Today we are going to try something different. Instead of critiquing some of your best images, we are asking photographers to submit only images they have created during their quarantined time from this coronavirus pandemic. We aren't setting any specific genre so you can submit any type of photograph or art but we do ask you only submit images you have created in the last few weeks.
All entries must be submitted by April 8th at 11:45pm Eastern Time, and this time we are going to give away a free Fstoppers Tutorial to every submission selected for our critique episode. We will still leave voting open so we can see what you the community thinks of each image, but again, EVERY SINGLE IMAGE selected will win a free tutorial.
We can't wait to see what you come up with, and everyone from Fstoppers hopes you guys are staying safe and in good spirits during this difficult time.
Well yes I know what you mean, but then the average picture here has about zero comments which is sad, because if anything this could be the place have nice exchanges with people about photography.
Getting stresst about some number some random person put on your picture is not really helpful in any conversation nor will it help to stay positiv.
If people would care half as much about commenting on other pictures and giving some feedback as they care about their rating, this would already be a better place.
Not you again, the best thing you can do is go into account settings and press delete.
You’re the troll who offers nothing, get off the website.. pointless being here.
No you aren’t you are a troll, no bio, no photos, repeating the same shit to people on every contest. And worst of all living in a little bubble where you believe nobody will notice and that you are a genuine poster, but hey if logging onto the internet to do this is how you pass your time, crack on.. I’d prefer to have a life.
Oh, really? Then prepare to be ecstatic because I just went through your portfolio and rated everything 1-star.
Kidding. They inspired me to do one-light portraits today and work on technique.
Ive been reading all these comments about how people are pissed over only getting 1 star and i get it, the the thing is that unless your photos are perfect and at pro level they will unfortunately only get a low rating even if they are good photos and not snapshots. I'm saying this from a point of view of seeing lots of photos on these contests and seeing good photos getting 1 or 2 star rating when they should be getting 3-4 star.
Even some photos I think would normally be 5-star photos are hovering at 3-4. I'm doing fairly well, for the first time ever, I have one above two stars. It has a 4 star rating on my portfolio, but hey, what's the difference. Still better than anything I've received before.
You could copy paste 20 images from a natgeo.com article on here and I swear half the people here would vote em 1 to 2 stars.
holy shit this lady has gone off the deep end. Samantha, keep commenting, this is making my morning.
I think we all got a pretty good idea of who you are as a person, would love to see who you are as a photographer. Oh, wait! I can’t ! You don’t have any photos you are willing to share.
There also seems to be a view with some that because they used fancy equipment or techniques or spent hours producing an image that it should deserve a higher score. Which is nonsense imo, the image should speak for itself regardless of how it was produced. Maybe its the term "snapshot" in particular that people react to?
The rules states that if the photo is externally lit, it’s automatically a 2 star picture no matter what it looks like, so you’re wrong. Personally, I think people are way to liberal with their one star ratings.
Even though art is usually a fairly subjective matter, we wanted to create a rating system that was as objective and unbiased as possible. This way if one of your images has been rated 50 times and has received an average rating of 2 stars, you could feel confident that maybe that particular image is not up to par. Below is a simple chart explaining the Fstoppers Community Rating System.
1 Star - The Snapshot
1 Star ratings are limited to snapshots only. Snapshots are usually taken to document a time or location but little to no thought has gone into the creation of the image. If an image has been "lit" with external light (besides a direct on-camera flash) it is at least a 2 star picture. The majority of 1 star images have had no postproduction work done to them but do often have an "Instagram style" filter added to them. The average person these days snaps 1 star images every single day with their smartphones. Most 1 star images that pop up on sites like ours are images of flowers, pets, landscapes, sunsets, objects around a house, etc. If you read Fstoppers, you should not be sharing 1 star images for any reason.
2 Stars - Needs Work
All images, besides maybe 5 star images, always have room for improvement but 2 star images "need work" before they should be included in your portfolio. As photographers we are snapping thousands of images per year but only a few of those images should ever be shared or put into our portfolio. A photographer who has taken a 2 star image has put some thought into the composition, exposure, and postproduction but for some reason has missed the mark. 2 star images should not be in the portfolio of a full-time professional photographer, and amateur photographers should strive for something better. Even complete amateurs who don't understand photography at all are capable of taking 2 star images from time to time.
3 Stars - Solid
A 3 star image is an all around good image. The photographer has a solid understanding of the basics: composition, color, focus, subject matter, and postproduction. A 3 star image is "good" but it's not great. Most part-time professional photographers have mostly 3 star images in their portfolios. Usually a level 3 image would have been rated 4 stars if it had been shot in a better location, or with a better model showing a better expressions, or there was better postproduction. A photographer capable of taking a 3 star image is capable of taking 4 and 5 star images if they would simply pay more attention to the details.
4 Stars - Excellent
4 star images are fantastic. In most cases, 4 star images have a certain style to them that links them directly to their creator. 4 star images usually require planning and attention to extreme detail. It's almost impossible to shoot a 4 star image by getting lucky. 4 star images have almost flawless conception, composition, lighting, subject matter, and postproduction. If you have any 4 star images in your portfolio you should be very proud of yourself.
5 Stars - World Class
5 star images are flawless and unforgettable. The amount of time, energy, and talent that goes into the average 5 star image is staggering. In many cases these pictures require a team to produce including a professional retoucher. The concept, lighting, subject, location, and postproduction on these images has to be perfect. In some cases the jump from 4 to 5 stars may be as simple as changing the unknown model in the picture with a celebrity or bringing in a set designer or stylist to make the image slightly better. Although there are always exceptions, most 5 star images take days, if not weeks or months to produce.
Another thing I've noticed is that a picture is never rated 50 times unless it's an editor's pick or the photo of the day. My most rated photos have closer to 5 or 6 votes.
What about relative to the concept of the contest? When images don't fit the theme, I knock em down to 1 or 2 stars, even if they are good images. Is that wrong of me?
That is a good question.
Some of the themes were "vague" and people may interpret the image differently than you? What about asking them in the comments how it fits the theme or just skip on to the next image to judge.
No good answer on that one.
For sure. I think that people who put up images that are vague can definitely answer some of the doubt by adding an informative description. Especially with this contest where quarantine is different for everyone. If you are disobeying quarantine orders than I really don't have much love your image.....especially with people still flocking to beaches, infecting others, etc.
Every country have different ways of enforcing quarantines. In Norway, you can still go out for walks as long as you’re keeping your distance from others.
Just saying it’s impossible for you to know if anyone breaks quarantine or orders based on a picture.
How would everyone rate "submit your best snapshot"? lol
They'd probably manage to go below 1 star.
Would of been a great April Fools trick in that the lowest scored image automatically gets the free tutorial to improve; without letting people know before hand.
(Side Note, because someone will say it, I know all picked photos this time around get a tutorial not just the normal Community Top Pick and the Random Selection.)
If you are not comfortable with what kind of critique you may receive, dont post it. You know there are people who love to give one stars, and people who vote high to "balance that". With that being said, you know the ratings are not even close to real and honest. Why let that get to you?
After I reply on Samantha Bunns comment it just so happens someone went and rated every single photo in my portfolio 1 star bringing my profile from 4.2 rating to a 3.6 . It all happened in minutes. :)
Oh well , it just confirms I was correct!
That B has issues for sure.
Thank you for the awesome ratings 🤗
You’re welcome. Didn’t quite get it back to 4.2 but evened the rating out a lil bit.
I was bummed for sure but not enough to loose sleep over it:)
Anyway, thank you again.
I always read the comments but most of times don’t participate. Today was different. It didn’t bother me as much of what she was saying, more of how she said it. No reason to be rude!
Something similar went on with me. I dropped half of a star in total ranking. Not every photo in my portfolio was hit though. Whenever I vote on someone's portfolio, I try to do as much of it as possible, to ensure that their ranking actually reflects their average ability. Don't just give someone's worst photos rankings and leave the rest alone. That artificially lowers their score. Still, I'm not too upset about it, most of them were at the lower end of my portfolio anyway.
I got a one star on every one of the photos on my portfolio at that time. A bunch of those photos were just posted today and they had one voting of 4 start. All of those went to two voting average 2.5 stars and so on. Just posted a whole bunch more photos. I am expecting the one star to show up:) I am sure will follow me around for a while till a new contest comes up and new people will become more "exciting"
That's horrible. I can't imagine how I'd deal with that. I'm can't promise I'll rate every one of your photos, because your portfolio is quite large, but I'll try to go through and give them a fair vote.
Thank you. I don’t mind low votes and I expect a bunch of those as long as they are honest!
Well, I made it through your entire portfolio. Lots of great shots, and I loved so many of them. Unfortunately, it didn't actually change your average, but there is another vote on all of those photos.
Thank you. I really appreciate you taking the time and going through them.
And I thank you for looking at which of mine you did. I'm now within .1 stars of where I was before this, which I think is fair.. I like your work a lot, and I'll be looking at all the new content you post in the future.
I love almost all the photos! There are some amazing !!
Well then tell people what you love about there photos!
Leave a nice comment, you will make some people happy =D
Haters gunna hate! Let's all just play nice and rate fairly. There's some really solid images in here!
I am very curious to know what Samantha voted on my images lol!
Im more interested to see what camera she owns.. although i already know that answer i reckon.
Some people have drastically different ideas on what quarantined actually means "from my trip to Hawaii when corona virus was a thing"
Agreed. I think there is a lot of confusion here. The theme is quarantined, not social distancing, right? Standing on a mountain peak or empty beach may be social distancing, but it's definitely not quarantined! If you had to leave your property by vehicle it shouldn't be part of this contest. Unless maybe you intentionally show rebellion or something similar I guess.
Cry me a river. It say's use an image you have taken within the last few weeks. I took advantage of these times to go to a National Park to practically have the place to myself. That shows what a passionate photographer is over the rest.
samantha bunns would probably give the cover photo for this contest a 1* just over the color fringing on the tripod
His mask isn't on right and there are too many leaves on the plant.
At the same time though, why does he have one on? Lol it does seem like they did just slap a mask on to fit the corona times. If hes inside his own place, why is he wearing it? Its things like that they judge us on.
The top of his head and the bottom of the camera lens are cut off. Cleearly no thought into composition.
2 photos per contestant?
Thanks to Fstoppers for the generous offer to the community during these strange days. Having been in true quarantine for almost 3 weeks now it is nice to have an extra little diversion.
I have to say, images that are obviously not taken under quarantine, or from inside your house, or on your porch or driveway should be given a low rating.
Boo hoo- I don't see "image must be taken inside or at home" in the rules. You are jealous that we went out and got solid images while you chose to stay at home. When I went to Death Valley I wasn't on a mandatory stay at home order.