Stop Action : Lessons learned - DPChallenge Forums

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f2.8D

04/16/2002 09:30:20 AM · #26

Originally posted by Daniel:
I Learned that our own photographs seem MUCh better, when, in reality, they're only good to us becuase "we" took them.

This is an interesting comment... Photography as a hobby should be for the primary purpose of making the individual hobbyist happy. I find much peace in photography. Photography in general has taught me to 'see' things that I never noticed before. The art is in the detail...

All of my photos are excellent in my own mind. When I enter photographs in challenges like these, they are still excellent photographs in my own mind and this is all that really counts. The results that you get here are the average opinions of the voters.

Example:

In the last challenge, I voted a 10 for the baseball photograph. The photo did not make the top 3. Why is this? Well, everyone didn't share my opinion. I didn't expect them to. That photograph scored all over the sheet, which tells me that there are widely varied opinions on that photo. That particular photo had one or two votes of 1. Maybe those voters really dislike the concept of baseball so they voted the photo to share that opinion.

You have to be careful in situations like these challenges. You have to know that no matter what you present, there will be some who like it and some who don't. When I make a photo for a challenge, I make something that *I* like. I don't prepare a photo for the purpose of impressing someone else. That's not my idea of fun. I do it to impress *ME*. If others are impressed, the voting will show it. If others don't like it, we can tie them up and feed them to the hogs :)

David Ey

Nikon D80

04/16/2002 09:38:48 AM · #27

JM, I scored the baseball well above average (7) too but not a 10. The shot just didn't shout "curves" to me. As I learned from previous challenges, the picture needs to tell the story with little explanination.

04/16/2002 09:40:43 AM · #28

Good attitude to have. So far my entry has only gotten up to a high of 4.66. So what, I still like it. If we take all of our criticisms to heart and try to do what will please everybody else then we will lose our own imagination. Without imagination how can we develop any talent?

Oh yeah, the thought about tying up the folks who disagree with our tastes sounds pretty appealing too.

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f2.8D

04/16/2002 09:42:45 AM · #29

Originally posted by David Ey:
JM, I scored the baseball well above average (7) too but not a 10. The shot just didn't shout "curves" to me. As I learned from previous challenges, the picture needs to tell the story with little explanination.

I dind't score it at 10 based solely on the challenge topic. I saw the curves but I was genuinely impressed with the composition as well...

Reuben

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

04/16/2002 09:46:09 AM · #30

So far I have 3.86 this challenge, but I really don't care because I do like the photo and I do think it's stop action. I won't let the voters opinions sway me to think the photo is not as good as I originally thought.

I do like the comments, though. They give me a good way to tell what kind of things the photo may not portray that I feel they portray simply because I have more context. I know exactly what the photo is of, what the subject was doing, and basically everything that was going on which isn't in the image. This is information I retain even when I try to evaluate the photo objectively. Getting comments from people who don't have this information is helpful to me in figuring out what I need to do to make my photos more complete.

David Ey

Nikon D80

04/16/2002 10:31:22 AM · #31

See Hokie's comment in "Tips". He is right on.

Gordon

RIM BlackBerry Curve

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

04/16/2002 11:10:07 AM · #32

Originally posted by jmsetzler:
Originally posted by Daniel:
[i]I Learned that our own photographs seem MUCh better, when, in reality, they're only good to us becuase "we" took them.

This is an interesting comment... Photography as a hobby should be for the primary purpose of making the individual hobbyist happy. [/i]

I take pictures because it is fun, and I like getting good results. I like entering these challenges not for the votes, but for the comments. They pick up things that I maybe don't see because I'm too enamoured with how great the picture is and missed the flaws.
Mind you, it doesn't mean I take the comments to heart.

So far the comments I've had are evenly spread to 'hate the background/ love the background' 'too much motion blur/ some motion blur would help'
'everything isn't in the frame so it sucks/love how everything isn't in the frame'

But they make it interesting :)

04/16/2002 11:41:42 AM · #33

clay lecook

really good ideas but time constrainnnnntsssss!!!!! ill get to it one day : )

Originally posted by lecook:
Originally posted by magnetic9999:
[i]...a white pitcher in profile on a white background pouring out red koolaid. again, I dont own a pitcher and I dont have a place where I can just go crazy pouring red koolaid ..

got a white tub/shower or know anyone who does? i think you should still take that picture, sounds really cool! oh dear, sorry, no pun intended i just think it sounds like a really great photo idea :o)
[/i]

04/16/2002 11:43:22 AM · #34

Originally posted by Daniel:
I Learned that our own photographs seem MUCh better, when, in reality, they're only good to us becuase "we" took them.

this is the #1 reason why alot of people i know who could probably act pretty arrogant call themselves 'amateurs' - they realize the subjectivity of art, and that no matter how great you are, there is always someone who is better and possibly more arrogant, so why fight the universe? : )

"always opening to learning"

04/16/2002 11:45:42 AM · #35

Originally posted by GordonMcGregor:
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
[i]Originally posted by Daniel:
[i]
So far the comments I've had are evenly spread to 'hate the background/ love the background' 'too much motion blur/ some motion blur would help'
'everything isn't in the frame so it sucks/love how everything isn't in the frame'

lol. yes, most of my comments have either praised the crop's tension and design sense or ragged on it for being too asymmetrical.

i think the most telling statistic is the split in votes between photographers and voters. 2 probably different demographics, looking at things in 2 overlapping but probably different ways. : )

moondoggie

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

04/16/2002 12:24:34 PM · #36

I learned that not submitting a photo, even a really crappy one, is a whole lot less fun that actually getting out and playing with the other kids on the street.

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR

04/16/2002 12:28:08 PM · #37

my mom tells me i should play in the street more often.. lol

joshua

Canon EOS-500D Rebel T1i

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

04/16/2002 04:50:38 PM · #38

in voting, is it okay to vote down a picture that looks fake? or do we vote every picture like it actually is possible or did happen or wasn't scanned? as long as it isn't disqualified, i think you take the picture on its merits and vote high if you in fact think that it looks fake, because obviously there is a lot of skill involved in making a photo that great

Reuben

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

04/16/2002 05:03:03 PM · #39

It's been said before, but it's worth saying. Don't vote down pictures because you think they are scanned or fake. Vote as though they are within the rules, and recommend them for disqualification. Trust the admins to research it if it is recommended for disqualification.

Hopefully this will be put in the rules?

On a related note, I think you should vote something down rather than recommend it for disqualification if you think it doesn't fit the challenge.

Originally posted by achiral:
in voting, is it okay to vote down a picture that looks fake? or do we vote every picture like it actually is possible or did happen or wasn't scanned? as long as it isn't disqualified, i think you take the picture on its merits and vote high if you in fact think that it looks fake, because obviously there is a lot of skill involved in making a photo that great

mykoleary

Nikon D3300

04/16/2002 05:19:15 PM · #40

Originally posted by Reuben:
On a related note, I think you should vote something down rather than recommend it for disqualification if you think it doesn't fit the challenge.

What do people think of this? Achiral is starting to make me think twice about my 1's for lack of fit to challenge I described in "Voting for stop motion." I'm caught in a qunadry and want to hear some opinions on this.

Reuben

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

04/16/2002 05:23:17 PM · #41

I don't think the admins have been DQing because a photo doesn't fit the challenge, it seems they've just been letting the votes speak for themselves.

I think what we should do here really is up to what role the admins have decided to take.

Originally posted by mykoleary:
Originally posted by Reuben:
[i]On a related note, I think you should vote something down rather than recommend it for disqualification if you think it doesn't fit the challenge.

What do people think of this? Achiral is starting to make me think twice about my 1's for lack of fit to challenge I described in "Voting for stop motion." I'm caught in a qunadry and want to hear some opinions on this.
[/i]

04/16/2002 05:31:02 PM · #42

I think you should do what you think is best in your own mind. Don't let anyone tell you what to do. I say that at the risk of my average staying low. I just don't think we can or should dictate how anyone else votes even if we disagree.

Seir

Kodak DC4800

04/16/2002 05:36:28 PM · #43

The rules say that 10 is good and 1 is bad. I would expect you agree that, to this extent, you can tell people how to vote?

Originally posted by shortredneck:
I think you should do what you think is best in your own mind. Don't let anyone tell you what to do. I say that at the risk of my average staying low. I just don't think we can or should dictate how anyone else votes even if we disagree.

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR

04/16/2002 05:44:02 PM · #44

I'm sorry I don't understand what you are getting at? If you are refering to me saying I thought a 1 was too harsh, then remember I said I THOUGHT a 1 was too harsh. I am not telling anyone how to vote.

We all have a right to our opinions even if they are not popular with the majority.

mykoleary

Nikon D3300

04/16/2002 05:47:28 PM · #45

Originally posted by shortredneck:
I think you should do what you think is best in your own mind. Don't let anyone tell you what to do. I say that at the risk of my average staying low. I just don't think we can or should dictate how anyone else votes even if we disagree.

In the end I will, but I like to ask for advice and opinions when I'm "soul-searching"...

04/16/2002 05:51:35 PM · #46

Fair enough. Just remember it's just a challenge.

Speigner

Canon PowerShot A20

04/16/2002 07:36:11 PM · #47

Originally posted by GordonMcGregor:
So what did you learn doing the last challenge ?

I learned that people on this site have a wide variety of criteria for voting, and that's good. It gives me an excellent guage of what kinds of expectations have out of pictures. I really appreciate the comments and seeing how my picture is being received by others.

I also learned that it's worth taking lots of pictures to get the one that I can submit and feel really good about. I've gotten a few nasty comments and if I was not trully satisfied that I had made a good picture, it would bug me.

04/17/2002 06:14:31 AM · #48

Originally posted by Speigner:
Originally posted by GordonMcGregor:
[i]So what did you learn doing the last challenge ?

I learned that people on this site have a wide variety of criteria for voting, and that's good.[/i]

Yeah, and assuming that each person votes for EVERY picture, those wide criteria will be applied uniformly to all the pics. what will be not good, tho is if someone only votes for a couple of images, and gives them a really high or really low score. that will skew the averages.

04/17/2002 06:18:32 AM · #49

I agree... I think voting for all or none should probalby be uniform. I would rather recieve less votes on a level playing field...

pnicholls