It's that time of year again! The 2006 DG Photo Contest!

I agree, Donna, it depends. I just start yawning even when the flowers are beautiful after seeing 15 in a row (I am famous for exaggerating). One more to add to your list. Keep it simple. I don't think our brains handle too much visual disonance. We are more relaxed seeing one or three items or several washes of united color, etc.

This message was edited Dec 4, 2006 11:36 PM

In order for me to vote for a flower photo, there had to be something about it besides the fact it was a beautiful flower. I looked for the artistic merit of the photo itself, not the beauty of the subject.

I tried to do that also, Biv, but my heart was occasionally stolen by the subject itself . . . I suspect that is why some of the photos were submitted - the photographer fell in love with the subject.

I admire anyone who had the courage to submit a photo - and I enjoyed them all.

I know what you mean, Murmur. I had to remind myself several times that it was a photography contest and not a floral beauty contest. I entered three photos in three different categories, but I didn't enter any flower photos because I didn't think I had one that had artistic merit. Pretty flower pictures, yes...but nothing that met my own standards for judging others.

Gitagal, I take macros of plants not just "because I can". I wish I had a tripod, a camera that takes high resolution photos and a "real" macro lense and steadier hands ... it would be sooo much easier. Please have some compassion for those of us who take macro shots. Macros show things that one does not notice with the naked eye. I take macros of ...

1. blooms and plants that are very small ... ones that are usually overlooked by most people because of their size.
2. blooms that have interesting color patterns
3. plant structures that are interesting (at least to me because I minored in Biology in college and am a retired teacher) and that I want to point out so that people can learn about them - several of them have been published in textbooks in several countries besides the U.S as well as other venues
4. the reproductive parts of the plants - not all plants propagate themselves in the same ways
5. plants as seen from a bee's eye view to show the intricate, intriguing, beautiful creations that have been given to us to enjoy

Lots of people who submit photos to the PlantFiles and to the contest are not professionally trained photographers. Lots of people do not have expensive cameras to use. I attempted to take this into consideration when viewig the photos even though this is a photo contest.

Donna A2Z, I entered at least 2 photos that someone may think have been enhanced or retouched (lots of other imaging software out there to use besides Adobe Photoshop), but they weren't except for cropping and sharpening a tad. I feel sad that some people will assume they were and will immediately dismiss them. The 1st Prize winner in the photography contest held by Popular Photography Magazine shown in the October, 2006 issue was converted to black and white and then areas were extensively burned and dodged. The photographer openly admitted this. So, I suppose enhancing a photo is not considered "cheating" by the publishers of this magazine.

However, there is one photo that was entered in ths contest for which I almost voted, but then removed my vote. I do not feel that before the close of the voting that I should specifically refer to a particular photo (either for or against) so I will not reveal whixh one it was. I removed my vote when I saw upon close inspection that one of the legs of an animal was not attached to the animal's body and that part of a head had been cloned in a position where a head could not possibly occur. I actually copied and pasted the photo into my imagining software so that I could confirm what I thought I was seeing so that I would not misjudge the photo. Now, if the cloning had been done skillfully, I may have voted for this entry.

I found it difficult to vote for just the quality of the photo instead of the beauty of the subject of the photo ... hmmm, I thought that the subject of a photo is why one takes the photo in the first place. As an example, one could take a perfect photo of a burning cigarette that is perfectly focused, has interplay of shadows and light making it look 3-D, portrays movement due to the smoke traveling upward and the burning embers look so hot you would think you would be burned if you touched them. However, the subject matter may not be appealing to many people. My father won many national awards for his spot news photography. He always told me "if a photo ain't got an interesing or beautiful subject, it ain't worth takin' and ain't worth lookin' at". (I wish I had had permitted him to teach me photography instead of burying my head in books and studying all of the time when he was alive.)

I have added these comments only with the hope that those who have not voted yet do not become so concerned with the technical aspects of photography that they do not enjoy just viewing the photos and decidiing to vote for the ones that they find appealing to them for whatever reason. In additon, if members get the feeling that every photo that is entered in Dave's Photo Contests have to be perfect, many members may refrain from entering the next contests thereby depriving us from viewing some really nice photos. The criteria that people have used to judge the photos that have been entered in this contest are valid and may assist people as they take photos and enter them in contests in the future. I am not being critical of their viewpoints.

I appreciate all who entered a photo. I didn't enter any this year, too busy. Also for that reason I really thank Dave for limiting the entries to two per category. As for my selections, I was tempted to select ones that I liked the subject, but when I went back through for the second time I would notice the photo quality wasn't as good as it could have been, etc. I love the micro shots that show me something I can't see with the naked eye, but really love those hard to capture shots best. I am not the photographer in the family, I leave that to the DH, but he doesn't have the gardener's eye, so often crops his pics too much. But I am glad he is documenting my efforts never the less. Good job everyone!

I knew which pic you meant immediately, htop :)
Now I'm glad I didn't vote for that particular photo, either... I didn't scrutinize it closely, but rather just trusted that maybe it was one of those lucky shots. There was something strange about it's focus/coloring that made me not vote for it.

You're right, listing criteria is helpful for those having trouble narrowing down; I just didn't like the implication that we should only post photos that meet specific criteria... if I was looking for masterly photos, I would visit a photography website.
Also, I don't believe anyone posted their annual/perennial in the wrong category on purpose! I had actually posted them as being one category in the suggestions thread for the photo contest since it can be hard to distinguish, especially for newer gardeners.

So many of these photos had amazing qualities about them that made them voteworthy (despite any photography flaws): the lighting, the framing of the subject, the coloring, etc... :) I enjoy looking through them all.

I voted for the ones that appealed to me visually, I didnt try to scrutinize them, just loved what they looked like.
Josephine.

htop - I couldn't agree more. So many people feel a photo was changed that wasn't and vice versa. I wish there had been a category for macro but thought of it only after the categories had been selected.

I'm out, in July, at sunrise to photograph daylilies, in particular, and love when the background is almost black because the colors of the flower really look so beautiful. I'm also outside frequently in the hour before sunset to get either back-lit shots or the mystical colors that come with the setting sun.

I was taught not to center but, as someone said, sometimes a flower just begs for filling the whole frame with it.

I also agree that some don't seem to have a focal point and some are really out of focus but they're the exception.

As for "2084" on the one photo - could that have just been the number of the photo?

With my own program I often go back to review photos and eliminate those that I'd never consider enlarging and framing. It makes for more interesting viewing on my own computer.

If the judging had the same criteria as the submissions (two per category) I believe it would be more work to judge yet more of an honor to win.

I decided a couple days ago we're going to have two rounds of voting.

After the first round of voting is finished, we will announce the winners of each category.

THEN - we're going to do a final round of voting where we take the winners from each category and vote only on them. From that we will arrive at a single "Best of Show" which will receive a nice prize from me. :)

dave

Terrific! Thanks, Dave. Good luck to all who entered.

I may spend too much time on those "Photography" sites. I tried to evaluate each for clarity, subject, color and what I call the 'difficulty factor'.
I don't mind minor 'editing' unless it's obvious. Yes, I saw a couple that had been over edited and a couple that were in the wrong category, they didn't get my vote.
I hope we can keep the discussions of specific pics to a minimum. We should all view them without any outside influence. There will be plenty of time for discussions after the voting is closed.
Good luck to all, there are many mighty fine shots to view. I'm glad I could vote for more than one per category, that would have made voting near impossible.
Andy P

Excellent idea, Dave.
Thanks

I'm enjoying this discussion. It's all in the eye of the beholder, and each person has his or her own unique perspective as to why a photo is chosen. All our criteria are valid, even if they're at odds with those of someone else. As the judges in this contest, we weren't given any rules to follow other than our own...which can be as subjective as we please.

Right! Marie summed it up best for me, looking at all those pictures was humbling.
I probably spent an hour trying to pick a few landscape/seasonal photos, almost impossible, really

But fun!

Fun! That is the way that I looked at this contest. I know that we have professional photographers in DG. But, most of us are gardeners first, who just try to make some memories with our cameras, and have the opportunity to share these memories with our DG family. At the risk of offending anyone, can I just say; "Lighten Up." IMHO some of us are taking this entirely too seriously.

Definitely fun! And I learned a lot....Like why there's a Datura AND Brugmansia forum! And I didn't expect to spend so much time looking at the roses, I think I need some now. LOL What really blew me away was the lifetimes' worth of effort that went into the gardens and even single plants, not to mention photography... just incredible.

htop & Marie, (I agree with you) and gitagal, some of my absolute favorite photos here were done in super-duper close up.

Gitagal, remember: we're gardeners trying to be photographers. I applaud everyone's efforts!! This is supposed to be fun and I for one am enjoying myself. Some I voted for compositonal beauty, some I voted because I thought the garden was just spectacular, even if the photo was not, some I voted because it was so outlandish (suet in day, suet at night) How hysterical! The photography was nothing special, but it made me laugh. We're not photographers remember? This contest is not serious enough to allow yourself to get irked by anyone. Some of us are beginning gardeners and beginning photographers - who might also be broke and can't afford acres of artistically landscaped property. Maybe some of us didn't know the specific differences between annuals and perennials - and you know, what might be a perennial in zone 10 might be an annual in zone 5... Who cares?

Dave, I thoroughly enjoyed this contest. Thank you so much! I'm so excited to have a second round of voting. I think this is fun! Good luck everyone!

Harper

PS, I spent seven years in art school and minored in photography, majored in classical painting. I understand composition and all, including the photoshop advantages. However, you can really screw up a photo with photoshop and you can't make a bad photo better just with a click. Kudos to those that used photoshop to the photo's benefit.

Okay. I'm off my soapbox now. : )

This message was edited Dec 6, 2006 12:22 PM

This message was edited Dec 6, 2006 12:32 PM

Harper, :o)

Snapdragons are supposed to be annuals here in Maine, however mine have reseeded them selfs for the last 3 years. Kinda neat, paid for them once and they have come back every year, multiplied, and even made new colors from crossing. So it's like Sofonisba said, it might be the zone, or an oddity like me! (grin)

Pixie, I'm envious. Perennial snapdragons!! I have a child and could you believe I haven't planted any yet? It's on my spring planting list.

Harper

Ours reseed, too. Others don't seem to die: they love the longer sunniest window box and each year they surprise us when we feel it's been a cold winter, by springing up again.

Very well said Harper.

Thank you.


Joy

htop,

I couldn't agree more with everything you said. When I meant that I wouldn't vote for something that had been edited, I meant that it would be obvious. I've done my share of photo shopping. It's hard to do it right where you can't tell.

I like macro shots. I do have a tripod, a few of them in fact.... however... I don't use them much. I like well composed photos I guess to sum it up.

I thought all the photos were great in their own ways.

Take care,
Donna

Donna, thanks for the clarification. I was listening to the weather channel yesterday and the forecaster stated that a cold front was going to dip into Florida.Thursday or Friday. However, I wasn't paying a lot of attention so I could be wrong. I sure hope it doesn't dip into your area or, if it does, that you don't have a hard freeze. I had quite a few plants in my house (the greenhouse is full) for almost a week and finally set them back outside so they could receive some sun and so I could water them. I have to drag them back in because it may freeze here tonight and tomorrow night. Ah, one of the joys of gardening is getting a lot of exercise. :o)

Dave, Iove the idea of a second vote.

I have to admit that I voted for several in 2 or 3 categories, because so many were wonderful.

Sounds like we have many knowledgeable phototog's here. However, sadly, I am not one. Having said that, I voted for some with my heart, and others because of the lighting, angle, clarity. I didn't vote for the etheral looking ones,even tho some were breathtakingly beautiful, as I guess I was looking thru them with "average Joe/Jane" eyes.

I loved this contest and the effort by each one, and the courage of simple photogs(like me) who had the courage, to enter them.

htop, bite your tongue!!! I need some relief way down here! We'll at least get a day here where high temps ONLY reach the 70s... So, basically, my car AC will still be colder.

::I'm LOLing while choking on my tears::

Dave's 2nd vote is a great idea- I voted for too many, but then again I felt safe doing it since people all vote differently :)
DeannaV- I think it's wonderful that you entered! I applaud you.
~Gina

Gina, I hope that your fine weather keeps up and that you didn't choke to death on your tears. :o) I guess I misheard it on the weather channel. You guys have it rough enough with hurricanes. Last year, the deep southern part of Texas, which is equivalent to your zone, had a freak ice and snow storm. Wish I were in zone 9 or higher. Last week it was 80 and the temps fell into the 40s during the day with several nights of freezing temps. I t was in the 70s yesterday ... now expecting sleet overnight and into the morning.

;) Lol, I can still type so I must not be choking too severely.

I had no idea TX weather was so temperamental!! You really deserve UBER status if you can successfully garden under those conditions!
~Gina

Gina, its drag the container plants in for protection and then drag the plants out so they receive some sun so they don't die; cover the inground tender plants for a day or 2 and then uncover them so they receive light. Lots of fun ... I do have an 8 X 10, cheap greenhouse and use frost cover (freeze cover, row cover) that can be left around the plants for a few days. This helps. if I could just limit my plants to ones that don't freeze in my zone, it would be a lot easier. :o) I sometimes wonder how successful I am at gardening if I have to go to all this trouble each winter.

Well, if your plants survive, then I'd say you're successful. :)

bivbiv, then I guess so. :o)

I agree about the second vote....excellent idea, Dave!

That second vote will be much harder than the category voting was! I can't imagine having to decide with the great ones we have out there.

Stupid question here, will each entry show # of votes?
Thanks, Deanna

Last year the winning entries did; however, I don't think that each entry did.

Each winning entry did show the number of votes.

This message was edited Dec 8, 2006 9:49 AM

I got through them and and voted. The hardest category for me was Scenic. I figured I didn't have a nice enough photo to enter there - and I was right.

I don't expect to win, but I'd still like to know how many votes I get.