I'm tempted to restart the competitions, discuss
- Thread starter Phate
- Start date
I'm not sure about using the previous 3 categories as a scoring system. Impact - how is it interpreted - on a visual or emotional level, or both? Maybe this was mentioned on the original rules, I can't remember. The "Technical" category is the one I'd struggle with most - what if auto settings were used - should that reduce the score? Also, what if a camera has a minimum aperture of f8 and the aperture of the photo was a key aspect to getting the shot right or wrong - how would we know whether a smaller aperture was available for that camera without looking each model up? I always wondered that as my camera was only f2.8 - f8.
I do like the idea of incorporating feedback into the results as I found that really useful, but it's something a lot of people struggle with (me included) so it might put some people off.
To encourage participation it needs to be as easy as possible for people to enter.
Could a mailing list (or wherever most people are - Flickr, Twitter) be set up to remind people of deadlines? That could encourage more involvement as people (me again) often forget.
I do like the idea of incorporating feedback into the results as I found that really useful, but it's something a lot of people struggle with (me included) so it might put some people off.
To encourage participation it needs to be as easy as possible for people to enter.
Could a mailing list (or wherever most people are - Flickr, Twitter) be set up to remind people of deadlines? That could encourage more involvement as people (me again) often forget.
Do people actually want the theme restrictions? One of the biggest reasons I never entered is I don't want to be constrained by whatever theme happens to be going on that month.
Themes distract from the artistic nature of photography. An (amateur) photographer should photograph subjects that they have a meaningful connection with, that they have feelings about and care for that they want expressed in their art. If you are forced to photograph something that you have no interest in then you loose that emotional connection and everything comes down to technical merit (theme relevance is a technical measure).
Secondly, one competition a month is a lot for anyone who has a full time job. That leaves a few weekends really for which other plans may have been made. At this time of year you have no time to capture natural lighting when most of us are stuck in an office Monday to Friday. I think 4 competitions in the year are plenty, winter, spring summer and autumn.
Themes distract from the artistic nature of photography. An (amateur) photographer should photograph subjects that they have a meaningful connection with, that they have feelings about and care for that they want expressed in their art. If you are forced to photograph something that you have no interest in then you loose that emotional connection and everything comes down to technical merit (theme relevance is a technical measure).
Secondly, one competition a month is a lot for anyone who has a full time job. That leaves a few weekends really for which other plans may have been made. At this time of year you have no time to capture natural lighting when most of us are stuck in an office Monday to Friday. I think 4 competitions in the year are plenty, winter, spring summer and autumn.
I understand completely D.P and I agree, but I think it should be a little more frequent than one a season. I would quite like to enter either way because I need to get out more, just when I do go out the weather is awful and Northampton is not very inspiring 
You are onto something there though with a theme of a season, I think there should be themes so that they can all be judged on the same level, but I don't think they should be so constrictive as they used to be.
You are onto something there though with a theme of a season, I think there should be themes so that they can all be judged on the same level, but I don't think they should be so constrictive as they used to be.
Disagree totally.
Themes offer a perspective by which each photo should be judged, a common goal for everyone and more importantly each entry will be a different perspective or interpretation of the same idea.
Without one its just random shots of anything that don't relate to anything, we already have that in the 'post your pictures thread' and simply replicating in comp form would be utterly pointless.
How are we supposed to judge one of Ray's wedding shots, mrk's urban shots, your landscapes and a still life thingy from me against each other if they are all in the same pool with context by which to judge them?
Also once a month a nice round number and keeps things moving, 4 times a years seems too long and will lose the interest of anyone involved. Who's going to submit an entry in January if it wont be judged until the end of March? Nobody.
Last edited:
Also we all lead busy lives, I generally work 55-60hrs p/w, have a wife and a 6yr old daughter to keep happy while attending 3 kick boxing classes per week as well.
Yet I still find the time most weeks for some photography, not massive amounts and mostly its just going for a walk but the camera comes with me at least. A comp would give me something to focus on rather than just going for a walk in a nice place.
I rarely entered previous comps due to the themes as I pretty exclusively shoot landscapes. So from a purely selfish point of view I'd like theme-less.
Something as simple as a voting poll with 'pick your favourite picture' and points awarded by rank would be fine with me. Would keep it streamlined and easy to mdoerate too.
Expect others will disagree though.
Something as simple as a voting poll with 'pick your favourite picture' and points awarded by rank would be fine with me. Would keep it streamlined and easy to mdoerate too.
Expect others will disagree though.
The photos can be judged on their individual basis, there is absolutely no need to compare to different photos. Ratings should be absolute and not relative. If Ray submits a fantastic wedding photo then it can be judged as a wedding photo, not on whether it has some distal relevance to an arbitrary theme that is utterly meaningless in photography.
Most photography competitions are annual for very good reasons. It is unreasonable to expect people to produce more than a few outstanding photos in a year, and no one wants to view a competition of mediocre offerings. I would be amazed if I could consistently produce 4 photos a year that I thought could do well in a competition, i would be delighted if I produced one a year.
Besides which, the fundamental problem with the previous competition was people never had the time to submit by the deadlines and furthermore the judging was a large time commitment to give thoughtful feedback. Reducing the frequency of competitions will increase the quality of submissions and the feedback by the judges, reduce stress and make the competitions more enjoyable for everyone.
Last edited:
Good for you but that isn't everyone. At this time of year it is just physically impossible due to the length of day.
Many great photographs in genres like wildlife and landscape come about due to perseverance, planning and dedication. Returning to the same scene time and time again when conditions are favourable and seeing what lighting conditions prevail.
One of the worst things you can do in many forms of photography is rush things to get it done by a deadline. That goes completely against the mantra that many subscribe to.
Exactly. Everyone can submit their best photo from the previous time period. Then you can pick your favorite photo from everyone else, or better still provide your own ratings to which ever photos you want and the photos are ranked by average rating (with corrections for the number of votes received).
I'm not volunteering (right now) but I would have thought if you're doing a "peer to peer" voting method, most of the admin side could be sorted with a fairly simple website for uploading photos and voting.
I quite like Steeps idea for a comp for the first month, then the next round starts straight away while the voting is going on, then the next round with the theme chosen by round 1's winner etc.
I quite like Steeps idea for a comp for the first month, then the next round starts straight away while the voting is going on, then the next round with the theme chosen by round 1's winner etc.
The problem with the last competitions for me was the advantage people who knew LR or PS had. Not everyone has Photoshop, or the time to sit down and work out how to do something in LR. I was browsing videos earlier, I had no idea LR could do some of the stuff it can, but I'm rare as I rarely edit any photo I take, taking photos is hard enough, let alone spending hours in front of a computer afterwards.
But at the same time you could argue that someone shooting full frame, or has access to f1.4 primes, or 500mm+ zoom could have an advantage over someone who has only just bought a starter dSLR. Most of my shots get about 5-10mins editing to the style I want to show the scene in. I'm sure my camera came with software to edit RAW files, not looked into it though as I've always had photoshop+bridge for work.
I always assumed the technical score was about getting the best out of the equipment used, be it capturing a stunning shot of a sunset using a kit lens, or getting the DOF correct shooting animals with primes, a good shutter rate for a sharp subject when panning, or applying post-processing to enhance the subject of a photo.
I always assumed the technical score was about getting the best out of the equipment used, be it capturing a stunning shot of a sunset using a kit lens, or getting the DOF correct shooting animals with primes, a good shutter rate for a sharp subject when panning, or applying post-processing to enhance the subject of a photo.
It is important to note that the competitions ended because there were fewer and fewer entries. Some people wanted a summer completion but AFAIK no one could even be bothered to organize that.
So having a competition every 3 months is probably still too often!
So having a competition every 3 months is probably still too often!
Interesting opinions.
While I struggle to find time these days I don't think producing 1 photo a month is unreasonable. If you don't have the time, don't enter, there is zero pressure. Remember this is supposed to be for fun!
I'm having an operation at the end of Feb, which if I don't enter one before then I just won't and will watch the others enter, I certainly wont be allowed to pick up a camera during recovery as it will be too heavy so March will probably be a write off as well!
Keeping themes regular, in my opinion is a good way keeping it fresh and keeping people motivated.
I would like a website where people could submit their votes and comments but I quite simply don't have the time to set something up. A poll wouldn't work. It would get trolled by folks from GD inevitably.
Also if people do not like the three categories for the photos to be judged on then please make some alternative suggestions, I would like to hear them and personally the 3 original ones made perfect sense to me.
I'm confident we can find a solution that fits most people, it'll just require a bit of legwork to get the momentum going.
While I struggle to find time these days I don't think producing 1 photo a month is unreasonable. If you don't have the time, don't enter, there is zero pressure. Remember this is supposed to be for fun!
I'm having an operation at the end of Feb, which if I don't enter one before then I just won't and will watch the others enter, I certainly wont be allowed to pick up a camera during recovery as it will be too heavy so March will probably be a write off as well!
Keeping themes regular, in my opinion is a good way keeping it fresh and keeping people motivated.
I would like a website where people could submit their votes and comments but I quite simply don't have the time to set something up. A poll wouldn't work. It would get trolled by folks from GD inevitably.
Also if people do not like the three categories for the photos to be judged on then please make some alternative suggestions, I would like to hear them
and personally the 3 original ones made perfect sense to me. I'm confident we can find a solution that fits most people, it'll just require a bit of legwork to get the momentum going.
The biggest problem with the old comp was the turnaround time of the judging. It didn't keep things moving fast enough and by the time the results were a lot of people forgot about it.
I'm not sure what the length of the day has to do with photography unless all you intend to do is take pictures of landscapes in the day. The point of the comp would be to apply different styles for different themes.
To get people outside of their norm and challenge their creative side, the previous comp did that for me on several occasions and it worked quite well.
I think you are missing the point entirely. It's supposed to be fun and a bit of a laugh, if you are stressing about deadlines for this type of comp where the results really don't mean anything other than some feedback for your shot then its probably not for you.
Ok, how about this as a starting format:
Copied obviously from the previous threads, and edited where appropriate.
So to confirm.
Lets say we start in Feb, I'll pick a theme. End date is the 28th, judges/entrants submit their scores by the first Friday, March 7th. Winner picks a theme for Aprils competition, and we go on from there.
I can also submit a theme for March to get us in the motions.
Thoughts?
The all new and improved OcUK Photo Comp - Season 1: Round 1 - "Landscapes" DISCUSSION
Theme: Landscapes
Chosen by: Phate
Closing date: Midnight Thursday February 28th 2013
Please post all discussion for the current competition in this thread and keep entries in the ENTRIES thread.
DO NOT post any entries in this thread!
Judges: To judge you must enter.
This competition is open to everyone.
RULES
-----
Rules must be followed. Failure to follow one or more rules will result in disqualification for the current round.
* One image per entrant (may be a montage consisting of two or more photos).
* If a montage is entered, all photos in the image will be judged on their relevance to each other as well as the theme.
* Photos must be posted in or linked to this thread for consideration.
* Photos must not exceed the image size rule. (Longest side of 1280px recommended)
* Photos must be submitted in the .jpg file format.
* Photos must have been taken on or after February 1st, 2013. Invalid EXIF dates must be declared.
* Photos must be available for viewing in this thread until the competition winner has been announced.
* Photos must be your own work unless posting on behalf of someone else. If this is the case it should be stated in your post.
* Photographers must post their make and model unless it is provided in the EXIF Information.
* Photographers retain full copyright to their entries, so you must contact them before using their entries.
* The winner of each round will choose the theme for the next round.
Scoring
---------------
Each image can receive upto 30 points, 10 points per category. Each category will be weighted individually.
* Technical ( 1 - 10 )
* Theme Relevance ( 1 - 10 )
* Impact ( 1 - 10 )
While each category is self explanatory, here are some rough examples for each one.
Technical: Is the photo in focus? has the rule of thirds been applied?
Theme Relevance: If the theme is Landscapes and you post a macro photo then don't expect to receive many points
Impact: Did you look at it and go 'whoa!' or did you scroll over it without a seconds thought?
The all new and improved OcUK Photo Comp - Season 1: Round 1 - "Landscapes" ENTRIES
Theme: Circles
Chosen by: Phate
Closing date: Midnight Thursday February 28th 2013
Please post all entries for the current competition in this thread and keep discussion in the DISCUSSION thread.
Judges: To Judge you must enter.
This competition is open to everyone.
RULES
-----
Rules must be followed. Failure to follow one or more rules will result in disqualification for the current round.
* One image per entrant (may be a montage consisting of two or more photos).
* If a montage is entered, all photos in the image will be judged on their relevance to each other as well as the theme.
* Photos must be posted in or linked to this thread for consideration.
* Photos must not exceed the image size rule. (Longest side of 1280px recommended)
* Photos must be submitted in the .jpg file format.
* Photos must have been taken on or after February 1st, 2013. Invalid EXIF dates must be declared.
* Photos must be available for viewing in this thread until the competition winner has been announced.
* Photos must be your own work unless posting on behalf of someone else. If this is the case it should be stated in your post.
* Photographers must post their make and model unless it is provided in the EXIF Information.
* Photographers retain full copyright to their entries, so you must contact them before using their entries.
* The winner of each round will choose the theme for the next round.
* All photos when entered must have an email address posted with it so I can contact you for judging.
* Judging submissions will be required by the first friday of each month.
* The winner will be announced at the end of that week or when all marks have been submitted, whichever is first.
* The winner will pick the next months theme.
* Scores to be submitted to [email protected]
Scoring
---------------
Each image can receive upto 30 points, 10 points per category. Each category will be weighted individually.
* Technical ( 1 - 10 )
* Theme Relevance ( 1 - 10 )
* Impact ( 1 - 10 )
While each category is self explanatory, here are some rough examples for each one.
Technical: Is the photo in focus? has the rule of thirds been applied?
Theme Relevance: If the theme is Landscapes and you post a macro photo then don't expect to receive many points
Impact: Did you look at it and go 'whoa!' or did you scroll over it without a seconds thought?
Copied obviously from the previous threads, and edited where appropriate.
So to confirm.
Lets say we start in Feb, I'll pick a theme. End date is the 28th, judges/entrants submit their scores by the first Friday, March 7th. Winner picks a theme for Aprils competition, and we go on from there.
I can also submit a theme for March to get us in the motions.
Thoughts?