Hello everyone,



I am very happy to announce that an idea we've had in the back of our minds for a good while has finally been brought to life! Today we're officially unveiling the PentaxForums Exclusive Gallery, which is conceptually similar to Pentax's PPG. At first, we wanted this gallery to also appear fancy and have cool effects, but we found that other solutions wouldn't offer the level of integration that this one did. So, let's jump right in to what we're looking at here.

Our Exclusive Gallery will become a collection of only the best photos taken by our users. Only PentaxForums.com users will be able to submit to this gallery. We will also be imposing certain quality standards to make sure the photos are at their very best.

To submit a photo to the gallery, simply click the 'upload' link in the upper gallery toolbar, or click here. The submission form is the same as that in our other gallery categories, so you should already be familiar with the controls. The following will be required of each photo:

• JPEG format and compression at 90%-100% (9-12).
• A resolution of at least 1024x700 (WxH or HxW) pixels; preferably around 1500 or 2000px on one edge
  
• Full EXIF left intact in the file, if digital
• Manual addition of EXIF metadata, if film
  
• A photo description and complete camera/lens fields
• If you choose to place copyright text in your photo, please do so in the lower-right or lower-left corner only
• No added frames, borders, or drawings
  
• Taken with a Pentax camera (no exceptions)
• Limit 2 submissions per user day (to be fair to our judges)
  

If your photo conforms to these regulations, it will then be evaluated by the site staff. If the photo is good enough, it'll be approved into the gallery; if not, we'll simply move it to a regular category. You will be able to submit as many photos as you'd like until 10 have been approved in the gallery. This limit is currently going to be in place so that every photographer gets about equal exposure, but may increase in the future.

Why this is going to be better than the PPG:

• Not a slow flash-based gallery
• Large resolutions will be available for your viewing pleasure
  
• Comments can be made
• More great photos will be posted!
• Feedback on your photo will be e-mailed to you once a decision has been made
• The approval decision will be made within 1 week at most (apply to be a judge)
  
• Status tracking at https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/galleryapprove.php?do=status and updates on status via e-mail
• It's integrated with your favorite photo forum
  

And, best of all:

• If 5 or your photos get approved into the gallery, you will be invited to become an Exclusive Gallery judge

So, why wait? Upload your best now!

A note to newbies: the gallery is accessible through the 'photos' button in the navbar. Simply click it and then select 'User Photo Gallery' from the menu.

Enjoy, guys! I'm very excited to be bringing you this.

Photos accepted into the gallery will also be tagged as "exclusive" in gallery searches and listings, and within the exclusive category, supersized thumbnails will be shown!

[Clinton]

If you want to aim at high-quality, this won't help. For sure, anything that goes past a few critical eyes will find support among a wide public.

The problem is not to find some support for images that made it in but to ensure that no images stay out that deserved better.

Maybe there's a way to make is social, but I agree, broadly this wont help.

I suppose you could have some basis on rep points, or some basis on having a photo admitted to the gallery to determine if you could vote other photos up or down. It's got to have some sort of restriction though, some way to created a rank or weight, or it could become the hot or not of photo galleries.

[Clinton]

Here's some additional thoughts for you Adam. I like the idea of current contributors being able to rank photos a little bit, but I would be concerned that that still sets the bar too low.

My other idea is that once you have a photo in the gallery, you can vote on others, but to have more than some limit (one or 3 or 5) photos in the gallery, you have to more and more frequently vote on other people's photos in the gallery, or some photos will fall out of the gallery based on lowest rank. It's a way to actively engage people in the process, and it also helps set the bar and distribute the work amongst many.

Anyway, food for thought.

Clint

[yeatzee]

Phew, some rough ratings in the gallery

Only one 5 star, and quite a lot of 3 stars (including one of mine :ugh: ). Some I definitely agree with, but there are some unfairly rated ones IMO

Kind of funny when comparing how photo's are rated in the PYP section 5 stars are handed out to any and everyone there

[Ash]

Kind of expected though with any users able to rate photos...
A 2 star exclusive gallery image? Well, that would be one of mine.
Considering the same image was in the users gallery for a long time with a 5 star rating, there's too much variation in ratings - must be human nature...

[Clinton]

@Adam, I'm also getting the message that I cannot upload a picture over 1 MB in size for a 2.14 MB photo.

[Adam]

@Adam, I'm also getting the message that I cannot upload a picture over 1 MB in size for a 2.14 MB photo.

Turned out that the error message was just poorly phrased. How it reads that the file is simply too large.

(please try a file <2mb)

[Adam]

Here's some additional thoughts for you Adam. I like the idea of current contributors being able to rank photos a little bit, but I would be concerned that that still sets the bar too low.

My other idea is that once you have a photo in the gallery, you can vote on others, but to have more than some limit (one or 3 or 5) photos in the gallery, you have to more and more frequently vote on other people's photos in the gallery, or some photos will fall out of the gallery based on lowest rank. It's a way to actively engage people in the process, and it also helps set the bar and distribute the work amongst many.

Anyway, food for thought.

Clint

I'm going to restrict voting one way or another, but I'm not sure how yet, from a programming standpoint.

Adam
PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide | Site Help | My Photography)



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[Adam]

I've now added a restriction on ratings:

You either need to have at least 1 approved photo, or at least 50 forum reputation points.

[yeatzee]

I've now added a restriction on ratings:

You either need to have at least 1 approved photo, or at least 50 forum reputation points.

Good idea, though a shame it didn't come sooner.

[Clinton]

I've now added a restriction on ratings:

You either need to have at least 1 approved photo, or at least 50 forum reputation points.

Sounds like a step in the right direction.

[HypnoCin67]

for me, the most important question is this: are these photos going to be right click protected? IE: in my smugmug gallery, I am able to choose that for my galleries, so no one can steal my images. If that isn't available here, I most likely wouldn't be submitting anything, I'm afraid! Can't wait to hear the reply! Cindy

[dtra]

for me, the most important question is this: are these photos going to be right click protected? IE: in my smugmug gallery, I am able to choose that for my galleries, so no one can steal my images. If that isn't available here, I most likely wouldn't be submitting anything, I'm afraid! Can't wait to hear the reply! Cindy

Right click protection is actually quite easy to get around, I just had a look at your smugsmug site, and was able to download the original version of "The Old Orchard Beach Sun Wheel." or any other quite easily. If someone wants to steal a photo that is put online, it's not particularly difficult.

[Ash]

I've now added a restriction on ratings:

You either need to have at least 1 approved photo, or at least 50 forum reputation points.

Well done Adam.
Thanks for making improvements every step of the way.

As for image protection - screen captures are the simplest means of getting around it. There's no sure way of protecting work other than reducing the quality of posted images, ugly watermarks all over the photos and not posting images at all...

[Adam]

Well done Adam.
Thanks for making improvements every step of the way.

Glad to hear you guys are happy with the new restriction. And coding it up was actually quite fun for me, too!

Right click protection is actually quite easy to get around, I just had a look at your smugsmug site, and was able to download the original version of "The Old Orchard Beach Sun Wheel." or any other quite easily. If someone wants to steal a photo that is put online, it's not particularly difficult.

Yup. Anyone with a little bit of technical knowledge can either just block the script, disable JS, or look at the page source.

[HypnoCin67]

Right click protection is actually quite easy to get around, I just had a look at your smugsmug site, and was able to download the original version of "The Old Orchard Beach Sun Wheel." or any other quite easily. If someone wants to steal a photo that is put online, it's not particularly difficult.

How did you manage to download it? I hope you're going to delete it from your computer now?

This still doesn't give me an answer, however, as to whether there will be any attempt at right-click protection in the new exclusive photo gallery. I imagine that the general public probably doesn't know how to circumvent right-click protection, as you do. I'm sure there are people like you, who can figure it out, but it would certainly be nice to know that there was going to be some attempt at protecting the owners' photos in this new gallery.

Cindy