For the next Critique The Community we will be judging "travel" photos.
The coronavirus is bumming all of us out and many of us are stuck inside for the next few weeks/months. We were supposed to be meeting Elia Locardi in Japan in a few weeks to begin filming another project, and I'm sad to say that it is now canceled. We need your help to cheer us up. Show us some of the most amazing travel photos so that we can decide where we want to vacation after this whole thing is behind us.
Perhaps a good time to ask 'what is travel?' I'm seeing a lot of generic landscape.
I threw in some images of lego minifigures exploring our world. Hopefully I get points for creativity.
A friend of mine does that with Skeletor. Love it.
Thanks.
Landscape images are still considered "travel". Particularly if they make you want to travel there.
Just like food, street, portrait etc can be considered "travel" if they represent a location via culture, locals or landmarks.
That's not true at all. A simple photo of a well known landmark, or a native animal, or traditional attire, can be a portfolio worthy image if done well.
Doesn't mean it has a good chance of winning the competition but it would still have commercial value.
If you took a photo of the back streets in Melbourne, AUS. at night then that would be a photo that represents the city pretty well (due to a lot of street art and vibrant night life scene).
Taking a good photo of a kangaroo is a great way to sell tourism to Australia. Just look at the social media page for Tourism Australia. It's literally a portrait shot of a kangaroo.
By your logic your photos aren't travel because the locations aren't EPIC. (not a comment on your photography because I would consider them portfolio worthy). But the locations aren't anything special.
What's the difference between a photo of the Eiffel Tower or a photo of a Japanese castle? They've obviously been to Japan and were going to go there before this whole thing started so why would you think that would make them want to visit there? So many celebrities come here just because they see a koala and want to hold one. So many tourists come to Australia because they want to see a kangaroo for themselves.
It depends on the person seeing the photo and presuming someone else isn't going to want to visit somewhere because of your own preferences doesn't make sense.
By your own entries you've said that a photo of a building would make someone want to visit Japan. To some people they'd prefer that over the Eiffel Tower. To others the Eiffel tower is more appealing. To others a photo of a rare bird found only in the jungles of Wherever is more appealing than both. It may not make YOU want to visit places but that doesn't mean you can say they aren't "Travel" photos, that's not open to opinion.
I made it clear I wasn't attacking your photos. Just using their presence in this competition to make my point clearer. If you can't see that then it's not worth discussing this with you.
Travel photography = basically anything done in a place you had to travel a distance to take the photo :) and that somehow represents the local place. But perhaps i am wrong since i am been killed with the rating.
Now that the contest is essentially over I have an opinion on what a travel photo is- sorry. This contest made me realize something... More often than not I find that people in a location equals a travel photo. A nice landscape or cityscape photo is not necessarily a travel photo and I found myself reluctant to give a high score to a photo without a person in it or the signs of people in it. It might be a nice place to go and a beautiful photo but by placing people in the photo shows participation in the location, not just an observation. People go some place to experience that location- by placing a person in the photo is showing participation in that place. People in a photo become part of the story of that travel whether it is the traveler or subject. To me, people in that location makes a travel photo. Are there exceptions? Yes! The vast majority of the photos in this contest do not have people in them but many of those that do I find far more interesting as a travel photo. I'm sure there will be many and varied opinions on this (no, really? on F Stoppers? LOL).
Huh?
Hey everyone don’t forget to vote low.
To be fair, they wouldn’t vote low if we whacked the HDR and saturation sliders to 99, or composited an aeroplane into the sky.
It´s sad to see people lowball pictures here.
And the moment you say things people don't like they'll rate every single image of yours a 1.
If they are so childish, I'm sure I'll survive
I bet if it showed who voted the scores wouldn’t be so low.
I think it's because people are rating it as a competition submission instead of as a standard photo. At the end of the day, if you like your picture, you've already got a victory under your belt. :3
I have a question. I lit one of my photos with a LED flashlight, due to the size of the subject. Does that still count as external lighting?
I don't know why it wouldn't count as external lightning. You do not absolutely need professional strobes to add light. And i think being able to add effects and elements in your photo without expensive equipment, or with what you have, is a talent in some ways.
if people vote "needs work" then please throw a comment with what you think is missing.
That would be great.
I cant wait to see all the people who feel entitled to a good ratings or demand to know why they get a low vote!
I'm here to get better, so if people think that's a bad picture I've posted and vote low then I would love to get an explanation on what they think needs to be done better next time.
Ok, here it goes.
The judges said
"Show us some of the most amazing travel photos so that we can decide where we want to vacation after this whole thing is behind us"
Your photo is not bad but, when it comes to what they want, theres nothing that screams "GO TO THIS LOCATION" alot of times people submit a photo thats close enough to the category, and that greatly effects your rank.
Just look at the lego photo. That has nothing to do with the category at all. Yet they submitted it anyway and cant see why people are not receptive to it.
Now, to clarify, I can see why people aren't receptive. I may disagree with them, but I can see where they come from. I'd simply like a bit more of the critique from the community. You are the only one who has taken the time to do that. If everyone, or even just more than one, who voted mine a snapshot would explain why, I'd me much happier.
So you think someone who took time to compose a shot and edit it has no right to know why their image is rated as ‘snap shot’, bearing in mind what a snapshot actually is
Yes. Its happened to me, and I manage to move on with my life. I dont have the right to demand why. I submit because I have a photo that fits the category, and its fun!
If you really enjoy your work, thats what matters. Integrity > pride.
I agree with everything you said in this comment but I still think this format is hugely flawed.. because it’s anonymous people who either have a gripe with you or have their own shot in the comp can roll around handing 1 stars out without the minerals to provide reason why, it’s basically trolling.
But you are correct it’s best to just move on with your life. I’ve got a photo featured in this months practical photography magazine, I wonder what score it would get on here though, my guess is between 1 and 2.
The voting should just be changed to share community opinions. It should have nothing to do with being chosen for anything. That would take out alot of the people who vote to win.
100%
You should let it go. It doesn't meaning anything. The community of photographers is toxic and it will be forever that.
Shameless self promotion :) I just posted mine...
been there, way too hot of a country
This contest is going to be hard to judge. GREAT compositions are already posted and Im stuck in my house because of this pandemic and want to be traveling again.
Everyones voting is savage on here. Sad really, over a free tutorial. Average voting is a 1-2star on even award winning images that arnt mine. The 1 star bandits hit hard. I hope one day it will be an honest rating.
I posted in my images asking what people liked or disliked about them. Sadly no one said anything but all were rated poorly.
Maybe savage, but I think people are used to seeing so many amazing photos. In my opinion there are only a few 4 & 5’s here. But it’s subjective and I think in the end it’s a community thing so it’ll average out to where it should be. This is my first time as I just joined the community...seems like a fun group of passionate photographers
I gave your plane/sun photo a 5 star because it is a photo I'll remember.
Thanks man, really appreciate that
You may be onto something. I look at a lot of photos everyday and am always amazed how many great photographers there out there.
It doesn't matter how you spin this, there are images here that are brilliant and have been given one star by some. Who would have thought that the man on the street would be a better judge of photographs than vain, computer jockey, professional photographers?
I'm a math and physics guy. So to me, voting is clearly exponential. So my interpretation is that most photos belong at the level of 1 or 2, mostly 2 because nobody here is really a novice. At the other end, World class votes should be seen rarely. Great shots can be 3 or 4, But a 3 should mean suitable for an excellent portfolio, not a mediocre one.
Also, voting should be adjusted a point or two based on relevance to the topic.
But does it follow Zipf’s Law? 😆
I too am a maths and physics guy, however I see that given the kinds of people on here (those that identify as "photographer"), the ratings would more generally represent a bell curve.
1 - People on here would rarely share something that is technically just a "snap shot"
2 - People have favourite images with emotional attachment that probably need reconsidering before adding it to a portfolio
3 - If "photographers" are going to share an image, chances are it's already a portfolio image they use to promote their business
4 - Portfolios can be large, people tend to just pick their best photos so an exceptional image is just as likely as an emotional "needs work" image
5 - "photographers" see great photos all the time so it's rare that one stands out as a world class image.
so taking in decimal places, most images on here should fall within the range of 2.5-3.5 which is what you see in the ratings of these little competitions
although accounting for a lot of people inaccurately voting a 1 because they don't think it fits or just don't like the photo or want to lower the rating to improve their unlikely chances of winning, I tend to mentally add 1 to whatever rating I see in competitions (not to how I vote).
So if it gets a 3.8 (most likely winning score) then I see it as a 4.8
If it gets a 1.5 then I see it as a 2 though, seeing as though you can't vote "0".
I've put too much thought into this, haven't I?
Gregory, I am a maths and physics guy too. A 1 star image is by definition a snapshot, how many professional photographers do you think submit snapshots to a competition? Snapshot. Think of the meaning of the word. Unless it is off topic, if a shot receives less than 2, some are calling it a snapshot. I call BS.
Everyone here's a pro? Shit.
(Packs bags and slips out quietly, dropping a few snapshots on the way)
I have seen some 1 star snapshots in this contest :-P
Travel photography is simply a picture you were willing to travel to get. What that picture is will vary from person to person and their interest, but if they were willing to travel from their home to take a picture of a specific place, then its travel photography. Easy answer :)