Chit Chat for the August Photography Contest

[fred]

If you have any comments in regards to any of the August competition photos please use this thread

thank you

[Rivka]

i have a question as to what category i should consider myself in? this is my first time entering.

Novice or Intermediate?

i have enjoyed taking pictures from time, all i use is my little digi point and shoot. It's not my hobby by a long shot and this is the first time i have ever taken pictures of my plants (except some for record keeping) my pictures are usually just a way to show off my other hobbies.

But i also do understand about some things about lighting and backgrounds. or at least i know that there is things i should know

Now I have a cool picture of my first orchid that i have gotten to re-bloom and thought I would celebrate the event by entering the contest, what should I list as my experience?

-rivka

[fred]

Rivka this is a quote from the comp rules

3a) Novice: point-and-shoot experience only, has had camera less than 3 years, no photography classes

3b) Intermediate: beyond basic point-n-shoot, has possibly had camera for 3-5 years, considers lighting, composition, has possibly had 1 or 2 classes on photography basics


now without seeing one of your comp photos and with what you have said I would think it fair enough to post into the Novice Category I am sure our Secret Judge or one of our professional photographers will let you know other wise.
If I am advised that your photo should be in the Intermediate Category I am more than happy to change the Novice to Intermediate

how does that sound to you

[kmarch]

Rivka,

Your photography interest and experience sounds very similar to mine and I enter the photo comp as a novice. As I recall, there is also a rule that says after you win 3 prizes in your level (novice, intermediate, open) then you move up a level.

[Rivka]

cool both of you makes sense to me, i will enter it as Novice and go from there.

I'm just so stoked that i managed to rebloom a orchid that i got before i knew just about anything of orchids, the rest is just icing on the cake!

Rivka

[Anton]

Rivka, as a sometime Judge, the whole point boils down to "consistency".

A lot of Novices fluke the occaisional great shot, but don't produce the same standard on a regular basis. If you can produce good images regularly, that's what is required to go to Intermediate level. This holds true for the other divisions as well, NOT just Novice.

If you want to send me several images, I can check them and give my opinion if you like. You would not be the first I have suggested to Fred to be put up to the next level.

If you PM Fred he can give you my Email address.

[kmarch]

Rivka, That Zygo has the most jaw-dropping, mouth-watering colouration I have seen on a zygo. It is mind-boggling. If I were judging it I'd give it 10 out of 10 for colour.

[Rivka]

Thanks, i bought it having no idea anything, it was one of my very first ,non phal orchids. know that it is so happily blooming again i realize what a gem it is, wish it was not a noid. i do have the tag of the nursery it came from, i am going to contact them to see if they know what hybrid they are growing.
either way, i love it , thanks!!!

[kmarch]

If there's any chance you could find the name it would be worth the effort (IMHO).

[Rivka]

a grower at the nursery replied to my email and ask for a picture of it to ID, cross your finders!

[Joe Geoffroy]

Hello

This is my first time, so I am not sure how to nvigate to the area where I may enter a photo of my orchids.
Thanks for your help

Joe

[Rivka]

well ithink you will need to have a few more posts before putting pictures up. but you can go here Competition Photos - Orchid Forum Orchid Care and see the august competition list and the chit chat for the month as well, all questions and talking goes in the chit chat thread, and just pictures goes in the main thread.

good luck

[Orchidementia]

Originally Posted by Joe Geoffroy

Hello

This is my first time, so I am not sure how to nvigate to the area where I may enter a photo of my orchids.
Thanks for your help

Joe

There's a subforum called "Competition Photos;" just click on that and you'll find Da Rules and this months competition. Look forward to seeing your photos (and there's lots of places to post photos, hint hint - we love looking at 'em!) and Good luck in the comp! And welcome to the forum!

[Joe Geoffroy]

Thanks but...I went to that area and it still does not tell me how or where to upload them'
Thanks
joe

[Joe Geoffroy]

and I read DA rules but don't understand....

[Rivka]

in the thread for the photos, you make a post and use the manage attachments window to upload your pictures,

you can search "upload pictures" a for more detailed info on uploads

[Joe Geoffroy]

I'll give it a try............at 71 I still find it hard to navigate through this maze of, Threads,Posts and so on

[Rivka]

well how bout put a picture right here as a test?, we would love to see one!

[fred]

try this Joe Picture Uploading Info

see the attachments they should help you

also you can upload to a Image Host like Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket you can register there for free

[Joe Geoffroy]

Well I posted the images, but still don't know how to enter them into the contest

Thanks for all your patience and help
joe

[Orchidementia]

You can hotlink them if you don't want to use the attachments menu.

[fred]

I will walk you through it Joe
click Competition Photos - Orchid Forum Orchid Care then click August Photography Contest

you can either use the icon at the bottom ( Post Reply )
or you can use the ( Post Quick Reply ) at the bottom of the thread

with post reply icon click that and that will take you to another page ( see attachment )
scroll down a little then click Submit Reply and that will redirect you to your post in the thread

[frostychic]

Originally Posted by Joe Geoffroy

Hello

This is my first time, so I am not sure how to nvigate to the area where I may enter a photo of my orchids.
Thanks for your help

Joe

Hi Joe! Welcome to this forum

[Joe Geoffroy]

Hello again

Well I tried walking through the process and still get lost, ( I know you must be sying,"what a nerd") well I wish there were an Icon to click on and upload to the site for the contest seems simple enough.

I know many of you younger folks find this easy to navigate but I still find it difficult.

Thanks for all your help. I was able to post two of my photos on the PICTURE SECTION.

JOE

[Joe Geoffroy]

And thanks " frostychic for the welcome............

joe

[syndywindy]

Hi Joe, welcome to the forum. Don't feel bad, alot of us are computer illiterate. I just did this and it works so give this a try. At the top of the forum page, just below where your name is, you should see the word search. Click on that and type in the box that pops up, August Photo Contest. It will take you to another page and about a 1/4 way down you will see a sticky for August Photo Contest. If you click on that, you will be able to enter your photograph. Take the page all the way down to the last post, click on post reply(as you would if just posting a comment). Under the box you would click on to submit reply is a box 'manage attachments'. If you click on that, you will be able to upload your images. Hope this helps you. If not, we will keep trying til we see your orchids!

[Rivka]

are we allowed to put digital borders or frames around out photos? (joe yours look great)

or would that automatically place them into a art category rather than a plain orchid category?

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by Rivka

are we allowed to put digital borders or frames around out photos? (joe yours look great) or would that automatically place them into a art category rather than a plain orchid category?

Frames and borders do not necessarily relegate a pic to the special effects category. There are a few members who regularly add borders to their pics. Your avatar is an example of the sort of treatment that could result in a pic being judged in the special effects category. Close-ups and other camera or processing tricks owuld also fall into that special effects category. Looking at the August entries to date, if I were the judge, the only entry I see so far that might fall into the special effects category is K's phal close-up (post #10).

Floral Art has to do more with floral arranging and displaying as opposed to camera nd processing effects. An orchid display at a show or an arrangement of 2 or more orchids, perhaps in a decorative piot, perhaps stages with some props are examples of Floral Art. i remember one member entering a pic of thier Neos with Japanese figurines. Those sorts fo arrangements are considered when judging floral art. Again if I were judging the photo comp this month, I'd judge sunshine's first entry (post #2) (http://www.orchidgeeks.com/forum/att...t-sa400534.jpg) in the Floral Art category because it is a staged arrangement.

Hope that is helpful.

[Rivka]

that makes complete sense, thanks

i am one that usually puts a complementing border around pictures and didn't 'cause i was worried about folks thinking it was photoshopped. i was careful to crop it without doing any thing else to it i didn't wast o mislead folks.
the avatar was a totally other thing, i loved clipping that up!

[Rivka]

so cool the grower (a wholesale nursery i found on the tag) got back to me and we had a nice back and forth, he also knew right away what orchid i had, it is a Zygopetalum Everspring
is that written correctly, Everspring is the hybrid/grex.

he did not know the variety name and since he had others from the same origins with the variety name on it, he pondered if this one did not have one.

either way i am very happy, since i have started to understand how impossible to identify a noid if not from the actual grower.

if someone with editing capacity wants to correct my contest entry, i would love it!

[kmarch]

Excellent!!!! The cultivar name is not as important as the grex. It's great that the vendor know the plant and could provide it with a name. It's really a stunning plant. 10 out of 10 for colour in my book. If I saw it on a show bench, I'd take a very close look at it to see if I thought it should be nominated to scoring.

But just one more question...is it Evergreen or Everspring? Inquiring minds...and geeks with wishlists in hand, want to know!

[Rivka]

Zygopetalum Everspring yeah thanks for catching that, it was a typo in my part.

mine is a darker more solid variety then a few Zygopetalum Everspring 'xxxxx' ones that i have seen online like 'Hollandia' and the lip is more blue than most i see which tend to the magenta side of purple.
the scent on mine is strong and stunning in the mornings, he is a early riser!

tomorrow it may be going with me to my first orchid club get together!

[benetay]

Wow lots of excellent pictures this month too, the standards is going really high up.

Cheers!

[rcb]

bill asia - that is a wonderful picture of your Susan Fuchs! You can really see the texture of the flower.

[patticake]

What a great group of photos for this month! The secret judge will have a difficult time as usual! I'm in awe of Kevin's Cymbidium Albryant! It's so fresh and crisp! I would do just about anything(within reason, of course!) to be able to own and grow that plant!!!

[syndywindy]

Originally Posted by patticake

What a great group of photos for this month! The secret judge will have a difficult time as usual! :

I agree. What an amazing group of pictures for this month. Good luck to everyone and to the secret judge having the difficult task.

[syndywindy]

Congrat's to all of August's winners! Beautiful photo's and well earned. Way to go!

[fred]

the winners have just been announced in the Hall Of Fame Thread

[nenella]

Congratulations to every one! The 'level' goes up and up every month that passes!. They are all excellent photos!

[Rivka]

wow so cool to come back from vacation to find that all my orchids are happy and healthy and to top it off i won!!

thanks for having this fun contest, it really does give us a good chance to see what amazing things folks are growing and take pride in what is in out collections