Add your comments, questions or general discussion about the August Contest entries as well as the contest itself here. This is also a great place to share your techniques or ask others about theirs.

This time, PM me with your votes starting 25 Aug.

Much better!!! :bigthmb:

Maybe in future contest, we could also use "Blind voting" in which a number is assigned to an entry instead of the user name to add an element of surprise. I think this was suggested in the March 05 contest.

If somebody would come up with a solution in order to make it easy for TPaul?

Much better!!!

I agreed with Soleah. As I said earlier, I believe the public voting has some inconveniencies.

Batch Rename


If somebody would come up with a solution in order to make it easy for TPaul?

http://www.trimoon.com/html/batch_rename.html

Ken

Paul,

i see nothing in the rules this time that you have to enter to vote. rules change or simply an omission?

Craig

The goal of these contests is to generate discussion, ideally tips and suggestions on how to improve your images as well as learning from others’ techniques.

Doug would also like to keep the contests very simple and basically let them run themselves as much as possible without increasing the workload. This is especially important as the contests grow in size. So each person submits their entry and the participants then vote on the images. The forum software is not set up for a contest where submissions would be kept anonymous or to be able to let you “View All”, or in that matter to tally votes. As a result, everyone knows who did what and has to view each entry one by one, and I get to tally the votes. We have had volunteers post all the entries to their site in an album fashion that has helped with viewing and is greatly appreciated. :) As for the anonymous submissions, we had really hoped that it wouldn’t be necessary. There are many other forums that run contests where the entries are not anonymous without any problems. Hopefully with the friendly atmosphere here, this will not be an issue.

In addition, I was thrilled to see participants helping each other with their entries in last month’s contest. :bigthmb: I hope this trend continues and more start offering advice in the contests to help others improve their images…if not during the contest, at least after it has closed. :pleased:


~T

Paul,

i see nothing in the rules this time that you have to enter to vote. rules change or simply an omission?

Craig

From the rules:
7. Voting will run from 25 Aug to 31 Aug 2005. Only those with entries may vote. You will vote for the 5 best entries in order. This time, PM me with your votes starting 25 Aug. Note you cannot vote for your own image.

ok thanks. i think my head is out of focus...i'll go apply usm at once :)

Craig

Oh I wish it was only that easy ;)

Not trying to sound ungrateful for the suggestions, but I do truly believe that these contests will be less fun if more and more restrictions of the participants override the original rules and intents of this site.

I belong to another contest site. There, the entries are anonymous. The voting also is anonymous. The individual alone can see how their submission is being voted upon during the voting period. But it costs money and time.

On that site:
You have to pay to enter the contests.
You have only two days to complete your entry.
You're not given an image to work with. You have find your own (and that's difficult unless you want to pay royalty fees for a good high resolution image).
There is not much interaction among participants.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've come back to RetouchPRO.

Lorraine

I know the rules say not to bother with text etc, but I couldn't help myself :happy: Wanted to show the design that was in my head :wavey:

Just my two cents about the 'private' voting -

What I guess I found most interesting in the competitions is seeing WHY people liked what they did, but also reading the niggly things they thought could be improved. While it's nice to get praise, I got a lot out of the last July competition by figuring out that a. my background was loved by some and loathed by others, b. I cut her out too sharply, and stuffed up a bit on the right shoulder etc etc. Reading why people liked other entries was interesting too, and seeing how diverse the voting was as well revealling how much this one was about taste. It's good to see WHY people like certain entries that you yourself may not appreciate too. The votes that were just a ranking of 1-5 with names was of no interest to me, similarly the votes that simply praised the top 5 weren't as good a learning process either. All of this is gone if at the end of the month we just get a report back that 1. won, and 2-5 are runners up.

I know that running these kinds of things isn't easy, and can see that there are some disadvantages to the voting process being public and I really applaud all the hard work TPaul and Doug put in, but I thought it was worth giving a bit of feedback on what I see as the 'cons' of blind voting.

A very good point and I agree whole heartedly. I get the most out of the descriptions added to the voting process. It's a great learning experience to see what is liked as well as what wasn't liked. The private voting is only for this month and will go back to public voting for future contests. Hopefully people will still explain what they liked and didn't like in this month’s contest entries.

Hadn't got a clue what to do !

Oh well here's mine (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showpost.php?p=95930&postcount=3)

For not having a clue what to do, I really like your results! The white space really makes the car standout!

T Paul
This is where I am clueless.

"You do not have to add type"
Is that "You DO NOT have to add type" or "add type if you want to"
Is a poster an advert?

Anyhow thanks for the comments.
You put a great deal of work into this site, just to say, it is very much appreciated.

Regards

Steve

Typography is a skill in itself so I didn't want people to feel they had to add type if they didn't want to. Just think of it as prepping the photo for the poster...or go ahead and add type. Chrishoggy (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showpost.php?p=95925&postcount=2) was brave and decided to tackle adding type.

With a solid rocket booster (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showpost.php?p=95948&postcount=4) and all-wheel drive thrusters, Brewster's car wasn't exactly street legal.



I'm sure it's not perfect, but it sure was fun making this!

--Racc

Now that car has some serious pick-up!

First I felt like thanking you --again-- for the work you put in organizing these wonderful contests. :thumbsup: They are a great source of knowledge and improvement, especially for amateurs or newbies like me. I could understand some of the professional views about the rendering and retouching of images just by their explanation of the reasons for their vote. This is something we will not benefit from with private voting. :(

Racc
With cars like the one you "prepared" there will be no excuses to arrive late anywhere !! :bigthmb:
Congrats !

Regards to all

Martha :wavey:

Thanks T Paul and Martha. I'm glad you enjoyed the image.

Here's my 2 cents on the voting... Assuming it's not too much work or a hassle the votes should be private until the voting closes. Once the voting is over, then publish them. That way someone voting isn't influenced by the votes of others, but we still get to see and learn from their comments.

--Racc

i tend to like the voting the way it was. i liked reading the comments made as they came in. and as for other votes influencing my vote, nope, not gonna happen. i like what i like. the only 'other' influence i sometimes find myself wrestling with a bit is, whose work is it. overall, on the forums, i love Flora's work, for instance. it's always professional and always immaculate. thus, i tend to find myself looking at flora's entries in the contests and wanting to vote for hers, even if i think someone else's might be a touch better in this instance. but, in the end, i refrain and vote for the one i do think is the better, whether it's flora's or someone elses.

and besides, this is a friendly contest. let's not get too serious with it. if there are folks not voting because the early entries show that they're not going to win, then so be it. it's their loss to not vote for the ones that they do like and thus have an influence on the outcome.

if the point of the contest is to learn and share, then anonimity is going to kill that to some extent. leave it open.

Craig

I have a question regarding the contest, as far as retouching the car- does that include taking out the ads on the car and changing the color of the car, ect. or are we suppose to keep the car the way it is, with minor retouching (ie levels and contrast, ect.)? I was just curious!

Thanks!

~Amber~

You are allowed to take out the ads, change the ads, change the car color and so on. Just maintain photo quality.

Oh I am so excited about this month's contest! It is funny because I have recently done an "auto-edit" fomr a guy here. Hoping he will get the word out for me. Speaking of which, I htink I will share that will ya'll here, in the critiques forum.

Thanks, for a great contest, and a great site!

Dawn

Okay, this is a really dumb question, I know-buuuut I am going to have to ask anyway! But what is the definition of Photo realistic? Is there a definition and/or examples of what is and what isn't photo realistic. I know that sounds dumb but I am afraid that I am ignorant of what this means exactly! Can anyone fill me in??? I am afraid the entry I am planning on entering may not be photorealistic even though the car hasn't really been changed but the background is questionable...That is where I am getting confused. :confused:

TIA
~Amber~

I am with Dreamypix on this one. Woudl love some clarification on that, too.

Dawn

clever, gary :)

Craig

makes no difference to me

Oh Swampy...

I'll be as gentle as I can.

After all your wonderful effort it's PORSCHE. Oh I'm sorry.

Looking at your talent should be a breeze for you to put right.

All the best

Okay, this is a really dumb question, I know-buuuut I am going to have to ask anyway! But what is the definition of Photo realistic? ~Amber~

It should look like a photo as if taken from a physical camera or make one look twice and try to decide if it is a photo or not due to the meticulous attention to realistic detail. The key is realistic retouching/manipulation. For an example, I have attached a photo from one of the Worth 1000 contests (http://www.worth1000.com/cache/contest/contestcache.asp?contest_id=6884&start=1&end=10&display=photoshop). The image has combined an aircraft carrier and golf course but to the point that you really have to look twice to decide if it is real or not.

As for backgrounds, remember that studio shoots can use all kinds of backgrounds from curtains, to painted canvas, as well as all kinds of lighting effects.

Thanks Craig,

Don't know about clever. Lazy yes, looked for something that did'nt need too much work on my part.

My take on the voting system is I liked it the way it is. Secrecy breeds suspicion, and there's no room for that here at RetouchPRO. I like to see open opinions, honestly based.

I am not affected by others voting, as I compile my vote before looking at how others have voted. And I don't change it, even if by reading I see something that I had missed, as this would not be a true reflection of the impact the images had on ME.

Agree with Gary, voting should stay as it is. No secrets, hidden votes or numbered entries. It's a bit like having a film review, without telling people the name of the film or what you thought of it. I would rather people look at my entry, and say what is wrong with it.
I used a background I made from one of my own photos of the highest motorway point (M62 Saddleworth Moor) in the UK, taken through the window at around 70 mph :scared: . Gary should know it well. I tried to give a longhorn look.

Original:
http://www.chrishoggy.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/original.jpg

Edited version:
http://www.chrishoggy.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/long.jpg

lol on your entry, doug :) i'll gives ya $800 for it ;)

Craig

Sold!!!!!!

Whoops Kraellin - I think you just bought a virtual car. Happy virtual trails.
Margaret

I like the contests the way they were too. A week of hidden votes will mean a week of reduced visits and interest I think. Kraellin, think you'll be happy with the Billy Bob, no Sherriff has ever caught it, but have to admit it doesn't carry much shine. Yee Haa.

well, i gots a'nutha set a wheels for shine ;) this'uns for stock car racin!

Craig

Glad to hear that most are against private voting. The private votes will only be done for this month and then it's back to public voting. I do expect people to tell me what they liked and didn't like about their votes - either through the Discussion Thread or their PMs to me. I will post those remarks.

Doug Colwell...I love your redneck entry (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showpost.php?p=96052&postcount=9). :lmao: Very clever how you spray painted the car changing the Dell logo to "Billy Bob"...nicely done!

Great job on the entries so far! They have been extremely creative - water sprays, glossy reflections, laptops, jet engines and Billy Bob specials. Keep them coming! :bigthmb:

Joao,

Welcome to RetouchPro and what a way to start out with such a lovely entry (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showpost.php?p=96028&postcount=7) in the contest. Best of luck and we hope to see more of your work!

Hi Chris,

Yes I know the Saddleworth Moor section of the M62 only too well. In a 30 tonner I'm down to about 20 mph by the time I get to the top.

Great fun in high winds, even more fun in winter with a bit of snow and ice to aid traction.

I couldn't help myself on this one (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showpost.php?p=96042&postcount=8). Super fun! I'm not sure if this classifies as photorealistic or not, but I have to plan my son's 2nd birthday party so I don't have time to redo it. Good luck everyone!

~Amber~

Amber, your's in well within the rules. I love the water sprays and a very cool background choice!

Yah! You don't know how relieved I am to hear that Tpaul! :D

~Amber~

nancyj,

looks good to me. fast shutter, high film speed. convincing.

Craig

Well you wanted to print out a poster didn't you. Just click on the thumbnail and you'll see why. LOL

I've been really fine-tuning my sketch simulation process for the last few weeks. I hope you like this one despite the need for extra compression (to keep it under 100K). :)

ikroll,

looks good, but i think you're outside the limits of this rule: '2. Image should retain photo quality.' ... unless it's a photo of a sketch :)

Craig

It started as radial Blur but I got carried away. Hee Hee.

Ken

Great effect Ken ! Thks for sharing :) (can I get four more of those ? :grin: )

Martha :wavey:


P.S.: A friendly comment to Swampy and lkroll; your images do not have your names for identification, thought you might want to fix that :). I don't want to "beat ya" for a technicality! hehe :clown: :lol:

Thanks Martha. Now all we need is your Avatar to power Racc Iria’s motor and I think we can jump Vino’s Canyon.

Ken

Great idea Ken! you are welcome to adapt my avatar (I even have a tutorial on how I made it in Fireworks !! :blush: )

We can call the team Virtual "RetouchPRO Evel Knivel" :grin:

Regards - Martha :wavey:

ken,

you could use that thing for hypnotism ;)

Craig

ken,
you could use that thing for hypnotism ;)
Craig

Right and use it to convince the spectators that Vino's car actually jumped over the canyon !! :nod: :bigthmb:

Great idea Craig ! :classic:

Steve... thanks for the spelling catch!

You were very gentle... LOL

Editted my image... it occured to me that for a car moving so fast the wheels were completely still ;)

good catch, nancyj :)

Craig

T Paul

I know that you are allowed to edit your entry, but my question is -
How Much can you edit?
I jumped in at the start, and have been playing around with the image ever since.
It is still the same basic idea but now enhanced.
Is there anyway I could show you what I've done, then you could say yeah that's OK or No Way "sorry no can do."

Kind Regards

Hey Steve,

No limit to how much you can edit your entry, as long as it's done before closing date for competition.

This is still a friendly competition, if you've got something you want to change, go ahead.

Sure one or two will gripe, that's their perogative, but IMHO you are not breaking any rules for the competition.

Gary

T Paul

I know that you are allowed to edit your entry, but my question is -
How Much can you edit?
I jumped in at the start, and have been playing around with the image ever since.
It is still the same basic idea but now enhanced.
Is there anyway I could show you what I've done, then you could say yeah that's OK or No Way "sorry no can do."

Kind Regards

If you are talking about how many times or until what time you can edit you image, you can edit your image until the end of the contest as Gary mentioned.

If you are talking to what extent you can edit your image, well as long as you keep it looking like a photograph, then edit away. You can PM me or post your proposed edits/ideas here to make sure you are still within the guidelines.

Think I'll play on the safe side here T Paul.

Is this OK for an edit?

------------------------------

Gary thanks for the help, I hope nobody gets upset !

Cheers

Yes, and very nice at that!

Thanks T Paul - That's a load off my mind.

Got into a bit of a mess trying to upload it.

Of course you have to remove the discussion image first.

Hope I've done it all right.

Once again many thanks to you!!!!!!

I see that there are several new members in this month's contest. Welcome to RetouchPro!! :happy:

smats --

I would love to know how you got that motion blur on the wheels.

Lorraine

The motion blur on the wheels is easily achieved
I just selected them (ordinary lasso tool) and applied a radial blur. One wheel after the other

/Regards Mats

smats,

Thanks for responding so quickly. I'm going to practice with your instructions. The look you achieved is so realistic.

Lorraine

I just realised I am out of town when voting time comes and won't be able to vote.

........ OH WELL suppose that disqualifies me. :depressed :depressed :depressed

Best of luck everyone else...........

Sorry about that, Peter.

Maybe you can find way to get online to vote while you're away.

It's awful to have so much time and good work wasted.

Lorraine

Thanks Lorraine.

But it wasn't all wasted time I enjoyed doing it, and I think I learned some things as well. So maybe I win after all.

:wavey: :happy: :masked: ;)

There is nothing in the rules this time about being disqualified if you do not vote.

Lots of strong entries and lovely poster results so far! This will be a hard one to judge!

Got to agree T, this is going to be really difficult.

I think a lot of this will come down to personal taste, as there are a lot of equally imaginative and well executed images.

Looking forward to seeing what else is to come.

Gary.

There is nothing in the rules this time about being disqualified if you do not vote.

Just love that small print. I must read it next time thanks T Paul :rainbow: :pleased: :grin:

welcome to RetouchPRO, goose443. nice first entry :)

Craig

Thanks.

Not sure what caused those dark vertical bands on the original photo but I did my best to get rid of them. The focus is also a little soft on the original though almost all sharpening efforts are lost in the final compression. L channel sharpening seemed to do the trick on the high rez.... creates tons of noise in the drivers seat but it's not noticeable in the small version.

dawn,

if there'd been an url embedded in your entry i probably would have clicked on it. very nice :)

Craig

Thank Craig, I appreciate that. It sure was alot of fun to do. :nod: Stayed up wayy too late last night though! :lmao:

I had a really hard time getting my image to the 100k limit. Ended up having to go from 600x800 down to 700xsomething. And still had to use a lot of compression, which of course shows up really badly especialy in the red parts and the crispness (or lack ther of) in the text. Any suggestions?

Dawn

I always save in Photoshop with 100% compression and then resave it in XnView with eg. 95 or 90% compression. Size is much smaller and you can't see the difference. Try XnView, it has really good compression algoritms.

Incredible creativity by all! AND skill in execution.
Way to go :bigthmb:


Annabel

I had a really hard time getting my image to the 100k limit. Ended up having to go from 600x800 down to 700xsomething. And still had to use a lot of compression, which of course shows up really badly especialy in the red parts and the crispness (or lack ther of) in the text. Any suggestions?

Dawn

Hello Dawn.


In Photoshop, select Save for Web. If the file is bigger than 800x600, click the Image Size tab, input the new dimensions and click Apply. This will only change the size of the jpg, not your working copy in Photoshop. Select the Jpeg format, then checkmark Optimized and ICC Profile. Lastly, twirl open the Optimize menu; it's an unlabeled button to the right of the Preset: menu. Choose Optimize to File Size and input 100k.

This will give you the maximum quality jpg that is less than the limit you set.

Pierre

Thanks for the reply, PanPan. I went through all the steps for saving my image, but still came up with so much compression-uglies. I had originally had my image in the 600x800 size and even had to make the long side 700 just to get as little compression as there is in my entry, an to me there seems ot be alot of compression.

What determines file size, anyways? Say you have two images, same pixel dimensions - same ppi, and still it seems that there can be HUGE difference in the file size, even at the same "jpeg quality". I am curious...

Dawn

What determines file size, anyways? Say you have two images, same pixel dimensions - same ppi, and still it seems that there can be HUGE difference in the file size, even at the same "jpeg quality". I am curious...

Dawn

Colors, if you have sharp image with many many colors one next to another it will be bigger then a picture with a blue sky that takes 50% of a picture and a green grass that takes another 50%.

Give a try to XnView it works really fine. Better than Save For Web in photoshop.

Thanks, suchyy. I will give that a try. And thank you for clearing that up for me about file size. Makes sense (I guess - lol).

Dawn

dawn,

a simple example of how compression of two different images can make two different file sizes would be, let's say you had a row all blue in one image. you could code a compression routine to say 'blue=800'. which might mean 'there are 800 blue pixels now'. and in the other image it might all be varied colors in a line. so, you have to have 'blue=1, red=2, green=1, red=1, blue=3' etc, etc. now, that's over-simplified, but maybe gives you an idea.

also, an image's color bit size makes a difference. an image in 32 bit with 64 million color possibilities is harder to compress than a grayscale of 256 colors.

Craig

here's a thought; why not have more than one voting method? hollywood does this all the time with movies. you've got oscars and emmys and people's choice and all sorts of votings going on. how bout we open this up a bit? you could have:

1. current style, where only the entrants vote

2. only the moderators vote

3. only the non-entrants vote

4. all can vote.

5. only new folks can vote (those that registered within the time frame of the contest)

and quite possibly there are others. we all know that 'art' is quite a subjective thing. i like blue, you like red, someone else likes yellow and so on. so, why have just one vote?

additionally, this might encourage some of our 'lurkers' to actually register (yes, we see you hiding there ;) )

anyways, just a thought.

Craig

One in honor of the home team!
Bill
Go, go team!

You had me doing acrobatics trying to read that text! :dizzy:

Pierre

OMG!! Cathy, that is HILARIOUS!! And great work too!

:lol:

Too, too funny!

Dawn

hehehe, i'm with dawn on this one, cathyh ;)

(one small point; you've got speed blurs moving outwards from the car on both ends of the car, making it seem like it's going both directions at once. of course, that's probably what's causing the crash ;) )

Craig

oh good lord, time to vote. this is impossible. cant we just declare it a tie all the way around and let it go at that?

Craig

Hi,

I hope you don't mind but as i had a spare half hour i created a gallery for this months comp, not dis-similar to the one for last month (not as good tho').
If i've not overstepped the mark then i hope it is of some use. And i hope i've not missed anyone..

http://nacoya.co.uk/retouchpro/aug_comp


cheers,

nacoya

Photoshop. wasn't sure whether to start a new topic or not but i thought it'd be more visible as a new one. Please feel free to move this where you see fit. (to the mods)

Nacoya,

Thanks a lot for creating the contest gallery for this month, it makes it soooo... much easier to view the enties. Really appreciate it.

One thing I noticed is that one entry named "dell" (the dellicious one) was submitted by leigh. You might want to reference that name. ???

:nod: :nod: :nod: Thankyou,

Annabel

thank you, nacoya! it really does make things easier :)

Craig

ekhm, I think you should read this before posting here:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showpost.php?p=98080&postcount=40

Thanks so much, Nacoya.

Photoshop -- I love the design of the pages.

Lorraine

Thank you so much, Nacoya! I really appreciate your doing that. There are so many fantastic renderings. Seeing them side by side is wonderful!

my vote is in!! Great work everyone!! :bow:

what happened to the CathyH post?

Craig

ok, i've sent my votes in.

this was, by far, the hardest vote i've had to make. i had to examine pictures for the minutest technical fautls to eliminate some, and even then it was very tough.

after i had it down to seven, it was just plain old, 'which do i like the most'.

just a word to a few mistakes here. when you blur a car in motion, like some did here, do not put the blur lines going forward off the car! the car isnt there yet and would NOT be blurred in that manner. and second, one or two forgot to remove the guardrail that was transparent through the window when they cut out the car. also, if you motion blur one part of the car, you have to motion blur ALL of the car and, if you motion blur the wheels, you have to motion blur the car.

even with those mistakes being evident here and there, all the entries were good and none got eliminated out very quickly. some really top notch stuff here! well done, all!

Craig

Craig,

I have to disagree with you on some of your observations.

If the car were moving quickly and the photographer were tracking the car while taking a relatively long exposure shot, the effect that you have you have pointed out as not being possible could indeed occur.

When tracking the car with a camera, the background would definitely be out of focus but unless the camera were physically attached to the car, the photographer would most likely tack either slightly fast, slightly slow, or more likely both. Depending on these tiny differences in motion speed, a slight blur would probably appear on both the front and back of the car. This is because although the car hasn't traveled the space in front of itself, the camera has and as it slowed to let the car catch up it created this blur. Of course the blur would be evident throughout the entire car, but the fact the the camera may have been slow and fast throught the same exposure would have created a more pronounced effect in the leading and trailing edges of the car and much less effect in the center. Now in this case the whole car would be slighlty out of focus but by how much can be left to artistic license. Many times advertisers will exaggerate the focus in the center, especially when their logos or products are involved. I think most of the entries do a good job of mimicking this effect. If you google photographs with this type of movement you'll see what I'm talking about.

Now supposing the camera were physically attached to the car (popular effect in recent car commercials) then the car would be in rock solid focus and only the wheels and background would be blurred. The photographer would then simply need to remove the bar where the camera is attached from the final photograph (in video it's rotoscoped or composited out). Thus it is perfectly acceptable to have a photo-realisitc redition with the wheels blurred and the car in focus.

I find that a much bigger problem is when the car has apparent motion but the wheels have no radial motion. This makes it seem like the car is braking hard. Although if the car were braking, aparent motion with no radial wheel motion would also be perfectly acceptable (although at the speeds this car has been made to travel in the photos you would probably see smoke and/or fire)

I appreciate your post but I think some of what you consider impossible in a photograph is indeed quite possible.

Special thanks to Nacoya for creating a viewing gallery of the contest images to make voting easier!

Hi,

I hope you don't mind but as i had a spare half hour i created a gallery for this months comp, not dis-similar to the one for last month (not as good tho').
If i've not overstepped the mark then i hope it is of some use. And i hope i've not missed anyone..

http://nacoya.co.uk/retouchpro/aug_comp


cheers,

nacoya

Once all the votes are in, I will post the comments so everyone can benefit from the critiques!

what happened to the CathyH post?

Craig

The image was named "chunley" vs "CathyH".

Thanks for the kind words re: the 'gallery', glad to be of some use :) .

Also thats both errors fixed.

1) Leigh's entry as pointed out by freddieanne
2) CathyH's entry as pointed out by Craig and TPaul.

cheers..

{thinks}must remember and vote now :lol:

Thanks Nacoya

That made life a bit easier.
A very hard choice to make.
I think we should leave the voting to the moderators - make our lives easier!!
Only joking, they work hard enough as it is!

regards

Thank you nacoya for making the voting a whole lot easier.

So far so good. 15 people have voted so far and most have included some excellent comments which I will post once the contest is over.

For those of you that haven't voted yet...please don't forget! :)

If there is a decision not to publish the votes before the voting is ended, this should be respected by the participants. I think this rule was introduced to prevent voters to influence other voters. remove Richardsons's post!

t_paul,

i'd have commented more; i mean you know me, i write nice, long-winded comments whenever i vote, but the pm's can only be 1000 characters, so i didnt this time ;) see, there's the best reason in the world to keep the voting open :)

Craig

Send me two PMs then :)

And this is the only time I will take PM voting. Next month the contest goes back to public voting.

hehehe :)

Craig

Have just cast my vote, after writing what I thought was a quite concise appraisal of the qualities of the postings, happy about having fulfilled my duty as a participant and "law abiding fellow member" I clicked the submit button. :square:
I can imagine Craig laughing at what comes now ! :devil:

"Your message is too long you can only post 1000 characters !" :angry: soo... cut the message in two and pasted it in another post (had to open a new RetouchPRO window) and sent it as part II and ... received a new message telling me that I cann't post two messages with less than 120 secs in between postings !!! :mad: :heul:

Wrote at the top of that post a quote of that message with the comment --it is definitely much easier the public voting system !--

Clicked submit and guess what !! My message exceeded the 1000 characters AGAIN ! :vampire: (hehe I always wanted to use this vampire emoticon ;) )

Well it really took determination to vote this time :rambo:

Good luck and congratulations to all !! :bigthmb:

Regards - Martha :wavey:

Martha,

Well I appreciate your diligence and not giving up!!! :)

I run into the same thing when I try to answers members' questions that are PMed to me.


~T

I can imagine Craig laughing at what comes now !

must...refrain...from...snickering.... ;) i feel vindicated for all my posts about flood control and message lengths *snicker*. sorry t_paul and doug ;) i mean, but you knew i was going to post after martha made her comments :)

in all honesty, i really do understand. and in fact, i think the board is starting to slow down under the weight of all the posts and pictures. i've seen it before and i'm seeing a tiny bit more lag when i come in each day. it's going to get to be a problem after a while. so, i wont snicker too much here. in fact, if there's anything we can do to help, let us know.

Craig

Sorry for my ranting post :blush: I was furious at the time, but not with how the forum is run. Like I mention in my PM I thank you so much T Paul for your good will in trying to accomodate the wishes of some of the members and use this secret voting system. (Not my preference though, I am for open voting)

Doug, this is the most organized and truly helpful place with wonderful people starting from the "janitor" through all the mods and the marvelous fellow members.

I join in Craig's offer to help in whatever you may think will be useful.

Best regards to all - Martha :wavey:


I admire you Craig for your "sort of" self control in not snickering at my story :classic:

Here's a link that shows motion blur as a function of exposure time.

http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/995/EXPOSURE/EV-shutter-priority.html

Smats,

At the request of T Paul, I have removed my earlier post.

Sorry you think people's opinions are so easily swayed. My post was to publicly support open voting, as I think secrecy breeds suspicion, not what I want to see at RetouchPRO.

It was in no way a criticism of the contest or T Paul's running of it (which is superb).

It seems that you were the only person infuriated by my post. Perhaps you shouldn't take these competitions so seriously, they were meant as a bit of fun, and to aid the spreading of technique and information between members.

Gary

No, I don't take it so seriously. Sorry if my post gave that impression. I just thought it was a little bit unnecassary to publish the votes. There were some discussions about the voting.

Personally I did not participate in this discussion.

The feedback to the participants will be published anyway I think, so why publish them before the voting is ended?

Best Regards Mats

Gary and smats --

I really miss the public voting. It takes so much away from my trying to improve my submission as the votes (usually not for mine :evil: ) come in.

Lorraine

The private voting is only for this month and will go back to public voting for future contests.

Maybe not everyone heard the news?

Voting is almost over (20 people have voted so far) and there are several ties so if you haven't voted, your vote might be the deciding vote!!!

This contest is now over. You can check out the winner and votes/comments in the Aug 05 Contest Votes (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11441) thread. :)

~T

Congrats Shal! Close call.. :grin: Looking forward to seeing you in the next contest!

Vino- On the water sprays, I looked for a long time for a tutorial on how to create water sprays, but to no avail. Finally I looked for photos of water sprays to recreate one, and I found a photo that worked great. So a simple copy and past and the use of the transform tool turned one little spray into well, sprays-I guess!

Congrats to all-

~Amber~

congrats everybody. for me all of you winners :bow:

Congratulations, Shalford!!!

Lorraine

Congratulations all!

Question- why was my entry so much larger when you clicked on the link to it? Was it in the way I saved it?

Congratulations Shalford, and everyone, for some great work!!

My congrats to Shalford and none the less to all the retouchers..good work..
Cheers! :happy:

Thanks everyone!

I feel slightly embarrased, as all the entries in my opinion are winners.

Next one looks hard!!!!

I think congratulations should go to everyone.

Many thanks.

Steve

Congratulations Steve, a worthy winner.

nice job, steve. very professional!

Craig

Congratulations Steve! Great job by everyone :happy:

- Kurt

Question- why was my entry so much larger when you clicked on the link to it? Was it in the way I saved it?

Your dimensions were 1885px by 900px--where other entries reduce their photos in accordance to the rules of 800 px on the longest side (this makes for a smaller file size and easier viewing). :)

Check out this thread for resizing images for RetouchPro. (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4398)

Hi all !!
I seem to be lagging way at the back in this contest, last to post and almost last to congratulate Shalford and the rest of the winners including those not within the first 5 !!
In other words great works and congratulations to all.
See you at the Sept 5th contest ! :)

Regards - Martha :wavey:

That highest point is called the Summit i know cos i have just got home from driving across it, very scary place at 3am.