Judging

Hello

Please don't shoot me!

I understand that time is limited for folk, but I am somewhat disappointed that some recent competitions have attracted a short response from the judge.

Perhaps the admins should judge and the winner pick the topic?

All the best

Hi Matt. That makes perfect sense. I am not singling anyone out. I also feel that an independent judge would help as it always feels odd to critique your peers.

Personally, I'm very happy with the way judging is done at the moment. Different people have different ideas of what makes a good photo so you never know what the judge will think about your submission. If the same person/people judges every week or month, after a while you notice what impresses them and either tune your submission to what is likely to impress or give up because you know that it won't. As it is at the moment, it is always worth submitting because of the uncertainty in what might impress the judge. That unpredictability is both interesting and important to me - even if my style of photography doesn't get this comp's judge excited, there's always the chance that it is what the next comp's judge is looking for.

As for commenting on submissions, my view is that if you want to just select a winner, with or without comment, that's fine. It's also fine if you want to write an essay about each entry and put them all in order of merit. Or anything in between. These are informal comps among online friends and acquaintances, so the less formality and fewer rules the better .

The only change I would suggest is to make Saturday, rather than Sunday, the closing day for the weekly comps. People who work Monday - Friday (as I used to do in the increasingly distant past...) might then find it easier to judge, comment and set the topic for the next comp.

Steve

I am in Favour of the Admin judging as I would not like to judge, however Steve (Lubbyman) raises a good point, so as a suggestion could we have the option, perhaps a tick box or whatever. Who wins can choose to judge or pass to Admin, could also be useful if the winner is going away or falls sick and finds it inconvenient.
Who knows I may then even join in the competitions!

PS. Rick, the POTW - two most recent ones from the same day downloaded?

I quite like getting a "judging" or comment from different previous winners, but I can also see it might put people off entering the contest. Not everybody feels confident to give comments. But I also believe everybody has a valid opinion.
Maybe we should say limit it to the top three, that reduces the burden for time constrained people. I also like the variety of comment from different judges as we all see different things.
So in summary, my view is that the winner sets and judges the next one, at least for the top three, and don't be afraid to share your opinion (politely) no matter what your experience is, your views do count. This is actually a very safe environment.

I think that "Judging" for the weekly competition is maybe the wrong term. Personally on the few occasions I have won and then been required to set the next subject I have taken the view that I am picking those images which speak to me , for whatever reason, and ranking them 1st to 3rd. At the end of the day it's just a personal opinion.
I do like to receive the comments on photos I have submitted as it helps me look at my images through somebody else's eyes which can be very enlightening! So out of respect for those who have made the effort to enter I like to leave some comment on their efforts.

With regard to admins judging / picking a winner - 2 thoughts. Firstly the limited pool of admins would mean that the range of views / choices would also become limited leading potentially to a more sterile competition (no reflection on our admins but human nature dictates what we like / don't like and if the pool of opinion is limited so are the results)
Secondly on the recently launched sister site (cameruser) the admins do pick the winners but little or no feedback is left which is a little disappointing.

I think to improve our photography we need feedback (and maybe not all positive!) - as has been said in other responses this should be a safe friendly environment so helpful / polite/ friendly comment on our work should always be welcome

Sorry for the ramble - should drink more coffee before typing

Apologies for being one of them, providing a short response.
Lovely discussion with wonderful points and food for thought.

I did think critique was optional... and also felt inadequate to articulate about all the entries: it becomes trickier when there is no single stand-out entry and all are good.

I agree - it is so good to receive a comment/critique; and the converse is true as well - a bit dull when there are no comments.
This holds good for submissions to the Gallery as well (widening the topic)

Regards,
Sridhar

Thank you Sridhar.....you have made me reevaluate the gallery. I often don't respond to the comments I sometimes receive, for which I am always grateful. Colour me a hypocrite!

Thanks Rick for your time, did you notice my PS earlier in the thread?

PS. Rick, the POTW - two most recent ones from the same day downloaded?

Maybe dates corrupted?
To clarify, the last 2 winners

There's a tool for the team selecting them that should factor in that the photos eligible have been uploaded since the last winner, obviously there's a blip in this week's selection.

I'll check the scripts and email the team to double check that the winner has been uploaded after the previous winner.

Thanks for pointing it out

Thank you Rick. That seems like a good compromise. I would add that perhaps supplying comments on the weekly competition is less crucial as we delve into our archives. But, for the monthly competition, that should have full comments as folk have gone out to shoot with the theme in mind.