Revitalising the Photo Comps...?

[tufty]

Thing is, again, it's not about fancy kit or photoshops skills etc. It's about having a good eye for a shot.

Oh, absolutely. My quip was just a bit of pulling your leg, really.

It'd be a shame of the comps went the way of the dodo, though.

[RiK]

They're obviously done by folks with more than a casual interest.

Well, that's kinda the point of a photography competition, to encourage people to persue more than a casual interest in photography!

From the 'rules'

We've got these competitions in the spirit of encouraging us to get out and take better photos, so, let's try and keep that in mind and keep these competitions all about having fun, being creative and improving our photographic skills eh?

It can feel quite intimidating to post a pic beside accomplished snappers.

Or, you could look at it another way and use it to inspire you to try something new with your photography. That's exactly what happened with me when I used to look at the photos Ian (Xstreme) was posting which inspired me to get back into photography and raise my game..

You should keep the comps going but have different entry levels

Yeah, that's not going to happen. How would you determine who's in each level? What's to stop a keen enthusiast entering the beginners category etc? Quite aside from that, given we've only been getting a handful of entries in total, we'd end up with categories with one entry in...

As it stands the whole thread is grouped into one huge dynamic.

Well yes it is, but I guess you've got a different definition of 'huge' to me..

[tufty]

I guess you've got a different definition of 'huge' to me..

Actress, bishop …

[k345y]

They're obviously done by folks with more than a casual interest.

Well, that's kinda the point of a photography competition, to encourage people to persue more than a casual interest in photography!

From the 'rules'

We've got these competitions in the spirit of encouraging us to get out and take better photos, so, let's try and keep that in mind and keep these competitions all about having fun, being creative and improving our photographic skills eh?

It can feel quite intimidating to post a pic beside accomplished snappers.

Or, you could look at it another way and use it to inspire you to try something new with your photography. That's exactly what happened with me when I used to look at the photos Ian (Xstreme) was posting which inspired me to get back into photography and raise my game..

You should keep the comps going but have different entry levels

Yeah, that's not going to happen. How would you determine who's in each level? What's to stop a keen enthusiast entering the beginners category etc? Quite aside from that, given we've only been getting a handful of entries in total, we'd end up with categories with one entry in...

As it stands the whole thread is grouped into one huge dynamic.

Well yes it is, but I guess you've got a different definition of 'huge' to me..

Vinegar with salt, sir?

[(o)(o)]

Have about we have a 'worst' pic of the month comp.

[RiK]

Vinegar with salt, sir?

Nah, no salt intended. Just trying to keep a convo open.

As I said, a few years ago I was just a typical snapper, not done any 'proper' photography since I was about 12. In about 2008 I decided to get a digital SLR and see how I got on. A big part of my inspiration to try & improve, especially to start shooting people, was seeing Ian's photos on here..

Same with the music stuff. I've dabbled for years, but I'd mostly got rid of all my gear until a few months ago when I picked up a bit of interest again. I've never been much cop with the keyboard stuff and hadn't completed anything in years, but last month's little photo comp was a good push to actually complete a track and I really enjoyed doing it.

The way I see it, not everyone is going to be into 'proper' photography, but the intent of the comps (for me) was always to encourage those with some level of interest in photography as a creative hobby to try new things and hopefully improve their skills.

[Truder]

How about a "Beat the Rik" Competition? Rik takes a photo of something, and everyone else has to take a similar photo of the same subject/style/technical usage etc.

Joking aside, personally I've not had much interest in recent subjects, such as being too vague or general. I know the reason for this is to try and open the competition to more people or to try and create a bit of creativity and variety but it just lacks direction. So if it's one thing I'd like to see in future competitions, is just that we have more defined subjects. They could still be simple but rather, to the point, examples could be of objects or places such as "Statues" or "Cityscape" but we could also expand on that to give direction of particular styles or technical aspects of photography - give people something to try out and do, such as macro or DoF photography. Heck even have subjects where people try out unusual methods of photography, like using water droplets on a lens to create a macro shot etc.

I do enjoy the thread, I always like seeing what people manage to shoot and I've always voted in the competitions and if we also take a look at the vote counts, they've generally remained consistent so we know the interest is still there.

Looking back to my first paragraph, I kinda like that idea, perhaps we could also use that kind of method to create a subject as well or even just use it as a method to provide inspiration for the month's subject.

The only other suggestion I can think of is to have a thread/sticky/announcement in bleatings that announces new competitions and direct them to the relevant thread.

[RiK]

How about a "Beat the Rik" Competition? Rik takes a photo of something, and everyone else has to take a similar photo of the same subject/style/technical usage etc.

Heh.. C'mon, there are way better photographers than me on here (Ian, I'm looking at you dude!)..

Often when I've set a topic I have posted a couple of examples of my own to hopefully act as inspiration, but then I get comments from other people saying it's put them off as it makes them not want to bother entering. I can't win!

Joking aside, personally I've not had much interest in recent subjects, such as being too vague or general. I know the reason for this is to try and open the competition to more people or to try and create a bit of creativity and variety but it just lacks direction. So if it's one thing I'd like to see in future competitions, is just that we have more defined subjects. They could still be simple but rather, to the point, examples could be of objects or places such as "Statues" or "Cityscape" but we could also expand on that to give direction of particular styles or technical aspects of photography - give people something to try out and do, such as macro or DoF photography. Heck even have subjects where people try out unusual methods of photography, like using water droplets on a lens to create a macro shot etc.

Well, to be honest that was exactly what I've always hoped would be the case, but we've simply struggled to get the interest from people to do so.

I realise that not everyone has that level of interest in photography, which is fine, but really the comps (when I set them up) were aimed at those people who do, or aspire to. I'd love to see people get out and make a bit more effort to shoot creatively, though I do personally favour a theme that's still open enough to allow plenty of personal interpretation.

The only other suggestion I can think of is to have a thread/sticky/announcement in bleatings that announces new competitions and direct them to the relevant thread.

I do think there's some merit in that, and following Gravy's lead with the recent music competition, I'll post a global announcement for the next one that points people at the current topic and encourages them to get involved.

[RiK]

Here's another thought.

These comps, which are really intended to encourage the more creative photography are deliberately here in the "I'll show you mine..." section to emphasise the creative side of photography.

We could also have a 'snap of the month' type thing hosted in "fluffy photos" for the casual/silly/look at my cat having a spaz type pics, no topics, just coolest/funniest snap of the month?

Then we have the potential for twice the fun, and nobody has to feel intimidated by the enthusiast photographers, or frustrated by the lack of 'serious' entries in the themed comps.

Any thoughts on that as an idea?

[tufty]

I can't win!

That's a lie! You usually do!

</coat>

[RiK]

I can't win!

That's a lie! You usually do!
</coat>

Well yeah, I've won a few of them, but so have lots of other people. I've also had months like this where I entered what I thought was a pretty reasonable, on-topic pic, which did a Norway...

The trick is pretty simple, just keep plugging away at it and putting stuff in.

[tufty]

Kinda helps to be a good photographer, I would imagine.

Anyway, all joking aside, I think it would be a massive shame to stop the photo comps, even if there's only a couple of people entering.

[RiK]

So, the comps have rather fallen flat on their face again.

If there's interest in keeping them going, we need to do something rejuvenate them, so let's get some discussion of ideas or requests eh?

[Portland]

Since the death (or price hike) of photobucket, I've used Imgur as my go to cloud store. Have asked peeps several times for advice how to embed pics, especially using the mobile site, but never got a response. Anyone got a clue?

[RiK]

Since the death (or price hike) of photobucket, I've used Imgur as my go to cloud store. Have asked peeps several times for advice how to embed pics, especially using the mobile site, but never got a response. Anyone got a clue?

Never used photobucket so no idea I'm afraid. Flickr is your best bet by far for ease of embedding.