Do you vote?

[PhotobearSam]

Do you vote for every week on the photo contests here?

 

[PhotobearSam]

The contests are my favourite part of this board. I get to see the best of the best in one shot. I have been in awe of the creativity you all come up with and I get really excited when my fav wins the poll. I also marvel at how my opinions of what makes a good photo is different that what drives others to vote.


I love it all...keep it coming...

AND to rtphokie...THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

 

[Todd_H]

Love it! A voting poll about voting!

I vote most of the time, btw . I love seeing all the talent on this board (which I find very inspirational) and the contests bring out the best.

A second big THANKS! to rtphokie!

 

[jann1033]

i usually vote on the prelims, sometimes on the final. not sure who does this( rtphotkie or mods i mean) but like the way they come back to the top at weeks end in case if forgot to vote. it reminds me to vote on the final one

 

[cazzie]

I always vote I appreciate the work that rtphokie puts into running the contest.

 

[ukcatfan]

I also marvel at how my opinions of what makes a good photo is different that what drives others to vote.

I agree with that 100%. I agree with many pics that go to the top, but some leave me going Given the audience, it is not too surprising though. What works here is not exactly what works on say DPReview. Also, there typically many more votes than board regulars or even contest entrants, so we do not even know many of those voting.

 

[annnewjerz]

I try to vote whenever possible. I am usually on here at least once a day just to check the normal threads I stalk (like the picture of the day, etc.), but there is the occassion that I completely miss the voting threads and kick myself later.

I agree that I really appreciate all of the work that goes into them and also really appreciate looking at such a great sampling of people's shots...they give me some ideas for shooting on our upcoming trip and also help keep me excited over the next 10 months until our trip. One goal before we go is to try to get some shots to enter into the contests. Last trip I only brought a P&S and it was DH's first time to The World so I came back with hardly any pictures. That sure won't be the case this year!!!

 

[rtphokie]

The contests are my favourite part of this board. I get to see the best of the best in one shot. I have been in awe of the creativity you all come up with and I get really excited when my fav wins the poll. I also marvel at how my opinions of what makes a good photo is different that what drives others to vote.


I love it all...keep it coming...

AND to rtphokie...THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

My pleasure. I enjoy keeping it running and enjoy all the photos.

Incidentally, I rewrote the software used to keep track of the contest this past weekend. it's now in a database and everything but the actual posting of the entry and voting threads is automated. This should save me a bunch of time each week. It also will allow me to keep a better eye on the contest and let folks who have posted large images know earlier so they can resize before voting begins. I'll do a better job with posting a congrats post to the final voting thread with the EXIF info (when available).

The contests look like this to me now:



Now that I've got a database to store it all, I'm collecting EXIF info on all entries. Look at the bottom of the schedule post for the top camera manufacturers and models based on that exif info. It will be interesting to see if that changes throughout the year.

As of now it looks like this:
Top 5 camera manufacturers

1. Canon (63 entries)
2. Nikon (42 entries)
3. Pentax (17 entries)
4. Sony (16 entries)
5. Olympus (15 entries)

Top 5 camera models:

1. Canon EOS 30D (12 entries)
2. Canon PowerShot S3 I (11 entries)
3. NIKON D80 (11 entries)
4. Canon EOS (10 entries)
5. NIKON D50 (10 entries)

based on exif information from photo contest entries in 2009

 

[rtphokie]

I agree with that 100%. I agree with many pics that go to the top, but some leave me going Given the audience, it is not too surprising though. What works here is not exactly what works on say DPReview. Also, there typically many more votes than board regulars or even contest entrants, so we do not even know many of those voting.

This is one of the things that fascinates me most about the contest. The wife and I look at the entries on Sunday night and comment on what we think will win this contest vs. what might win in another amateur judged contest and what might win in a professionally judged contest. Whats important in other contests isn't always as important here. Some things that will get you votes in the DIS Board photo contest:

• Bokeh (blurred backgrounds)
• motion blur
• cute kids
• properly exposed night shots
• fisheye or macro lens shots

That first one is the biggie. If you'd like to see your entry get more votes, experiment with depth of field before your next Disney trip. Voters go ga-ga for blurry backgrounds and the focus it puts on the object in the foreground.

 

[Donold_Fan]

• Bokeh (blurred backgrounds)
• motion blur
• cute kids
• properly exposed night shots
• fisheye or macro lens shots

Wow...thanks for going through the trouble to do that. It will be interesting to see the statistics throughout the year. I also like to speculate on which will win each week. I usually bank on the night shots, it seems to me that they always get the votes.

 

[zackiedawg]

I try to always vote, unless I'm away from the boards. And I try to participate too, if I can dig up a photo on theme (sometimes I can't).

It can be very interesting watching how the votes go, and how they change along the way. I'd probably move cute kids up a notch on that list...but otherwise that seems pretty on-target.

What is really fascinating is seeing the votes come in every few hours...for many days you can see one photo get a majority of the votes, then suddenly on the last or second-to-last day, another photo will suddenly get 5-10 votes or more, and move into contention (or even win). It can't be the actual poster voting up their own pic, as they only get one vote - so it's quite an interesting thing to ponder! Also, interesting to watch how some shots dominate the votes in the preliminary heat, even garnering the most overall votes or highest percentage of votes, then not do as well in the final.

It's all great fun. And not necessarily being based on photographic merit or technical achievement is what makes the voting here on Disboards so fun and interesting - the technically best photo, or photo that would most likely win a judged professional photo contest, does not always take the top prize here - so truly anyone has a chance to win or place regardless of camera or skill!

 

[pdmedic]

I vote most of the time. I'm hoping to be able to enter some in a couple months.

 

[michellem1118]

I vote nearly all of the time, except when I take a break from the DIS (or the internet in general). I even enter the contests occasionally, when I have a shot that will work. I haven't yet taken my XSi to Disney, but I will in March... and I've got a printout of all the photo contests that come after the March trip in my camera bag so I can try to get some good entries while I'm there.

 

[PhotobearSam]

Wow...Interesting stats...I never knew you could even keep track like that. It's way cool. (OK, started sounding like a teenager there...) BUT it is so cool...LOL

 

[Todd_H]

Wow...Interesting stats...I never knew you could even keep track like that. It's way cool. (OK, started sounding like a teenager there...) BUT it is so cool...LOL

Definitely agree. Very cool !

 

[jann1033]

very interesting to see the breakdown of how you do it rtphokie. wondering if since you have the data right there( ) could you post the exif info camera etc when you post the winner? i'm always interested to see that and sometimes it doesn't come up

and no wonder the one i vote for never wins, i rarely ever vote for cute kids/husbands/grandmas/wives since imo they usually take away from the actual theme... unless of course it's "cute kids at wdw"

 

[Philadisney]

The contests are my favourite part of this board. I get to see the best of the best in one shot. I have been in awe of the creativity you all come up with and I get really excited when my fav wins the poll. I also marvel at how my opinions of what makes a good photo is different that what drives others to vote.

I'm quoting you because you pretty much said what I was going to say! Personally I am not the best photographer (with my measley ancient Canon point and shoot) so I love coming here to see everyone's wonderful work.