Feb 06 Contest Votes

[byRo]

Voting will run from 22 Feb to 28 Feb 2006. Deadline for votes is 6pm GMT 28 Feb 2006.

If you did not enter the Feb 06 Contest, but would like to comment on an entry, please post your comments to the Feb 06 Discussion Thread.

-> Vote for the 5 best entries in order.

1. Entry X (First Place)
2. Entry A (Second Place and so on)
3. Entry Q
4. Entry S
5. Entry P

small print stuff.....
-> 5 points will be awarded for a first place mention, 4 points for second place...

-> Whoever totals more points at the end of the voting is declared the winner.

-> In case of a tie, the winner will be whever received more first place mentions. If the tie persists the second, third places (etc.) will be considered.

-> Only those that entered the contest may vote. All other votes will be deleted.

-> You cannot vote for your own image. If you do, your votes will be deleted.

-> Only those who have submitted valid votes will be considered in the final results.

This thread is now open.

And as always, when you vote try to include some things you especially liked about your choices…what made them stand out, what impressed you, etc.

This is a learning experience!

[twinkissed]

Ok I'll start off the voting I guess but I can't really get into why I liked the entries because they were so close. A lot of them were equal so I just went by the ones I thought looked like a professional newly taken photo. Not too technicolor, or too painted, or too unclean. This was a really really really hard one and I think everyone who gave it a shot did a great job. I'll probably wish I voted different in about 10 minutes LOL because this was such a close running.

1. SWEngineer
2. TwinbNJ
3. videosean
4. Cassidy
5. palamino

P.S. Did I mention it was close?

[RL Design]

Great job to everyone who gave this challenge a try. I voted based on overall retouch, retaining all of the main subjects, and photo realism.

1. RooB
2. Asimo
3. Cathsaigh
4. Videosean
5. Peth

[OnAir]

If I understand the rules correctly, I have to make a choice between the quality of retouching and photo-realism, so I made it for more balanced works.

1. Videosean
2. HannibalVector
3. Cazubi
4. Lorraine
5. Gary Richardson

[palomino]

another tough contest=another tough voting process...I too am basing my votes on photorealism in compliance with the guidelines...clever workarounds to distract from the 1/2 head while still keeping it Also the use of more natural colors and a lack of obvious airbrush/painting earned points. Great work and interesting ideas from everyone who gave it a go!

1. videosean
2. twinkissed
3. twinbnj
4. peth
5. cazubi

[TwinbNJ]

This was very difficult - went through my list several times.
All of the below are based on restoration colors and clarity of the image.


1. Videosean

2. SeEngineer

3. Cazubi

4. Cathsaigh

5. Lorrainne

[RooB]

My votes are cast based on the ruleset + "make it look like it just came out of the camera".

1. videosean.
2. cathsaigh.
3. Lorraine.
4. asimo.
5. cazubi.

[PhotoB]

HanibalVector
Gary Richardson
TwinbNJ
Shalford
videosean

[Peth]

Lorraine

VideoSean

HannibalVector

Cazubi

Cathsaigh

Nice work guys... tough ask!

[SWEngineer]

My vote took these factors into primary consideration:
* playing by the rules - no Mom, no votes
(I didn't like keeping Mom in either. See the discussion thread - this caused me a lot of )
* restoration effort - color was a huge problem here. If you went the B&W route, that was the easy fix. Again, no votes.
* I considered all other entries with:

Points off for cutting Mom's hand off at the wrist - an ugly look which also dodged a key restoration problem.

Points off for fake looking (non photographic) retouch work, especially on the baby.

Extra credit for mimimizing the ugly composition problem from Mom's head

I'm perhaps being overly critical in my comments. Please take them as constructive suggestions for that is how they are intended.

My vote:
1st - HannibalVector. Great job getting rid of the noise and grime and keeping all the detail in the baby's face, blanket, and Mom's hand. I think you must have created some of this (esp. Mom's hand), but it looks very natural and real (like a photograph). I think the color, esp. skin tones needs work, and maybe the hand detail is a bit too perfect and so a touch out of place. A few minor details - the wall / floor edge and Mom's sleeve - have room for improvement as well. I think the original was a bit out of focus & somehow, you've fixed this. That clinched my 1st place vote. Now, confess - how did you do this?

2nd - videosean. Very true to the original and very "fresh" looking. Eliminating the noise left it a bit soft, however. And I find Mom's teeth & lips too bright and thus attracting the eye to this photo's big problem. The ugly black lines on the wall to the left also need improving. I like your final color more than Hannibal's but the sharpness in his is just too impressive. You did a great job with Mom's sleeve, btw. 2nd place, but near first, so well done.

3rd - Cathsaigh. Color (esp skin) isn't quite as good videosean's, but better than most. Great job on the floor/wall joint to the left. But I think this large, empty space still hurts the compostion. Overall, a great job on a tough project. You should be proud of the image you produced here.

4th - Cassidy. Probably the best entry keeping Mom's head, but not having it hurt the image. The baby looks good, with lots of detail. I'm ok with the noise, but less so with over smoothed area in the forehead. Overall, it's one of the nicer images to look at, but you solved a lot of the restoration problems by just cutting them out, so I'm not scoring this very high.

5th - Cazubi. I like the yellow blanket, but don't care for the dingy pillow & bed sheet. Great job keeping lots of detail while really cutting down the noise. The skin color doesn't seem quite right, and the bright red lips on Mom again draw attention to the problem.

honorable mentions: Jay Henry & TwinBNJ came very close to grabbing 5th place. Sorry I couldn't quite give it you either of you. Lorraine - beautiful image, but too obviously "painted" to qualify as a photograph in my opinion.

[Lorraine]

My top five selections were based primarily on the realism of the retouch/restoration. Minimizing the focus on the mother’s face was secondary, but still an important, factor in my decision.

1. Videosean – The clarity and colors are exceptional. It looks like the photo was “taken yesterday.”

2. twinbnj -- A great job all around. Good restoration, nice colors and wonderful soft fading of the edges of the photo.

3. Cazubi -- Very realistic. Keeping the entire photo intact helped to take my eye away from the missing mother.

4. RooB – Nice restoration, crisp looking and good colors.

5. Cathsaigh -- Another nice restoration. Crisp and clean. The vibrant pink of the mother’s gown, however, kind of takes something away from the photo.

I really like Peth’s version, but the baby’s eyes are closed in it, and they aren’t in the original. RL Design’s and HannibalVector’s are also favorites.

Great work everyone. I wish I could have voted for all of your entries.

Lorraine

[Gary Richardson]

First to explain why I voted the way I did.

This is a Restoration and Portrait Retouch: The final imge should look like it was shot yesterday, by a professional photographer, straight out of the camera

This was the spec given to us by Ro, and I'm sorry to say that I had to disregard some excellent entries because they did not fit with the spec given.

My favourite picture of all was by Peth, but cannot be in my votes because of the reasons just stated.

So here are my votes.

1st Cazubi Good colour rendition, has been softened, but not enough to lose detail. For me the most life like.
2nd Videosean Not sure about the date stamp being legit, but overlooked it, as it was a fine effort. Lost some of Cazubi's detail, hence 2nd.
3rd Shalford Liked the vertical crop, good detail on the baby's wrap, bit blown out on the whites.
4th Roob Bit over smooth for me and again top end whites a bit blown, but nice feel to the picture.
5th Hannibal Vector Contrast a little high for my liking, but again, good colour and didn't over soften.

I have to say in closing that Ro is a sadist, and obviously must count Torquemada amongst his forefathers. This was a horrible picture, and anyone who attempted it is to be commended. I don't know that anyone got it to look like it was shot yesterday by a Professional photographer, but there were some valiant efforts.

[philbach]

I ranked higher those that did not do aggressive cropping on the toughest part of the image.

My votes:

1.) VideoSean
2.) Cathsaigh
3.) Roob
4.) Doug Calwell
5.) Hannibel Vector

[byRo]

[HIJACK]

Originally Posted by Gary Richardson

I have to say in closing that Ro is a sadist, and obviously must count Torquemada amongst his forefathers.

At first I amost thought that you were talking about the guy from the Spanish Inquisition ("No one expects....."). But aside the fact that I now speak Portuguese, my blood is generations-old blue!

Then I discovered (thank you, Google / Wiki) that you must actually be talking about Edward (Bill) Powys Mathers, the father of today's cryptic crosswords, who's puzzles (under the name of Torquemada) ran from 1926 to 1939 in the Observer.

So must I infer that you are, in fact, praising the "cryptic" nature of this month's competition and wishing that this be the first in a long line.....

I thank you, and assure you that your wish shall be attended.
[/HIJACK]

Rô
(P.S. Only kidding (?))

[Gary Richardson]