It's time to vote for the winners of the 2008 photo contest

What an enjoyable experience. I'm not a photographer, moment capturer maybe. That left me thinking how nice it would be to have some of these beauties for wallpaper. As a 'new' gardener the photos also gave me great ideas and a 'want list' of future plants to research. Thank you all for taking the time to capture and share such beautiful and interesting images.

Viola,

I sort of agree with you......

The whole time I am voting on the photos, I try to envision them as being posted in the DG Calendar. Verticals just would not work!
IF the photo is taken vertically--and IF it should win 1st place--it would have to have a section of it cropped out to use to fit on a rectangular/square page. Then--it would no longer be the original photo! RIGHT??????

I hope that people that submit a photo to this contest would consider that--IF they have dreams of having their picture on the DG Calendar.

Gita

Thanks for mentioning the calendar. I hadn't followed the earlier discussion this year and wasn't aware that they were definitely planning another calendar. With that in mind, I think I will go back and change one of my votes in the TREES section. A beautiful picture, but very much upright.

I've managed to vote in 4 sections now and am trying to get the page to open for a 5th.
So far I've voted for only one of my own pics. LOL (I don't think many are still in the running elsewhere either.)

Ann

I think people should vote for what they believe are the best photos and not worry about the calender. That can always be worked out. The calender was only started last year. It's first and foremost a photo contest and I don't think it's fair to eliminate a photo because you think it might not be formatted for the calender.

Last years calender, the month of Dec. was a vertical image. You can see it in the Zazzle link several posts up.

I agree that the horizontal shots might look better in a calendar, but this is a photo contest above all else. . .the calendar is just an added bonus. If I see an exceptional shot, I'm going to vote for it regardless of its orientation.

And as Sue pointed out you can have a vertical in the calendar, you just end up with a little white space on either side. But it still looks very nice.

I looking at of a lot of the photos, I don't know who out there loves puzzles. But to think of how many would look great as one. Would be a great gift. Just a thought.

I'm Done!! It took me days to do them all. I just viewed one or two a day. That way my head didn't spin off. So many gorgeous photos.

Congratulations. I'm gradually getting there myself - just 3 or 4 categories to go and they are all down to 6 or fewer selections. But I've been busy with other things today. Maybe tomorrow.

Ann

Can a non subcriber get in and look at all the pics? BEV

Is there any way we can upload the pictures for screensavers?

I agree with Victorgardener. Vote for your favorite photos. Images can be manipulated to fit almost any space and retain their original properties. It is a skill and I bet Dave can do it or knows someone who can!

Pearl - if you right click on the enlarged images, you can save them to your hard drive and THEN you can select them for your desk top and/or I guess screen savers too if you know how.

And I voted for the ones I liked best when I made my final decision. It might be different tomorrow if I were to look back; so I don't!

I doubt very much that a non-subscriber could get in to look at the pics - at least not at this time because you have to be a subscriber to vote (I think) and you can't view them w/o going through the voting screen.

Ann

I do not think they can.

I have been going back through the categories and even though I have picked my top 3 selections, several categories state that I have more than 3 (for example:41) when I don't. Has snybody else experienced this besides me?

htop, yes it did it to me also. I just used the remove picture button and kept moving on, to get to my final 3.

htop - the only time that I found that accurate was when I had to stop w/o going through ALL of the pics the first time through. The next time I came back it showed me ONLY the pics that I had not discarded as far as I had gotten; so I had to start all over. Obviously a bit of a glitch.

Once I made my final selection, I didn't bother removing all the remaining pictures since the votes are counted based on having selected the three favourites.

Ann

I really enjoyed the voting process. It's my first time to participate in this. Kudos to those who organized and submitted entries. You all did a bang up job. When will the winners be announced?

Thanks so much ViolaAnn. I keep forgetting that I can do that with the mouse. I am not that computer savy.

chris_lcf530 and Ann, thanks. I am going back through the category that had a high number. Perhaps I did not look at them all after all. I think that it only counts the 3 that have been chosen.

It says that I have chosen 164 but after I wake up from my faint and go in, it only has the ones that I have saved. I STILL have 2 catagories to finish. Bulbs and Bugs.

LaLa, Winners wil be announced on the 17th. Don't know the time tho. BEV

Oxygen tanks were needed on several of these - true GASP moments :) This has been so much fun and I'm almost finished!!

I'm down to two categories as well - Roses and Scenic. But I just decided the three roses and I'm down to five scenic.

Finished Bulbs whew! but still have 13 bugs. I feel like I'm the everready bunny in a marathon LOL.

The pictures are amazing this year!!!!

I won two categories last year, but doubt I'll place (maybe in one, LOL) this year. I am very impressed at how well everyone's photography is here !!! For a bunch of dirt lovers, you all take so GREAT pictures!

AHEM that's soil lover to you! (welll also compost lover and poop lover). I think Congratulations are due to all the participants. I've finally finished looking at all the photos and everyone desires kudos.

POOP?! That is manure to you!

:) :) :)

poop lover (melissa)

Dave, you asked for feedback, and when I started reading all previous entries in the thread to make sure I wan't being repetitious, I realized I don't have time to read them all! So, here it is:

SUGGESTION: in the Garden Landscaping category, I'd like to see that separate into "personal gardens" and pictures taken of "professional public gardens." I know it's the photography that is being showcased, but a garden that has thousands of blooms is going to wow us with all the color even when the actual photo is not the same quality as another. Does that make sense?

QUESTION?

After I've thoughtfully, agonizingly made my top three
selections in each category do I have to do anything else?
Does the system just pick up my entries automatically on
closing date? I don't see any "Vote Now" button to clinch the deal.

Yes, the system sees automatically what your top three are at the time the voting closes. So as long as you see the words "this picture is your favorite, 2nd favorite, etc" by the picture your vote is counted.

June, I auto does it. Isn't that neat? BEV

It auto does it---'-sorry ' I don't do it thank God!!!!

I'm amazed by the photos. So beautiful! and I've only gone through 6 categories. I'll never have time to finish them all. Well, back to it

I finally had time to sit here...with a cup of tea....and mosey through all the entries...and there are some really great ones...hard to choose. Jo

Tomorrow morning the voting ends and the winners will be announced!!

To confirm that your vote was cast in each category, just go here:

http://davesgarden.com/contest/2008/

Under the "Have you voted yet" column, if it says "Yes", then your ballot has been cast and you're good to go!

Whatever you do, DON'T review your votes!

I just decided to take a quick look and spent hours rethinking all my votes... lol

I'm not gonna look! At some point it has to end. Otherwise I'll be reconsidering all the photos for the rest of my life!

Any time frame for tomorrow morning Dave? Can't wait. BEV