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 10/14/2009 04:37:29 AM · #1
Well I found out that my image placed 57/74 for the "Hidden Treasures" contest. It's the first challenge I've ever entered and it was an interesting experience.
I'm really surprised that people were so literal about the topic... Virtually all the comments on my image said something to the effect of "Not sure what this has to do with the challenge topic." I thought the text I wrote beneath my photo would explain it... I didn't realise that text isn't included when someone looks at your image during the voting.

Are dpcers generally very literal about the challenge? Is one of the main critiquing points how well it fits the topic?

Message edited by author 2009-10-14 04:38:08.
 10/14/2009 04:54:45 AM · #2
I was also participating in my first challenge, the Low Key challenge.
I did research in to what is considered Low Key before I took the photo, to be sure it would fit the challenge.
I finished in place 22/224.
I voted on the Low Key challenge and also on the Hidden Treasures, and I always took it to consideration how well the photos fitted the topic, I gave lower votes on images that I thought did not fit the topic.

You can see from the results in both challenges, that generally there are given penaltys to submissions that DNMC.
 10/14/2009 05:00:48 AM · #3
Gutsa, congrats, that's an excellent result! The photo is really interesting. I've been trying to achieve the same effect in my nudes but I just can't seem too... the lines and muscles are really well defined.

Well, I didn't realise that it was so strict... I understand if a photo DNMC, but mine did, just in a different way (i.e. not a literal way). I interpreted the challenge as being about things that we see everyday but do not realise the hidden beauty in them...
 10/14/2009 06:43:54 AM · #4
Originally posted by CrazyDiamond:
Are dpcers generally very literal about the challenge?


I think it depends on the topic. For the "Hidden Treasure" challenge, there was no description, so I guess many people we literally looking for a hidden object in the scene. Some topics can be a little more open to interpretation, but I think in general, the easier your photo is to understand, the better it will do.
 10/14/2009 06:52:41 AM · #5
Originally posted by jeger:

I think it depends on the topic. For the "Hidden Treasure" challenge, there was no description, so I guess many people we literally looking for a hidden object in the scene. Some topics can be a little more open to interpretation, but I think in general, the easier your photo is to understand, the better it will do.


I agree with what jeger said, except in the case of obvious eye candy. People are usually able to put a dubious relationship to the challenge behind them if that's the case. Take all the random wine glass photos or drops. The title is the only that relates the subject to the challenge yet they can score very well.
10/14/2009 07:19:40 AM · #6
Voters, in my experience, tend to be very parochial on the interpretation of a challenge and will vote accordingly. Anything even slightly out of the box that requires some interpretation or thought will get you in trouble voting wise. Some voters may knock of a point while others will just give you a 1 or 2 which is unfair and mean spirited in my opinion.
 10/14/2009 07:47:43 AM · #7
Eskimo, I tend to agree with you. It's art - it is meant to be subtle and complex, and not so literal.
 10/14/2009 09:14:53 AM · #8
The problem is that sometimes people will enter any photo that they shot that week and try to fit it with a clever title. (Shoehorning). So the strict interpretations of the topic are a reaction to that. It has become a game of second guessing each other. I will say that i have sometimes given the benefit of the doubt to an questionable entry to find afterwards that the member entered it knowing it really did not fit. Other times i have entered an honest effort and been slammed with dnmc's.
 10/14/2009 09:36:13 AM · #9
Originally posted by CrazyDiamond:
It's art - it is meant to be subtle and complex, and not so literal.


Whilst i can see your point i'm not sure it is 'meant' to be anything. Photography has a pretty wide remit after all. Is wildlife photography 'meant to be subtle and complex, and not so literal'? Is documentary? Or landscape? I tend to enjoy a less literal artistic view of photography myself but i'm fully aware that that view is only part of a wider area of photography. DPC is heavily weighted against this approach, a large number very highly regarded world class photographers would tank at DPC, but thats the nature of the beast really. Nothing wrong with that of course.

Message edited by author 2009-10-14 09:40:54.
 10/14/2009 05:01:04 PM · #10
Originally posted by clive_patric_nolan:
Originally posted by CrazyDiamond:
It's art - it is meant to be subtle and complex, and not so literal.


Whilst i can see your point i'm not sure it is 'meant' to be anything. Photography has a pretty wide remit after all. Is wildlife photography 'meant to be subtle and complex, and not so literal'? Is documentary? Or landscape? I tend to enjoy a less literal artistic view of photography myself but i'm fully aware that that view is only part of a wider area of photography. DPC is heavily weighted against this approach, a large number very highly regarded world class photographers would tank at DPC, but thats the nature of the beast really. Nothing wrong with that of course.


Clive, of course, you're absolutely right. Art photography is what I was talking about but sure, there are other types of photography that have quite different aims. I go to an art college so I am used to dealing with art photography and not the other types. Guess I'll have to look at it differently at DPC.
 10/14/2009 05:08:22 PM · #11
Saying that though, much of the more experimental and artistic photography on DPC goes on in the side challenges so they are definitly worth looking at.
 10/14/2009 05:34:46 PM · #12
Well, I looked at your entry and failed to see where 'Hidden Treasure' fitted in with your shot. It isn't a case of DPCers being too pedantic, more a case of a shot fitting the challenge. However, DPC is a learning experience and believe me, you have to learn to do well in challenges.

There are those who are really picky about shots, they soon tell you so!

I would suggest you just enter challenges and get a feel for the way the voters think, although I still haven't worked it out.

Anyway, shine on you 'CrazyDiamond' :))
 10/14/2009 05:41:24 PM · #13
Originally posted by CrazyDiamond:
I go to an art college so I am used to dealing with art photography and not the other types. Guess I'll have to look at it differently at DPC.


That's the understatement of the year. There are great photographers whose work is collected by major museums and sells for the tens of thousands of dollars who'd be hard-pressed to score in the 50th percentile at DPC. You'll do better, score-wise, if you look at the challenge topics as a commercial photography assignment, a magazine cover maybe, and look at the voters, collectively, as a literal-minded client.

If the topic is "old age", a landscape of weathered rocks in the American Southwest is not, no matter how well it's done, likely to outscore a heartfelt portrait of a centenarian in a nursing home... And if you decide to go way out of the box and shoot an image that speaks to "forgetfulness", say, because you associate loss of memory with the aging process, well that may very well be "art" but it ain't gonna score...

R.
 10/14/2009 05:45:17 PM · #14
Originally posted by CrazyDiamond:
Well I found out that my image placed 57/74 for the "Hidden Treasures" contest. It's the first challenge I've ever entered and it was an interesting experience.
I'm really surprised that people were so literal about the topic... Virtually all the comments on my image said something to the effect of "Not sure what this has to do with the challenge topic." I thought the text I wrote beneath my photo would explain it... I didn't realise that text isn't included when someone looks at your image during the voting.

Are dpcers generally very literal about the challenge? Is one of the main critiquing points how well it fits the topic?


Here's your image:



It's actually very nicely done, and very appealing. I can see where you're coming from here: that even in the most mundane things, there is visual treasure to be found in the details. As Mies van der Rohe said, "God is in the details."

Nevertheless, the connection to the challenge topic is tenuous, and that doesn't work here. You have, on average, 3-5 seconds of face-time before the voter clicks and moves on to the next image. You got to hit him between the eyes with challenge relevance, or suffer the consequences.

Curiously, this image might have fared far better in the recently-completed challenge "Nine"...

R.
 10/14/2009 08:52:54 PM · #15
I enjoy seeing the different interpretations that different people have of challenge ideas. We all think differently and it keeps things interesting. For my own entries I have enormous trouble choosing whether to put in my 'best' effort which may be not accepted as meeting the requirements, or whether to take the topic too literally (in a current challenge I have certainly jumped the wrong way, and I very often do.) However, the fun is in the participation, and one day I'll get it right and so will you - probably sooner than me! So welcome to DPC, enjoy yourself.
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