Fstoppers' photography contests/critiques are back, and now the prizes are bigger than ever.
For our November contest, the theme is portrait photography and we are particularly interested in faces and expressions.
Prizes
3rd place wins any tutorial from the Fstoppers Store.
2nd place wins the iVanky 20-in-1 thunderbolt dock for MacBook pro computers. You can see my full review of this dock here.
1st place wins the Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 lens with a Sony, Nikon, or Canon mount.
Contest Rules:
1. Each contestant may submit up to three images
2. Images this month must be related to portrait photography
3. Each image submitted must include a description of the photograph. We want to know 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 November 29th. Around December 1st we will review our favorite 10 images and announce the winner of the grand prize on the Fstoppers Youtube Channel.
Featured Image by Peter Hurley
And also- involving a human face... if someone is turned around and indistinguishable as an individual- it is a photo with a human, but not a portrait.
Thanks, that's what I thought, but I've seen one or two animal portraits, so I wasn't sure. Thanks again for the clarification.
The public vote is a slippery slope, it is a great challenge for participants to go against their own competitive spirit and be objective in their judgment.
How many are those who, hoping to win, would vote for a photo that could pass ahead of them? That's why it is good that the judge is an outsider.
A good rating is pleasing just as a low rating is unpleasant, but the "needs work" rating for the best portrait someone has done in the last ten years, aaaa, that still hurts. 😊😊
Yeah it's a bit rough. The sting would be mitigated some if the "needs work" rating came with feedback. But with minimal interactions on most submissions it's hard not to take it personally!
There are too many submissions to leave feedback on each of them. And some are just obviously not portfolio ready but are not snapshots anymore so they fall into "needs work" category.
There are always people who vote 1 on each photo, but seems that ratings are not off very much from the objective rating.
Haha, totally true! And I get that. Just voicing the bummer about not having the feedback. It's an imperfect system and yet here we are taking part.
I'll also say that, while I have tried to give a lot of feedback, I also don't want it to come across like I'm a know it all or think I'm some kind of expert when I'm not.
Undoubtedly, a more careful description is also a gesture of real interest on the part of those who express their opinion. I admit that the interactive part is not my strong point, which is why I'm not very active on social media either, but if I really like a photo I'm more than happy to write about exactly why I find it interesting. After all, beautiful works should inspire creativity.
I'm writing a book about insecurities (more or less). Still I couldn't care less that one of the photos I love the most, which means the most to me has been uploaded here to less than stellar success (1.6 stars as of right now). I'm surprised honestly about it, how little I care about that feedback. How I don't take it personally.
I really hate the "Needs Work" description. Lee and Patrick have replied to my comments about it, and are just being stubborn. Everything that's not a 5-star "Needs Work". They should change the 2-star description to "Not portfolio ready".
It seems like a valid solution to me
To be honest, though, it's likely that a number of people are rating it as "how much do I like it" and not paying attention to the ratings. That being said I do like the idea of making the 2-star rating more clear.
This challenge is outside of my style based on Lee's description, but very cool to see so much great work nonetheless. I agree that almost every photo seems roughly one star under-rated based on the community feedback... But I'm not a harsh critic :)
Hello, everyone! I am new here. I'd like to ask what kind of photos are usually appreciated here, the ones with genuine, natural look or those posed and studio quality ones. Thank you!
It's best to just see what works and what doesn't, as each target group reacts differently. I myself take into account that these are often enthusiastic hobbyists who want to see something new. A mistake many photographers make is that they show a photo that has value to them but not to others.
Don't worry about what's "usually appreciated", do your thing anyway.
The closer your image is to the magazine cover standard the better.
Even with that, getting past 3 stars is hard.
The more spontaneous stuff is always harshly scored here.
I'll always prefer a picture that transmits me a feeling, gives me a mood, even it is not perfect technically (doesn't really matter if it is a portrait, landscape or anything else...). I got bored of "perfect" photos with plastic skins, it's all over in any magazine or you can create it with AI now (even I have to admit that I shot those in a while, too). Just my humble opinion...
The people that vote 1 stars on good images thinking that somehow will make their images stand out. Newsflash the judges will pick their favorite images anyways regardless of community vote so trying to fluff your own scores by down voting good photos is a bad strategy.
When I first voted, I did it according to how much I liked the photos. So, my absolute favorites would get a 5 star vote, others only 4. I wouldn’t deal a 1 star vote to any photo because what would be the point of telling the photographer that I liked that photo the least.
Then I realized that the idea of voting here is not to express ones likes as much as it is to categorize a photo correctly in terms of Fstoppers’ scale which is more about how much photographic artistry went into producing it and to what extent did it succeed. Was there a plan, and how well was the plan executed. Did it result in something truly remarkable, unique, memorable, impactful. That is something quite different from my likes. At least that’s how I see it and I try to train myself in applying it. I believe I can learn more from that than from any number of likes.
How long unti someone trys passing off AI as a portrait they took?
Gotta say, never participated in a contest before, of any kind, because I never thought in my years of hobby photography, that I've taken even a contest worthy shot.
That said, I still hold that belief. Thought after all this time, might give it a go. I knew I wouldn't win anything. But according to the rating system, I assumed my entries would constitute a minimum of a two, for the fact there was intention behind each shot, posing, either staging light, or staging the subject to use natural light to my advantage.
I don't think anyone was wrong, it's just one of those things, I guess, where even though you know it's valid, the truth can still bite ya! 😅
I really like the rating system (except maybe there should be a 0 for off-topic pics), but it’s been a humbling experience! I thought I was better! 😅😬
I think that most of the people here are far better than their score, on average, reflects. I don't think I have seen anything barely above a 3, and I have seen some truly amazing portraits (regardless of contest theme).
i don't get why when i upload an image it appears darker and more contrasty on the browser although i have exported to web as jpeg from PS and the image when opened on my PC is just fine...any thoughts?
I have not experienced this. However a good place to start is your monitor settings. I typically edit my photos at 80 to 90 of 100 in brightness. But this can vary across brands. Hope this helps.
Be sure Your color settings are correct. Edit and export in sRGB not Adobe Color for example
some browsers add bad contrast, this happened for me in google chrome, I think in firefox it was not doing. so maybe browser applying something. try to remove it or decrease it but with no luck for me.
god demmit most of those pics are freakin pain to look at :) lol
Good luck to everyone that entered! I hope I have a chance with all these cool pictures 😅
It appears from this thread that a lot of people would like to have more commenting in support of a score, which is understandable for the reason that most of us suffer from a lower score than we would have given ourselves. But then, as others responded, there are all sorts of logistical problems with writing feedback.
There are also underlying issues why most people do not comment:
Most people don't like to write, or as has been said many times before: "If I liked to write, I'd be an author instead of a photographer."
Most people feel like their comments aren't "expert" enough to share publicly, or would feel attacked and embarrassed if their comments were rebutted in some way. Most everyone at a camera club meeting below the level of advanced or expert photographer clams up the moment a critique type discussion gets started. If you're reading this as one of those people, please understand: everyone has a valid opinion. Art is subjective; lighting is especially subjective. There are no absolute right or wrong opinions.
Most people know they like or dislike a photo, but have no skill for articulating why that is. That's why so many people score solely based on like or dislike of an image, instead of scoring based on technical or composition considerations. They honestly don't know much about the skills required to make a good photo. But that can change as a by-product of these sort of contests...
Again, as a bit of advice from someone having progressed immensely in my photography, while realizing I still have a long way to go: If you want to improve your photos, the best way is to try to identify what you see in a photograph... which leads to a better understanding of light, composition, exposure, etc... which leads to a better understanding of why you like an image. The next step is simply a matter of learning how you want to incorporate those elements in your own photography. You just can't get better though if you don't look and analyze images for yourself. Everything is born out of a thought. Articulating your thoughts helps solidify them, and speaking or writing about someone else's photography helps you improve your own.
What I fear could be the greatest reason of all for not commenting...
Most people care far more about receiving than giving. They'd like constructive feedback, preferably favorable, but can't be bothered with expressing an interest in other people's pictures. I'd venture to say the majority of entries are posted by people who just want the recognition (grand prize would be great) and care nothing about the process. Those are the people who, if you do comment on their picture, don't even bother to acknowledge it. In other words... let me know who gets the prize at the end, otherwise don't bother me.
The organizers of the contest might consider a few ideas for encouraging comments. Perhaps a prize for the person posting the most comments, or the most "thumbs-up" for their comments. It's obviously not a refined suggestion, and quality is probably more important than quantity. Sometimes a simple thank-you for the time and effort makes one feel appreciated for their comments.
Maybe a box to check in the initial contest submission which specifically asks for critique/comments (or does not want them) would help as well. Commenting on someone's picture who isn't interested seems like a waste of time.
I think they need to replace the star rating system with something simpler and less susceptible to manipulation... such as a simple "agree" option. Something such as a thumbs up if you think the submission meets the criteria of the contest and is also good shot... where no action can be taken to intentionally demote the submission.
I.e. Effectively, a viewer either "thumbs ups" the submission or does nothing. Leaving no option to negatively impact the submission.
Done!.
To address the submission rating system discussed at length above I would suggest a simple solution to the so-called "manipulation" or "rating others lower for self-benefit" etc. Rather than a rating, offer only a feedback opinion that has no sway at all on the judging.
Choices can be as simple as "Not a fan" "Digging it" or "Superb". Display the total number of votes received (as now) but add under each term the stats breakdown in percentage. So for example someone can calculate that a total of 90% of voters thought positively of the photo (ie. Diggin it 70%, Superb 20% = 90%).
This will create more positivity and encouragement, benefit the submitters, and not compromise the judging.
Good luck to all!
good thing?
Never been so impatient to hear from someone... But I guess we should give the FStoppers guys time to go through all the submissions and then make a video about their favorites.
I'll say good luck again to everyone. 👍🏻🥂🤝
There are a lot of submissions, the longer they take the more I'm convinced they're actually reviewing the entries. Kind of hard to be lazy and sort by community ranking when it seems like every photo has a 2.
I abstain from voting, but once the submission period closed I went through and viewed all the images.
I'd say some people didn't read the contest description ("interested in faces and expressions"). I guess that leaves a lot up to interpretation, since almost all of the images at least show a face. I think some of the expressions are 'neutral' and bland, but if the face is interesting maybe that's enough?
Technically there are many well done portraits (great lighting, poses, etc) but to me a lot of them are too 'boring' to be in the top 20. Maybe I'm putting too much emphasis on interesting expressions.
As usual, I don't think some people understand the scoring system. There is very little consistency between images that got scores under 2 and ones that got over 3. Sometimes the lower scoring images were at least as good as the higher scorers, in my opinion.
I'm not a portrait photographer, but still looking forward to seeing the results and commentary on the winners. There are some very good and interesting photos that I hope make the cut.
Thanks Lee, Patrick, Peter, and whoever else helps do these contests. They are interesting and fun.