More Photography

[Suppi]

I'm new here, but I looked at past contests and I don't see much photography. Mostly, what I see is artwork or Photoshop work. I'm more interested in photography than artwork. Don't get me wrong, I love Photoshop, but I like to see, even extensive use of it, done in such a way that it looks natural. So it is not detectable. That may involve cutting and pasting elements so that they appear as if they were always in the shot. Your rules for regular photography don't allow that. But, your creative topics go so far the other way that they are no longer photography. If I'm out of line here, just tell me. I am so new that I don't know what's been going on here other than what I saw around the site today. Maybe there could be a regular photography contest that allows a little more photoshop, like treating selected areas, cloning, dodging and burning, maybe even adding elements as long as they are all disclosed.
Just a thought.

[Silky]

Actually, Suppi, we've only been open to the public for a couple of weeks, so we've really only run two rounds of contests. The photography contest that's running now is our first, and trust me, if the photography contests are popular we could easily run at least one photography contest per round of contests. So, to those of you who are photographers, and want more contests of this nature...enter, enter, enter! That'll show us that these contests are popular and that we should run them frequently.

And FYI...new or not, you're definitely not out of line! We like to hear from our members what they like and don't like...it's really the only measure we have to help us decide what contests to run. :)

[Suppi]

Wow! Only a few weeks. I saw dates going back to March so I just assumed it had been that long. Well, I already entered my flower. I assumed that was a no photoshop contest, right?

Oh, BTW how's my avatar? I made a few changes to a stock clip art. I think it works. Shows I'm a female who's interested in photography.

[Silky]

[QUOTE=Suppi]Wow! Only a few weeks. I saw dates going back to March so I just assumed it had been that long. Well, I already entered my flower. I assumed that was a no photoshop contest, right?[/QUOTE]

We started the forums back in March...but we weren't open to memberships. It took us till just a few weeks ago to get the contest and other parts of the site coded. The member galleries have images that we've all done either for other sites, or for professional use. And even though the forums have existed since March, there were only a handful of us here posting, and working on the site. We're absospankinlutely brand new. :)

And you're right...the photograph contests (unless specified in the contest rules and descriptions) are "no photoshop" contests. I saw your entry...very nice. :D

[Suppi]

Is there a way that we can see the other entries? If not, do we get to see them all at the end of the contest?

[Silky]

[QUOTE=Suppi]Is there a way that we can see the other entries? If not, do we get to see them all at the end of the contest?[/QUOTE]

Until the contest opens for voting, all entries remain hidden. Once the contest opens for voting, everyone will be able to see all the entries...but the identity of the author of the entry remains hidden until the end of the contest. This is done to insure that no one votes higher for one entry simply because it belongs to someone they know. Once the contest voting is over, your name will appear under the photograph and you will then be able to see the comments that are left by the voters on your specific photograph. Comments are hidden until after voting is over so that those comments can't influence others to vote in a certain manner.

[Suppi]

This sounds very fair. I applaud you in your organization of the contests. I always wanted it to be this way at the site where I was previously. I'm looking forward to seeing how this works first hand. You mentioned voting "higher for one entry". Does this mean the voters place a ranking vote for each entry? Is there somewhere that this is explained? I don't want to take up space here if it is explained in another place. Thanks for your help.

[Silky]

[QUOTE=Suppi]This sounds very fair. I applaud you in your organization of the contests. I always wanted it to be this way at the site where I was previously. I'm looking forward to seeing how this works first hand. You mentioned voting "higher for one entry". Does this mean the voters place a ranking vote for each entry? Is there somewhere that this is explained? I don't want to take up space here if it is explained in another place. Thanks for your help.[/QUOTE]

It's really no problem explaining it here...that way others can benefit as well.

Voting works on a 1-10 scale, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. There are few basic rules for voting. If you enter an image into a contest, you are required to vote on all the other entries in that contest. Members cannot vote on their own entries. You are asked to vote fairly, and judge the entries as if you didn't have an entry in the same contest. Vote on other entries as you want others to vote on yours. Judge each entry on it's own merits. In other words, don't compare from one to the next. Instead assign a vote to each entry that judges it on the quality of that particular entry. Quality is always the most important thing in our contests. We encourage people to leave comments on other entries as well. It's always nice to know that others appreciate your work, and there may come a time when someone hands down a piece of advice that you could really benefit from. We demand that comments be respectful and constructive. We want our members to know that when they enter a contest their entry is judged fairly and commented on respectfully.

I hope this helps...but feel free to ask if you still have questions. It's nice to see someone so interested in how things are done here. :)