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09/30/2002 03:03:00 PM · #1 |
I am disappointed already in the performance of my Reflections submission. For two reasons, it turns out...
First, mine is one of the many many many reflections off sunglasses, and that alone makes me feel less than creative.
Second, because I know I am one of many similar photos, that by the time voters get to see mine, they will tend to vote down the photo as having been unoriginal, or lacking a creative element. My current score seems to support this theory.
The annoying part about that situation is that the photo was actually fairly well thought through. It is not merely a photo of a reflection, or a photo of a subject that happens to be in a reflection, but a capture of a real event, wherein the reflected subject and I are interacting. That is to say that the photo really is of me witnessing something, which should be interpreted as a powerful experience, and not just a simple interpretation of theme.
Actually, now that I type this out, I feel a lot worse about the photo than I thought I did.
-sigh-
Mark
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09/30/2002 03:09:55 PM · #2 |
welcome to the club
i shot swings for the childhood challenge
i shot a pencil drawing a pencil for the pencil challenge
i shot a spider for the fear challenge
i shot a beach for the corner challenge
guess what? they mostly did better than my creative pictures (candid, corporate, negative space)
i guess it all depends on the shot
* This message has been edited by the author on 9/30/2002 3:08:17 PM.
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09/30/2002 03:30:13 PM · #3 |
People see the photos in all different orders. Yours could be the first one they come to, or it could be the last. If it's the first, then they aren't "sick of the shot yet", and when they get to the rest of them, then THOSE are the ones they are "sick of". That's one of the bonuses of the random image order.
I have an "evil twin" photo too. And personally, I like it better than mine. If you are worried about this in the future...
Take your first 5 ideas...and throw them out. LOL. Or, like it seems you have done...make it personal. But no matter what the voters say, if you start out proud of your photo, end that way too. Everyone has different tastes, and everyone will vote it differently. Some people only use like 3-7, so a 5 is a middle score. Some people only use 5-10, therefore making 5 their worst photos. So it really depends on HOW people score. Keep up the good work, and don't let the voters get to you.
~Heather~
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09/30/2002 03:30:33 PM · #4 |
Yes, there were a lot of sunglasses featured as the prop to convey a reflection. To be honest, I have seen these now in a number of challenges and sorry, it was already getting old. After having submitted a swing myself on the Childhood challenge, I vowed to steer away from stuff that might be a cliché. Since then, I'm getting some "weak on the challenge" comments every now and then.
Earlier last week I did a nice shot of my dog and her cool reflection on an interestingly shaped stainless thermos. However, that was a "doggie" picture and I was not inclined to submit it (it had some compression problems, too). Decided not to submit for the challenge but then yesterday at the last hour I made another shot of something totally different, hurried it through post processing and submitted it with 15 minutes to spare. Then, when I saw it on my Home Page decided that I should have done a better job on the post processing and revisited the file but came to the conclusion there was not enough time to unsubmit and resubmit. It's not doing well at all but the only comment I got so far is very complimentary and exactly why I decided to submit it. Guess I cater to very, very, very small audiences (consisting of that one commentor and myself) :)
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09/30/2002 03:40:07 PM · #5 |
| I think you're right with your "unoriginal" hypothesis. Although it was original to you, someone else's submission got in first and therefore got the advantage. I don't even want to speculate on the garbage that is going to be delivered in this week's challenge -- but file early :) |
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09/30/2002 03:55:48 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by joanns:
I think you're right with your "unoriginal" hypothesis. Although it was original to you, someone else's submission got in first and therefore got the advantage. I don't even want to speculate on the garbage that is going to be delivered in this week's challenge -- but file early :)
The order of your submission has nothing to do with the challenge at all. Everyone sees the photos in a different order anyway, so submission order does not matter at all. My suggestion is to take your time and get a shot you are really happy with. It does not matter if you are the first one to submit your photo, or if you submit with 10 minutes to spare.
~Heather~
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09/30/2002 04:08:21 PM · #7 |
Heather, for what it's worth, I really, REALLY liked your "Kalamazoo" shot. I thought it was just about perfect in every way: color, clarity, composition (especially composition!). A beautiful shot. I was surprised to read such harsh, low numbers on a very fine attempt on your part. Just goes to show that we should all take these critiques lightly. After all, the judges aren't exactly professionals. Just have fun. I look forward to seeing more stuff from you.
;)
Willa
Originally posted by hbunch7187:
Originally posted by joanns:
[i]I think you're right with your "unoriginal" hypothesis. Although it was original to you, someone else's submission got in first and therefore got the advantage. I don't even want to speculate on the garbage that is going to be delivered in this week's challenge -- but file early :)
The order of your submission has nothing to do with the challenge at all. Everyone sees the photos in a different order anyway, so submission order does not matter at all. My suggestion is to take your time and get a shot you are really happy with. It does not matter if you are the first one to submit your photo, or if you submit with 10 minutes to spare.
~Heather~
[/i]
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09/30/2002 04:52:19 PM · #8 |
The order of your submission has nothing to do with the challenge at all. Everyone sees the photos in a different order anyway, so submission order does not matter at all. My suggestion is to take your time and get a shot you are really happy with. It does not matter if you are the first one to submit your photo, or if you submit with 10 minutes to spare.
~Heather~
Thanks for straigtening me out Heather. I was unaware that we all see them in a different order. I should have known that the administrators of this site would have forseen a slight advantage to being the first to be viewed. |
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09/30/2002 05:06:02 PM · #9 |
"That is to say that the photo really is of me witnessing something, which should be interpreted as a powerful experience"
that's what composition is for. Novelty or cleverness, or even effort itself doesn't justify much attention. It has to visually command
emotion, intellect and eye.
Low scores reflect the lack of that. |
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09/30/2002 05:42:28 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by degsme:
"That is to say that the photo really is of me witnessing something, which should be interpreted as a powerful experience"
that's what composition is for. Novelty or cleverness, or even effort itself doesn't justify much attention. It has to visually command
emotion, intellect and eye.
Low scores reflect the lack of that.
Plainly it is hard to separate the feelings that I had when I took the photo from the feelings that the photo alone evoke when evaluating my own work. Good observation.
mjcecil
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09/30/2002 07:08:50 PM · #11 |
Sorry guys .. we are not suppose to talk about this week pictures, I do not want to look at the sunglasses one a different way.
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09/30/2002 07:34:32 PM · #12 |
I mean no offense here but we really can't be certain what it is that causes photos to do poorly or just not as well as we would hope. I have read many forums where people are assumming that they know exactly why their photo did not score real well and they usually cite one of two reasons. Either most people didn't 'get' their photo or that there were many others with the same idea. While those reasons are possible I think we, as a whole, are smarter than that in our voting and the real reasons a particular photo didn't do well is because it lacked something in composition, visual impact, values, adherence to the challenge or other factors that make for a great photo. It's real easy, particularily when we are first learning photography to assume that if we think a photo is great than it most be a great photo. It might be, but if lots of people are telling you something different than maybe there are things about your photo that need improvement. I think having an open mind is one of the best tools for learning. Just my 2 cents, I hope nobody takes this the wrong way.
T
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09/30/2002 07:53:44 PM · #13 |
| MJ you're right there were a lot of sunglasses submissions. I'll go back through and review them all again and give a more detailed explanation as to my likes and dislikes. I hope this will help. I'm a newcomer, but I've learned a lot from this site - from jpg artifacts to composition and framing. |
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09/30/2002 08:15:17 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by lionelm:
Sorry guys .. we are not suppose to talk about this week pictures, I do not want to look at the sunglasses one a different way.
Lionelm, there are like 15 sunglasses photos in the challenge, we have no way of knowing exactly which one is being talked about. We are really talking about originality here. I think that is allowed.
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09/30/2002 08:21:07 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by Willa:
Heather, for what it's worth, I really, REALLY liked your "Kalamazoo" shot. I thought it was just about perfect in every way: color, clarity, composition (especially composition!). A beautiful shot. I was surprised to read such harsh, low numbers on a very fine attempt on your part. Just goes to show that we should all take these critiques lightly. After all, the judges aren't exactly professionals. Just have fun. I look forward to seeing more stuff from you.
;)
Willa
Well thank you very much. I don't mind scoring low at all. I just like the comments. Unfortunately, the comments are getting fewer and far between. It is almost becoming not worth it to spend the time taking the shot, and then getting NO helpful comments at all. I got FIVE last week. They were nice comments..but c'mon, FIVE!! Seems like a lot of wasted effort when only 5 people care to comment. I am trying to comment on more this week, and I think I will comment on ALL my lower photos, and a few of my upper photos. That way, I think they will get more help out of it. Again, thanks for the kind words on my photo. :) ~Heather~
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09/30/2002 08:49:06 PM · #16 |
15 ? I did not count .. that's a lot ... sorry I reacted too quickly.
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10/01/2002 06:08:28 AM · #17 |
For what it's worth I do my best not to let the fact that Ive seen the same idea a couple of times in a challenge affect my scoring. After all, the people that submitted similar ideas weren't aware of each other while they were taking it and it seems unfair to allow the random order of the images dictate who gets the highest score.
John |
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10/01/2002 02:23:24 PM · #18 |
I'd rather have one comment from someone who understands composition - someone like a Saul Bernstein (who isn't commenting that I know of, but
is a brilliant composition teacher in any visual medium), than 100 comments that say "oohh nice, I really like how".
Ego strokes are important to foster your self-confidence, but if you want to learn, you need solid, educated and skilled advice. |
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10/01/2002 02:54:04 PM · #19 |
They were nice comments..but c'mon, FIVE!!
Hey! I was one of the five! :) I gave it an 8, too, BTW... |
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10/01/2002 03:07:19 PM · #20 |
I agree about not discussing a contest which we are voting at the moment.
The picture just has to be visually, grabbing, stimulating or pleasing and win on that merit.
We do have an option of creating an interesting title that may help people understand your intent better.
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10/01/2002 04:34:17 PM · #21 |
Originally posted by degsme:
Ego strokes are important to foster your self-confidence, but if you want to learn, you need solid, educated and skilled advice.
Unfortunately, in art, "solid, educated, and skilled" are absolutely subjective.
Besides, despite the neophytic and (or at least amateur) nature of many of the dpchallenge participants, their input is certainly valid and is as educational in the general sense (especially given my intended viewing audience) as any.
mjcecil
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10/01/2002 04:42:40 PM · #22 |
Davinci's Mona Lisa: Too Dark
Michaelangelo's David: Bad Crop
Whoever's Son of Man: I would like it better if the hat was red
Van Gogh's Starry Night: Its out of focus
Monet's Sunflowers: shoulnd't have cropped the flowers on the right
Gaugin's "Woman with Mango": should have used an apple
Caravaggio's Doubting Thomas: way too dark
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10/01/2002 04:48:27 PM · #23 |
Originally posted by JohnSetzler :
Davinci's Mona Lisa: Too Dark
Michaelangelo's David: Bad Crop
Whoever's Son of Man: I would like it better if the hat was red
Van Gogh's Starry Night: Its out of focus
Monet's Sunflowers: shoulnd't have cropped the flowers on the right
Gaugin's "Woman with Mango": should have used an apple
Caravaggio's Doubting Thomas: way too dark
ROFL!!!!! John that's hilarious!
And "Son of Man" was Magritte, unless your're talking about my rendition.
-Terry
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10/01/2002 04:49:18 PM · #24 |
Your photo can still be creative even if there are other submissions similar! It's all about execution :)
JB
Originally posted by mjcecil:
I am disappointed already in the performance of my Reflections submission. For two reasons, it turns out...
First, mine is one of the many many many reflections off sunglasses, and that alone makes me feel less than creative.
Second, because I know I am one of many similar photos, that by the time voters get to see mine, they will tend to vote down the photo as having been unoriginal, or lacking a creative element. My current score seems to support this theory.
The annoying part about that situation is that the photo was actually fairly well thought through. It is not merely a photo of a reflection, or a photo of a subject that happens to be in a reflection, but a capture of a real event, wherein the reflected subject and I are interacting. That is to say that the photo really is of me witnessing something, which should be interpreted as a powerful experience, and not just a simple interpretation of theme.
Actually, now that I type this out, I feel a lot worse about the photo than I thought I did.
-sigh-
Mark
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10/01/2002 04:53:43 PM · #25 |
Originally posted by JohnSetzler :
Davinci's Mona Lisa: Too Dark
Michaelangelo's David: Bad Crop
Whoever's Son of Man: I would like it better if the hat was red
Van Gogh's Starry Night: Its out of focus
Monet's Sunflowers: shoulnd't have cropped the flowers on the right
Gaugin's "Woman with Mango": should have used an apple
Caravaggio's Doubting Thomas: way too dark
The ultimate bad crop was Venus d'Milo :) |
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