March 05 Contest Discussion

[T Paul]

Add your comments, questions or discussion about the March Contest entries as well as the contest itself here...

[Doug Nelson]

If you're having trouble downloading the image, try rightclicking (or Cmd/Ctrl clicking) on the link and using "Save Target As".

[Gary Richardson]

Thanks, downloaded successfully, sorry about posting in the contest submissions, did'nt notice this thread.

[Flora]

Are we supposed to vote here?

What I thought to be the 'vote' thread seems to be closed....

[T Paul]

The vote thread is currently closed and will open once the actual voting begins. Voting will run from 24 March to 31 March. Remember only those that enter the contest can vote for the winning image.

[kiska]

Is this strictly restoration and colorizing? OR are we allowed to 'artify' it? Add strokes, filters. My understanding is 'straight' rest. and color.
thanks
kiska

[Flora]

Thanks T Paul!

[T Paul]

Originally Posted by kiska

Is this strictly restoration and colorizing? OR are we allowed to 'artify' it? Add strokes, filters. My understanding is 'straight' rest. and color.
thanks
kiska

Still working out a few kinks as this is our first contest…

Just for clarification this particular contest is a Colorization contest and not a Photo Art contest. Your challenge is to clean up the photo and colorize it. If you feel your entry does not meet these guidelines please delete your entry and resubmit a new one.

Remember that the contest participants are the ones who will be voting on the best image.

[Legacy~Art]

T Paul

My understanding was that we had to restore and colorize. I added layer upon layer for 5 hours to get my picture, its not perfect but i am new to this colorizing.

[T Paul]

For further clarification by "cleaning up" the image, I mean restoring the image. Note, I am not trying to discourage people from entering...just trying to keep the entries within the same guidelines (hard to compare apples and oranges). Please bare with me as I work out the kinks.

I know there are some fabulous PhotoArt gurus on this site. I am sure in future contests you will get your chance to change an image into digital art!

Also don’t feel pressured to rush as you have until 5pm EST 23 March 2005 to submit your entry!

Sorry for any confusion I may have caused.

~T

[T Paul]

By "up to you" I really meant how detailed a retouching you planned to do. However, with all the emails I've been getting, I see that I may have caused some confusion and opened the door for too wide a variety of entries. But, hey it's only day 2 of the contest, plenty of time to resubmit.

Hopefully all is clear now... Restore and Colorize

Just remember that we plan to have all kinds of contests and all won't be colorizations.

[Legacy~Art]

In a thread Danny posted i added that new members could email me, please check your emails.

I do believe that the rules and guidelines should have been clearer.

[Doug Nelson]

Please be more patient, it's not like we have a lot of experience with running contests. T has volunteered her time, and this contest will require quite a bit of that. Do what you can to make things easier for her, not harder. She's doing a remarkable job considering the sloppy and vague guidelines I gave her.

[dcarr]

What a great idea...and T...restore and colorize means restore and colorize ...I'm glad i got this email and hope I'll have time to compete. Hope you are all well..I've missed being more active here.

Here's to a great contest and more to come.

[Vikki]

I think the contest is a fun idea. Hopefully, I'll have time to submit.
Also wanted to comment on the rules issue....I for one, am glad there's a little controversy, and the rules are being upheld. I have always felt that "artistic" interpretations had no place in this line of work. For personal use and fun, it's fine, but not if one ever plans to get serious work/jobs. There are quite a few members new to all this, and part of learning the techniqes is also learning what's expected and accepted. This contest could be the perfect vehicle for that.

[kiska]

Ditto,Vikki.

[Gary Richardson]

Vikki, you say hopefully you'll have time to submit. For the sake of the rest of us having a chance, I wish otherwise. Seriously though, I look forward to seeing what you can do with this, having been an admirer of your work for some time.

[rondon]

Ditto Gary !

[Flora]

Ditto Vikki and Gary!!

[T Paul]

16 entries in this month’s RetouchPro contest so far!

I'm thrilled with all the interest, and the best thing is I’m seeing a lot of new names!

So keep them coming and don’t forget to tell others about the contest!! And if you have never done a colorization before, don’t let that stop you as many entries were just trying their hand at it for the first time. It’s a great way to learn!!


~T

[Doug Nelson]

I don't know if anyone has had the inclination or not, but it's ok to discuss the various entries in this thread. Perhaps you have questions about someone's technique or would simply like to share your own?

And don't forget to invite people from other sites you might visit to join in. The more entries we get, the better the chances for offering a prize again next time.

[byRo]

an idea...

At the time of writing this, there are some 20 entries. Until the end there should be quite a few more (mine included!).
Voting for the five best, and in order, is not going to be easy.

I'd suggest inventing some categories and giving points in each, something like:
Clean-up:
- Noise reduction (cleaning);
- Sharpness;
- Preserved details;
- Overall lighting.
Colourizing:
- Skin tones;
- Other objects;
- General Choice of colours.

Give each one a score (1 to 5) and add them up - if you want it more complicated, give a weight to each.

Rô

[Janet Petty]

Excellent suggestions Ro. And although it is too late for this contest, I'd like to suggest that for further contests that the entries be submitted to a moderator and assigned a number so that voting would not have the potential for skewing toward a name rather than accomplishment.

I haven't submitted yet, but intend to. Working in chunks of 5-10 minutes at a shot is taking a lot longer than I anticipated.

Janet

[mofriday]

Just wanted to say that I'm glad to have found this site... I haven't spent much time yet perusing it, but from what I've seen so far, it looks to be excellent! It's a great resource...

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Janet,

Ken Fournelle contacted me with exactly the scheme you're proposing, we both thought it a good way of increasing equality in judging. I believe Ken has contacted Doug directly about this.

Mofriday, welcome to RP, look forward to seeing contributions from you. You'll find everybody here helpful and informative.

[TwinbNJ]

Rô

As I look through the entries items in your list is what I am using to help me judge. With so many wonderful entries I could not do it any other way.

I bring up each image and write down my numbers (my scale is 1-10) and add up the total.
I have a few other categories in my list - but it covers the same theme as yours.

[TylerRB]

Just a thought.....

It may make it interesting for the voting to make the entries anonymous. May decrease bias if we didn't know whose name is attached to which picture.

T

[Vikki]

byRo, I like your idea too. It's good that the judging is limited to what was originally required.

TylerRB, good suggestion re:to make the entries anonymous.

Doug, I was wondering why you didn't start a category in the Galleries for "Contests". It's so convenient for viewing (and possibly voting).

[Legacy~Art]

I agree with Vikki i think it should have been a contest where people sent the pictures to TPaul and that person given a number, then the pictures added to a gallery and the entrancees goto the gallery and choose a 1st 2nd 3rd maybe, and that would have been better. JMHO

[CJ Swartz]

Originally Posted by Vikki

...
Doug, I was wondering why you didn't start a category in the Galleries for "Contests". It's so convenient for viewing (and possibly voting).

Doug,

You haven't stated yet whether the Gallery could be used for the Contests, so I'm seconding Vikki's request --

Can the entries for this first contest be moved into a section of the Gallery?
(either by a moderator, or by each entrant doing their own -- possibly having to rename the entry so that the software would allow them to upload a file that already exists)

Viewing in the Gallery allows us to see many of them side by side which can be very helpful when choosing between similar entries. Using byRo's rating strategy is certainly very useful, but when there are 2 or more that are very close in quality in a category -- viewing them side by side would help determine any differences. (It can be done in the threads, but not as easily.)

Janet/Ken F./Gary et.al idea of anonymity is another EXCELLENT idea -- there are many friendly folks here in the forums, and it's hard not to think about that when you're trying to vote objectively on a somewhat subjective quality -- lighting, skin tones, etc. No one here wants to "slight a friend", even in a friendly competition -- not knowing whose entry you're rating makes it easier if you find out later that you rated a buddy lower than the newbie you haven't met yet.