Author Topic: Results of the Summer Photo Competition  (Read 7221 times)

BarriedaleNick

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Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« on: September 01, 2014, 18:29:26 »
Hi all,

The results are in!

I am afraid to say the winner was me (Barriedalenick) with picture number 4!

Peanuts was a close runner up with picture number 8.

All results below..


Picture 1 - Goodlife - 5 (12.5%)

Picture 2 - Jayb -
3 (7.5%)

Picture 3 - John Miller -
1 (2.5%)

Picture 4 - Barriedalenick -
11 (27.5%)

Picture 5 - Rosebud -
4 (10%)

Picture 6 - SamLouise
- 4 (10%)

Picture 7 - Vision -
3 (7.5%)

Picture 8 - Peanuts
- 9 (22.5%)
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manicscousers

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Re: Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2014, 21:04:56 »
Lovely photo, Barriedale, and the butterfly is amazing.  :icon_cheers:

galina

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Re: Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« Reply #2 on: September 01, 2014, 22:27:38 »
Lovely photo, Barriedale, and the butterfly is amazing.  :icon_cheers:

It's a swallowtail isn't it?  Stunning! 

Well deserved winning picture and runner up.  The standard of all these pictures is amazing.  :wave:

Tee Gee

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Re: Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« Reply #3 on: September 01, 2014, 23:01:28 »
Well done Bn

A beautiful shot!

Just a thought for future competitions;

I have noticed with the last few competitions you made them quite open by not selecting a subject which is fine as this opens the door to any picture taken by the forum members, how ever it can have a bit of a sting in the tail as demonstrated in this competition.

Using specialist techniques is fine by me, but perhaps not for someone who catches a lovely shot on say a mobile phone.

Possibly a thought/ idea for the future could be to quote the type of photograph to b entered e.g.

A picture on any subject taken as follows;

A macro shot

A panoramic shot

A close up ( as opposed to macro)

A shot from a mobile phone and so on.

I feel that something like this will create a more level playing field and perhaps get more entries.

I think there is a possibility that some people don't enter when they know they might be up against a picture of the quality you entered.

Any way it is food for thought and perhaps discussion before the next competition.

But once again let me congratulate you on a stunning picture!  tg










BarriedaleNick

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Re: Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2014, 19:02:41 »
I am happy to do whatever sort of comp but have felt that leaving it wide open would attract more pics.
Please feel free to comment on this and I'll take it on board!

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Digeroo

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Re: Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« Reply #5 on: September 02, 2014, 21:53:13 »
There does not seem to have been a theme for the voting recently.  A great piece of photography does not necessarily win.  But I do think a shot from a phone might be a bit of fun.  ~But Not sure yet how to transfer things from my phone.   :tongue3: 

I never seem to see the invitations for the pics.  Not sure why. but the first thing I see is the voting.  Can you bump up the ask for pictures more often. 

It was not easy to choose this time, I liked them all, normally something stands out for me.

peanuts

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Re: Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« Reply #6 on: September 05, 2014, 21:26:04 »
Well done BarrieNick - I voted for yours!  I love taking potos of bubbles or dew.
Perhaps I'm stupid but I don't understand TeeGee's reference to a sting in the tail! I wouldn't know a specialist technique if it was right in front of me.  I have a simple digital camera and use macro a lot simply cos I love taking close-ups of flowers, seedheads, dewdrops etc. and seeing the wonders of nature.
The  swallowtail butterfly was one of those amazing occasions when we were out walking and saw it on a flower, so started to take a photo - and it stayed still for over 5 minutes, perhaps warming itself up.  We were so lucky. I would have been able to get just as good a shot on a mobile phone, too.

When you announce competitions, could the announcement appear on a daily basis, at the risk of annoying  those who aren't interested? 

BarriedaleNick

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Re: Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« Reply #7 on: September 06, 2014, 08:54:10 »
Cheer Peanuts - Perhaps Tee Gee could explain further as I was unsure as well but I take the point about a theme.  Although I am not sure that narrowing the field will attract more pics.

My specialist technique consists of having a nice camera and taking a load of shots of the same thing in the hope that one turns out to be decent!
I love my macro lens which is why a lot of my pics entered here are of that type - maybe a theme like landscapes or animals next time??

I'll do my best to bump the announcement more often..
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Yorkshire Lass

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Re: Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« Reply #8 on: September 06, 2014, 09:07:40 »
You might put a lot of people off if you start talking technicalities we don't understand. The simpler the better would suit me!

Tee Gee

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Re: Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« Reply #9 on: September 07, 2014, 00:26:00 »
Quote
You might put a lot of people off if you start talking technicalities we don't understand. The simpler the better would suit me!

The sting in the tail could be the lengths the photographer goes to to get the picture which to my mind does not make for a level playing field,

In this day and age with powerful cameras and lenses and possibly " Photoshop" it could mean that a rather poorly taken picture can be potentially airbrushed to improve it.

Now I am saying that any underhand practices are taking place here on A4A.  :angel11:


As they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder so when it comes to voting and displaying pictures I find that it-can often be quite difficult to decide which one to choose when there is no specific criteria to compare against.

For example this month has been about the close up shots and panoramics as it happened I voted for the winner but for different reasons I liked the panoramics in picture 6.

I think it is better to have a "subject" rather than an open remit.

Before I go on I don't want to appear to be critical or pedantic about the subject after all it's only a point of view on a bit of fun some of the A4A members like to indulge in,and long may it continue!

From personal experience I am often undecided whether to vote for the content or the quality of the photography.

Take this month for example;

Around 45% of the vote went to close ups with the butterfly taking about half of these votes . A further 25% of the vote went to pictures with very nice content and the balance (around 30%) went to the winner so in many ways the voting by categories was pretty even overall.

This is why I think a subject is best rather than freedom of choice as we would then have to vote on the content and interpretation of the subject rather than the quality of the photograph!


So my vote goes for a subject rather than a free for all and the winner wins the right to choose the subject for the following month.

Now I didn't enter this time so obviously  I couldn't win but I would like to suggest that as we are now entering Autumn the subject of "An Autumnal Look " might be apprpropiate.

What do you think?

Finally let me apologies for going on a bit all I was trying to achieve was;

Quote
The simpler the better would suit me!

Jayb

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Re: Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« Reply #10 on: September 07, 2014, 07:33:22 »
Well done B'Nick and Peanuts, lovely lovely pictures. What a sight the Swallowtail must be especially close up, lovely.


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Jayb

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Re: Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« Reply #11 on: September 07, 2014, 07:47:24 »
I thought we did have a theme this time (which we often do),
Quote
Let's see some lovely summer colour!!
Which I thought was well covered by all the pictures. I wonder if the comp became more structured, with a definite subject if it would put some people from entering?
Sometimes I find taking a picture is the easy bit deciding which to vote for is the hardest part!
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peanuts

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Re: Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« Reply #12 on: September 07, 2014, 10:32:20 »
I think this can all get a bit complicated! After all this isn't a photographic group where presumably most people have good cameras, and the knowledge to play around with the photos afterwards and where competitions would presumably be about your ability to take a classy photo, showing off your skills.

 As I said, I have an ordinary little  digital Cannon, which I chose as it had a good zoom.  Living close to the mountains,  most of all I love taking photos of mountain flowers, and flowers in the garden, or dew drops or whatever.  But I know absolutely nothing about photography! My eye is caught by something beautiful, and I try to take interesting photos of it, many of which I then turn into greetings cards.

I think photos I've entered in the A4A competition have won twice in the last couple of years, (one of which was a mountain scene with wild daffodils, so certainly not a close-up!) so I'm really chuffed!   I get such a thrill in sharing something beautiful I've seen, and love looking at the other photos for the same reason.   I vote simply for the photo that I like best, never thinking about content or composition, or anything like that, that's quite beyond me, sorry!

So please keep it simple, but by all means with broad themes, eg seasonal. And don't stop having the competitions, they're for fun and enjoyment.

Paulines7

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Re: Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« Reply #13 on: September 07, 2014, 14:07:11 »
It seems a lot of people, including myself, miss the notification of a competition these days because we are not expecting it.  One of the reasons for this could be that they are not held regularly enough. 

When I joined A4A in 2005, we had a competition every month (run by Dan) and there was always a good selection of photos submitted.  Samantha took over from Dan but whether due to illness or pressures of work, the competitions became few and far between.  When they did arise, people missed them because they weren't expecting them.  I lost interest in taking photos and now leave all that up to my OH, but during the times of regular competitions, I would go out into the garden or countryside to look for subjects to photograph and enter.

There was a time several years ago when we had subject headings for the competitions but I think overall a vote showed that having no particular subject was more popular.  I don't mind either way. 

Nick has taken over the competition now and has been battling to get enough photos in.  It's not his fault; people have just got out of the habit.  Could we go back to having a monthly competition please Nick or would that involve too much work for you?  We need to get people clicking again and with autumn coming on, there will be opportunities for some beautiful shots.


BarriedaleNick

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Re: Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« Reply #14 on: September 07, 2014, 18:33:23 »
To be honest a monthly completion would be difficult.  I struggle to get enough entries as it is and I don't like to constantly bump the posts.  I do always sticky them but that doesn't seem to work.  Maybe we could have them bi-monthly.

It isn't really a lot of work and if people are genuinely interested I will do them more often but it doesn't see to garner that much interest as it is.  I fear that if we have them monthly and we have really specific themes then we may just end up with one or two pics.  Still there does appear to be more interest on this thread so maybe it will pickup a bit.

I'm on my hols from next week and I organise another one when I get back or at the end of the month.  Ill take suggestions for a topic/theme!
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SamLouise

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Re: Results of the Summer Photo Competition
« Reply #15 on: September 09, 2014, 13:15:15 »
Well done, Nick and well done all who entered. Lovely crop of pics as usual :)

Apologies for not being able to keep up the monthly competition, I know lots of people enjoyed taking part. I'm very glad Nick was willing to keep it up :)

 

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