Please read if you enter Weekly Photo Contests!!

[andromedaslove]

It seems that lately there have been some entries that are either bordering on breaking the rules, or just flat out breaking them without any regard.


Photo Contest Rules

Pictures can not be altered, except to crop, resize, or add watermark. This is a photography contest, not an editing contest.

I understand that most film pictures can be edited for density, color correction, lightened, or darkened in order to produce the best possible print. Therefore, I have no problem with entrants doing the same with their digital photos.

However, I will not allow pictures in which the actual picture has been changed. Such as, adding white puffy clouds and a blue sky to a picture where the sky was dark and grey. Removing things like trashcan or people from the photo, etc. Although these things do make the picture beautiful, they change what the picture actually is.


From now on any photos that have been edited in any way other than what I have stated above will not be entered in the poll.

 

[Dan Murphy]

 

[MICKEY88]

point of clarification, does boosting saturation come under color correction or is that also a no no..??

 

[andromedaslove]

point of clarification, does boosting saturation come under color correction or is that also a no no..??

Since it actually changes the picture similar to selective coloring I would have to say that it is against the rules!!

 

[fireplug]

 

[cpbjgc]

Is it ok to use an "autocorrect" feature, such as on the Microsoft Office Picture Manager (yeah, I know, pretty high end editing software )?

I only ask because I frankly don't know what adjustments it actually makes, but it might include adjustments to saturation as that is something the program allows you to alter.

 

[CheshireVal]

Thanks for the update.

I think oversaturation (where the colors are ultra-bright and obviously distorted) is a bit too much editing, so I totally agree with you on that.

Thanks for the contests, andromedaslove-- they're fun!

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Ideally, other than cropping, it should be out-of-camera picture with no adjustment whatsoever.

 

[andromedaslove]

Ideally, other than cropping, it should be out-of-camera picture with no adjustment whatsoever.

ITA!!

 

[MICKEY88]

Ideally, other than cropping, it should be out-of-camera picture with no adjustment whatsoever.

I agree 100%

maybe someone else could start an editing contest...

 

[Anewman]

When shooting Jepg with DSLRS(and many high end P&S cameras) one can boost saturation(or many other settings), when it comes "out of camera" it actually has already been adjusted.

In other words an image can be straight from the camera and be oversaturated. In fact I consider most out of camera Jpegs oversaturated, but this is my opinion only.

 

[hemispheredancer]

I use "auto-fix" on some of my shots. I hope that is ok. I am not advanced enough to play with sats and other do-dad features!!

 

[Cyrano]

Ideally, other than cropping, it should be out-of-camera picture with no adjustment whatsoever.

Not even just ideally I think it is imperative that there should be not adjustment.
Keep up the good work Dana

 

[MICKEY88]

When shooting Jepg with DSLRS(and many high end P&S cameras) one can boost saturation(or many other settings), when it comes "out of camera" it actually has already been adjusted.

In other words an image can be straight from the camera and be oversaturated. In fact I consider most out of camera Jpegs oversaturated, but this is my opinion only.

Actually from what I've read most all digital camera do some sharpening and saturation in camera automatically,on factory settings...
Minolta was the one manufacturer who chose to not do this...which is why some people think their pics aren't as sharp as from other cameras...you can boost these settings if you choose...


but what it comes down to is if the rules said no editing , then it should be just that, no post camera editing...pics should be as taken and downloaded...

there have been at least one or 2 photos in each contest so far that clearly showed signs of having been edited..

 

[amid chaos]

I am in total agreement. This is a photo contest, not an editing contest.

 

[Anewman]

Actually from what I've read most all digital camera do some sharpening and saturation in camera automatically,on factory settings...
Minolta was the one manufacturer who chose to not do this...which is why some people think their pics aren't as sharp as from other cameras...you can boost these settings if you choose...

EVEN Minolta DSLRs allow you to adjust settings that will be applied to jpegs, I am not sure what factory default settings would be.

Minolta 7D custom image parameters.
• Contrast (-2 to +2)
• Saturation (-2 to +2)
• Sharpness (-2 to +2)
• Hue (-2 to +2)

but what it comes down to is if the rules said no editing , then it should be just that, no post camera editing...pics should be as taken and downloaded...

Rules are Rules I agree, my point was that images can be straight from camera and look over saturated, and/or over sharpened(etc...).

Anybody can say They applied no sharpening or post camera saturation, meanwhile they have all in camera settings maxxed out.

I guess since I shoot RAW, I can not enter the contest since ALL RAW files REQUIRE adjustments "post camera."

 

[Kelly Grannell]

I said what I said for a couple of reasons:

1. I'm a lazy broad who doesn't like to do PP after I downloaded the pictures
2. I only take JPEG in most cases (even my paid works that are enlarged to 20"x30" using 6 MP Canon 10D were all taken using hi-res JPEG)
3. I do my picture adjustment within the camera. Basically like using enhancing filters like in the 'olden' times of film. (told you guys, I'm really old school when it comes to taking pictures)

So I can't agree or disagree about PP if someone is using RAW, because RAW is a completely different beast.

 

[fitzperry]

Another question . . . . what about converting to b&w or sepia? It could have come out of the camera that way, but I (and I assume most people who use digital cameras) shoot in color, even when it's something that I know I'll change, because you can convert color to b&w or sepia but not the other way around.

 

[andromedaslove]

Another question . . . . what about converting to b&w or sepia? It could have come out of the camera that way, but I (and I assume most people who use digital cameras) shoot in color, even when it's something that I know I'll change, because you can convert color to b&w or sepia but not the other way around.

I don't so much have a problem with a photo that is converted to B&W or Sepia, as long as the picture itself remains the same.

I don't want to see part of the picture in B&W and other parts in color (selective coloring). I don't want to see a grey sky turned to blue, a group of pictures stitched together. My whole intention in starting this photo contest was something fun where we could all show off the photos that we have taken, not so we could show off how great our pictures can be after we edit them. If that was the case then I have a TON of pictures I could use. If anyone has any questions about wether or not a photo is acceptable please either PM me or email me and I can let you know before you enter it. For the most part everyone's pictures have been and are going to be fine.

Just so everyone knows!! I have been without cigarettes for more than a week, and all the stress from this thread is REALLY making me wish I had one!!

 

[boBQuincy]

Those are the rules (and I admit I had never read them) but I respectfully disagree with the idea entirely. There is no "straight out of the camera", all of our cameras do a lot of processing between the sensor and the output. The exception is RAW, where the photographer makes the decisons instead of the camera. The point is the decisions are made regardless and "out of the camera" becomes nonsense.

Ansel Adams, credited with being a "realist" photographer considered the idea to be hogwash, explaining that his photographs were a very great departure from what the scene actually looked like. He *made* the image into what he saw in his mind. His most famous prints included much processing in the camera, the developing, and the printing. By definition, Adams fine prints would not be welcome in this board's contests.

What is photography? In this case it is limited by an arbitrary set of rules that are both nonexistent and unenforceable. I have seen the same mindset in other contests and the fact is apart from the obvious, you can't tell what has been done to an image when it has been done well. Which has been much the point of creative photography all along.

Obviously I am disappointed in this decision and feel it reduces the contests to little more than snapshots. I had hoped we were striving for better than that, at least in the interest of showing what can be done and learning from it. Setting too many limits only limits our horizons.


sincerely,

boB