View topic - CCR Photo Contests...feedback, suggestions, etc requested

I'm looking to hear from folks their opinions/thoughts/suggestions about the Photo Contests here on CCR.

To get the ball rolling:

Do you think we should continue having these contests?

Would you like to see them appear on a regular basis? What sort of schedule?

Themes? No themes? Alternate "themes" with "no themes"?

If you have never entered a photo, why not?

If you've never voted, why not?

Any and all suggestions / comments are welcomed.

If you prefer not to post in this thread, you can send any comments to me at barbara-ccr AT hotmail.com (remove the spaces, and replace AT with the @ symbol).

Please DO NOT pm me. I've got way too many pm's as it is now.

Thanks for your time.


Barbara

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I'm out of bed and I made it to the keyboard....what more do you want?

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"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915

Semi regular photo contests seems good to me. I enjoy them. Once in a while I'll submit a photo, usually I will vote. I always appreciate seeing the photos. If your goal is to build it larger, perhaps prize incentives from corporate sponsors could be drummed up, but that sounds like a lot more work.
Kudos on the good work so far in this regard.
Cheers,
Bryan

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Bryan's website - http://pawistik.net
ColdspringPaddling.com

I think the formatting rules were too restrictive. I wanted to enter a couple of times but could never get my pixels into the proper size restraints....

I like them and usually send in a picture. I think the themes have been good. I was probably thinking too narrowly on the winter one - figured I needed a canoe in the picture which I probably didn't.

There have been some great pictures that we probably wouldn't have seen otherwise, so I do think the contests help to get folks involved.

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No, your other left!
Loon Island Outdoors
"Like" my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LoonIslandOutdoors

Ideas from another Board - make it a Photo Scavenger Hunt - i.e. all entries need to be taken AFTER the start of the contest (so we don't just all scan back over hundreds of shots we already have); appoint a couple of permanent judges who pick one winner at the end of the month; that month's winner picks the 'theme' for the next month's hunt.

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In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.
Mark Twain

Pawistik said,


ditto to all his comments except for the larger prizes.
Using only newly taken pictures is an interesting idea.

Ralph

Do you think we should continue having these contests?
YES

Would you like to see them appear on a regular basis? What sort of schedule?
Every 2 month would be fine

Themes? No themes? Alternate "themes" with "no themes"?
Actually I like the theme that you proposed in the past, it provides guidance and you can can compare apple to apple.

If you have never entered a photo, why not?
only once.
The person who won that time had a very good picture, but it was photshoped with filters and other tricks. Still, the pic was good.

If you've never voted, why not?
I vote

Any and all suggestions / comments are welcomed.
don't mixed raw photos with photoshop photo - unfair. don"t national geography have a reul about this.
pictures should be taken after the contest call ... not from library, which means that monthly contest may be too short. Quaterly.
Spring on his way, then it should be about it, water always wlecome
No kayak

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"Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." Edgar Allen Poe

I see pluses and minuses to only allowing new pictures taken during the contest. It does keep the content current and levels the playing field by taking the "library" out. However, even the most avid of us may not get out every month or even every quarter.

The point about edited photos competing with unedited photos is valid, although I'm not sure that the edited photos always win. Now most systems these days have basic editing capabilities that come with the OS. Maybe in the interest of keeping the contest fairly informal we could provide guidelines like limiting editing to cropping and straightening but ask that photo's not be heavily modified (eg: HDR?).

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No, your other left!
Loon Island Outdoors
"Like" my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LoonIslandOutdoors

I enjoy seeing all the photos submitted, and definitely think it is worthwhile keeping up.

I do like the idea that the photo be taken for the particular contest, but as Slake mentioned, we all go through periods of time where we would not be taking applicable photos. The idea of a challenge kinda shoot is good, as it gets an individual looking for a shot, when they might otherwise pass by an opportunity.

As far as editing photos goes, there is likely no photo ever submitted that has none. Most point and shoot cameras, unless they have a RAW image setting will edit and adjust in camera for how it is set. Other people prefer to do this on the computer. Even in the days of film, the labs would make adjustments to the photo to enhance them. For me, I really think this is a part of photography, and any contest would lack from trying to disallow post processing.

I like the way the voting is right now, a fair way to do it. The idea of the winner suggesting the next category might be an interesting one.

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-Jim-

"Paddle faster, I hear banjos!"

Having photo contests too often could kill their appeal (gives over-exposure new meaning), OTOH, having one big one at the end of the season for the best photo of the year could make it more of a production... this one's for all the marbles.

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RAW files in particular are always editted. A completely untouched RAW file would first be unuseable/unrecognizable to the vast majority of people (require semi-specialized software to even display) and second are exceptionally flat and lifeless. They are the digital equivalent of a negative, and a negative entered into a contest never won anything!

Worth noting, as dunkin' mentioned, EVERY camera shoots in RAW, it's just that most don't have the option of outputting the raw data before first using some sort of in-camera conversion, typically jpeg, but sometimes (rarely) tiff or others.

So there has to be clear definitions on "editing". I shoot exclusively in RAW. That means for every picture, I have to check the saturation levels, white balance, contrast, etc and adjust according to how I saw the scene through the viewfinder. There are some presets, but almost every picture I shoot (and I honestly shoot thousands per month) gets some sort of touch up or tweak.

Now, I definitely understand using photoshop to remove an element, or completely change the color of something, would go against "fair play", but blanketing a "no edited photos" would be off, in my opinion.

For the record, I do enjoy the photo contests, quite a bit. I have entered a few times, nearly always vote, and will continue to do so with or without prizes. I do like the theme, as it provides direction, and as someone else mentioned, you are comparing apples to apples. I also like monthly, but would appreciate any kind of regularity, from daily, weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, semi-annually, etc.