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10/13/2005 02:53:19 PM · #1 |
I just joined this august society and immediately ignored the prophetic warning - judge not,less thou be judged, by starting to score the entries in the "Pride" challenge. I quickly realized I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing.
I sense that the idea of each challenge is to create a photograph which presents the theme, demonstrates a mastery of technique, and transends into artistic expression.
I found some pictures which showed technical and artistic merit, but missed the topic.
Other,equally good photos, only expressed "pride" when titled, or captioned.
A few, which could be considered simply very good snapshots, captured the essence of the theme.
My question is, What rates a '10'?
Where's the consensus on what qualities are important?
So, who is willing to explain how they judge a challenge?
(Don't bother checking for my work, none of it qualifies for submission yet, just digitalized.)
Message edited by author 2005-10-13 14:53:41.
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10/13/2005 02:56:59 PM · #2 |
It doesn't have to be complex. Here's how I vote...
1 - bad
10 - good
Everything falls at those extremes or somewhere in between... |
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10/13/2005 02:58:10 PM · #3 |
| If you have eyes and an opinion, you are qualified to judge. There are many past threads about how to vote and there will be many more. It takes awhile to find a system that works for you and while reading others' opinions in the forums can be very helpful in that, don't let them "tell" you how to vote, and remember they are all just their opinions. As is mine. :) Welcome and have fun. |
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10/13/2005 02:58:14 PM · #4 |
OH BOY!!!! This is going to be interesting. I'm afraid this is going to open a can of worms. :-)
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10/13/2005 02:59:40 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by Palmetto_Pixels:
OH BOY!!!! This is going to be interesting. I'm afraid this is going to open a can of worms. :-) |
The lid on this can of worms was thrown away a long time ago. ;-) |
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10/13/2005 03:01:34 PM · #6 |
more like a barrel of worms :-P
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10/13/2005 03:04:00 PM · #7 |
I think you'll find everyone has their own style of voting. Here are some basic guidelines that I think may help you in your quest.
[sarcasm]
If it's a full moon and you're voting between the hours of 1:00 PM and 2:00 AM EST, automatically consider TITLE as 2/3 of the vote weight. If it's not a full moon, or it's daylight, TITLE has no bearing on score. If you are compelled by the image and it's obviously a past ribbon winner and/or familiar model and/or location, automatically deduct 2 FULL points. If the composition is good, but the image is blurry, go get a RC cola and moonpie and move to another image. If there is a woody in the image, automatically download the image, add a flower and a butterfly and give it a 10.
Hope this helps! [/sarcasm]
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10/13/2005 03:07:35 PM · #8 |
| Well, since the can is opened...I was recently voting on Pride, Celebration and Personification and I am noticing an odd trend that was brought up on the opening of this thread. That being, that people are taking pictures that they just happened to take during the time period of a challenge and willing them into the challenge. Mostly just by title alone forcing your mind to find the point by reading the title. IMHO, this hurts the challenges. There are often 300-400 photos in a challenge and thus time consuming to vote on. It is my feeling that a challenge should be treated as such and the entries should be sought after and shot because they pertain to the challenge and were pre-planned. Not the cart before the horse. Any opinions? |
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10/13/2005 03:08:00 PM · #9 |
Do you have a cat?
My cat, Bruce helps me vote. He has impeccable tast, and a great fondness for abstracts. And he is also an awesome gator cat.
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10/13/2005 03:10:03 PM · #10 |
Have you read the challenge rules? There is a section called "Challenge Voting". Here's a quote from that section
"While voting, users are asked to keep in highest consideration the topic of the challenge and base their rating accordingly."
Other than that you are free to vote pretty much as you like. I always try to apply the full 1 thru 10 scale in every challenge, giving at least one vote of 10 to the best entry and at least one vote of 1 to the weakest entry.
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10/13/2005 03:11:26 PM · #11 |
Here's some guidelines:
- Anything with a Woody in it gets 3 additional points
- Anything with Joey in it should be trash-talked in the comments
- Anything with Nico in it, you can skip voting on since it defaults to ribbon status
- Use the acronym DNMC often
- Heap praise on any pic of a woman wearing a colorful scarf over her head
- If the watermark doesn't say "Made in Iceland" it doesn't get a 10
- Last one I can think of: Ignore most anything I post
Wheeeeeeee! |
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10/13/2005 03:18:19 PM · #12 |
Here is the method I use when Bruce is too busy hunting gators to help me:
the first pic I vote on gets a 1, the next one a 2, then a 3, etc. After the 10th pic, I then give a 9, then 8, and so on back down to 1 (just to be fair). I continue on this cycle through all the entries until I get to the last one, which gets a 2. Of course, if it is monday, then I add 2 and subtract 1 from each score.
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10/13/2005 03:18:51 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by kpriest:
- Last one I can think of: Ignore most anything I post
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Did someone say something? I could swear I heard something.
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10/13/2005 03:21:04 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by reeldeal4:
Well, since the can is opened...I was recently voting on Pride, Celebration and Personification and I am noticing an odd trend that was brought up on the opening of this thread. That being, that people are taking pictures that they just happened to take during the time period of a challenge and willing them into the challenge. Mostly just by title alone forcing your mind to find the point by reading the title. IMHO, this hurts the challenges. |
Personally, I think you should be as generous as possible in giving people the benefit of the doubt about challenge relevance. The more ambiguous the challenge description, the more seemingly unrelated stuff you'll see. I must confess I am guilty of stretching tthe relevance and using the title in a current challenge and I will deservedly pay for it. I also agree that these can hurt the challenges as I do get annoyed at completely unrelated subjects, so I guess I'm a hypocrite this week-- but not again. :)
Originally posted by reeldeal4:
Not the cart before the horse. Any opinions? |
On that issue, I think the cart should go before the horse. But then again, I am not Amish. |
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10/13/2005 03:22:19 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by taterbug:
Here is the method I use when Bruce is too busy hunting gators to help me:
the first pic I vote on gets a 1, the next one a 2, then a 3, etc. After the 10th pic, I then give a 9, then 8, and so on back down to 1 (just to be fair). I continue on this cycle through all the entries until I get to the last one, which gets a 2. Of course, if it is monday, then I add 2 and subtract 1 from each score. |
Bingo! And this is what gives us a nice, consistent, shapely curve in our voting graphs. :) |
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10/13/2005 03:27:19 PM · #16 |
OK, I must apologize, I feel as if I took this thread down a dark road. Honestly you'll see as many different voting styles as you will smart a$$ answers about how to vote. Simply put, follow Ken's advice.
Originally posted by kpriest:
If you have eyes and an opinion, you are qualified to judge. There are many past threads about how to vote and there will be many more. It takes awhile to find a system that works for you and while reading others' opinions in the forums can be very helpful in that, don't let them "tell" you how to vote, and remember they are all just their opinions. As is mine. :) Welcome and have fun. |
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10/13/2005 03:32:22 PM · #17 |
Posted this before, but you may want to peruse it and edit it to fit yourself, or you may not, LOL. That is your choice, but I honestly feel it is a good criteria - at least it is for me!
For what it is worth department: MY OPINION!! Decided my criteria for voting:
10- Near perfect photo perfect fit for challenge
9- almost perfect photo and almost perfect fit for challenge
8- very good photo and almost perfect fit for challenge
7- good/very good photo and good/very good fit for challenge
6- good photo and fit for challenge (SLIGHTLY above average)
5- average photo and fit
4- photo below average or great pic but challenge not met IMO
3- way below average photo or good/very good pic challenge not met
2- bad pic or average pic that does not meet challenge WILL COMMENT!!
1- extremely bad pic or not even close to challenge WILL COMMENT!!
Only have given out maybe 8 1's and no tens, but this is my system. If it is not clear, the CHALLENGE should be at least the equal of the photo grading. If you do not want to follow the rules, why bother to have them? If you have them, FOLLOW them, or do not enter! Oh well, at least I feel better now!! LOL Had to post after looking at NON HUMAN LOOKING?? personifications. LOL
Course one has to have a sliding scale and work each photo out to one's own satisfaction, but you asked for our ideas, and that is mine!!
Jacque |
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10/13/2005 03:32:51 PM · #18 |
When a picture comes up, I have an initial reaction--good or bad. From there I make sure it meets the challenge. If not,sorry, I give a 1,2, or 3. If we let people win that don't meet the challenge, then we might as well do away with the categories and just say submit your best.
If it meets the challenge and is really bad technically I still give a 1, 2, or 3. I usually sort the rest into categories of 4, 5 and 6. Outstanding gets a 7 or 8 to start. Once I am done (and I have done almost every photo so far) I go back through every picture and adjust the scores. I try to never lower my initial score so I start low and keep increasing until the good ones, IMO, are at the top. I do give lower scores to those that look like snapshots.
The first challenge I voted on was "shoes". I was concerned about doing it right, and I would probably give different scores if I voted on it now because I have learned a lot since then. No one will ever know how you voted, and you can compare your scores to everyone else's when the challenge is over. You will notice the scores are all over the place, even on the winners, so I say just vote and you will soon figure out a system that works for you. |
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10/13/2005 03:42:15 PM · #19 |
It does come down a lot to your opinion. There are many people gripping that a photo submitted doesn't meet the Pride challenge but unles you are personally in the persons head how do you know it doesn't mean pride to that person. Are you saying that pride has to be a flag, a child, a camera or what? Some people are just proud that God gave them another day, while others are proud that they have been able to save for a camera.
In challenges such as this it is almost impossible to say someone didnt' meet the challenge, in the personification challenge you will probably have to use a creative eye to see if they met the requirement, some not so creative people will miss seeing it and some will miss shooting it.
I have the full details in my bio but I start at 5 if they have met the challenge, in this one everyone would get at least a 5. If there is a slight hint of meeting the challenge I go to 4 and lower as I feel it meets the challenge. Then I vote on the technical stuff. I give points for color, focus, etc. I felt that this was the most fair way to vote on an even scale.
Find your method and try to stick with it, and keep an open mind. Good luck with it.
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10/13/2005 03:48:11 PM · #20 |
| ...I think Jammur (OP) ran off. :P |
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10/13/2005 03:55:43 PM · #21 |
Originally posted by kpriest:
...I think Jammur (OP) ran off. :P |
Ya'll think we sceered 'em off?
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10/13/2005 04:08:29 PM · #22 |
Originally posted by sabphoto:
In challenges such as this it is almost impossible to say someone didnt' meet the challenge, in the personification challenge you will probably have to use a creative eye to see if they met the requirement, some not so creative people will miss seeing it and some will miss shooting it. |
In personification it clearly defines an "inanimate object" in the challenge description. No offense if the following subjects are yours, but cats, orangutans and children are quite animated. |
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10/13/2005 04:08:45 PM · #23 |
Originally posted by taterbug:
Here is the method I use when Bruce is too busy hunting gators to help me:
the first pic I vote on gets a 1, the next one a 2, then a 3, etc. After the 10th pic, I then give a 9, then 8, and so on back down to 1 (just to be fair). I continue on this cycle through all the entries until I get to the last one, which gets a 2. Of course, if it is monday, then I add 2 and subtract 1 from each score. |
That's also the method I use. I find it works well, and ensures a fair scattering of the vote. |
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10/13/2005 04:10:56 PM · #24 |
Just a couple more cents here.
Consider the challenge, the descriptionand get your frame of mind ready to look at a bunch of pictures, and be an unbiased judge. Judge each photo on it's own merits. If you absolutely hate a picture of a cross for example, keep your personal bias out of it and look at it without predjudice.
Personally, I use a system kind of like this, and in no way should be
taken as "the" way, but rather as my way - an opinion only.
If an image meets the challenge, it's worth a 5 for effort, so long as it's ok. Adjust up a point for better than average, down a point if it is not quite as good as an average shot. Run through the pictures, and use this as a go/no-go gauge. Once completed, the voted images are now grouped in bundles of 4, 5 & 6's. Take the group pf 6's and run through them again, this time payin a little more attention to technical quality, composition, clarity, etc and adjust the group of 6's up or down accordingly. During this round, may be a bunch bumped up to a 7 or 8. Do the same for the 4's.
Keep in mind when voting an image below a 4, we, the voters, may not understand what the artist was trying to portray and may wokring heavily in the creative zone. Doesn't make the shot bad, or good, just makes it different enough to warrant a closer look in attempt ounderstand it.
If you can spare the time, here & there, go back and add comments & opinions as deemed fit. In this go-around, a number here, myself included, now have separated teh better than most pictures, and should have a number in the 7-8 group. Any really jump out at you? Difficult lighting? Exceptional composition? Any images you could visualize for sale or hanging in a fine arts gallery? At this level, I most often find the hiden gems - shots that just each in and take hold. These are the images to be considered in the 9-10 range and by now, should have pretty much made your choices for top 3/5/10 images.
Be careful about voting low, "just because " or due to personal issues with it. Be unbiased if you cannot be without predjudice, don't vote.
I rarely, and I mean rarely find an image that is worthy of a 1 or a two. It would have to be out of focus, very, very small, or just a plain crap shot that someone is hoping to take last place.
At any rate, there is sort of a primer on what I do.
It's a fair and honest opinion, and try to keep it that way.
Hope this helps.
Message edited by author 2005-10-14 14:01:44. |
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10/13/2005 04:32:24 PM · #25 |
I have a newbie question. The challenge titled "What?"
Is this one of those "use your imagination" challenges?? |
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