THE PHOTO CHALLENGE - rules, guidelines and suggestions

[stine]

okay, since every now and then there came up specific questions and suggestions regarding the photo challenge, i thought it would be a good idea to create a thread where we can kind of collect everything.

so this is the place where you can post problems you have with the rules and suggestions to make the challenge better... or different.

besides all that i thought it would be good to give a small "history" of the challenge so that new members can have a look at the "making of" different rules.

so, this is "where it all began" (again, thanks to barret! ), the first photo challenge (with discussion about the basic rules)

and these are the rules the way they are at the moment:


The Rules:
1. Only one picture per contestant.
2. No previously used material.
3. The winner of the last poll will set the next topic; if the same person stands as the winner two times in a row, he or she must choose another user to present the next topic
4. Enhancements of the picture (hue/saturation and levels) are allowed, but a minimum of Brushing etc.(Photomanipulation is subjective to conceptart.org member votes, your photo will be dismissed if too manipulated).
5. No voting for your own picture.
6. The challenge starts Monday, poll opens Friday and closes Sunday. the winner starts a new post on the photo forum that is named"The Photo challenge - the chosen topic".
7. The poll shall be opened Friday evening.
8. In the event of a tie in the polls, the person who created the challenge casts the tie breaking vote.
9. The winner has until 18:00/6:00 pm (GMT +2) Monday, after he or she has won to present the next topic, if the winner fails to do so. the topic will be presented by the 2nd place person on the poll

[stine]

okay, after that "general" stuff the recent discussion:
first thing we should decide is whether or not previously posted photos should be able to take part in the challenge or not. please vote in the poll above and maybe state why you voted the way you did.

another question would be whether we should have a small crew of people taking care of the polls.

and third would be (i guess) whether a title should be given or not.

that's it from me, i'm going to make the poll for the first problem now. looking forward to your suggestions!

oh, and if you have a better idea for the title of this thread, just post that, too...

[Le Gab]

Question:

How do you plan on verifying the "freshness" of the photos?

You do know that it's quite immpossible. Oooooh, cmooon, dont take it so personally. I could have removed the photo from my thread before posting it in the challege. Anyways, its absurd. But, then again, i guess thats what this debate is all about.

[Fingers]

Hm... I assumed the rule meant that "photos previously shown on this forum are disallowed". So not the first choice... But I wouldn't limit it just to pictures taken after the topic was set, so can't vote for the second option either (Not that it could be enforced anyway).

The poll should probably be maintained by a moderator so we won't have the kind of embarrassing situations like we just did.

[samsite999]

there are a number of ways to police the hole thing, but there are a number of ways around them 2. I beleve that people should not use materail they have displayed in this forum at the very least. Its a ideal situation if you go out and take a picture specificaly for the chalange. But hey some of us also have otherthings to do apart from walk around taking pictures for a forum comp? well not me any how there is a easy way to tell how old a image is and thats from the image data tag the camera attaches to the photo when its taken, the draw back is that this can be removed/alterd. All all honasty though i dont think people would do that in here as it goes agains the spirit of things. There are no easy ansews. things are going to be jujed on a ass is bases, perfurably though PM so there is no public floging. there should be a couple of people here though that can be PM'd to sort out the fall out from anything though (comp wise)

[Norwin]

In my opinion it should be allowed to use old pictures in the challenge.

There are a lot of people who do not have enough time to take a picture for each topic. In my opinion they shouldn't be barred from this challenge. I mean if they have already a picture which fits to the topic why should they not be allowed to participate?
Some people say that the challenge forces them to go out and take some new pictures. That is good, no question. But do we really need a challenge for that?
Wouldn't we punish all the people who take photos besides the challenge?
Everyone who needs the challenge as an incitation to take photos could go on also without the rule.

[claudeEGYPT]

You know, we are going to have to stick to the old "trust" method whether we like it or not.
If you submit a photo, i am going to believe that it is new.. or has not been seen before without calling the FBI to check and authenticate that it has been already shown on the net. (Which you can do by selecting image properties and looking up the date of creation *this can be misleading as the author has control over the date function on his/her camera* but is usually fairly accurate)

[mollyduker]

For the most part that just means that we want you to get creative in terms of taking the picture. Nobody will know that its an old picture if you already took it, and sometimes I think that is ok. Its not ideal, but its not the end of the world. And if its already been posted, its a little redundant. Also, the real point of this challenge is to improve as photographers and stretch our thinking, and going through and picking out of our archives is going to help us change and improve as photographers.

Also, if we allow ourselves to use old pictures, then might I ask what is the point of the challenge?

Lastly, nobody says "you have to participate in every challenge". I have a FILM camera, its very hard to get pictures done in time for the challenge, but nevertheless, I find ways to do it. Some weeks I have a picture in time, someitmes I don't, and if I don't, but I took some pictures then I can post them. But not everybody has time to take pictures for the challenge everyweek. You do it if you can.

Just my thoughts.
-Mollyduker

[claudeEGYPT]

The poll results are extremely funny!

[samsite999]

how so claude?

[claudeEGYPT]

Look who voted against! What an odd co-incidence(P.S: sarcasm.. but no hint of anger)

[samsite999]

lol, no comment, its a good photo to be fair, i feel as you do. But i have the time to go out and take pictures for the comp. I do however understand were the otehr side are comming from. But if i used my archive of picture, and beleve me i could, I wound never have to think out side the box in order to win,,,,, or mosty not as the case may be

[stine]

same here. i think the challenge is simply more fair when everybody has the same amount of time to shoot a picture, regardless of how long they've been taking photos in their life before. although i can understand the time issue. but as molly said, when i don't have the time to go out and take pictures i simply don't take part in this week's challenge and wait for the next...

[claudeEGYPT]

Okay, i think we can put an end to this particular debate... the COUNCIL of Concept art forums have voted...

From now on: The new rule (Please change the existing rule):
Only new enteries that have been taken specially for the competition are allowed, no previously used material is allowed.
In the case of disregarding this rule, your photo will be dismissed from the challenge altogether.

I dont want to sound harsh on this, but the three mentioned photos have gotta go.

[Le Gab]

Okay, i think we can put an end to this particular debate... the COUNCIL of Concept art forums have voted...

From now on: The new rule (Please change the existing rule):
Only new enteries that have been taken specially for the competition are allowed, no previously used material is allowed.
In the case of disregarding this rule, your photo will be dismissed from the challenge altogether.

I dont want to sound harsh on this, but the three mentioned photos have gotta go.

who the heck is this Council, anyways? And let me ask a question:

Would it be fair to change the rule startinf the second challenge ?

Stine, please make a poll on this as well. Rofl

Well, anywayz, I'm getting the feeling that this has gooo way over the innitial intention..

... COUNCIL of Concept art forums ... yesss, the dwarven and elven kin have come togheter to decide the fate of man kin... and photography.

Cmon guys, ok, you won by poll, hurra! Great for you. you staded your point. Dont go over the hill with this... I'm really really dissapointed by this. Not by the Poll results, thats fine with me. I'm disspointed with the attitude that is growing arround here.

Sam, dude... You know i love you and stuff... but... dont go about harrasing people with dates of photos.

And Claude, man, stop being so hasty on this. let the poll grow...

These are my 2 cents. Hope i did not offend anybody!


Cheers, guys!

PS:

Look who voted against! What an odd co-incidence

:rofl: What did you expect?

[claudeEGYPT]

I was kidding about the Council... it just sounds funnier.. you know.. like the Lord Of The Rings...

Anyway, if it is okay with anyone, this rule can take effect next challenge.

[stine]

would be fine with me since the 2nd rule really didn't make clear that the "unused" didn't only mean "not used in a previous challenge". and i'm with gabriel on the date checking thing. i hope we can go with the good ol' trust from now on...

[samsite999]

im going to gow with the flow here, fair comments have been made by all, this is supposed to be fun as well legab, put your picture back in ukandoff, sorry, i went a little over the top here, but it was mainly after looking at it to prove it wasnt the same photo, the time dates were diffent, only by a few seconds but its still a differnt image, dont kick my ass for helping you
I think it needed to be clarfyed, its clear now, let it happen on the next pole

[claudeEGYPT]

Hey Sam: Let's not split hairs here... just because a photo was taken a few seconds after the first one, doesnt make the photo different.
It is a few millimeters apart from the original..

The deal is, (without splitting hairs): New Contest = New Photos
Dont like it.. then dont participate.. end of story.

[samsite999]

claude, there are ways to do things and ways not to do things. This is the wrong way, chill i understand what your saying but there are ways to say this stuff. PS never take up hostage negosation

[Le Gab]

PS never take up hostage negosation

God i love these emots... :blush:

[ukanfoff]

durka durka


photos should be used only once in challenges.
doesnt matter how old.

cause if i posted that photo in non photo challenge use. i cant use it later.

kinda makes me not want to post any photos and keep them only for photochallenges use.

[jonton]

daft idea in my opnion.

Wheather it has been shown before I think people should still be able to enter it into a challenge, the person has toke that photo and they spotted it with their own artistic eye. I'm seeing this as if I post a picture that ive used in my photography portfolio thread into a challenge (which i have) then im cheating, which just seems stupid to be cheating in a artist challenge when the photo there is what I did and no one elese.

I think their is a artistic sense in when you have an old photo lieing around and their is a challenge named "mystery" and you think " well i could use this photo because it shows the topic mystery is so n so ..." etc.

If people want to go out with the topic in their mind and take photos to try and win the challenege then let them. But how I work is, i go about with my camera anything i see that catches my eye as a good photo I take a picture, bring it home store it on my computer and I just happen to see a challenge with the description that in my mind matches the topic, so i'll use it, so am i "cheating" so to speak? because its pretty much the same thing IMO im not.

man i found that hard to put into words :s

EDIT: oo yes, i also agree that if a photo is enterd into a challenge it should only be enterd once.

[ukanfoff]

A:photos previously shown in this forum should be allowed to be submitted to the challenge and to used only once in the challenge.

vs.


B:never posted photos used for the photo challenge, to be used only once in the photos challenge.

so is B in effect?

so if i got this photo way back that fits the challenge but its void cause of the date, or has been used in the forums and not in a challenge. does it mean i gotta go out and reshoot and add a leaf to that same photo just to get it up to date ?

[claudeEGYPT]

Come up with a new idea, and shoot it.
What we dont want is : REPETITION

IT wont kill you to come up with a new plan and a new composition.. you wont die.. and you wont suffer for not winning the challenge.. so far the challenges have been happening way before you joined Concept art.. so dont worry!

[samsite999]

can some one rap up the pole for me ect, the timer is set for 2 days but i have been very ill and its very possable i will not be around to keep tabs on it..........

[mollyduker]

you ok? whats going on sam? get better soon!

[samsite999]

not realy mollyduker, long standing problem has reared its ugly head and i dont feel to good at the mo.......... thanks, i hope i will

[ukanfoff]

what if the winner can switch rule 2 for every challenge?

photos previously shown in this forum should be allowed to be submitted to the challenge


only pictures exclusively taken for the challenge should be allowed

[samsite999]

sorry all, a little shrot temprerd, its not directed at the general users of the forum, just one, ukanfoff, the rules have been desided, we had a post and made a desesion. If you cant take a photo relevent to the challage, or have to use one that you have posted before and then heavly edit the image to make it look relevent to the challange, please dont take it out on any one else....ok, if you have a problem with what i am saying pm me hey?