Future of the photo comps

[#1 Mustang Fan]

No, probably not, someone else may want to do automotive anyway. Any ideas for rules?

[timehAndGod]

No, probably not, someone else may want to do automotive anyway. Any ideas for rules?

Rules:
-Image must be 800x600
-Photo must be taken and edited by YOU and YOU only
-Layout for post:

Name:
Name of photo (optional):
Camera:
Edits description:

-Do not post image in post, please attach. This saves bandwidth costs for Wouter...

[henk4]

-Do not post image in post, please attach. This saves bandwidth costs for Wouter...

and opens the threads much faster....

[drakkie]

Rules:
-Image must be 800x600
-Photo must be taken and edited by YOU and YOU only
-Layout for post:

Name:
Name of photo (optional):
Camera:
Edits description:

-Do not post image in post, please attach. This saves bandwidth costs for Wouter...

Sounds good I guess. In this phase I guess we should make the rules really really clear as to avoid confusion.

- Will we allow HDR shots ? IMO we should, because it is a real art to make them.
- Only constructive criticism should be allowed. Anything nasty can be removed (?).
- If there are complaints about the rules or the way the comp. is run, the complainer should PM the host of the comp or create a seperate new thread.
This way we can avoid much of the everlasting debates in the thread. Also the constructive criticism doesn't get drowned in all the remaining chatter.

Just some idea's.

[2ndclasscitizen]

I'd also suggest that the voting threads be for voting only, no posts, they inevitably just end a bitch session when people don't agree with the results.

[Rockefella]

I'd also suggest that the voting threads be for voting only, no posts, they inevitably just end a bitch session when people don't agree with the results.

I suppose that could work, but I say we just shun those who post in voting threads, rather than banning it completely because I'm sure situations will come up that warrant a question or comment on something.

Oh well, we can see how that goes.

[Rockefella]

On a double-post note because I do not want this to get lost in the edit..

Should members attach their .psd file as well to correlate their posted edits/changes to their actual work?

[drakkie]

On a double-post note because I do not want this to get lost in the edit..

Should members attach their .psd file as well to correlate their posted edits/changes to their actual work?

AFAIK it ain't possible to do so, right now. Also it seems kind of useless as some people would not have .psd files. Say you only "need" to work in a RAW-editor, you wouldn't have a .psd file... Apart from that, did you ever see the size of a .psd file of a full size picture ? One time I had a 2,3 GB .psd file from a large size panorama picture. 100 MB jpeg by the way.. Try attaching that

Regarding your other post above, I think a separate discussion thread would be useful to cater for these needs. What's also wrong with sending a PM, to ask for a hi-res version, rather than posting spam..

[2ndclasscitizen]

Strange as this is going to sound, drakkie is right. It's basically not going to be possible for most to post the full-res editied file. PSDs are huge, and that's assuming you use them, I use DNGs as that's what my camera outputs for RAW (suck on that one Pentax bashers) but all of the other camera makers RAW files are proprietary, and will need ACR or a dedicated RAW editor to read.

[zeppelin]

Assuming I take over the general competition, and have my way with it, I propose the same format as current with a Photoshop allowance.

The format would be:

Name
Title/Subject Matter
Date
Camera and Adjustments/Methods and possibly camera settings, as more of an informative thing. I like when people post their camera settings, it's a good learning tool.

Example:

Zeppelin
Really Awesome Picture
Up to and within two (2) months ago
Canon EOS 350D | RAW, contrast/saturation/colour correction | F 2.8 1/2000

Standard rules (mostly previously stated)

• 800*600 posted with attachment system
• Taken by you within the past 2 months (encourages more active shooting)
• No self-voting
• Mustn't contain imagery that would contradict UCP's rules (porn)

New competitions will be posted Monday morning, and competitors have until Friday to post. Voting will be over the weekend, Saturday morning to Sunday night. Timeline is:

Monday 12:00AM: Competition starts
Friday 11:59PM: Submission deadline
Saturday 12:00AM: Voting begins
Sunday 11:59PM: Voting ends

This coincides with my school schedule, and I am my top priority. I support Photoshop being allowed, because it opens up some new techniques we couldn't previously post. IR photography, HDR photography to name some. Also I believe post processing is a big part of the photograph, much like manipulating images in a darkroom is.

Comments/questions/concerns?

[NuclearCrap]

Why should there be a restriction where one cannot submit a photo that's older than <insert time> ago? Wouldn't it be more interesting to see some members' old works? Some photos from the past comps just feel a bit "rushed". As long as the exact date or event is noted, there shouldn't be a problem.

Also, it's 2007 and less than a quarter away from 2008. Inline image rule really should be upped to more than 800x600. The standards these days seem to be 1200x800 or 1024x768. This would allow more detailed, larger-scale photos. Come to think of it, it's fairly hard to find anybody with a 56k connection now. A restriction can be added to allow only .jpg/.jpeg to keep file size down. At 1024x768, size should be 200-300kb average.

[zeppelin]

Why should there be a restriction where one cannot submit a photo that's older than <insert time> ago? Wouldn't it be more interesting to see some members' old works? Some photos from the past comps just feel a bit "rushed". As long as the exact date or event is noted, there shouldn't be a problem.

Also, it's 2007 and less than a quarter away from 2008. Inline image rule really should be upped to more than 800x600. The standards these days seem to be 1200x800 or 1024x768. This would allow more detailed, larger-scale photos. Come to think of it, it's fairly hard to find anybody with a 56k connection now. A restriction can be added to allow only .jpg/.jpeg to keep file size down. At 1024x768, size should be 200-300kb average.

To answer your question about the time frame, no. It's not very hard to take a few hours within two months and take some nice shots. Unless you're so busy that more than 10 minutes of not doing anything is straining, then I don't see why two months is difficult. You could create a brilliant shot in your house, photo ops are everywhere.

About the size, I do agree. I put 800*600 because it's been the standard; but I'd love an increase. Only the elderly and computer illiterates compute in 800*600, Hell, even 1024*768 these days is ridiculous. With modern monitor technology, there's no excuse for it. Personally I say inline images up to 1024*768 should be accepted.

[Rockefella]

At least for me, I think the highest resolution that can be posted inline is somewhere around 920 pixels in width. Can't tell you for sure if this differs for people on higher resolutions.

[Sledgehammer]

I work on a laptop with a permant resolution of 1024x768. The size is perfect for me. Not everyone here has unlimited funds to buy the latest upgrade every 5 years... As is my situation. Please keep it as it is. If you want high-res images, just have users attach a higher-res after their origional picture in the submission part of the comp and dont include them in the voting thread.

[#1 Mustang Fan]

To answer your question about the time frame, no. It's not very hard to take a few hours within two months and take some nice shots. Unless you're so busy that more than 10 minutes of not doing anything is straining, then I don't see why two months is difficult. You could create a brilliant shot in your house, photo ops are everywhere.

About the size, I do agree. I put 800*600 because it's been the standard; but I'd love an increase. Only the elderly and computer illiterates compute in 800*600, Hell, even 1024*768 these days is ridiculous. With modern monitor technology, there's no excuse for it. Personally I say inline images up to 1024*768 should be accepted.

I think the date of the photos shouldn't be relevant, what happens if you have good photos that can be entered that you can't post, photo ops are almost everywhere but it would be so much better to just post a better picture from an earlier date than take more than 10mins out to make a good picture. Which is clearly not worth it because the early photo should be substantial.