August chit chat

[fred]

chit chat for the August photography contest
please use this thread for any photo comments
thank you

[Ochin@]

Tom F.,

Blc. Toshie Aoki 'Pizazz' AM/AOS is definitely on my now!!

That picture blew me away!

[fred]

I apologize for the delay with the July photo comp results
the secret judge is judging the comp and I am currently waiting the results
so I can issue out the awards
once again I apologize yo you all for the delay
many thanks

[fred]

just to let you all know who enter the photo contest please include your skill level when posting.

if one does not mention the skill level with the photo the entry maybe disqualified
so please remember to include your skill level when you enter in the monthly photo comp

thanks

[frostychic]

Will there be August winners

[amersault]

can't we just ALL be winners?? the photos are so good!

[lmartiny]

I was wondering what was up as well.
I was going to say last month that I felt we could maybe spread the "love" a bit more. We have some real talent. But maybe the recognition could go a bit further and some others could get recognized. Rather than duplicate the awards.
Just my honest opinion.

[berniep]

G'Day Fred

Hope you're not crook, haven't heard from you for a while.

Cheers
Bernie

[kmarch]

Just a note on the duplication of awards. I'm glad you brought that up. A long time ago we had problems with the species, special effects, and floral art categories. Some members got confused by them. Some newbies aren't entirely sure what a species is. Some folks entered hybrids as species. Members had pics that could have been enteres in floral art or special effects but, for whatever reason, didn't enter them in those categories. So quite some months ago I had a discussion wiht Fred - I think some of th other moderators might have participated in it too - and we decided that the easiest and most fair course of action was to have entrants only indicate their skill level. Then the secret judge would automatically consider all species pics for the species award, all floral art pics for the floral art award, and all special effects pics for the SPFX award. This has solved a lot fo the problems about members not knowing what categories they can or should enter their pics in. All they have to do is indicate their skill level and their pics will automatically be entered in all categories for which they qualify.

While this approached has pretty much cleared up all of the confusion over categories, it has an unintended side affect, namely one pic sometimes winning 2 (or more) awards. I sometimes serve as secret judge so let me give you a "for instance":

All the entries are in and the judge awards a prize for each of the skill categories, Novice, Intermediate, and Open. Let's say for the sake of explanation that the Novice winner was a hybrid, the Intermediate winner a species, and the Open winner was also a species. Let's also say that the novice category was very competitive with lots of entries and there were some really good species photos that got beat out by the winning hybrid pic.

Now the judge goes on to look at all of the species photos - this will include the photos that have already won the Intermediate and Open skill categories. Let's say that the Intermediate category didn't have very many entries (which sometimes happens) and that the species pic that won, while the best in the Intermediate class, wasn't good as other species pics, so when the judge narrows it down to 3 pics, they consist of the one that won the Open category and 2 from the Novice category. So the judge looks at the top 3 species pics and it turns out that the best one of the 3 species pics also happens to be the one that won the Open category. So one pic just won 2 prizes.

If the general consensus is that awards should not be duplicated like that, I'm certainly open to opinions as to how to address that. Perhaps a pic could only win one award in which case if a species pic won the Novice award it could not be considered for species.

Also, to change the subject slightly, in regards to "spreading the awards around" more. I'd like to hear ideas about that too. For example, maybe a member who wins a June award can't enter July but then can enter again in August. I don't' know about that. It sounds like we're penalizing someone for winning by making them sit out a month. Maybe we don't need to so anything about that, maybe it's ore important that we look at not havign the same pic sin multiple awards.

Thoughts?

[prem]

For that last rule to work, the awards for the previous month must be done in a timely fashion (probably within a week at most from the close of the competition). It would be disappointing for someone to enter one of his/her best photos in the current contest only to discover that it is ineligible because he/she won the previous month's.

---Prem

[syndywindy]

I have no problem having the same person win in consecutive months. I know the secret judge has his or her hands full choosing from all the terrific photos that get entered. But I think I agree that maybe there should be only one award given out per entrant per month so more can be recognized. I'm not one that gets disappointed if a photo doesn't get an award, but I bet there are some who feel otherwise if they feel they've entered a good picture. Some people have very high quality cameras vs some who have point and shoot cameras. I think there is a pretty big difference in photos between the two sometimes and wonder if that gets lost in the judging.

[Shannara]

I just wanted to add my two cents to this discussion.

I agree with Kevin in that excluding someone from entering because they won the previous month would feel like they were being penalized. It wouldn’t make for much of a competition if I only won the next month around because the previous winner was excluded. The award would feel kinda empty, at least to me. If someone’s photo won over mine one month than that gives me incentive to challenge myself to improve my entry for the next month.

If the Admins decide to have only one win per geek each month that would make the exclusion even worse. That would mean 6 geeks would not be allowed to participate in the next months competition. The whole point of this competition is for fun and also to help us improve our photography skills. No one should be excluded from participating…that just doesn’t seem right to me.

The judges could consider adding 2nd place awards for each category. That would let the geeks know whose photos are improving each month and getting closer to a 1st place award.

I do think that it would be helpful if the geeks knew the criteria the judges use to decide who wins each month. Is it personal preference or is there a checklist or guideline that is followed?

Synda mentioned camera quality affecting the judging. Having a semi-pro or professional camera can give you and edge, if you know how to use it. It can actually make photography more difficult if you don’t constantly practice with it and learn how to use all of the options and settings. I feel that the categories of Novice, Intermediate, and Open account for the type of camera being used. I wouldn’t imagine that someone in the Open category would use a point-n-shoot because the criteria for that category states:

"3c) Open: For experienced armature's, photography hobbyists, and professional photographers - way beyond basic point-n-shoot, photography may be a hobby, carefully considers lighting and composition, probably more than 5 years experience, has possibly had classes beyond basic photography, includes one who has been paid for their photographic expertise"

I know I am one of the geeks who has won multiple awards in a single month. I don’t want my participation to be seen as a negative if I get multiple awards. If allowing a member only one award per month would make the competition fairer & more fun I would support that.

It might also be a good idea to create another section of the Competition Forum for the geeks to help each other with their photography. We could post photos and ask for advice and from other photographers on how to improve our photographs. I don’t want any of my fellow geeks to be discouraged and give up on competing. I would be happy to share what I have learned to help others with their photography. I am sure others could teach me a thing or two also.

I love photography and have spent the past 8 years teaching myself how to photograph. I will sometimes spend half a day taking shots, sorting through them, taking more shots, picking that one that finally came out right, post processing that photo, cropping and resizing, etc., for the competition. I have enjoyed that this competition gives me a reason to go out and challenge myself every month to outdo what I did the month before.

That’s all I have to say…

Thanks,
Shann~

[lmartiny]

Good points. And well explained.
So....August?? I too hope Fred is not "crook."

[Orchidementia]

I'd just add I've won Open using a point-and-shoot as well as a pretty good, but not 'professional' DSLR. See my 'join date'? That's when I started taking photos

[frostychic]

Originally Posted by Shannara

It wouldn’t make for much of a competition if I only won the next month around because the previous winner was excluded. The award would feel kinda empty, at least to me. If someone’s photo won over mine one month than that gives me incentive to challenge myself to improve my entry for the next month.

I agree with this statement 150% ... I would not want to 'win by default'.

[-k-]

Originally Posted by frostychic

I agree with this statement 150% ... I would not want to 'win by default'.

As Homer Simpson would say "the two greatest words in the english dictionary De'Fault" :laugh!!! Sorry couldn't help myself!

I've also been putting much thought into this and there are some good ideas here as I also agree with "spreading the love" . When I have a bit more time I hope to put some ideas down on paper and include them here with the discussion!

[ysanabria]

I also agree with "spreading the love" I saw that in one month the jugde did not select any winner in different categories and I saw a lot of great pictures that could have been reward it.
Maybe you can add more categories to the contest as well.
Who won in August, nothing have been post in the Hall of fame?
Thank you

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by ysanabria

...I saw that in one month the jugde did not select any winner in different categories and I saw a lot of great pictures that could have been reward it.

If you take a look at the Orchid Geeks Hall of Fame, you'll see that only once in the history of the photo comp (going all the way back to Aprin of 2007) was there an instance when there was no winner in a category (post #482 - July 2010). That was just last month. There were no winners in the "Intermediate" and "Floral Display" categories. If you look at the thread where people posted their entries, you'll notice that there were no entries at all in either one of those categories. The secret judge can't name a winner in a category with no entries.

------------------

On a related note, it sounds like people don't think making winners skip a month is good - no surprise, I'm not keen on that idea either. But it does sound like people are in favor of "spreading the love" more. So I propose for your consideration/discussion a "rule" that limits a photo to winning one award in a month. So if the best intermediate a;so happened to be the best species, it could only win one and something else would have to win the other. What do you think of that?

-------------------

On another related note, It's all my fault. I've been very busy lately and I saw that Fred PM'd me to ask if I would judge the August photo comp. I overlooked the PM and because of that the August judging has fallen through the cracks. I sincerely apologize for the oversight. It's my fault this got delayed not Fred's. I am off here n a few minutes to judge the VOC show tonight and if it's not too late when I get back I'll do it tonight.

[tangers40]

Originally Posted by Shannara

It might also be a good idea to create another section of the Competition Forum for the geeks to help each other with their photography. We could post photos and ask for advice and from other photographers on how to improve our photographs. I don’t want any of my fellow geeks to be discouraged and give up on competing. I would be happy to share what I have learned to help others with their photography. I am sure others could teach me a thing or two also.

i will second this idea as well. i know i could personally benefit from such a section/critique, cuz lord knows i'm definitely not a good photographer. any good pics i do end up with are purely by accident but having a place where i could post my not-so-good shots and having somebody knowledgeable tell me what i could do to improve them would totally make my day.

[fred]

there is a section if a member wants help with photos etc etc please see link
Taking and Processing Photographs - Orchid Forum Orchid Care

when I started taking photos of my orchids I used to think they were good shots I started as a Novice
I also had a great deal of help "one on one" with "Anton"
over time I won the Novice category three times then entered in the Intermediate category, won that three times so now I enter in the Open category
practice practice and practice

I have learned a great deal from my teacher "Anton" one only has to look at my early photos that I posted to the quality of the photos that I now post

I think we are all up for helping anyone with learning photography to better ourselves

[-k-]

[QUOTE=kmarch;231625]: there was no winner in a category (post #482 - July 2010). That was just last month. There were no winners in the "Intermediate" and "Floral Display" categories.
------------------

Actually, I had posted what I considered a floral arrangement last month titled seeing double, it was two phals that looked identical. I guess it didn't count as an arrangement...

[rcb]

I agree with the others, I don't think people should be penalized for doing something well. Personally, I think photography is a talent, as all things, it comes easier to some more than others. But hard work also helps.

I don't enter every month, because honestly, I'm not very talented when it comes to photography. That's ok. Every once in a while, I'll take a picture that I think turns out nice and I'll enter it. But, I could improve. I could actually take the time to read the manual that came with my camera. I could use a tripod. I have started to experiment with different settings, but there are a lot more that I haven't tried yet.

Anyways, if anything, this is one of my favorite threads, and I hold off closer to the end of the month to view it, so I can see them all at once, and I enjoy it.

And I want to mention thank you to the judges, they do a wonderful job!

[rcb]

HA! I just posted the above thread and saw I won one! YAHOO!!

[berniep]

G'Day All

As one who has shaky hands and not much talent, photography wise, (despite Anton's efforts) don't change anything much please. I look forward to each month's entries.

Cheers
Bernie

[fred]

Hi Geeks
I have not removed the August Comp Winners due to the results being delayed the Awards will be removed Sunday Night my time
thank you all