Raw Challenge & Fortnightly Comp

I’ve been looking with interest at the Raw Challenge. It is instructive to see the variations in the end results posted by entrants, and I can see the point of the exercise. However, I am a bit bemused by the amount of entries the challenge generates when compared to the Fortnightly Comp, which attracts disappointingly few (latest count 8 entries to the current one, which ends today). Isn’t our primary interest as photographers in capturing (our own) rather than manipulating (other people’s) images? In which case how come more people appear to be happy to spend time in front of a computer pp-ing than going out and taking pictures (and subsequently pp-ing their own image)?

As we all get used to posting competition entries in the gallery section, which saves the need for a hosting service, perhaps it would help if you used that method instead?

I think probably the main reason though for the lack of entries is the requirement for them to be new images taken within the competition period. Many people don't have the time or opportunity to do that - I know that generally I don't.

Unfortunately though if you remove that requirement then it loses its point as we already have an open weekly competition.

You would think that being retired I had time to enter any of the competitions, but as much as I would like to I cannot find the time.

The act of not entering a photography competition is not evidence of not taking photographs. Personally, my doubts about the standard of my own photos, and about the whole concept of photos being judged, means I rarely enter the Comp. I had a go at the RAW challenge though as it's interesting without seeming so personal.

However, I your "kick up the bum" may prompt me to more often enter the poper comp!

The big advantage of the sort of competitions that we run here is that it gives us another person's view of our work. Sometimes we can be our own worst judges, so it does help to point out things that we can take on board or not as we wish.

Generally it helps us all to improve and hopefully doesn't ever discourage anyone from trying again.

Competitions where there is a "level playing field" will always attract more entries as people don't feel constrained by having to actually go out and shoot (setting pictures up can be time consuming!), worry about what equipment they use, feel intimidated by their own (perceived) lack of talent, etc.

For those reasons I think something like the RAW comp will always be better subscribed than the fortnightly one, but that doesn't mean one is neccessarily better than the other - just different. I think there's plenty enough space on here for both competitions to flourish.

For the fortnightly comp. (And weekly one as I don't have a large back catalogue) I need to have an idea and the time and opportunity to produce an image. If I'm not happy with the results then I will withhold an entry, it's not that I want to win, it's the fact that entering an image that I know I could have executed better is letting myself down & not something I would want to share.
Talking of the Raw comp. I submitted one into the main competition section in the gallery. It has not appeared. Can you take a look please John ?

RR, which competition did you try to enter? Just select the comp, click "Enter Competition" and fill in the form. If it doesn't appear straight away in the competition then the upload failed in some way. Don't forget to fill in all the sections and look for any fault messages if something's wrong.

RR is trying to set a competition.

Thank you, missed the point. I'll get back to you ASAP.

Same as said above, time being the biggested probelm and trying to exucte your idea probable is also hard to do sometimes.

I've an entry for the this weeks weekly but still want to try to get a better one.
For the forthy this wasn't my kind of thing and all the others I had the problem my idea wasn't executed so well

I think one of the reasons the RAW competition is so popular is its novelty. Also, it helps learning how to 'save' or 'improve' a taken picture which would be binned otherwise.

Regarding weekly / fortnightly competitions, I did not take a part yet in any. Partly, because I often feel my pictures are not good enough, then sometimes I lack some time to take / prepare any. And there's another reason - I'm pretty scared I could win - in which situation (however unlikely) I'd be a judge for the next one and I always had problems writing reviews, essays etc (ie why did I like a film? I have no idea, I just did)...

If I didn't enter these fun competitions because I felt my images weren't good enough then I'd never enter any of them! I'd rather have the fun of taking a picture for a purpose and see how it compares with other people's take on the topic than not join in.

It's not as if anyone ever puts people down in these competitions and quite often good suggestions are made.

As to the RAW competition - each to his/her own but it doesn't float my boat as in my ideal world PP is limited to levels etc. not wholesale manipulation and certainly not to save anything. I do like to know how certain effects are achieved (so I ask, like Lilly in this weeks weekly compo where I discovered she'd done almost nothing to my surprise) and I value the suggestions made for improvement(like adjusting gamma which had never occurred to me).

No matter what, I'd say pitch in and join in, how long does it take to shoot a photo on the topic of fruit? Or my shot for nighttime took about 30 minutes in the kitchen and the same in PP over a 14 day period! I had a real struggle with that topic and left it to almost the last minute.

My word but I've rambled on.

Mike

Ditto, I have entered only once and came second.
It suddenly dawned on me I could be called upon to comment on others work who had been involved in photography for a lot longer than myself and I honestly don't think I am knowledgeable enough to do that at the moment.

I know what I like but half the time couldn't tell you WHY I like it.

I take the point about time - though it still begs the question about having the time to pp.

Re. the 'level playing field' offered by the Raw Challenge, I see what you mean Hefty. Though that's also what I like about the Fortnightly challenge - if you only have a Pentax slr and a kit lens you're capable of producing amazing images, as we've seen.

As for the judging - I wouldn't let anxieties over this get in the way. If you're good enough to win, you're good enough to judge. I was embarassingly inexperienced when I first had to judge a comp last year. In any case, even with the most experienced photographers judging is a highly subjective process. And the best thing about judging is the way it forces you to consider the photos in greater depth, which is a learning process that helps improve your own photography. It might help you work out why you like a particular shot, Mike P!