Monthly Competition #1 - Night Shots discusion

Interesting comment Pentaxophile. I do see softer images in the gallery, but many are not. I don't see any significant difference in my own either.

If the image you post was only 600 pixels in the Gallery I'm not sure it would trigger the avaiability of the large view.

Perhaps you could actually post an example so we could see exactly what you mean?

I'll go for 1000px wide thanks. I notice the forum resizes square to 1000x1000 so if you want best bang for buck a square crop will get it, even if it goes off viewers screens!

I'll have a look with interest how the IQ gets degraded in the conversion process (if any).

IT agreed that in the Gallery 1000 pixels to 1500 pixels was ideal, and in the forum 800px was ideal.

members are welocme to take their choice, but please don't post huge files in the forums as it slows everything down.

John, the images are processed into two sizes if you upload larger than 600px images to the gallery. I uploaded this one at 800px: LINK

The first image you come to is 600px, and this is its URL:

https://www.pentaxuser.com/images/gallery/2012/07/normal/jesus-on-the-mainline_1...

When you click on it, the larger image appears, in this case 800px:

https://www.pentaxuser.com/images/gallery/2012/07/large/jesus-on-the-mainline_13...

Note the two URLs are different, one says 'normal', and one says 'large'. The large one is the original, which has been processed to make it fit the standard 600px format. To me, it looks slightly softer (look at the face). The large one is the unaltered 800px image.

OK, but I don't see how that's a problem. As mentioned, I upload 1000 pixel images to the gallery. The reason is that these are the same size as my EPZ images, which is very convenient.

Apart from the observation that a larger image will of course have more pixels and better detail than a smaller one, I don't see any difference in practical terms on my monitor. That applies to both your and my images. They look perfectly satisfacory.

I understand that the smaller display image is resized from the larger image, but I don't see that as a case for having a lower resolution image (600px) and giving up the possibility of having the larger one.

If we do that because we assume the judge can't be bothered then everything is settling towards the lowest common denominator. That can't be a good way to go, surely?

The judge may not be aware that a larger version is available, or may be disinclined to click through to it on every image if there are a lot of entries - so may only see the 600px resized version. OK the difference is subtle, but annoying if you have made sure your original is pixel-sharp.

They will know from now on, only 13 judges a year (with the yearly/xmas comp).

:!o not forget it closes tomorrow

Judging will be done after midnight when the competition closes - until that point the judge has an open mind.

The winner and comments have now been posted. The response seems to have been a good one, what do you think?

Good inaugural monthly comp. Can't see the fortnightly carrying on now.

Part of the success or failure will be whether or not judges set accessible tasks. The more bizarre they are the less likely there will be participation, so keep it simple so we can all have a go!

Was it still running I thought it had been kicked into touch by the monthlies.

Well, this was a pilot run for the monthly. So it's up to everybody to say which they prefer.

I like being able to upload the photographs directly in the competitions section; so that is a definite improvement. Whether the competition should be monthly or fortnightly though is a different question. There didn't seem to be much activity for the first couple of weeks and then lots at the end so perhaps there is enough interest for it to be fortnightly?