09-05-07 – Invitation to the Dance

Forums Forums Farktography General Chat This week’s contest 09-05-07 – Invitation to the Dance

Viewing 12 posts - 46 through 57 (of 57 total)
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  • #12835
    Flavivirus
    Participant

    Hah, now I want the D300 even more… /drool. that is awesome, Swampa!!

    Can I ask, as a newbie, a little about the “cliches and fads” that would garner votes? I am participating to better my skill, and I do not want to get votes cheaply. I would like to avoid “cheap votes”. I have noticed a few posts in previous threads and this one that seem to denote a certain bitterness about the quality of voting.

    #12836
    Curious
    Participant

    Flavivirus post what you like. every week. think your entry though carefully, trying to make it as good as it can be. some weeks that will be mostly technical, some mostly interpretation and on a few lucky occasions both will come together.

    be prepared to do really badly in the voting. especially on ones you really like and think others will.

    then one week you will enter a quick snapshot from your archives and it will win in a landslide.

    only then will you truly understand the “certain bitterness” you see here about voting.

    now to be a bit more serious. the voters by and large don’t have our skill level nor equipment. they are used to looking at either their snapshots of aunt Chelsea’s. you know the “did it come out” crowd. look at last week. of the top ten numbers one and three are cute/funny. #s 2,4,6,7 and 8 are strict dancing shots. your second entry (ranked #4) could be any couple kissing without the caption*. #s 9 and 10 again are variations on the theme. the voting goes all over the place depending on factors we can’t control. this is non juried voting and fark is known for beer and boobies, not art appreciation.

    *it’s a good photo. well composed and well lit. it’s critically sharp, there is good separation of the foreground and background but IMHO w/o the caption it doesn’t say dance. also note that of the top ten only your second entry and # 1 have real good separation of the subject. yes, i’m being really picky here but with the other 8 one looks a bit to see the subject. but the voters aren’t as picky as the results demonstrate. hell i’m not that picky when it comes to voting either. i vote for those that stay true to the theme and/or are good technically. not always the same thing.

    to be fair the bitterness is more frustration. we all have had shots we had great hopes for go down in flames. and in my case at least i’ve had shots that i wasn’t all that proud of do real well. it evens out.

    my pet peeve is off topic shots. but i’m anal about strict adherence to the theme and description. other folks have different peeves. OTOH the consensus is that we are here to have fun and show off our work. so do that and don’t worry about stepping on toes. in time you will see what garners votes and if that is something that you do normally — great. if not, well you may not get as many votes but you will get comments and learn things while having a bit of fun. because there aren’t any fabulous prizes.

    #12837
    Claff
    Participant

    Can I ask, as a newbie, a little about the “cliches and fads” that would garner votes?

    Cleavage.

    #12838
    staplermofo
    Participant

    Can I ask, as a newbie, a little about the “cliches and fads” that would garner votes?

    Cleavage.

    And staplers. The people love staplers.

    #12839
    Elsinore
    Keymaster

    Can I ask, as a newbie, a little about the “cliches and fads” that would garner votes?

    Cleavage.

    And staplers. The people love staplers.

    And babies, dogs, and cats.

    #12840
    SilverStag
    Participant

    Not to mention Infrared and fire batons 🙂

    #12841
    SilverStag
    Participant

    I was just thinking how much fun it would be (for those of us with thick enough skins, anyway) to put up a favorite picture for pure critique by other Farktographers. It might be amusing 🙂

    #12842
    Curious
    Participant

    I was just thinking how much fun it would be (for those of us with thick enough skins, anyway) to put up a favorite picture for pure critique by other Farktographers. It might be amusing 🙂

    well i’m certainly up for it. my comments above are meant to be constructive and i would hope that they are taken that way. we get a lot of the “nice picture contestant X” comments and while we all like getting them they don’t necessarily help us get better.

    #12843
    Flavivirus
    Participant

    Thank you for the comments, Curious! I totally agree with what you said… and yes, I was very aware that my “first dance” picture was really more the part of the theme that said “an image that suggests dancing”.

    Just so I get my lingo, I am assuming that “separation” means that the primary subject is separated by either distance from the other objects or depth of field, yes? Or is separation just that quality of “Oh, i know what the primary subject is”?

    I think, for me, my goal is constantly to get that “perfect shot”… I nearly had it, one of my favourite ever (even if it isn’t technically great) is my entry for “H2O” a while back.

    I don’t know what it is about that image… but for me, it represents my “best picture”. Can anyone technically explain that? I think it’s because it’s very candid and joyous… but… I have tried and have been mostly unable to capture that feeling again. I guess it’s sort of like hitting the “sweet shot” in golf, huh? 😛

    Or maybe its just me, and that’s a horribly composed shot 😛

    #12844
    Klahanie
    Participant

    Thank you for the comments, Curious! I totally agree with what you said… and yes, I was very aware that my “first dance” picture was really more the part of the theme that said “an image that suggests dancing”.

    Just so I get my lingo, I am assuming that “separation” means that the primary subject is separated by either distance from the other objects or depth of field, yes? Or is separation just that quality of “Oh, i know what the primary subject is”?

    I think, for me, my goal is constantly to get that “perfect shot”… I nearly had it, one of my favourite ever (even if it isn’t technically great) is my entry for “H2O” a while back.

    I don’t know what it is about that image… but for me, it represents my “best picture”. Can anyone technically explain that? I think it’s because it’s very candid and joyous… but… I have tried and have been mostly unable to capture that feeling again. I guess it’s sort of like hitting the “sweet shot” in golf, huh? 😛

    Or maybe its just me, and that’s a horribly composed shot 😛

    I think it’s a great shot! I love how natural and happy the girls are and I think the composition is just about perfect.

    As far as what I think about the voting… People (that aren’t photographers) vote mostly with their emotions. I’m guilty of it too though. If there is a kid or a pet in the photo, I can’t not vote for it. 😯

    Count me out of the critiquing! It was the thing I hated most about the photography class I took. I have a hard time saying anything negative about anything. Accentuate the positive, I always say. 😛

    #12845
    Curious
    Participant

    Flavivirus Just so I get my lingo, I am assuming that “separation” means that the primary subject is separated by either distance from the other objects or depth of field, yes?

    yes that’s what i meant.

    Or is separation just that quality of “Oh, i know what the primary subject is”?

    that’s the result of the above. the viewer’s eye is drawn immediately to the photos point of interest.

    assuming we are talking about folks who read from the top left then across and down and by applying the rule of thirds you would ideally get ……. well what you get is folks who follow the “photo rules” but don’t necessarily have interesting photos. your favorite shot above only partly conforms to “the rules” and violates the one above having space for the subject to move toward. that said, centering the girls loses the interesting details in the background and changes the overall mood. and given the angle and where you are standing moving them to the far right introduces a cluttered background. so yeah, while it may not be a testament to rules adherence it is a really great shot of two young girls enjoying life on an otherwise dreary wet day.

    #12846

    The photo by U-Man is so damn cute this week!

    Just added a comment to the contest thread. I know it’s late, but I could not resist.

Viewing 12 posts - 46 through 57 (of 57 total)
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