Aug 05 Discussion Thread

[T Paul]

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.

[soleah]

Originally Posted by T Paul

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

Much better!!!

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?

[Jaime]

Originally Posted by soleah

Much better!!!

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

[Cameraken]

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

[Kraellin]

Paul,

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

Craig

[T Paul]

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. 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.


~T

[T Paul]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

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.

[Kraellin]

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

Craig

[T Paul]

Oh I wish it was only that easy

[Lorraine]

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

[chrishoggy]

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

[Caitlin]

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.

[T Paul]

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.

[T Paul]

Originally Posted by Shalford

Hadn't got a clue what to do !

Oh well here's mine

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

[Shalford]

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

[T Paul]

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 was brave and decided to tackle adding type.

[T Paul]

Originally Posted by Racc Iria

With a solid rocket booster 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!

[Marthig]

First I felt like thanking you --again-- for the work you put in organizing these wonderful contests. 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 !!
Congrats !

Regards to all

Martha

[Racc Iria]

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

[Kraellin]

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

[Dreamypix]

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~

[T Paul]

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

[1STLITE]

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

[Dreamypix]

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.

TIA
~Amber~

[1STLITE]

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

Dawn

[Kraellin]

clever, gary

Craig

[Swampy]

makes no difference to me

[Shalford]

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

[T Paul]

Originally Posted by Dreamypix

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. 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.

[Gary Richardson]

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 RP. 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.