06-24-09 – Homeless Images, Free to a Good PS’er

Are we going to have a guide on what’s photoshop friendly again?

The reason I’ve been lobbying for less restrictions on the Farktography contest (and now the follow-on PS contest) is that linking the two adds enough complexity already. I don’t think we should make it any harder than is necessary to maximize the number of participants in both contests.

For that reason, and just to reflect the way I think PS folks work, I don’t think we should constrain people to only using content from the photos in the Farktography contest. If you want to say pixels from the photos need to be the focus of the resulting image that’s fine. But a ban on pulling additional source material is a bit too limiting.

So how about these changes…

? Use imagery from two or more of the photos from (Link to Farktography thread) in your composition.

? Please make sure what you find in the thread is the focus of the resulting image or is at least highlighted.

I’d drop the “You might want to delay voting for a week” bit. I’m not sure what that means, so maybe I’m missing something?

On the timing of the second part of this linked contest… I suggested that we time the PS contest so that it goes live like a week after the Farktography contest goes live. So the entire Farktography thread, including the liter’s entries, will be available for the PS’ers from the time the PS contest hits the “contests” page. Again, in the interest of getting as many people to participate as possible, I think making all the source photos available from the beginning would be a good thing.

Are we going to have a guide on what’s photoshop friendly again?

Here are my suggestions, which are just one person’s perspective. I’d encourage other PS’ers that are reading this to chime in as well… Also, I’ll post something on the PSAEF forum asking for more feedback. It can’t hurt, eh?

All of these characteristics add to the potential of a source image when I’m searching for something to work with.

– The higher the resolution the better, with something like 800×800 being the minimum if I’m cutting something out of the image to be added to another image. The process of pulling an element out, resizing, re-shaping (perspective tool), and adjusting color levels all tend to introduce blurring or other distortions. So starting with a larger image helps hide those artifacts. So providing a link to a bigger version for this one is definitely a plus.

– The larger the depth of field the better. As much as a love artistic, abstract photos where only a small window is in focus, it’s hard to turn them into something else. Adding to them is painful since you have to simulate various degrees of in/out focus. And pulling elements out if hard since they aren’t likely to be completely in focus.

– If there’s an element (or elements) that are the core focus of the image, which PS’ers will probably want to cut out and put in another image, those element(s) should be completely visible and not cropped by the edge of the photo. If the focal element(s) are entirely captured in the frame, then there should be a clean/obvious way to cut out the element and have it make sense without the bits that got left behind. So if “supporting imagery”, as opposed to the main focus, is between the camera and the main focus of the photo such that it partially obscures the main elements that makes more work for the PS’er. It’s harder to cut out and might require them to construct missing bits, which can be a pain.

– Good lighting, meaning where you get a wide contrast range without overexposure or underexposure is great. Combining images together often involves match colors, bright/contrast levels, and levels of blurring. If the source your working with covers a wide range of light/dark and also a wide range of color saturations it’s looks better once you tweak it to match other imagery.

– A number of people have suggested that photos which are already funny are harder to work with. I think the idea is that a photo which is intentionally composed to tell a joke has a narrow focus already and might be hard to deconstruct and repurpose. I think that can be the case for elaborate setups, say groups of people dressed in costume. But if you can see a way to pull elements out of a funny photo someone can probably work with it.

On the “oh cool” bonus front…

– Extra images from a photo shoot showing the same imagery from a different perspective, with things shifted a bit, obvious passage of some time, etc… are all great. If you provide a link to more photos related to the image you posted it could help a PS’er create a composition where design elements are rotated slightly, duplicated but not identical, etc… Also, if some part of the primary photo does need reconstruction due to cropping, being partially obscured, etc.. the alternate photos might have elements that can be used.

maybe I understood it wrong. I thought that there was a week from the post date to the contest for PS’s. So my understanding was that they’d have a week from when we started posting pics to do their entries before voting starts?

maybe I understood it wrong. I thought that there was a week from the post date to the contest for PS’s. So my understanding was that they’d have a week from when we started posting pics to do their entries before voting starts?

OK, then we’re saying the same thing and I just misinterpreted you. Sorry about that!

To try to clarify (in case I’ve confused other people too). Here’s a rough idea of what I was suggesting.

– Farktography contest goes live on the main page Wed night

– PS mash-up idea goes on the “upcoming contests” page the night or the night after

– The “go live on the main page” date for the PS contest would be roughly a week later, say the following Tuesday

Actually if the PS contest hits the “upcoming contests” page on Wed/Thu the timing should auto-magically work out based on how far out the contest are usually scheduled.

maybe I understood it wrong. I thought that there was a week from the post date to the contest for PS’s. So my understanding was that they’d have a week from when we started posting pics to do their entries before voting starts?

OK, then we’re saying the same thing and I just misinterpreted you. Sorry about that!

To try to clarify (in case I’ve confused other people too). Here’s a rough idea of what I was suggesting.

– Farktography contest goes live on the main page Wed night

– PS mash-up idea goes on the “upcoming contests” page the night or the night after

– The “go live on the main page” date for the PS contest would be roughly a week later, say the following Tuesday

Actually if the PS contest hits the “upcoming contests” page on Wed/Thu the timing should auto-magically work out based on how far out the contest are usually scheduled.

Now that I’ve read your suggestion, it makes sense too.

I’m wondering if we should just take this question (timing of the two contests) back to the PSAE forum and see what everyone thinks?

laz-long and Choc-Ful-A and probably Elsinore keep in mind that the PS timing part will also be controlled by Drew or some other fark admin. from past experience i can tell you that this will require an email or two.

Drew is very helpful but often busy and may need to get up to speed here. i suggest we (you guys pick who) contact him now with the basic idea and explain you will need him to set the greenlight based on what we decide.