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!

[stevebrot]

If it's a film shot, no EXIF is needed of course. If it's a digital shot, and was there in the original, it's got to be there.

As Tuco pointed out, even simple PP with some editors will result in stripped EXIF.

Question: I did not see anything related to highly modified images. Is this open to Orton, composites, and photo-based art?

Steve

[tuco]

OThere are plenty of GNU tools to edit photos while preserving EXIF (i.e. GIMP), and also scripts that can add EXIF to a JPG. I actually used jhead myself for the EXIF tools here on the site.

Why would this be a problem if a winning photograph were in question?

GIMP has to have the EXIF module compiled in it and some distributions of it do not have that. Sure, third-party tools works and are a viable solution. You can copy the metadata from the original JPEG over to your final edited version. But it just seems like an artificial, arbitrary limitation is all.

[Adam]

Hi Steve,

Any sort of processing is allowed as long as the work remains your own. Make each photo look at good as it can get!

Who do I have to bribe to get a picture in? Is it enough if I bribe Adam or do I have to pay my way through the whole moderator list?

EDIT: can't type

---

Last edited by emr; 08-05-2010 at 11:18 AM.

[Adam]

Who do I have to bribe to get a picture in? Is it enough if I bribe Adam or do I have pay my way through the whole moderator list?

All of us. And it better be cash!

[deadwolfbones]

The "Exclusive Gallery" link in the OP is broken, fyi.

[Jimbo]

All of us. And it better be cash!

Do you guys take Canadian Funds? JIM

[falconeye]

Any sort of processing is allowed as long as the work remains your own. Make each photo look at good as it can get!

One more question:

What about post-processing which uses several photos to produce a single result? Examples would include overlaying (to remove people from a crowded scene or to artificially create very long exposures like for star trails or water), focus stacking, exposure stacking (aka HDR) and panorama stitching. Some if this is available from the menu of some Pentax cameras. But not all.

I propose to allow all of it as long as it is photo gallery quality. E.g., I would allow panorama but not extreme aspect ratios (maybe limited to 2.5:1 or less). AFAIK, the PPG does not allow photos created from several shots.

[builttospill]

I just sent in a second photo, but there's no need to apologize...

"Sorry, builttospill: Your photo has been uploaded successfully and is now awaiting approval. Please check back later!"

[Adam]

I just sent in a second photo, but there's no need to apologize...

"Sorry, builttospill: Your photo has been uploaded successfully and is now awaiting approval. Please check back later!"

Haha- I guess I will re-phrase the message. The "sorry, username" part is generic for all messages.

One more question:

What about post-processing which uses several photos to produce a single result? Examples would include overlaying (to remove people from a crowded scene or to artificially create very long exposures like for star trails or water), focus stacking, exposure stacking (aka HDR) and panorama stitching. Some if this is available from the menu of some Pentax cameras. But not all.

I propose to allow all of it as long as it is photo gallery quality. E.g., I would allow panorama but not extreme aspect ratios (maybe limited to 2.5:1 or less). AFAIK, the PPG does not allow photos created from several shots.

I did not take this into consideration at first, but I don't see anything wrong with allowing such photos. Just make sure the image data is still embedded.

Do you guys take Canadian Funds? JIM

If you could go straight to bars of gold, that would be nice

[Adam]

The first set of photos has now been reviewed. Check out the photos that made it in!

[Mr. B]

Woohoo, I'm in
Just uploaded my second photo and again the "Sorry" part confused me, thought I made something wrong

[m8o]

You know it's going to be doubly crushing when my photos I know w/every essence of my being should have been accepted into Pentax's PPG [based on not only my love of them but user comments they garnered here] but were rejected by the PPG, and are again rejected here too.

[deadwolfbones]

You know it's going to be doubly crushing when my photos I know w/every essence of my being should have been accepted into Pentax's PPG [based on not only my love of them but user comments they garnered here] but were rejected by the PPG, and are again rejected here too.

Indeed...

Yeah, in my case PPG has been exclusive enough.