Two Minutes Too Late

DaveK

First my sincere apologies for being such a newbie. If I am not posting this properly or doing anything else incorrectly, forgive me. Be gentle with me, I'm a real beginner here.

I just recently joined smugmug and dgrin and have been trying to take in so much of what is going on that my brain is a bit mushy from all the information and great resources.

Well, I just ran across this contest and was really excited to particpate as I have never submitted any photos for a contest in the past and thought it would be a fun learning experience along with participating in what appears to be a great forum of photographers. I have read many of your posts and really appreciate the spirit of encouragement and help everyone gives to each other.

After getting the courage to venture out and participate and thinking I had read the rules correctly I see that the deadline was just after midnight this morning and not after midnight tonight. Stupid me.

I completely respect and understand the need for the deadline so this is not a plea for reconsideration. However, after taking all the effort to come up with a photo I hope the members of this forum don't mind if I at least post it here. I really only wanted feedback and help so if anyone has some helpful critizism I would appreciate the time given.

My best wishes to the finalist. You are all excellent artist and photographers. It will be fun to keep up with your next work.


I had titled this "Lost"

Xia_Ke

Don't feel too bad. Same thing happened to me for LPS#4. Finally got a shot I liked, logged in to post it and found a new theme had started. DOH! Still plenty more rounds to come thankfully

Nikolai

Dave,
Welcome to Dgrin!
Nice shot!

Next time start early And Read Da Rules!

drdane

Reading da rules doesn't necessarily mean one understands them, or interprets them correctly. Same thing happened to me in round 4.

Dave, regarding your photo, posting it in the Whipping Post forum might get you the feedback you're looking for - and it's not as bad as it sounds:D!

You have a good exposure, which isn't easy to do with candlelight. The composition is distracting to me, however, especially the two candles right next to each other in line. I would suggest trying a similar shot with a single candle, or three at the most - and not in a line.

Welcome to DGrin - Let's follow Nicolai's advice next time and enter early!

Blessings,

DaveK

drdane wrote:

You have a good exposure, which isn't easy to do with candlelight. The composition is distracting to me, however, especially the two candles right next to each other in line. I would suggest trying a similar shot with a single candle, or three at the most - and not in a line.

Thank you all for your encouragement and shared reminder to get in earlier next time. I will be sure to get my date & time correct next year!

Thank you as well for the critique. I really struggle on placement/perspective with my own photos and often second guess myself. Funny you should mention the two candles as I was feeling the same but did not go back and reshoot. Primarily because I was doing this yesterday just hours before what I thought was the close of the contest and felt I would miss the opportunity if I reset. In the end it did not matter. I do like the concept and will probably go back now with the forum members ideas/feedback and redo the photo.

Another area I have some challenge in is exposure and color balances. I played around quite a bit with curves and selective color on this to get rid of the normal yellow glow of candles but not sure if I went too far. Any objective feedback on that is appreciated as well.

Thanks again.

ChuckWC

DaveK wrote:

Thank you all for your encouragement and shared reminder to get in earlier next time. I will be sure to get my date & time correct next year!
...

No need to wait till next year. In a couple of weeks, a whole new set of qualifying rounds begin. Just check out the schedule in the main rules thread: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=54952

DoctorIt

drdane wrote:

Reading da rules doesn't necessarily mean one understands them, or interprets them correctly.

This may sound harsh, but it's true: if you can't understand the rules and play the game, you're probably not the Last Photographer Standing.

Shay has said it before, this isn't just a photo contest, it's a photography contest (and there's more to photography as a whole).


That being said... Dave, welcome aboard, and yes please, as Chuck points out, you have misunderstood the rules. You have 2 weeks to stew, but then you're back in the game along with everyone else.

mr peas

Oh man I've done the same thing my first 2 months on here. So dont feel too bad. Just try again next round. Just be prepared next time, not all is lost yet!

DaveK

You are right...
Erik,

No offense taken, you are absolutely right, I have not grasped the full details of the contest and need to go back and read them again. Bottomline for me it is about caputuring images, a contest is just a cherry on the cake, should I be able to figure out how to particpate

All of the members on forum have some terriffic photos and I love the creativity expressed by everyone in such unique ways through their craft. As shared before, my best wishes to all of you in your efforts and may we all continue to find joy in our pursuit of photography.

Best to you all and see you around the forum.