~~Photo Contest General Thread~~

[Tim Robinson]

Hi, Just a couple of questions if that is ok:

a) What date and time will the current contest end?

b) How are the scores calculated? Is it the average or sum of individual scores?

Thank you

[Medo]

A) The current contest will end tomorrow, each contest lasts 2 weeks, new contests start on Saturdays.

B) Scores are calculated using the average score.

[paulmat]

Hmm, I said to myself that this round I was gonna stop voting all 8 and 9's, but so far the photo's have all been so good I think i've given out mostly 9's!

[mukkjoy]

yeah just had a scan through and the standard is high. i think its great that everyone is having ago and trying new things (well most, I'm sure there is some reflection again),its certainly pushing me to get out there

[Medo]

I agree, some really good pictures appearing these days, it's good to experiment.

You leave my reflections alone!!!

[andy_uk]

There are a lot of great photos on this forum guys and gals, and they have certainly given me inspiration to take more of my own recently.

I agree with many of you that without a standard scale, voting is very hard (if the average score was actually 5 or 6 rather than 8 or 9, it would be a lot easier to differentiate between the cream of the crop)!

Personally, I find much of the feedback given to be the very interesting though (both technical and based on personal taste) and am glad that forumers don't seem to take offence when people try to give constructive criticism!

(The more the better please! )

[the spliff fairy]

hey how do I enter some photos?

[the spliff fairy]

ah i see. Do I put it online Saturday then?

[cstubbies]

you can post them anytime, people will vote on them until the competition finishes which will be saturday 3rd of May for this comp.

[T0M]

Would agree that the standard has suddenly shot up! It's making me think very long and hard about what I enter next!

Voting is difficult, but in some ways because the benchmark is now so high I'm finding it easier to give scores I feel happy with (many more 7 and 8's than previously, and I'm probably giving some 9's where I'd otherwise have given 10's). A while ago I stopped putting the score on the thread and just started concentrating on the constructive feedback. I've found this really useful. If you post the scores it's a lot easier to not have to think about what you feel about the photo (I find) as you can easily sum it up with a numerical value. If you force yourself to describe your reaction to the photo without refering to the score you've given it it's harder work but hopefully more useful for the person who's photo you're commenting on.

I reckon that approach helps make people value feedback more highly than the ratings, which are almost secondary (another reason why I now make all my own polls anonymous).

One point I would come back to though is that there are some people out there who still find it ammusing to post stupidly low scores and offer no constructive criticism. This is destructive to the spirit of the forum and to combat it I suggest (again) that Medo changes the rules to say that anyone posting a score lower than 5 has to qualify it with feedback, otherwise it will be considered a malicious rating (a fair assumption) and removed.

[paulmat]

Originally Posted by T0M

One point I would come back to though is that there are some people out there who still find it ammusing to post stupidly low scores and offer no constructive criticism. This is destructive to the spirit of the forum and to combat it I suggest (again) that Medo changes the rules to say that anyone posting a score lower than 5 has to qualify it with feedback, otherwise it will be considered a malicious rating (a fair assumption) and removed.

I agree with this.

[mukkjoy]

yeah, i was trying to avoid going there on the issue, but i think it's a good call. the genuine people do speak up when they've got a problem.

[NothingBetterToDo]

Totally agree with Tom - if someone is going to vote lower than a 5 they should at least have the courtesy to explain their reasoning (it serves no purpose to give a low vote and not provide some form of criticism), if they can't do that, then their score should be removed.

[mukkjoy]

what do you make of this. my son with my old camera that he asks to takes pictures with

image hosted on flickr
image hosted on flickr


he'll take your picture in which your pretty much centre but he also zooms in as well

image hosted on flickr
image hosted on flickr


thats not bad for someone who's 3 in June. don't you think?

[Medo]

Fantastic!!!

I need to get me one of those.

I say register him on SSC so he can enter them photos here.

I predict he will want his very own DSLR by the time he is 5.

[T0M]

Pretty impressive Mukker! I don't think I could tie my own shoelaces when I was 3, let alone compose effective photos! You've got a budding photographer on your hands there, he'll be giving us all a run for our money soon!

[mukkjoy]

GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!it's not fare nearly everything Ive taken lately isn't bloody "urban". i live in the bloody sticks so everything is f*****g green not concrete Grey and i still can't drive for at least a week, its driving me f*****g mad so is anyone up for a miscellaneous photo competition, basically anything thats not urban but each entry has to have been taken a maximum of 2 weeks prior to the start date?.

i love the UPC but theres so much more

[Medo]

I was thinking of having an 'Un-urban' contest in two weeks.

[mukkjoy]

had an excellent session at physiotherapy as well, so a great day all in all

thanks medo

[Kara]

mukkjoy, that is one of the cutest little kids I've ever seen! I have a little boy about a year older than him and he uses my camera phone all the time, but he's always off-centered and out of focus.