July Contest Discussion

[T Paul]

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

Most members are eager to hear comments/suggestions about their entries, so please take the time to help each other out.

This thread will open once the contest starts.

[juggler]

That is quite creative doug! Looks good.

[Doug Colwell]

Originally Posted by juggler

That is quite creative doug! Looks good.

Thanks Juggler.

[YMS]

A great set of images to work with

I used parts from all eight, and went with an alien theme.

Looking forward to seeing more as they're created...

[NESSIE-08]

okay. so im new at this site and have NO clue how it works. where do i view the entries? and how do i post mine?

[Gary Richardson]

You view the images in this thread.

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/con...7-contest.html

You post yours by replying in that thread.

Click on the Go Advanced button, then scroll down and click on Manage Attachments.

This will open the upload manager, which will allow you to enter your image.

(Max size 100K unless you're a Patron in which case it's 200K)


I'd just like to thank T for arranging this contest, there's already some excellent entries and I expect to see a whole lot more imaginative creations over the coming month.

[Swampy]

Thanks, T. Great images and a fun contest.

[T Paul]

I'm thrilled to hear that you guys and gals are enjoying this contest. There are some very creative entries so far. Keep them coming!

[Swampy]

Photo B, NIce art gallery, but according to the rules...

>>>* No other images may be used.

[ScubaMargie]

Cool contest this month. The images are excellent. Now I just have to find a way to combine them so my entry is up to the great standard of entries already entered.

[Doug Colwell]

Originally Posted by Swampy

Photo B, NIce art gallery, but according to the rules...

>>>* No other images may be used.

Unless I missed something I'm not seeing other images.

[Swampy]

Sorry, Photo B. You did such a good job that I thought your gallery walls were from an "outside" source. Now I see they came from the Dummy pic. Wowza! well done.

[juggler]

So far everyones entries are truly amazing to view! great imagination here! Lovin' it.

[emilylt87]

Please someone help me, how do i get my file to be 100k and still 800px by 600px without loosing the quality. I have to lower my quality to 34% to get that size but then it looks horrible...

thank you

www.myspace.com/kissofglamour

[Swampy]

Emily, anytime you have to drastically reduce or enlarge a file, you will lose quality. Just the nature of the beast. Pixels have to be toss out so there goes quality when you reduce. I still find "Save for Web" from Photoshop as the quickest and best method.

[PhotoB]

Originally Posted by Swampy

Sorry, Photo B. You did such a good job that I thought your gallery walls were from an "outside" source. Now I see they came from the Dummy pic. Wowza! well done.

Aw. Thanks. When looking at the images, it just looked to me that the dummy was in a museum and I just went on that theme. Had a lot of fun. Thanks for the compliments.

[Cassidy]

A few "Where's Wally" here

[aileycat]

All I Can Say Is Wow


Moved from Contest thread to where comments on the contest entries should be posted.

Gary Richardson

[juggler]

Everyones image here shows a lot of imagination!

[dpressd]

I am new to this site and starting back into Photoshop after a rest. I have a question on viewing the images that are in the contest. When viewing the contest entry images, only Jugglers and Splatas images needed me to be logged in to view.
The rest of the contest entries just opened without signing in. Does anybody know why?
I hope to try for a contest entry in a day or two. Thanks for any info on this question.
dp

[T Paul]

I believe the way the website software works, that you have to be logged in to view the images. So it's odd that you can see some of the images while not being logged in. I'll pass this onto Doug.

[lcramer53]

Just a guess here, but could that viewing issue be due to the page having been in cache, especially since Jugglers and Splatas were the last two entries and possibly not have been posted since the last visit?

[Ms Bay]

Emily, I have that problem also. The quality of my uploads are never as good as when they are viewed on my computer. I had to reduce my pixel size down to 34% for it to be able to fit.

There are some great entries . . . as usual. I used all eight of the photos and I found a great technique to smooth or feather edges so they won't look so sharp. I know about the featherer in PhotoShop, but sometimes it doesn't work for me. Some of you may already know about this one, but I have found no matter how much I think I know about Photoshop there is another way to do things.

First you select your image (Select - Load Selection), then you do a layer mask (you should just have the outline of the selection). Then you go to Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur and set the pixels to what you need. TaDaaa, and you're done! Nice and simple and it works on any shape. Like I said though, some of you probably already knew about this, so for everyone else, another neat trick you can use in Photoshop.

[Swampy]

Ms Bay, Smoothing edges on a selection is important when compositing photos and your above method is good, but there is more. When you have a mask of a selection, first do a levels and choke or spread the edges using the gray slider. Since this only effects the edges of the mask you can see what you are doing in the image. Then run the gaussian blur after the levels. The levels selection will help eliminate any fringing.

[T Paul]

linus_photo

Great entry but....

To avoid disqualification please resubmit your photo in accordance with the rules

Final image must be exactly 800px wide and 600px high.

also

5. ...Links will not be accepted.

Entry has been updated

[T Paul]

Originally Posted by dpressd

I am new to this site and starting back into Photoshop after a rest. I have a question on viewing the images that are in the contest. When viewing the contest entry images, only Jugglers and Splatas images needed me to be logged in to view.
The rest of the contest entries just opened without signing in. Does anybody know why?
I hope to try for a contest entry in a day or two. Thanks for any info on this question.
dp

lcramer53 is correct. You must be logged in to view the images so any images that you see when not logged in are most likely from your cache, held over from the last time you were logged in.

[LonK]

Originally Posted by T Paul

linus_photo

Great entry but....

To avoid disqualification please resubmit your photo in accordance with the rules [...]

and

4. When you submit your entry put your username in the filename (ie: tpaul.jpg). This is so users can save the images to a local directory and remember who did what--important when it comes time to vote.

[linus_photo]

Thanks to everyone pointing out what to do and what not to do, I were in somewhat of a rush (lunch breaks are too short!) and I will read the rules better next time

[Ms Bay]

Swampy see . . . what did I tell ya! Someone always knows a better way to do things in Photoshop. Thanks a bunch, I will intergrate your suggestion into what I'm already doing. So, so much to learn, but oh, so much fun! I love this site!!

[T Paul]

To help with voting here is a temporary link to the entries in Photo Album format:

July Entries