The DGRIN Mini-Challenges (quick links to all things unofficial)

Tango

Current Mini-Challenge

#88 "Triptych"

enter your images here: Entries

This challenge is open to any DGrin member. It will run through January 13th, 4pm EST (a bit under 2 weeks).

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Our Previous Challenges:

Click on the link for a lookie:

Entries, Winner/Finalists #1 BIF's won by Jwear
Entries, Winner/Finalists #2 Birds won by davev
Entries, Winner/Finalists #3 Treasures won by Justiceiro
Entries, Winner/Finalists #4 All That Remains won by JAG
Entries, Winner/Finalists #5 Playing With Light won by davev
Entries, Winner/Finalists #6 Black and White won by Rhommel
Entries, Winner/Finalists #7 Self Portrait won by shatch
Entries, Winner/Finalists #8 The Every Day Mundane won by paulthomasmckee
Entries, Winner/Finalists #9 Abstract/Minimalism won by dlibrach
Entries, Winner/Finalists #10 Texture won by AaronNelson
Entries, Winner/Finalists #11 What Time Is It? won by DaddyO
Entries, Winner/Finalists #12 Rusty Old Things won by JeffMeyers
Entries, Winner/Finalists #13 A View From Above won by VisualXpressions
Entries, Winner/Finalists #14 Portraits with Soul won by Flyinggina
Entries, Winner/Finalists #15 Light and Shadow won by micalngelo
Entries, Winner/Finalists #66 All About Music won by Richard
Entries, Winner/Finalists #67 Humor won by Benjer
Entries, Winner/Finalists #68 Home won by Coscorrosa
Entries, Winner/Finalists #69 Lyrics won by Grimace
Entries, Winner/Finalists #70 Long Exposure won by cj99si
Entries, Winner/Finalists #71 ACTION won by Derosaphotography baton-ed to Jrnylst
Entries, Winner/Finalists #72 Urban Wildlife won by Coscorrosa
Entries, Winner/Finalists #73 Curves won by JeffMeyers
Entries, Winner/Finalists #74 Dogs won by Fad2blk
Entries, Winner/Finalists #75 A Childs Joy won by AirThom baton-ed to AaronNelson
Entries, Winner/Finalists #76 Unexpected won by MissB
Entries, Winner/Finalists #77 Reflections and Refractions won by Kevin Cox
Entries, Winner/Finalists #78 Loss won by Karrie McD
Entries, Winner/Finalists #79 A Message Within won by nightpixels
Entries, Winner/Finalists #80 Trees won by thapamd
Entries, Winner/Finalists #81 Cityscape won by Don Albonico baton-ed ghinson
Entries, Winner/Finalists #82 Summertime won by dseidman
Entries, Winner/Finalists #83 Nighttime won by sdways01
Entries, Winner/Finalists #84 Architecture won by NeilL
Entries, Winner/Finalists #85 It Takes Two won by Lizzard_nyc & adbsgicom
Entries, Winner/Finalists #86 Preparations won by Patti
Entries, Winner/Finalists #87 Celebrate won by adbsgicom
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OUR UN-OFFICIAL GENERAL RULES

1. Have fun sharing and seeing what others share!
2. The host supplies a topic and you post 1-3 images. The host judges the winners (1st, 2nd and 3rd) and is not eligible to enter.
The 1st place winner then chooses the next topic, judges the winner and passes on the baton to the new champion.
3. Any photo you’ve taken is eligible, regardless of when taken or camera used.
4. Any amount of post-processing is allowed. However, it is helpful if you list your camera and lens along with your photo.
You may comment on other contestant's images. If you want someone to leave you some critique or criticism, just ask within your post.
5. The winner has up to three days (72 hours) to begin a new mini-challenge, or the honor goes to the #2 finisher and so forth.

Guidelines:

1. Enter 1-3 photos and put them in a single post.
2. Either embed your image in the thread or, if you must, supply a link to it. Keep in mind, however, most people don't want to click to open photos hosted elsewhere (i.e. on your website).
3. Also try and resize your photos prior to posting so they're sized appropriately for viewing without having to scroll (~800 pixels on the longest side works best.)
4. Give each image you enter a title.
5. Enjoy discussion with members about their images, don't let this just be an entry thread!
6. Don't be hesitant, share'em and enter!

Mini-Challenge pointers:

1. Upon winning a mini-challenge round your first step is coming up with a new theme, and start a new thread using the same format as others have used.
2. Make sure to notify the admin of this thread to update the main thread links with your entry thread.
3. Feel free to watch the thread as it grows or wait to the end time and look at all the entries all at once.
4. After the time/date has passed, then officially close the thread with a single post notifying everyone of the fact.
5. After you're finished judging start a new thread (again use the prior formats) and post your Winner and runners-up, it is important to have runners up incase the winner does not show within the 72hr window.
6. PM the winner with this info above and let them know they have 72hrs.
7. After the 72hrs and the winner does not show up, notify the next runner-up and post a message on the Winner thread of the fact.
8. Remember, if you're the Winner, you run the show.

pyry

Yay! The Minis are here to stay!

Now.. I wonder if that old horse drawn plow-whatsit is still rusting in that little field...

RobPetrullo

davev

AaronNelson wrote:

Davev, Thanks for the great idea in starting this challenge activity!

All, here is our general discussion thread.

Hey Aaron.

Thanks for taking the ball and running with it to get the sticky with all the Mini Challenge info going.
It takes some time to organize these types of things, and some time for them to take off.
So I hope that everyone that participates in the Mini's will leave a comment, good or bad in this thread.

For some info on the Mini's.

At the time that the Mini started, there was a lull in the Dgrin Challenge.
At that time, Dgrin was ironing out how the Main Challenge was going to run, what rules were going to
be put into place, and what, if any, prizes would be given out.

So at that time, a Mini Challenge was created by some challenge starved Dgrinners.
A few of the differences between the two challenges are:

Dgrin challenge, only pictures within the time frame of the challenge. Mini, it doesn't matter when you took the shot.
Dgrin challenge, you're trying to win some great prizes. Mini, no prizes, just bragging rights and the right to pick what the next challenge will be, and to judge the shots.

A couple of the mini challenges have had a large number of posts and enteries.
It just shows that we all like to have some feed back on our shots, and maybe just show off a little.:D

I haven't been able to do much with either challenge lately due to my time being filled up with a bunch of that "real life" stuff.
But that's starting to get back to normal, so I should be able to join in a bit more.

The Mini's are ours. No Mods, no Owners, no GM's. Just the Dgrin community out to have some fun.
So post your shots, give some feed back, and make the Mini's a fun thing to do.

A hint on if you win, make the challenge really easy. I had the pleasure of hosting a Black and White Mini.
The amount of great shots in that thread could full up two coffee table books.

richtersl

davev wrote:

A hint on if you win, make the challenge really easy. I had the pleasure of hosting a Black and White Mini. The amount of great shots in that thread could full up two coffee table books.

I remember that one! And I remember thinking "what in the world was HE thinking when he came up with that theme!" :giggle

davev

richtersl wrote:

I remember that one! And I remember thinking "what in the world was HE thinking when he came up with that theme!" :giggle

I can tell you exactly what I was thinking. Activity.

I don't think the Dgrin Challenge was up yet, and I wanted to get as many people as possible involved in
the Mini Challenge.
The easiest way I could think of to do that, was to make a challenge that everyone had at least one good shot to enter.
What I forgot about was trying to judge all those great shots.

travelways

This is a great idea!

What about some real comments/evaluations on the weak and strong features of the entries, made by advanced / professional photographers?

This way the beginner but passionate photographers can learn more about this wonderful art and this challenge can become very useful instead of only funny

I'm new at this... but I'm also wondering if it would be possible to have some detailed reasons and explanations on why a particular photo has been chosen as a winner, out of so many other beautiful ones

davev

Kiki wrote:

This is a great idea!

What about some real comments/evaluations on the weak and strong features of the entries, made by advanced / professional photographers?

This way the beginner but passionate photographers can learn more about this wonderful art and this challenge can become very useful instead of only funny

I'm new at this... but I'm also wondering if it would be possible to have some detailed reasons and explanations on why a particular photo has been chosen as a winner, out of so many other beautiful ones

Kiki, this could be very tough to do.
The first problem is finding an advanced / pro photographer to do the comments.:D
Most of us doing the mini's are none pros. I can comment on a shot, but it all comes down to it
being just my (or the hosts) opinion.

I didn't give detailed reasons for picking a winner the times I hosted, but I did give a brief sentence
or 2 that really just said I liked the shot.

A lot of the time, a photo will be entered that just moves you, it reminds you of someone or something
that is important to you.

In some of the mini's, we've been getting close to 100 shots. That would take me hours to comment
just a words to every shot.

One last reason on why this would be tough, not everyone entering these challenges are good at typing.
For some, english may not be their first language.

Should I ever win one again, I'll do what I have done in the past, but that's about it.

I'm all for making things better, but adding a bunch of work for the host probably isn't the way to do it.

jwear

it was a great idea on the outset and has become more I was very proud to be the first winner. Just think no prizes just photography not much photo shop magazine ad stuff just great shots and art work. This is what dgrin started with and now Dave your thread has held up tradition.

THANKS jeff

davev

jwear wrote:

it was a great idea on the outset and has become more I was very proud to be the first winner. Just think no prizes just photography not much photo shop magazine ad stuff just great shots and art work. This is what dgrin started with and now Dave your thread has held up tradition.

THANKS jeff

You're Welcome Jeff, but I had little to do with the success of the minis. It's all on the Dgrinners that
joined in to have some fun, and show or re-show some great shots to a new audience.

I'd like to put out a suggestion to the winners of the next couple of minis.
Maybe you could run them for just one week so we can get the number of the minis, and the number
of the Dgrin challenges a little further apart.
I'm getting a little confused as to what post is for what challenge. Of course, it may just be a age thing for me.

pyry

davev wrote:

You're Welcome Jeff, but I had little to do with the success of the minis. It's all on the Dgrinners that
joined in to have some fun, and show or re-show some great shots to a new audience.

I'd like to put out a suggestion to the winners of the next couple of minis.
Maybe you could run them for just one week so we can get the number of the minis, and the number
of the Dgrin challenges a little further apart.
I'm getting a little confused as to what post is for what challenge. Of course, it may just be a age thing for me.

I have more trouble remembering when the rounds closing - the numbers are perfectly fine

I think a week per would be too quick a pace. It's fun to shoot something new for the minis as well on occasion, and that takes time. And you wouldn't see threads with 300 entries like #14 had

XSiV

AaronNelson wrote:

i would like to see the future Judges change the time line...
the time line as it is to me seems a little to long....

I only just found this site today and entered in the latest challenge. I think you're on to something Aaron, perhaps a 2 week time frame or similar. Keep them rotating. If you miss one you can get the next. It might make it a bit easier for the judge also.

swintonphoto

AaronNelson wrote:

i would like to see the future Judges change the time line...
the time line as it is to me seems a little to long....

In these challenges most enter images they already have - I vote for one week challenges.

travelways

I was just about to say this too:

swintonphoto wrote:

In these challenges most enter images they already have - I vote for one week challenges.

From my personal point of view, since small challanges are mainly based on archived photos I agree that
less time for a contest and more contests would be better and funnier

However, I found the the time for big challenges a little too short, since they are based on fresh shots

davev

I guess I don't really want a "set in stone" time limit for the Mini's. But I'd like to see a shorter amount to each challenge also.
The only thing about a "starts on Sunday, ends on Friday" type of deal is, what if the host can't get to a computer that week.
So yes, I'd like to see some shorter Mini's, but I'd still like to leave it up to the host.

PS. I really would like to see the challenge numbers get a little farther apart.
It could be confusing for newer folks on which challenge they're entering.
One way of doing this is to have a few challenges run for a shorter amount of time.

Just my .3 cents. (I had my money in the stock market):cry

JAG

davev wrote:

edit

...Just my .3 cents. (I had my money in the stock market):cry

YOU MEAN YOU HAD SOME MONEY LEFT??!!
:jawdrop
Could a barrow some?

Greensquared

davev wrote:

I guess I don't really want a "set in stone" time limit for the Mini's. But I'd like to see a shorter amount to each challenge also.
The only thing about a "starts on Sunday, ends on Friday" type of deal is, what if the host can't get to a computer that week.
So yes, I'd like to see some shorter Mini's, but I'd still like to leave it up to the host.

PS. I really would like to see the challenge numbers get a little farther apart.
It could be confusing for newer folks on which challenge they're entering.
One way of doing this is to have a few challenges run for a shorter amount of time.

Just my .3 cents. (I had my money in the stock market):cry

You could throw in some extra "Speed Challenges" (48 hours) in between the rounds.

davev

Greensquared wrote:

You could throw in some extra "Speed Challenges" (48 hours) in between the rounds.

Whoever the next host is could definitely do that.
Looking though the photos in the challenge that just finished, I don't think I have to worry about hosting the next one.

I guess the really easy way to get these numbers further apart is to just name the next challenge #67 or some such number.
There have been a few new members that were trying to get the EXIF's into their posts.
So, I think we need to do something to separate these threads some.

Greensquared

davev wrote:

Whoever the next host is could definitely do that.
Looking though the photos in the challenge that just finished, I don't think I have to worry about hosting the next one.

I guess the really easy way to get these numbers further apart is to just name the next challenge #67 or some such number.
There have been a few new members that were trying to get the EXIF's into their posts.
So, I think we need to do something to separate these threads some.

I agree. Especially since the Mega-Challenge has the same initials to add extra confusion. Hey, since it's a Mini Challenge, maybe we should use decimals or fractions. MiniChallenge 0.67?

davev

As many of you have noticed by now, the number of the Mini Challenge jumped 50 spots.
I asked Michael if he would do that so the numbers (title) would get away from the Dgrin challenge.

There have been quite a few new folks in the challenge area lately, and it seemed that there was some confusion with the Mini's if you needed the EXIF, only one shot, and so on.

So with a little luck, it will be easier to tell the 2 (or 3) challenges apart.

Thanks again Michael.

dnie

Changes?
I have looked and saw nothing on whether changes are allowed in the mini challenges. Forgive me if I overlooked it.
I got ahead of myself and just ran across onne of those, OMG That would have worked, pictures.Am I allowed to go in and edit, taking one out and replacing it?

cj99si

dnie wrote:

I have looked and saw nothing on whether changes are allowed in the mini challenges. Forgive me if I overlooked it.
I got ahead of myself and just ran across onne of those, OMG That would have worked, pictures.Am I allowed to go in and edit, taking one out and replacing it?

Yes you can change photos. Lets see it:D

dnie

cj99si wrote:

Yes you can change photos. Lets see it:D

Let me rephrase that, it will work for me... still can't compare with everyone else's enties! I'll work on it real quick, clean it up as best I can...
Thanks

derosaphotography

How To Start The Next Challenge
I have won the last challenge (#71 - Action). I am not 100% sure how to start the next one - as far as how to post it - any suggestions? I would like to do a challenge on "Hot and Cold".

richtersl

Not sure how to do that. How about sending a PM to AaronNelson? He may be able to answer that for you. Just go to the first post in this topic and click on his name. You'll see a drop down. Select the option for sending a private message to him.

davev

derosaphotography wrote:

I have won the last challenge (#71 - Action). I am not 100% sure how to start the next one - as far as how to post it - any suggestions? I would like to do a challenge on "Hot and Cold".

Congrats on the win.

To set up a new Mini is an easy task.
Start a new thread, and make a title that looks much like the last mini, but with your new title.
You pretty much copy the first post of the last mini, for the rules, and change the title to what you want the challenge to be.
You also change the end time and date to your liking.
Post it, and then maybe, if you want, add a couple of examples in the next post.

That's about it.
If anything doesn't look quite right, I'm sure that someone will let you know, and you can edit the post at a later time.

Have fun.

cj99si

derosaphotography wrote:

I have won the last challenge (#71 - Action). I am not 100% sure how to start the next one - as far as how to post it - any suggestions? I would like to do a challenge on "Hot and Cold".

haha, Good work!

listen to davev, its just a bunch of copy and paste work, as well as setting your timeline and theme, our four fathers have gratefully done our footwork for us. So is the new theme hot or cold OR hot and cold:D

JAG

AaronNelson wrote:

well someone gotta volunteer....

anyway, dont'cha hate it when you dont know what happens to people after they have been around awhile and then just stop posting and entering challenges......

well atleast i can let you in on my story...
im having one of those times in life where its all thrown at me….
All this started a few months ago, but now its in full bloom…. Just like spring, haha
Starting a new career with a new company, picking up and moving back to my homeland of Salt Lake City.
*Con, displacement for kids for awhile…
*Pro, getting back to see all our friends weekly/monthly instead of every couple of years…
(its been a tuff go in St.George without our close friends)
*Con, we lost all of our equity on the sale of our home.
*Pro, we can pick up a home in Salt Lake at someone elses loss…(we will see how that goes)
*Con, new job, many more hours, how in the world would I be able to continue my photography workshop plans? Or even photography in general….
*Pro, I will be able to retire much earlier than planned…and get back into photography slowly? (where will photography be in ten years?) (of course pending my 401 & pcra stocks come back before 10yrs…wow that’s mind numbing, lets not go there…)

I will miss ya all, your support here has been wonderful…. I hope to check in…. but im sure it will be limited.

:cry say its not so! Things wont be the same without you!:uhoh
Pro, Happy you have a job!
Con, We won't have you here daily with your imputs and great photos.

Aaron I do wish the best for you and take care of yourself. Please do pop in and give us an earfull of whats what in the day in the life of Aaron Nelson.

ic4u

So glad to hear it isn't something bad...best of luck to you,
agreed that you will be missed!

travelways

ic4u wrote:

So glad to hear it isn't something bad...best of luck to you,
agreed that you will be missed!

However, I think that a passion cannot disappear just because a new good job... :s85

so, I'm pretty sure you'll be back here, sooner or later :cool

MooreDriven

Aaron,

I can appreciate your situation. Although I have not had to move, our company had layoffs and I'm handling multiple positions. It's taken me away from shooting as much as I would like. I still shoot, just not as often. Hopefully you can do the same.

Good luck with the move and new job.

Dale

P.S. Sorry I can't volunteer to take over the thread.