"Preview" your image without entering it

06/24/2005 07:43:55 AM · #1

Several people said they enter images early to "see how it will look on the voting page" - I think it would be better to have a preview feature for that. Then there is one less reason not to make all entries final.

Knowing this would likely never get done, I built one myself that anyone can feel free to use. The only requirement is that your photo has to be uploaded to someplace on the web. Then you can just go here:
Voting Page Sample
and fill in the 3 fields at the top.

You can also pass 3 variables to the sample page directly like this:

//www.kpriest.com/dpchallenge/sample_entry.php?
challenge=Anything%20Goes
&imagetitle=DPC%20Additcted
&imageurl=//www.yourdomain/yourimage.jpg

(no line breaks)

Could be easily implemented on this site and even enhanced a little. Enjoy.

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

06/24/2005 07:46:26 AM · #2

If you're a member, you can just post images to the Workshop folder of your Portfolio to preview them. That's what it's for.

06/24/2005 07:47:03 AM · #3

Great job Ken. Thanks!

06/24/2005 07:47:28 AM · #4

Originally posted by scalvert:

If you're a member, you can just post images to the Workshop folder of your Portfolio to preview them. That's what it's for.

These people said they wanted to see it in the voting page

Message edited by author 2005-06-24 07:48:38.

06/24/2005 07:47:36 AM · #5

Originally posted by scalvert:

If you're a member, you can just post images to the Workshop folder of your Portfolio to preview them. That's what it's for.

But that doesn't let you preview how it will look on the voting page.

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

06/24/2005 07:52:06 AM · #6

Originally posted by kpriest:

These people said they wanted to see it in the voting page

What's the difference? You'll see the image on the same background at the same size, resolution, etc. Does a good to bad voting scale make it look different somehow?

06/24/2005 07:53:56 AM · #7

Originally posted by scalvert:

Originally posted by kpriest:
These people said they wanted to see it in the voting page

What's the difference? You'll see the image on the same background at the same size, resolution, etc. Does a good to bad voting scale make it look different somehow?

Well, Shannon, I am in complete agreement with you in not seeing the need for this and I was amazed that people actually said they did that - so, I thought this would be helpful to them.

06/24/2005 07:57:19 AM · #8

The balance of items on the page changes the way we look at the photos. i.e- If there is text under the photo, it tends to add more weight to the bottom of the photo itself. I've struggled through that many times when working on the poster designs for my films.

Message edited by author 2005-06-24 07:57:42.

Here's the thread that triggered this...

06/24/2005 08:07:54 AM · #9

06/24/2005 08:11:52 AM · #10

It's not just the voting scale, it's how the title looks. And being able to change the title if it's mispelled or whatever. There's an overall balance that it's nice to see before finalizing your entry. This may be nit-picky but it is valid.

R.

Very nice page btw, Ken. Works great.

Message edited by author 2005-06-24 08:13:34.

bod

06/24/2005 08:17:00 AM · #11

Originally posted by scalvert:

Does a good to bad voting scale make it look different somehow?

It must do. Something is turning all my 8+ entries into 5 point somethings :D

My trademark bad analagy... would you check how a photo would look over your fireplace by holding it on the wall above the sofa?

06/24/2005 08:18:33 AM · #12

Originally posted by bod:

Originally posted by scalvert:
Does a good to bad voting scale make it look different somehow?

It must do. Something is turning all my 8+ entries into 5 point somethings :D

My trademark bad analagy... would you check how a photo would look over your fireplace by holding it on the wall above the sofa?

Great analogy!

06/24/2005 08:30:31 AM · #13

Originally posted by bear_music:

Thanks Robert. I do see your points.

And I get to have some fun with this... :P

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM

06/24/2005 08:32:00 AM · #14

Oh, good grief... LOL

Robt.

karmat

Apple iPhone 7

06/24/2005 08:32:46 AM · #15

I like to open up the preview page and make sure it is uploaded correctly -- with my molasses.net dial-up, I can't always be sure.

And then there was the time I decided it would be a good idea to upload three pictures to different challenges (#3 was free study), so I could view it on different monitors. Then, I forgot to unsubmit.

I don't think we need to do anything differently -- we (I) just need to be careful.

06/24/2005 08:34:09 AM · #16

Originally posted by bear_music:

Oh, good grief... LOL

Robt.

Bwahahaha. :) BTW, I gave it a 9 during my "practice voting" ;-)

06/24/2005 08:36:54 AM · #17

Originally posted by karmat:

Well, yeah, but some people are suggesting that we limit the entries in challenges, and that in order to do this fairly we can't allow "placeholder" entries, meaning that once you click the submit button your entry is set in stone. And we can't access the preview of the entry untilwe have actually MADE the entry, so.... That's what this is all about. It's meaningless as things are set up right now, but some of us worry about lack of preview capability if these suggested changes ever came to fruition.

R.

rex

Canon PowerShot SD780

06/24/2005 08:38:38 AM · #18

Originally posted by bear_music:

but some of us worry about lack of preview capability if these suggested changes ever came to fruition.

R.

I think Ken has addressed that problem here already.

Message edited by author 2005-06-24 08:39:01.

06/24/2005 08:40:15 AM · #19

Originally posted by bear_music:

I wonder how many of the "placeholder" images make it through to voting because people who posted them are too lazy or don't care about replacing them. What the heck, it just means voters have to waste more time viewing and commenting on crappy images that were never even intended to be entered.

Message edited by author 2005-06-24 08:40:51.

06/24/2005 08:45:12 AM · #20

Originally posted by kpriest:

Originally posted by bear_music:
Well, yeah, but some people are suggesting that we limit the entries in challenges, and that in order to do this fairly we can't allow "placeholder" entries, meaning that once you click the submit button your entry is set in stone. And we can't access the preview of the entry untilwe have actually MADE the entry, so.... That's what this is all about. It's meaningless as things are set up right now, but some of us worry about lack of preview capability if these suggested changes ever came to fruition.

R.

I wonder how many of the "placeholder" images make it through to voting because people who posted them are too lazy or don't care about replacing them. What the heck, it just means voters have to waste more time viewing and commenting on crappy images that were never even intended to be entered.

By my definition we don't even HAVE "placeholder" images currently, because the entries are unlimited. A "placeholder image" would be one entered to hold a place in a limited challenge, to be replaced at leisure by a challenge-oriented image. What we have now is people making (relatively) slipshod entries just to be IN the challenge, and I don't think of those as placeholders.

Though I suppose there must be a certain number of people who post an image up, decide it's not good enough, vow to shoot a better one, and then forget to remove the first when nothing better shows up. That happened to me once. Won't say which shot it was.

Robt.

06/24/2005 08:49:42 AM · #21

Originally posted by bear_music:

You're probably right about that, but watch the home page when a new challenge pops up and see how quickly it has like 10 entries. Feels like placeholders to me. Most contests have "all entries are final" rules - I don't know what the problem with it would be. It would be worth it (and easy enough) to try it for a week on a couple challenges and see if it changes the dynamics for the better.

glad2badad

DJI Mavic Air 2

Sears 55mm f/1.4 M42

06/24/2005 09:00:36 AM · #22

Ken - Thanks for once again sharing your creative talents.

I just tried using your image 'previewer' and it didn't work with the following image url.

//www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=190987

The image is in one of my portfolio folders - not hidden, is viewable to public. What's up with that?

06/24/2005 09:02:03 AM · #23

Originally posted by glad2badad:

You need the path to the image:

//images.dpchallenge.com/images_portfolio/30049/orig/190987.jpg

06/24/2005 09:02:33 AM · #24

For me, the bottom line is: if you limit the number of entries, and make every entry final and irrevocable, then you will have a much larger proportion of ill-conceived, hastily-created images in the challenges. The people who spend a whole week planning and executing their shots will get shut out of the challenges. Every challenge will, to some extent, become a speed challenge.

R.