Fstoppers' photography contests/critiques are back, and now the prizes are bigger than ever.
For this first contest in October, the theme is landscape/cityscape photography, and to launch this new format with a bang, all 20 of the photographs we pick to be featured in the critique will receive a free tutorial of their choosing from the Fstoppers Store. To make it even more exciting, one of those 20 photographers will also win $1000 cash.
Learn more about our new photography contests in the video below:
Contest Rules:
1. Each contestant may submit up to three images
2. Images this month must be related to landscape or cityscape photography
3. Each image submitted must include a description of the photograph. We want to know what it is, how it was taken, the gear used, and any post-processing you did to it. Images without a description will be disqualified.
4. Each photographer is only allowed to win one grand prize/year and one tutorial/year but they may still submit images to, and be featured in all 12 contests.
5. Everyone is encouraged to rate and comment on everyone's submitted photos but the highest-rated image will not necessarily win the grand prize.
The deadline for this contest is October 30th. Around November 1st we will review our favorite 20 images and announce the winner of the grand prize on the Fstoppers Youtube Channel.
Featured Image by Elia Locardi via Photographing the World Japan
Yup, just deleted my photos.
Thankfully, the judging is not based on the community "feedback." I think you need to be confident in yourself to post images into a critical forum.
I honestly can't understand why people have to be so toxic, there are a lot of nice pictures with 2 or 3 stars. I don't think my pictures are the best, but I really don't understand why someone should give me 1 or 2 stars, without even explaining that, I am seriously thinking about deleting them too.
I think that's just a natural result of a 5-star rating system. Most people will give either 2 or 3 stars (like how pretty much everything on IMDB is rated between 6 and 8 stars).
This might be solved by changing the voting system to asking users to compare 2 random submissions and choosing which one they like best instead of giving a star rating. You can then use an ELO rating system (I.E the same rating system used in chess and games like League of Legends) to sort pictures from best to worst. This would also balance out the votes that each submission receives as you could do something smarter with the comparisons that you present to users. It also stops users maliciously 1-star voting their opponents.
I think that a rating, no matter the stars should require feedback with a minimum of 50 words. That way, even if you love an image, you'd have to express what elements of the photo you connect with. But more importantly, if you dislike an image, you can help the photographer to become better. If enough reviewers are listing the same issues, then it must be something that bring a image up in quality or improve the photographer's technique.
Wow! I think Lee's latest 1 min vid on the contest must have reached quite a few eyeballs judging by the skyrocketed number of submissions in the last 12 hours
We have been busy promoting this contest. Like Lee said, we really want this to become something everyone looks forward to and we want the prizes to be exciting as well.
Someone posted a link to it in one of my photography groups on facebook, that was the only reason I heard of it. I even follow fstoppers on youtube, have for years, its weird it never popped up for me I'm on there every day. But it definitely got word out!
How to submit photos ?? not able to submit after press enter contest
You need an account which it seems you already have. Now just hit the enter contest button on this page above and upload your 1-3 images and type in your text.
This is great! I joined a few months ago but it seems to me there is not really a lot of engagement, I received just a few votes for my pictures and if someone votes with 3 stars I haven't even received a comment to explain that.
Do you post to any of the community groups? Some of them are kind of active and engaging. If you are looking to engage with other people I highly suggest joining and posting to any relevant groups. Some are more active than others but you can usually get some helpful feedback.
But yes, the site has kind of dropped off over the last several months. I really hope Patrick Hall and Lee Morris build the site back up. I actually really enjoy this site!
By the way, you do have some nice photos!
Yes, I posted a few discussions on a couple of groups but I get 3 answers at most, maybe I should try with other groups.
What disappoints me the most is actually people that give a low rating without even bothering to explain that; as a matter of example, today I submitted for the contest a photo which is a variation of one the was chosen as POTD, so I guess it's not that bad as a picture. Well, I have an average of 2.63 stars with no comment for that photo. If someone wants to give me 1 or 2 stars is ok, but at least I would expect a comment explaining why.
I am actually trying to give a comment to every photo I voted because I think everyone deserves a feedback on that vote and because that should be the main goal of a photography site.
Anyway I hope too it will be build back because the idea is great!
And thank you for the nice feedback on my photos! :)
Yes, I some groups are more active than others. I would suggest the minimalist/abstract/experimentation group. It's probably the most active on here. Lots of different types of photos can be considered "experimental." I also post to the cityscape/landscape groups and hardly ever get any comments. I think that may be a product of the site kind of falling off in recent months.
IDK how many of the CTCs you've done in the past but, this is pretty much the norm. It's unfortunate but that's just the way it is. I too have entered a photo that was POTD and has over 30 votes averaging over 4 stars on my profile. However here, it has 52 votes avg. 2.5. What are you going to do? And also no comments. I wouldn't let it bother you. I don't think the community votes weighs too heavily on what photos are chosen.
That is actually my first CTC so I wasn’t pretty aware of how it works. Anyway thank you for the suggestion about the group, maybe I’ll try to post in a new one!
Hey Valentina, welcome to the community. I'd love to personally compare the two images you are referencing. Having been to some of the most photographed places in the world, I can tell you first hand that placing a camera in the correct spot is only maybe 30% of the challenge when it comes to producing a world class image. In fact, in my opinion, sometimes placing your camera in the same spot as 1000s of other people will actually PREVENT an image from being world class (here's looking at your Horseshoe Bend and most locations in Iceland).
As for the ranking system, our goal is to have people take 5 mins out of their day and rate a bunch of images quickly. I think it's human nature to not sit and leave a critique or spend a bunch of time writing up a response for images you do not like or feel like they are snapshots. On one hand, images that are snapshots (1s) or need work (2s) often require the most amount of critiques and suggestions but on the other hand, if an image is simply a snapshot and a successful photographer probably wouldn't even take the time to photograph it to begin with, it's near impossible to give a good critique because so much is needed.
This happens ALL THE TIME with fashion images submitted. Lee and I are left saying, "well the model isn't the best model for this shoot, the time of day isn't ideal, the background is a mess, the model's expression is strange, the composition leaves a lot to be desired, and the post processing looks really bad. What would I suggest you do? Well, basically change everything."
Now if an image is a solid 3 that belongs in your portfolio, then it's much easier to make smaller suggestions that might help push it higher up.
I think our society as a whole has just gotten so addicted to social media likes and positive confirmation (that often comes with absolutely no substance as well) that it's becoming harder for many of us to understand more critical or negative feedback (that might also not have any substance to back it up). it's the main reason why I think Facebook doesn't have a dislike button although I'd argue that would still be super useful in gauging some of the content I myself post as well.
Anyways, I hope lower ratings don't discourage you from continuing to post your work and hopefully even without tons of useful critical feedback, we hope you can still gain some perspective on how people might view your work even if it's not the perspective you necessarily agree with.
Hi Patrik, thank you. Ok so, I probably misunderstood the whole ranking system, I personally thought a 1 or 2 stars are a very bad ranking, like a snapshot you took with your phone without even bothering to make a composition.
Of course that kind of picture doesn’t need a comment, I was just thinking my photos were a little bit better than that and for that reason I would have liked a comment to explain it but that’s probably my mistake.
Well yes a 1 is a bad photo. We say snapshot as in anyone could have taken it. We often say “my mom or non photographer friends could have taken this.”
A 2 star is still fairly “bad” but it shows some photographic thought.
A 3 is now a solid image that might not have any flaws but also might not be the most over the top, exciting photo either. It belongs in your portfolio and would def get you work, but prob isn’t going to win any contests or even stay in your portfolio forever.
Based on your definition of a 2, I'd say it's discouraging to see people call your photo a 2 without providing any constructive criticism. My photo is currently around a 2.5, which means roughly about as many people called it a 2 as called it a 3, but not one person has said "Hey, I think doing X would have made this a better picture" How do I grow as a photographer if no one gives that feedback. Maybe a contest was not the right place to search for this...
I was hoping for constructive feedback as well, and genuinely thought my entries were thought provoking, but others rated my photos a 1. The real judgment should be left to, well, the judges. Its more discouraging to young photographers to have a rating system. Take out the stars, leave the option to comment constructive feedback.
Hey Patrick Hall and Lee Morris, following you both from ages and being part of this community from a very long time.
What I have saw is that the community votes mostly to downgrade other people’s photos, way more that the way of “it deserves 1 or 2 stars”.
What might fix this toxic (reckon that not all 1 or 2 stars are toxic but probably fits that photo rating), is to have a mandatory comment confirmation for the 1 or 2 stars rating, with an explanation about why for the person that is voting, that photo deserves 1 or 2 stars! This might calm the behaviour as many people just hide behind the 1 or 2 and 3 star rating because is anonymous.
Have a great evening lads!
Once I realized some people always give 1 stars, I stopped worrying about individual ratings. If I have 30 votes and my avg is 1-1.5, then I know that photo didn't work.
I do photography on the side. I'm not able to fly to Iceland to photograph a remote cabin under the northern lights, but I do the best I can with my limited budget. I know my entries aren't going to average 4s, but it's nice to get that little notification that someone liked one of my entries.
I'd like to think that if I were good enough to be consistently posting 4s here, I wouldn't sweat a 1 star rating from some anonymous internet posters.
I'd love it if more people posted feedback - it's a great way to learn - but I'm not expecting anyone to give up their time to teach me for free. But when I do get comments here, they're always kind. I don't think I've ever seen nasty comments posted here, which is why I'm willing to keep entering the contests (I'm glad they're back!)
good luck for everyone!
For some extra perspective on the star rating of your submissions: In the last landscape photography contest, only 108 out of 977 submissions got over 3 stars, so if you're higher than 3, you're roughly in the top 10%.
No submissions in the last contest received an average rating of 4 or higher...
Yes, having a 3.0+ image on here is something to be proud of. Not because our community is particularly tough but because our rating system is designed to be a strong bell shaped curve. I don't know that I've ever produced a solid World Class Image in my entire career and my profile averages 3.5 rating and is in the top 5% of all accounts. 4s and 5s are simply rare and shouldn't be looked at as say an A or B grade. I'd say a 3 star is an A by normal grading scales and 4s and 5s are simply in another realm altogether if that makes sense.
That's cool to know, I'm at a 3.6! Although, if all of the CTC people voted on my profile I'd probably be at a 2.6, lol.
The only thing that even kind of bugs me with the CTCs is 2 of the images I submitted were either POTD or an editors choice. One has over 33 votes avg. over 4 the other I think only has 10 votes and like 3.8. Both of them in the CTC are like under a 2.5. Just seems wildly different. I don't know which one to believe, probably somewhere in the middle I guess.
I basically agree with everything you've said about the ratings system. I don't think anything needs to be changed. I also find my self agreeing with you guys 95% of the time during the CTCs. However, I can definitely remember some instances of you guys giving a 3/4 and the community giving like barely more than a 2. Maybe one of my photos will get picked and I'll get to see if it really is closer to 2.5 than 4, haha.
I also just wanted to say I'm glad to see you guys bringing these back! I was beginning to worry this site was going away. I really enjoy this site so I'm glad it is not. I look forward to entering into more CTCs!
I have a suggestion for the next contest, it's a software-related one, Please guys add 1 full star to all the votes so people can stop complaining about their ratings...
maybe a good idea. I have photos in my portfolio that I agree with the rating and my photo in here is about 1 star under. That said... there are a lot of snap shot photos in every contest and still some that don't fit the theme.
I think our rating system is super accurate and pretty well thought out. In no way should a 2 or 3 simply become a 3 or 4 to "grade on a scale". I address the rating system above pretty well; I've never created a 5 star image in my entire career and many of the best photographers we've made tutorials with average 4s at best. Obtaining a 5 star image isn't something someone can simply get if people would stop being "toxic". I think Lee and I have only agreed on less than 20 5 star images in the 8 years we have been doing this Critique series.
A couple of comments on the ratings.
1. First and foremost, we will always get trolls giving 1-star ratings on what cannot be a snapshot. Long exposure on a terribly composed water subject cannot be a 1-star. Long exposures cannot be snapshots. Of course there are people just going to give 1-stars to be asshats.
2. I think people get caught up in 2-star, "Needs Work". If you're not posting a 5-star image, then 1-4 star images all need work to become a 5-star image. The image I posted in this contest "needs work" to be a higher rating, but that doesn't mean it's automatically a 2-star image. Maybe it's a 3-star image that "Needs Work". Perhaps it's a 4-star image that "Needs Work" to be a 5-star image. Maybe reword your 2-star description to "Not Yet Portfolio"?
The full definition of 2 stars is "need work to be in your portfolio" not to become a 5 stars, so the rating is pretty accurate as 3 stars is "belongs in your professional portfolio"
3 is “solid, belongs in your portfolio” so a 2 is implied that it shouldn’t be in your portfolio.
I disagree that any 1-4 needs work to become a 5 star. Some 3 star images are basically perfect but because of the subject or nature of it, there isn’t really a way for it to excel to a 5 star image. Imagine an e-commerce image shot on white for Amazon. It could be the best photo of a usb charger possible, but it will never be a 5 star image ever.
I totally agree, I was just mocking people who always complain in every Critique
Forgive a dumb question but what size and format restrictions / requirements do you have for competition submissions. I searched but failed to find any guidance.
Thanks
I did not see any guidelines regarding size. So I played it safe and went for 2000p on the long side
There is no requirement but just make sure it's high res enough to look good on a phone or computer screen. Maybe 2-4 megapixels is sufficient.
Thanks Patrick
I like what another user said - 2 star would be something that has thought behind it (post processing, composition, lighting, etc.) - but wouldn't make it on a portfolio.
3's can be used to get paid work, even if they "need work" to become 4 or 5's.
A beautiful photo will fairly win sadly amateur photographers like me doesn’t have a chance in this competition but I might get some nice feedback from which I can learn and become better.
Zato ne mogu poslati fotografije?!
I have followed FStoppers on YouTube for quite a while. This is my first time here and I've entered a few photos for the contest. Wish me luck! :-)
Welcome and good luck
Suggestion on rating: Disable the ability to rate after you've already rated a photo or do not reveal the community rating. I think the former is more practical so you can still get feedback on whether you and the community are in agreement or not. Ratings consistently start higher than where they end up. I propose the reason is back-peddling. Once someone votes, they can see what the current rating is and rather than stand by their opinion, they side with the masses and suddenly that initial 4 becomes a 3, or 3 becomes a 2, incrementally decreasing over time.
Also, folks, please add some descriptions. If a photo's worth a thousand words, prove it ;)
+1 On Thomas' last comment. If it's a great photo, I'd love to know what to keep doing right or even improve on. Likewise when ranking lower, what do you consider the flaws are and any suggestions to resolve them.
First time submitter here for photograph as picking it up as a new hobby. would love to see comments and feedback.
#learning
Hi,
New to Fstoppers.
I uploaded my 30 photos.
Will I be able to upload more at some point?
When I click on the link to upload a photo to enter into a contest it doesn't open.
I'd love to enter, but when i click on submit, it just opens another tab
try scrolling down on the page a bunch, till you see an option to upload
I would like to see some SmugMug type videos showcasing photography super stars like Elia and Joey Wright. The photography buisness has a wide rage of niche fields, like Car photography, Astro photography, Portrait photography, Toy Photography and the list goes on. I prefer you guys to all the others and would even subscribe to a pay per view, like netflix just for photographers. Thanks for coming back we missed you. Cheers
Hey, James
SmugMug has videos? I've used SmugMug as my website host since 2008, and never heard anything about there being videos there.