****October Photo Contest WINNERS!**** thread is up in GD

[mnhtnbb]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027288666


Great job on the theme, photographers!



Dyedinthewoolliberal, you're up for running next month's contest!

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

1. Thanks!

[Ptah]

2. The size of the three winners:

1,600px × 1,221px

800px × 548px

2,448px × 3,264px

[Mira]

4. I noticed it, of course,

and I think the super huge ones did put the others at a disadvantage. I think, they would have won anyway since they are beautiful images and fit the them well.
It would have been good had they been submitted in the size required by the stated rule.

[a la izquierda]

5. Sorry, I was traveling and I posted from my iPhone

An email or a post to let me know would have sufficed and I could have tried to resize it. But snark is totally cool too.

[Ptah]

6. Don't feel bad.

30% of the submissions were over the 800 px rule

40% of the finalists were over the 800 px rule

66% of the winners were over the 800 px rule

[a la izquierda]

7. Thanks

Generally I'm pretty good about resizing, but trying to do it on an iPhone is a pain and I just didn't think to double check.
Sorry for the snark comment. I'm in the process of finishing my manuscript and I'm short on patience and high on stress.

[mnhtnbb]

9. This was my first time hosting. I was asked by one photographer if a photo slightly larger

than the 800 px rule could be submitted, and I agreed it was ok. If you go back
and look at the Submissions thread (rules) I mentioned I would not be strict about
file size, since I had also seen that rule bent in other contests.
I had no idea that hosts also needed to verify that all entries conformed to the size rule:
I expected that we were all on our honor to abide by the rules.


Perhaps there should be discussion devoted specifically to this?

[Ptah]

13. Quoting your submission post:

Please keep your entry no larger than 800 pixels in its longest dimension and under 300K (I am not strict on the 300k limit)in file size. If you need help posting a photograph or with image sizing, just ask.

[mnhtnbb]

10. When I look at the details of the winners

I only see one of them over the 800 px rule, with one side scaled to 1067.

[mnhtnbb]

11. When I open the data for these photos

(by clicking on view image info)

two of them are shown to be scaled.

First place: (scaled to 800px × 611px)


Third place: (scaled to 800px × 1,067px)

[Ptah]

12. If you set your account for Classic format, and maximize your browser window:

Preferred format for regular web browsers Standard | Classic | Mobile

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=myaccount&format=wide

You can clearly see the difference.

[mnhtnbb]

14. I don't think we're talking about the same thing...

changing my screen format doesn't change the image info for the photo submitted. Yes, both photos
had larger file sizes than the 300KB limits, but both photos had been scaled down for submission. I am
getting that data by right clicking on the photos and selecting View Image Info.

First place:

1,600px × 1,221px (scaled to 800px × 611px)

Third place:

2,448px × 3,264px (scaled to 800px × 1,067px)

You are obviously very upset about this, and I'm sorry. I do think that you should start a separate thread
for discussion about host responsibility for rules enforcement related to sizing of submitted photos--or any
other rules that have been bothering people.

[Ptah]

15. I don't think you are responsible , I think that participants should follow the rules.

First place:

1,600px × 1,221px (scaled to 800px × 611px)

Third place:

2,448px × 3,264px (scaled to 800px × 1,067px)

Second place:
800px × 548px


The difference is obvious:

--------------------------------------------------------




---------------------------------------------------------






-----------------------------------------

[mnhtnbb]

16. I still think you should start a separate thread to discuss rules enforcement vs honor code.

I myself was fairly annoyed not long ago with the laxity of adherence in submissions to the theme.
It's one of the reasons I chose a theme that left subject wide open and was
intended to also illustrate a principle with a lot of different applications.

But, you know, for me, this is all about fun. Sharing work. Having an opportunity to see what people like.
It's not a juried competition.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

17. Wow, I didn't realize

I exceeded the size limits. If everyone wants to redo the voting, it's ok with me. It seems like the we used to get a message if we posted something too big. Or am I imagining that?

[Ptah]

19. No, don't re-do the contest.

30% of the entries were over the size limit.

How can you not know what size your image is?

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

20. I probably do,

if I check properties. I upload most of them nowadays to Flickr. Size is not something I think of when posting on the Net unless they are fresh out of my DLSR and are like 6 or 7 MB's.
I'll pay closer attention in the future but as all of us here in the Photo Forum know, finishing first in contests isn't the goal.

[Mira]

3. Thank you so much mnhtnbb

this was a truly stellar job of hosting in my observation - and it was your first time.
You would win a gold star if I had one to give.

Really great contest all around.

[rdking647]

8. we may want to consider raising the image size for contests

given the resolutions of current displays an 800 pixel limit seems very small

maybe raise it to 1200 pr 1600 which is the large size in flickr
i think the vast majority of displays would have no problem with that size

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

21. Why or how did the current size get selected?

I'm not techie enough to understand WHY that size is the preferred one..........

[CC]

22. There were people with slow internet

connections & small monitors. When you had a thread with lots of photos some people couldn't load them. We've brought up changing the size limitations about every other year. It gets discussed and eventually a poll is done and it quiets down for a while. Sometimes it is long time members that bring it up, sometimes it is newer members. It may just be time to discuss it again. For me, if I can't see the whole photo without scrolling I tend to skip it until later. That can work against one in a contest. Sometimes I'm on a tablets or phone and just forget to come back to look when on the desktop. That is something to keep in mind when it comes to size too. I just got a new cable modem because my old one was "worse than the slowest dial up," according to my provider's tech. Lucky for me they have really good customer service and I wasn't suffering for too long. Anyway, people should feel free to start a discussion on sizes again if they want.

[CC]

18. Congrats to all the winners!

And a great job to our host. You all