execution.

If I come up with an idea and do it, but my execution is poor, or the idea doesn't convey, or doesn't fit the context, or doesn't carry any emotional pull for anyone but myself, because I've lost my objectivity, then just blaming it on 'poor response to artsy fartsiness' is just a rationalization :).

thanks

05/11/2003 10:16:30 AM · #19
Originally posted by magnetic9999:

OK. Well .. no one answered my questions, that's ok :) ..


No; No; No; I don't know...

I think this is much the same situation as with "cliche" shots -- I think people like to complain about them, and perhaps hold them to a higher standard, but one stunningly done will still do fairly well...
05/11/2003 11:27:09 AM · #20
Of course, everyone has their own opinion and interpretation of what is meant by artsy fartsy. I think that in some cases the 'over manipulation' works and in some cases it doesn't. When it does work, the reaction is WOW, like the implosion shot by stephan. In other cases it just gets the reaction 'huh?'. If the image doesn't say anything to the person looking at it then it's very hard to score and/or comment on. In the transportation challenge I saw one image where the overexposure added impact to the image whereas in the fauna challenge I saw one image that was overexposed and it just looked wrong (IMO). I commented on both.

In conclusion, everyone's sense of 'cool' is different.

Go ahead and experiment. Just don't take it personal if someone doesn't get what your trying to protray. Hopefully you get comments. Remember, photography (and art) is very subjective.

Message edited by author 2003-05-11 15:59:27.
05/11/2003 11:46:40 AM · #21
Originally posted by cpanaioti:

In conclusion, everyone's sense of 'cool' is different.

Go ahead and experiment. Just don't take it personal if someone doesn't get what your trying to protray. Hopefully you get comments. Remember, photography (and art) is very subjective.

Sometimes my sense of what is cool is different from day to day...I'm not taking anything personally, and if I mess around with a picture it's just to have fun with it. It's a bonus if others have fun with it too.
05/11/2003 07:58:36 PM · #22
Experiment. Don't take low scores personally. Have fun.

Message edited by author 2003-05-11 19:59:32.
05/12/2003 01:19:52 AM · #23
Mag, I think you might be thinking more along the lines of fine art than "artsy fartsy". My definition of artsy is probably something that appeals to a narrow audience. If it still looks like a "typical" photo that will be well received by the general public, then it isn't really "artsy fartsy" IMO. I'm not complaining that they don't do well here. This is a popularity contest for photos, and weird pictures just aren't going to win.
This is a good arena for praticing your fine art photos and learning to appeal to a wide audience. You are supposed to be creative in a mainstream sort of way.
The whole fact that you suggest we need to be objective with our submissions here just proves the point. ART should be subjective. We shouldn't have to worry about conveying a message to every voter. It's up to them to see or feel what they do. If some hate it and some love it then that's really artsy.

Message edited by author 2003-05-12 01:27:30.
05/12/2003 01:36:10 AM · #24
Originally posted by indigo997:

This is a popularity contest for photos, and weird pictures just aren't going to win.
This is a good arena for praticing your fine art photos and learning to appeal to a wide audience.


Very well put, Indigo997!
05/12/2003 01:41:39 AM · #25
You go girl! :p
On a side note, your sticker submission was great. Thought for sure it was going to win.
Originally posted by indigo997:

This is a popularity contest for photos, and weird pictures just aren't going to win.
This is a good arena for praticing your fine art photos and learning to appeal to a wide audience. You are supposed to be creative in a mainstream sort of way.
The whole fact that you suggest we need to be objective with our submissions here just proves the point. ART should be subjective. We shouldn't have to worry about conveying a message to every voter. It's up to them to see or feel what they do. If some hate it and some love it then that's really artsy.
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