Is anyone free to enter?
Yes of course, that's exactly the point.
I'm tempted to restart the competitions, discuss
- Thread starter Phate
- Start date
Yes of course, that's exactly the point.
Bah we finally get a discussion going on actual photography and you guys wade in a spoil it....
DP, Room booked see ya there!
Bring it on!
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It is obvious the competition is popular with beginners. I just wonder if there are specific things that could be done to support them. Not competitions per se, but training exercises. Some things that I read about and practiced which helped me tremendously were things like:
- Spending a few weeks only using a 35/50mm prime, zooming with the feet
- Spending a few with only with a UWA 10-20, learning about perspective, depth, learning how to make such a difficult lens work.
- Spending a few week only with a tele lens, see how compression of perspective can flatten images but highlights details, textures and shapes.
- Keeping a tally of how many photos I took and paying 1 quid into a jar for every photo, forcing you to think of every photo, getting the framing and exposure right. They money can then be spent on gear/vacation/charity/etc
- Learning about a few core compositional techniques such as balance, leading lines, S-curves and going out into the world examining the shapes, lines, textures, tones and colors.
- Only taking photos in portrait orientation, learning why and when it works
These kinds of structured exercises give a deeper understanding of what, why and when of photography.
I can think of a lot more things to do with a circle than I could with people, I would have to make a plan for either shot to get something ideal or hope I strike lucky walking the streets for a few hours.
The competition for me needs to push my creative side, so having a theme and a limited time frame is essential to let me create what I hope is a competition winning entry with the resources and time available. It will never be a level playing field but competition never is. I just hope we can get something up and running soon then look at making changes if it doesn't work.
The competition for me needs to push my creative side, so having a theme and a limited time frame is essential to let me create what I hope is a competition winning entry with the resources and time available. It will never be a level playing field but competition never is. I just hope we can get something up and running soon then look at making changes if it doesn't work.
Bring it on!
On Topic:
It is obvious the competition is popular with beginners. I just wonder if there are specific things that could be done to support them. Not competitions per se, but training exercises. Some things that I read about and practiced which helped me tremendously were things like:
- Spending a few weeks only using a 35/50mm prime, zooming with the feet
- Spending a few with only with a UWA 10-20, learning about perspective, depth, learning how to make such a difficult lens work.
- Spending a few week only with a tele lens, see how compression of perspective can flatten images but highlights details, textures and shapes.
- Keeping a tally of how many photos I took and paying 1 quid into a jar for every photo, forcing you to think of every photo, getting the framing and exposure right. They money can then be spent on gear/vacation/charity/etc
- Learning about a few core compositional techniques such as balance, leading lines, S-curves and going out into the world examining the shapes, lines, textures, tones and colors.
- Only taking photos in portrait orientation, learning why and when it works
These kinds of structured exercises give a deeper understanding of what, why and when of photography.
Nail hit bang on the head.
I was tempted with an online diploma course as it would give me structured learning and focus.
Catering for us beginners would be fantastic but hopefully without the sacrifice of the more experienced
Or lets stick our heads together now and come up with the next 12 months worth of themes.
Bring it on!
On Topic:
It is obvious the competition is popular with beginners. I just wonder if there are specific things that could be done to support them. Not competitions per se, but training exercises. Some things that I read about and practiced which helped me tremendously were things like:
- Spending a few weeks only using a 35/50mm prime, zooming with the feet
- Spending a few with only with a UWA 10-20, learning about perspective, depth, learning how to make such a difficult lens work.
- Spending a few week only with a tele lens, see how compression of perspective can flatten images but highlights details, textures and shapes.
- Keeping a tally of how many photos I took and paying 1 quid into a jar for every photo, forcing you to think of every photo, getting the framing and exposure right. They money can then be spent on gear/vacation/charity/etc
- Learning about a few core compositional techniques such as balance, leading lines, S-curves and going out into the world examining the shapes, lines, textures, tones and colors.
- Only taking photos in portrait orientation, learning why and when it works
These kinds of structured exercises give a deeper understanding of what, why and when of photography.
Indeed
I'm still a beginner but got all the technical things sorted, just need to get out there and work on my composition and image finding. Got things such as how low focal lengths increase the distance between things increases (bad wording) and how longer focal lengths decreases it. When to use each etc Personally, I'd get an admin to create the subforum. Then appoint someone to run it. Then get a poll together voting which themes people want.
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That's actually not a bad idea!
100% this. It's a bin where people post their photos one after the other. Separate threads for sets of photos should be what happens. On the other hand most threads that are posted just end up with people stating "great pics!" Etc., rather than any actual C&C. Having said that that changed on TP a few years ago too unfortunately.
As for anything the mods can do, with the greatest respect, leave it alone. One of the reasons this forum became so quiet (especially photo posting) has the meddling by the power at be. First things that sent a lot of the best toga away, then being part of the reason the comp was ended in the first place (changing the judges etc. By force) then the rule that basically stated no watermarks, however sensible it was meant to be...
As for the competition...! I think an anonymous system would work best. Send the photo to Phate(?) Who then posts it in the dedicated thread. That stops favouritism/mates voting for each other, even of subconciously. It's one of the reasons the last comp ended up having three judges rather than a poll/entrant voting.
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I think this is a great idea, would get people voting on the photo rather then the tog.
Bring it on!
On Topic:
It is obvious the competition is popular with beginners. I just wonder if there are specific things that could be done to support them. Not competitions per se, but training exercises. Some things that I read about and practiced which helped me tremendously were things like:
- Spending a few weeks only using a 35/50mm prime, zooming with the feet
- Spending a few with only with a UWA 10-20, learning about perspective, depth, learning how to make such a difficult lens work.
- Spending a few week only with a tele lens, see how compression of perspective can flatten images but highlights details, textures and shapes.
- Keeping a tally of how many photos I took and paying 1 quid into a jar for every photo, forcing you to think of every photo, getting the framing and exposure right. They money can then be spent on gear/vacation/charity/etc
- Learning about a few core compositional techniques such as balance, leading lines, S-curves and going out into the world examining the shapes, lines, textures, tones and colors.
- Only taking photos in portrait orientation, learning why and when it works
These kinds of structured exercises give a deeper understanding of what, why and when of photography.
Cracking idea
Came to the thread late! This sounds great guys. On the theme vs. theme-less debate, there is no reason there couldn't be a theme-less compo from time to time, or even a just broad subject in line with the technical themes already mentioned, such as light painting, nigh time, angry skyes to help keep things fun!
How about the themes being set 3 months ahead, so we choose 3 to start with, and then the winner's theme gets tagged onto to the end? That way we can be thinking about what sort of photo we'd enter in advance and the 1 month time-limit wouldn't seem as harsh.
Perhaps a relaxation in the rules would help too - photos for a particular round can be taken in the previous 2 months, rather than 1? This would be my preference and again should help people to enter more often.
If none of that sounds good, would a bi-monthly competition be a good compromise between quarterly and monthly?
Perhaps a relaxation in the rules would help too - photos for a particular round can be taken in the previous 2 months, rather than 1? This would be my preference and again should help people to enter more often.
If none of that sounds good, would a bi-monthly competition be a good compromise between quarterly and monthly?
Just get everyone to vote on themes prior to the competition. You can then either have it all set before you start or the winner picks from the list of available themes each month?
I wouldn't limit the voting to only those who entered. Any rigging should be evident and the mods can sort that out Engaging people in the voting process may drive more traffic through the sub forum. Voting on just the photo (anon entries) by everyone will limit the technical prowess impact if people are just voting on what they like. This would possibly make the competition more user friendly as well?
It would be good to still generate feedback. Why not have the previous months winner also give feedback on the next competitions entries? Phate can do that for the first comp
Oh, and you'll get the same "I ran out if time" and "I couldn't think of anything" excuses if it is monthly or quarterly. Monthly is fine, any longer than that and I'd lose interest.
I wouldn't limit the voting to only those who entered. Any rigging should be evident and the mods can sort that out
Engaging people in the voting process may drive more traffic through the sub forum. Voting on just the photo (anon entries) by everyone will limit the technical prowess impact if people are just voting on what they like. This would possibly make the competition more user friendly as well?It would be good to still generate feedback. Why not have the previous months winner also give feedback on the next competitions entries? Phate can do that for the first comp
Oh, and you'll get the same "I ran out if time" and "I couldn't think of anything" excuses if it is monthly or quarterly. Monthly is fine, any longer than that and I'd lose interest.
The monthly themed format may might make the winners more varied as well. I feel giving people a couple of months to plan their entry will lead to the same few being in the running every month. Keep it to a month and not everyone will have the time to put the same effort into it and so lead to more people being potential winners.
If it is monthly then it is paramount that the themes are dropped so people can submit entries as and when they have suitable photos.
Otherwise this is the exact same competition as the previous one which failed due to lack of entries.
A more practical alternative to themes is simply to have different categories for the competition (people, landscape, wildlife, still-life, architecture, abstract). People can submit a single photo to any category they wish. This largely negates the timeliness issue and opens up the competition to everyone whatever they want to photograph.
This also negates much of the hardware discrepancies. Instead of some theme that would restrict people's entry by their gear they own, people can submit photos they really like within the appropriate category using the gear they have. E.g. If the theme is shallow DoF but you own a m43 camera with kit lenses you are at a massive disadvantage and presumably really don't care about the topic, or if the theme was telephoto and you didn't own a telephoto lens then you would be screwed. I think there was one theme last year with TS/PC lenses, how many people on the th forum actually own one? Instead if we have broad categories someone with. TS/PC lens could use it in landscape/architecture/people etc as desired but it isn't forcing people to rent lenses or try to fake anything.
Otherwise this is the exact same competition as the previous one which failed due to lack of entries.
A more practical alternative to themes is simply to have different categories for the competition (people, landscape, wildlife, still-life, architecture, abstract). People can submit a single photo to any category they wish. This largely negates the timeliness issue and opens up the competition to everyone whatever they want to photograph.
This also negates much of the hardware discrepancies. Instead of some theme that would restrict people's entry by their gear they own, people can submit photos they really like within the appropriate category using the gear they have. E.g. If the theme is shallow DoF but you own a m43 camera with kit lenses you are at a massive disadvantage and presumably really don't care about the topic, or if the theme was telephoto and you didn't own a telephoto lens then you would be screwed. I think there was one theme last year with TS/PC lenses, how many people on the th forum actually own one? Instead if we have broad categories someone with. TS/PC lens could use it in landscape/architecture/people etc as desired but it isn't forcing people to rent lenses or try to fake anything.
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