2012 Lebanon Banner Competition #1 [MERGED]

[Beiruti]

Please review the below proposals and vote for the banner(s) you would like to see displayed as the SSC banner for a day. This is a run-off style vote with only two rounds. The top vote-getters this round will move on to Round 2. In this round, you will be allowed to vote only once but for multiple banners. In the next round, you can only vote for one banner.


#1)

#2) [IMG]http://i41.************/2ccw5nc.jpg[/IMG]

#3)

#4)

#5)

#6)

#7)

#8)

#9)

#10)

#11)

#12)

#13)

#14)

#15)

#16)

[-Zippo-]

Beiruti, can we replace banner 14 with a color corrected one? I'm not adding a new banner, just replacing an existing one with its mod. If it's ok, we still need for Abdallah to agree, since he's the only one (besides me) who voted for it.

The reason am replacing it now, is because am afraid that the vintage-green tint didn't do it any good at all. If we can't then it's ok, but I think that this view didn't get its chance due to that minor detail. I wish someone would've asked me for a variation before, but anyway...

Current


Mod


If you think we can replace it, I will be grateful. We'll have to wait for Abdallah's permission though.

Thanks anyway...

PS: please guys don't hesitate to ask for modifications, even if it's for testing only. If Beiruti didn't ask for a modified #13, we wouldn't have had the leading banner now. I said it before, and here am saying it again; I do NOT mind, and it's always my pleasure to help... (:

PPS: If you feel anything can be modified further in this one, give me a call!

[Beiruti]

I am fine with this. And if anyone who already voted wishes to add a vote to this, let me know and I can add it manually.

[Abdallah K.]

@Zippo, the new version is even better than the old version, go for it!

[GAJ1992]

1, 7, 10 or 11 or zippo's last addition are ok with me..

I would've picked 9, but its such bad quality.. i don't think people would vote it so high.. if any other pictures of that area have been taken it would've probably shown better the beauty of jounieh bay..

[Beiruti]

A couple years ago we had a similar jounieh banner that was really nice.

[Rekarte]

I liked the first one

[wissarb]

Since voters actually like the first image, I couldnt but find it extremely distorted probably the reason it didnt appeal to me in the first place. That's why I figured to modify it as I see possible so that it delivers the scenery better.

A:


B (softened):


C (tinted):


D (tinted + softened):

[-Zippo-]

Originally Posted by GAJ1992

1, 7, 10 or 11 or zippo's last addition are ok with me..

You could've voted for all of them Gaj, since this is the 1st round, where you can have multiple votes. In the second round, you vote for only one.

Originally Posted by Beiruti

A couple years ago we had a similar jounieh banner that was really nice.

Do you remember when I submitted my Jounieh banner last year Beiruti, and Martyr told me that we had one? Well, I didn't reply to Martyr back then, but the truth is that I've researched a lot and couldn't find anything about us submitting a Jounieh banner!

Here's our banners archive:
http://xl.skyscrapercity.com/index.p...rch_country=LB
with nothing for Jounieh whatsoever.

But this wasn't enough for me, so I went further and investigated all our submissions over the years (which are very few btw), and here's what I came up with:

2006 "Lebanese Independence Day"


2007 "Lebanese Independence Day"


2008 "SSC-Leb 2nd Anniversary"
[IMG]http://i30.************/1zltcw4.jpg[/IMG]

2008 "Lebanese Independence Day"


2009 Lebanon Banner Competition
[IMG]http://i34.************/2e0mhdx.gif[/IMG]

2010 Lebanon Banner Competition
[IMG]http://i47.************/244wnys.jpg[/IMG]

2011 Lebanon Banner Competition


Phew, this research was not easy! Now, where is Jounieh? (rhetoric question)

On another unrelated note, look how far we've come since then in terms of banner quality, which also is reflecting everything we've achieved in our forums to get them to that "professional" level, currently.

--

Wissarb, I agree with you about the first banner being distorted, which was one of the reasons that made me write the "banners tutorial" few days ago. I like your proposal (3rd), but I don't know if it can be implemented in some way in the submissions, since it's not a variation by the original creator. Furthermore, you have 6 voters for the original banner (by Rabih), and you will need all of them to agree before doing anything. Their votes are their own property, and cannot be "transferred" to another banner without their agreement. Same logic goes for Rabih; the first banner is his property, and cannot be replaced without his agreement/permission as well.

I see you're good at photo-editing, and it's always pleasant to have a new skilled member among us. Did you consider introducing yourself here and telling us more about yourself?

Also thanks for you suggestions and effort...

[wissarb]

Zippo I believe not all the banners submitted by Lebanon are listed there.. If you go back to the previous pages of the Lebanon banner submittion thread, you can see the banner of jounieh somehwere there.



Also, you can find it archived here as well: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=507745

I kept reading that we had jounieh one too, that's why I was going through what I have missed out on the forum and found these out.

Anyway, regarding my modified submissions of banner #1, you are unquestionably right. It is up to the submitter and the moderators to decide. I gave my suggestions

Thanks for the positive feedback. I m glad to contribute constructively whenver I could , and sure will give that thread a look.

[-Zippo-]

Wow man, nice find!! I just found out that the xl archives only goes back to Feb 2009, but I don't understand how all those featured banners skipped our forum's archives as well. Unfortunately, some old banners are missing (broken link), like the Jounieh banner of Nov 19, 2007, which am so curious to see.

We should start a thread and collect all our featured banners, along with their respective info (source, submitted by, rating, etc...), it would be a great resource IMO.

Originally Posted by wissarb

I m glad to contribute constructively whenver I could , and sure will give that thread a look.

You are doing great so far. Keep up the good work...

[Beiruti]

Zippo, the banners you posted are official SSC-Lebanon banners, meaning that they were submitted on behalf of this sub-forum following a competition. The list does not include a few others that were chosen by Jan or submitted by rogue forumers. The November 2007 banner was the same exact Jounieh banner that appeared in October. I forget the exact reason but it was an unexpected accident.

I like the idea of having an archive thread. I'll work on this soon.

Wiss, as for the variations of Banner #1, it is simply too late for any changes at this point since too many people have voted. If the banner does not win, feel free to submit your versions for the next competition.

[GAJ1992]

^ i'm guessing that was the banner you were talking about… well i'd say we submit it again.. i bet it will rank high on the ratings….. otherwise maybe a byblos banner or a beirut marina banner.. other than that, i don't recommend putting stuff on the banner because they are all concrete filled pictures… other than the ras beirut picture, i wouldn't recommend anything else.

so my suggestions:
1. old jounieh banner.
2. banners 7 or 10 from the original banners..
3. the snow banner wissrab posted..
4. the ras beirut pic zippo took..

[-Zippo-]

Gaj, there's no point in submitting a previously featured banner. Why would we do that? We're already trying to avoid redundant views, so how can we submit a banner that was previously upped, TWICE?! (it will be the 3rd time!)

However, I believe that this view of Jounieh isn't "depleted" yet, and can still be "abused" to produce future banners, albeit in a different style, to be distinguished. There's few cities in the world that get that breathtaking view from above, and we didn't really got the chance to "show off" our Jounieh enough with this less-than-average quality banner.

Originally Posted by GAJ1992

other than the ras beirut picture, i wouldn't recommend anything else.

warning: ranting ahead, proceed with caution.

[rant in]

Now this is rather strange! Why didn't you vote for it then?!

To be honest, when I was making the banners, I thought that the one that will matter is the Ras Beirut, and the others will be kinda "fillers". I never ever thought that it will get only one vote other than mine, out of 16 (thanx Abdallah), and I will be lying to you all if I say that I wasn't disappointed...

Besides being one of a kind and showing Beirut like NEVER seen before, it's a prime-grade picture, before even being turned into a banner. It's not like I pressed a button on my cam, then cropped the image in Photoshop and called it a submission. This banner took me more than a week of hard work; it was taken more than a kilometer off shore from a stationary boat when the waves were around 1 meter high, was made from 12 pictures perfectly stitched to form 1 picture that you will never know where the stitching was, then straightened, color corrected, enhanced, etc, to give that amazing general view of Ras Beirut that was never featured before in a photograph, because no one tried to attempt that difficult (close to impossible) shot before. I really can't understand, enno the picture has got our one and only Raouche (which is equal to Beirut in my eyes), it's got the manara, the high rises, the tower cranes, even the Ferris wheel; the sea, the mountain, the perfect weather, and on top of that, the moon above Beirut!!!

I tried to blame it on the color tone, and "fixed" it, but obviously it wasn't the culprit. Anyway, the vote here is not reflecting the value of a banner/picture. I'm still proud of my unique shot, and always will be...(since you will never see that picture taken by anyone else)

[/rant out]

[Beiruti]

I agree with everything you said about a Jounieh banner.

As for the rant... I have said this before and will say it again, that shot is brilliant and I truly commend your effort on not only managing to take it, but also creating the stunning pano. That said, the size constraints of this banner do not do the image justice at all. All the details you mentioned are so small that one would have to really focus in closely to see what makes this so special. We all know that very few if any people at SSC will give it this attention. All I notice when I take a quick look at it is the hideous Astoria tower featured so prominantly, as if this is the best Beirut has to offer. The absense of the marina is really what made me not vote for this. As Lebanese, only we can truly understand the rarity and significance of this shot, but to the average forumer, this does not immediatly stand out as an amazing banner. The ones I voted for display the vast skyline and really send a message to the world that Beirut is a fast-growing modern city.

[-Zippo-]

First of all, I have to clarify that I'm not in any shape or form "blaming" anyone for voting for what he sees fit. Everyone's vote is his right to express his opinion, which I should respect, even if I disagree with...

Having said that, I would like to point out a couple of things before I carry on; over the years, we've had 8 banners for Beirut, ALL of them having the Marina showing, and not one showing something else. You may like to grant Solidere the privilege of representing Beirut, but this is not really Beirut, not the one you knew when you were young, and not the one I'm living in.

I'm not opposing a Marina banner of course, and the proof is my submitted banners, but what Beirut always was, is, and will always be is the Raouche (the rock, not the region). You may disagree with me, but I doubt it (since you're a Beiruti, and am not referring to the username).

Out of all those 8 banners that have the Marina in, not a single one has the Raouche.

[-Zippo-]

Originally Posted by Beiruti

All I notice when I take a quick look at it is the hideous Astoria tower featured so prominantly, as if this is the best Beirut has to offer.

You may find the Astoria hideous, but this doesn't mean that it IS. I personally find the Platinum tower, besides being unoriginal (check out the Verona Tower, started before it), I find it dull and completely lacking design (It's a box). You all loved it because it's "glass", but I personally expect more from a design than the "shiny" factor. Nonetheless, I respect your opinion, but what I am trying to say is that your opinion isn't a fact.

Originally Posted by Beiruti

The absense of the marina is really what made me not vote for this.

So in other words, you prefer us to keep having the marina in every submitted banner for Beirut. Now, is this "all what Beirut has to offer"?

Originally Posted by Beiruti

As Lebanese, only we can truly understand the rarity and significance of this shot, but to the average forumer, this does not immediatly stand out as an amazing banner.

You may be right, but I think it's quite the opposite. As Lebanese, we're trying to get the "modern" part portrayed, whereas the foreigner who will judge what he has in hands will see an island-like city on a rock protruding to the sea. He won't know about Jamil Brahim, and how you all hate him and his projects, he will not know that on the other side there's glass towers and a marina, he will judge what he sees, objectively. (unless he's irritated by the name of Beirut of course)

--

Concerning the banner's size and lack of detail that you mentioned, I think this explains why the first one is getting all the votes; it won't matter if it's the size of the wall or a half-banner size. (No offence Rabih, inta khayyi l asli)

A good practice that I learned in my long artistic career, is to squint your eyes and get away from your art work, to be able to judge the composition better. If it pleases you when it's small and blurry, then it's probably good.

Following this rule, I made this for you to see:



I didn't blur it, but you can always squint your eyes, although not necessary at that scale.

Keep in mind that the foreign voter will be seeing our banner for the first time, and as we say, "you never get a second chance to make a first impression". It's either he likes it (5 stars), or he hates it (1 star, or ignore). He won't care about our snow season or Faraya, or all those things we keep emphasizing on to distinguish ourself from our environment...

Originally Posted by Beiruti

send a message to the world that Beirut is a fast-growing modern city.

I would also like to send the message that says that "Beirut is a 5000 years old city".

--

On another note, thanks for your words concerning my banner, I appreciate it. Btw, the banners you vote for were also made from several pictures as well, and took also a hell of work. Banner 10 was made from 11 pictures, and banner 16 was made from 7, as far as I remember. I wasn't like we NEED to have Ras Beirut and not the others. It was more like we need to have quality banner, and the Raouche one was, in my humble opinion, good enough.

Cheers...

[Beiruti]

Although many of our banners have featured Beirut, specifically the downtown marina, none of them have shown the marina from the angle that your banners do. As I recall, this was one of the main reasons why you took the boat out there. In the previous competition, a banner showing this same view tied our last banner and was supposed to be featured after it but was not. So you can understand my personal desire to finally have a banner that shows the city from this viewpoint.

I've lived in the Raouche so I couldn't agree with you more. However, and not to take anything away from your banner, this perspective is more "Manara" and doesn't do the Raouche justice at all (you can barely see the the pigeon rocks). And I in no way meant that my opinions on the Astoria are fact, only that that's my opinion and part of why I voted the way I did (the reason being to provide you with some feedback). But I do want to point out that the Ras Beirut banner includes several "box" towers similar to the PT. I like the "island city" impression, I believe I even made a comment to that effect when you first posted the image.

I agree with your comment on Faraya. This is a special part of the country to us and represents what makes us unique in the region. However, the average forumer will just see a snow capped mountain, a scene very common around the world.

[-Zippo-]

You misunderstood me twice;

First, am not putting my marina view v/s the Ras Beirut one. My statement about missing the Raouche was rather general, and brought to surface after Gaj's comment. In fact, the marina view took me a hell more time to make than that of Ras Beirut, and I'm all in to have it upped (Look at my votes, I don't vote randomly). This means that I agree with you about having this angle featured. More so:

Originally Posted by Beiruti

As I recall, this was one of the main reasons why you took the boat out there.

This is absolutely true. Btw, my "island like" description was a direct inspiration from your previous comment which made me rethink and re-admire that peninsula am living in.

Second, I couldn't agree with more you when you said:

Originally Posted by Beiruti

However, the average forumer will just see a snow capped mountain, a scene very common around the world.

Please read what I said, it's an alternative description of your words:

Originally Posted by -Zippo-

He won't care about our snow season or Faraya, or all those things we keep emphasizing on to distinguish ourself from our environment.

(In an indication to the first banner)

Having that out of the way, I also agree that there's several "box" towers that I hate in the Ras Beirut banner. The fact of me not being a fan of PT for being a "shiny box", doesn't invoke mercy to other "boxes" without the "shiny" effect! lol

Originally Posted by Beiruti

So you can understand my personal desire to finally have a banner that shows the city from this viewpoint.

I understand it AND support it as well. Also, I wish to have a Raouche view sooner or later. My point wasn't marina OR Raouche, it was more like marina, Raouche, or any worthy view, but not something that has no particular significance, like a random snowy landscape.

Originally Posted by Beiruti

However, and not to take anything away from your banner, this perspective is more "Manara" and doesn't do the Raouche justice at all (you can barely see the the pigeon rocks).

Once again, I agree with you. For some reason that I cannot recall now, I decided to submit this view instead of the Raouche one (or even both). The other had the rock in a golden position (rule of third), and the Astoria impact less predominant. It was also a better view, but I don't know what was I thinking (or not thinking) back then!

Here's the original Raouche banner that I made versus the submitted one:

Submitted


Not submitted (!!!)


I wish my Raouche (the not submitted) banner will get another chance. Until then, let's have the marina! lol (kidding, kidding... let's have what we ALL agree on)

Cheers...(:

[Beiruti]

I understand that you are supportive of both Raouche and Marina banners, but I just wanted to clarify my reasoning on why, at least for this next banner, I would prefer the Marina.

I actually really like your "not submitted" banner and would certainly vote for it next competition. I especially like the greenery and how the Bahri twins look.