Dss #31 Unofficial Feedback Thread - Open or Closed

hawkeye978 · August 24, 2009

Here is the official gallery to give your C&C for DSS#31

Gallery Found Here...

Once more into the fray. This unofficial feedback thread is a catch-all of sorts, lets make it happen:thumb

Anyway, let's start feedback on DSS #31!!

This thread is:

a place to post a list of your top ten favorites. (be heard, and let everyone know what images moved you.)
a place to post your "the making of my image"
a place to ask someone "how did they do that?"(for us all to see:D )

Feedback is an important part of the photographic process. While those selected as finalists get feedback from the judges and those who vote, others are never quite sure where they stand. So share your thoughts both in this thread and with comments in the actual gallery. Constructive criticism should always be welcome.

It's easy to post thumbnails (with help from our Moderator).

With the image selected in the gallery, copy its URL from your browser, add "-Th.jpg" to the end, delete the jumble of numbers and letters preceding the hashtag (#), change "gallery" to "photos" and that's it.

Example

Change this url

http://challenges.smugmug.com/gallery/7821877_VUfQz#508585564_r5YQB

To this

http://challenges.smugmug.com/photos/508585564_r5YQB-Th.jpg

Happy Feedbacking :scratch

AirThom · August 24, 2009

My top picks in the order they appear in the album:

lizzard_nyc · August 24, 2009

Morning all,
This is a little embarrassing.
Not sure where to post--
My entry was there yesterday in the gallery and today it is not.
It was my first attempt at a challenge--was it that bad? Too over the top? Too in your face? So was it pulled?

. Or are these the selected ones from all that entered?
Anyway not sure what happend--a little help please, or some direction so I know what I did wrong for the next challenge.

Thanks,

Liz A.

Llywellyn · August 24, 2009

Liz, your image was DQ'd because there was no EXIF. I post DQ notices at the end of the entry thread each round: http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=1193892&postcount=71

To check your EXIF after uploading to the gallery, roll over the image and click on "Photo Info" to ensure the important "Date Taken" info has not been stripped during editing.

AirThom · August 24, 2009

Kerry beat me to it. :P

jeffgroves · August 24, 2009

Now I have my work cut out for me, don't I?
Wonderful work everyone!

Now I have my work cut out for me, don't I? There are a lot of creative and artistic entries, just as I expected from you folks. I have already started the process of ranking the photos and taking notes on the merits of each and will do my best to narrow it down to the 10 that move me the most! Again, great job everyone!

divamum · August 24, 2009

I was really glad to see some more "closed" entries emerge towards the end - initially, it seemed so much more about "open" - weird, huh?! Also, I think this is the most truly humourous images we've had in a single round - there were several that were laugh-out-loud funny takes on the theme, and they really worked. Well done all!

I'll put detailed comments in the gallry, but in any case, a few of my favorites, in order of entry:

KevXman · August 24, 2009

A lot of great images as usual. Here are a few of my favorites. I'll try to put critiques in the gallery as time allows. Well done everyone!

In no particular order:

Good luck to all!
— Kevin

richtersl · August 24, 2009

I had a number of them that I really liked, but the 10 that stood out for me were (in no particular order):

MarkR · August 24, 2009

Thanks Kev & Diva.

I've left my feedback, comments, etc. on the Challenge boards, fwiw.

Katmitchell · August 24, 2009

Some bang up entries this round guys and gals....

As always, will be dropping my comments in the gallery..:D

Good luck to everyone

clap

I have a feeling after looking at the next two upcoming rounds that the boards are going to light up...

Kat

jeffgroves · August 24, 2009

I have my 10!
A little about my selection process:
The selection process is not as easy as one may think, but I did my best. I looked at all of the photos very closely for creative, artistic and technical merit and after doing that I still had 27 photos to choose from. There really are a lot of nice entries this time.

From there I narrowed down a bit more by looking at them from a theme standpoint. Before starting my photography business, I spent 20 years as a corporate trainer, using stock photography (and my own work) during the instructional design phase to visually help convey a message in both the manuals and in the PowerPoint presentations. So, I looked at each photo from that standpoint. If I were conducting a training session and needed to convey "open and/or closed" which photos would I choose for my materials? Or, if I needed a photo to convey "open or closed" for a magazine ad, what would I choose?

That still left me with 16 real good photos. This is when the judging gets real hard, in my opinion. Having to limit your choices to 10 makes it real hard to prioritize photos 9, 10, 11 and 12 on the list. I had to go with what moved me the most! So, I hope Kerry will have my back and select some of those that could have just as easily made me list. Again, very good work everyone! I wish I could go with my list of 27!

I have submitted my 10 and will begin my commenting in the gallery promptly.

DsrtVW · August 24, 2009

My picks in gallery order

Wow I finally got this to work

whiterice · August 24, 2009

An Amazing Round!!
Great work everyone....so many great images this round.

It'll take a few days, but I'll put all my comments in the challenge gallery.

jeffgroves · August 24, 2009

Here are my top 10. I have made a comment on each of these photos. There were a lot of awesome entries this time and if anyone else wants to PM me I will happliy give them feedback on their photo. Excellent job, everyone!

The Curious Camel · August 24, 2009

Thanks Divamom, Richtchers and DsrtVW for having me on your list of top 10 favs. I appreciate the encouragement.

Peace, gail

The Curious Camel · August 24, 2009

Linda why didn't you enter your image?

I sure hope you haven't anything new to deal with on the home front.

gail

Ps. Thanks for your comment on the gallery to.

adbsgicom · August 24, 2009

Firstly, thanks to all who put my image in their top-10; that alone feels wonderful. I'm failing on my attempts to build my pictoral selection process for some reason, the thumbnails are not inserting themselves properly. So in good old text in no particular order:

Opening Night
No Entrada
will re-open in June 2010
Luggage
Open your imagination
A can of worms
Abre los ojos
Caged!
Barred

That said, I could argue myself into adding any other one into here. The images were clever, well crafted, and I learned something from each one and the overall process.

DsrtVW · August 24, 2009

As usual lots of good entries. Now the wait begins. Best of luck to all.

clap

travelways · August 24, 2009

I'm late because I didn't have an Internet connection almost all the day...

I'd like to thank you very much to those who took their time and left so nice
comments on my entry and thank you Kevin and Jeff for including me on your top favs.

This means a lot to me and will help me keep going. I'm grateful for your encouragement!

* I was almost thinking that I should have entered my second idea of photo, similar to "JC3d - Caged!"

Here it is: http://allbiz.smugmug.com/Photography/Photo-of-the-day/6464803_UmdP9#628786029_QUcVh

... and here are my top 10 favorites in the order they appear in the contest:

sgonen · August 24, 2009

Thanks & my picks
Thanks all for the feedback and for putting mine (Parallel Universes) in your top picks.

Here are my favorites in gallery order (hope I got this thumbnail thing to work): ...I guess not ... finally got it to work but not per instructions - added the tags

sherstone · August 25, 2009

Wow - I am blown away by all the great feedback this round - you all rock!
Thank you for all the top ten picks and thanks to Jeff for the detailed feedback in the gallery (I love how you posted it both in English and Spanish)

I'll try to comment on my favs in the gallery soon.

WhatSheSaw · August 25, 2009

Whew! I just posted comments for all of the entries. That took a while! I hope I didn't offend anyone. It was a good exercise and helped me to figure out my top favorite.

Great job, everyone!

Karrie McD · August 25, 2009

WOW! I've been away from the DSS challenges for a little while and I had forgotten how fun they are! Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments and favorites! I am thrilled!! I had the idea and then a few days later I drove by that place and thought it couldn't be more perfect! My kids were actually bribed with ice cream so I could get the shot

I was a little nervous about my processing choices because I always hear photogs say they are not fans of selective coloring BUT I tend to use it a lot... guess it did work this time

I can't figure out the thumbnail way so I'm just going to leave comments in the gallery. There are so many creative and wonderful photos here!

Again thank you for all the great comments, they are really encouraging!

Congrats and good luck to all the great photos in the voting round!!!!

Karrie McD · August 25, 2009

something I noticed
I haven't been around the DSS challenges for a while and I noticed that a lot more people are leaving comments and cc on the photos in the galleries.

I think thats great... A great way to learn is by observing and deciding what you like and don't like about something. I think the fact that more people are leaving cc means that these challenges really are doing a great job at helping people along in thier photography.

Kinkajou · August 25, 2009

Great round everyone! I'm always impressed by the creativity that is displayed here. Well done, finalists!

My favs in gallery order:

OhEddie · August 25, 2009

The story behind the sunflower...
I didn't even know about the theme for this challenge when I took my sunflower shot.

I was just riding around out in the hills and valleys of Northwest Georgia looking for whatever may catch my eye. I just happen to come around the bend and, Oh look! sunflowers!! So I turned around and saw that there was someone sitting on the front porch of the little old house next to the sunflowers. Rather than just getting out and start shooting, I figure I would ask if they mind if I took some photos. As I approched the front gate,this old man gets up and just as nice as can be says, "Pretty day, ain't it".

We ended up sitting on his porch and his wife joined us too. It was nice not to be in a hurry to get anywhere, and I could tell they were glad to have a visitor.

They said they planted sunflowers just because they like to look at them. He said it was actually their nephew that planted the sunflowers for them because they just couldn't do it any more.

They told me about there life. How he had built that house back in 1949 on 4 acers with money he saved working at the cotton mill.
How they had gotten married back in the great depression. I was surprised that they had both always lived in a house that had electricity. Not that common in the deep south back in the 1930's. They said it was because they both grew up in Mill houses. They told me about what is was like back then, and, to me, it was all just fascinating.

So I just had to ask, "Just how old are ya'll?"

He told me his lovely wife was 91 and that he was 95 and a half. They had been married for 75 years last month.
He told me he quit smoking when he was 90, because it darn near killed him. They were quite a couple, but they broke my heart.

See, I asked if I could please take there photo, and he said he didn't think that was a good idea, and she said absolutely not!
Oh, I so much wanted too. The photographer in me was just dying to get a shot of them together. But it was not to be. They would have none of it.

So you will just have to imagine them sitting together on their porch swing, both of them holding an old wooden cane, with the American flag hanging off the porch behind them and the sun shining behind those beautiful sunflowers in the background. That picture would have composed itself.

When I got back home and looked at the sunflower pics on the computer, I knew what I had to do. I printed out an 11X14 on Canon plus glossy. Went to Hobby Lobby and got a frame and a mat. Got it all put together and went back to there house a few days later.

I told them, now you can look at your sunflowers all winter too.

So if you are ever on Hwy 48, just outside of Trion Georgia, and you see about 300 sunflowers next to a little white house, feel free to stop. They will be glad you did.

dnie · August 25, 2009

OhEddie wrote:

I didn't even know about the theme for this challenge when I took my sunflower shot.

OMG... Thank you so much for sharing that story!

whiterice · August 25, 2009

OhEddie wrote:

See, I asked if I could please take there photo, and he said he didn't think that was a good idea, and she said absolutely not!
Oh, I so much wanted too. The photographer in me was just dying to get a shot of them together. But it was not to be. They would have none of it.

Thanks for sharing that great story! I so wish you could have gotten that picture.:cry

dnie · August 25, 2009

whiterice wrote:

Thanks for sharing that great story! I so wish you could have gotten that picture.:cry

Oh, idea!!! If you go back, tell them you could have it printed up for them to give their nephew and how much he would appreciate it. That would be such a wonderful shot.

jwear · August 25, 2009

WOW I made the finals, Thank you to those that picked my shot. I was ask about the picture and the only PS done on the shot was crop and remove a flower that was open from the bottom. I work very hard to not PS my wildlife, Thanks again I did need a bit of a pick up been on a job for 5 days and now really glad to be home. Good luck to all in the voting I am hoping for an 18 way tie -lol

Dss #31 Unofficial Feedback Thread - Open or Closed

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