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!

[Adam]

OR there haven't been any good photos

The window should more or less still be in that range.

[ManhattanProject]

OR there haven't been any good photos

The window should more or less still be in that range.

Wellll, when I submit I check back once or twice a day to see if my photo is 'unhidden' and it hasn't been. So even if youre saying my photos suck, they should still get unhidden

[falconeye]

Is this pretty much an impossible promise to keep anymore?

That must be why some galleries have grown out of "best photo of the day" competitions. So, the promise is kept by definition

Not necessarily the worst galleries by the way.

Astronomy Picture of the Day comes to my mind and don't mind the basic presentation. It's an awesome gallery and other presentations do exist incl. a nice iPad app.

[Adam]

There are indeed lots of great shots scattered around the site- and around other places- would be nice to see them here and there.

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



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[yeatzee]

Is this pretty much an impossible promise to keep anymore? It used to be pretty fast, but as time has gone on it has taken longer and longer for decisions to be made.
[/SIZE]

same.

I uploaded three on the 5th and still no word as to their fate today on the 7th.

edit: I uploaded it at 12 AM on the 5th so they had all day on the 5th, and all day on the 6th. If it was part of the "haven't been any good photos" you talked about, than reveal them so I can delete them from the forum.

[ManhattanProject]

same.

I uploaded three on the 5th and still no word as to their fate today on the 7th.

edit: I uploaded it at 12 AM on the 5th so they had all day on the 5th, and all day on the 6th. If it was part of the "haven't been any good photos" you talked about, than reveal them so I can delete them from the forum.

Thats about when I last uploaded.

[yeatzee]

Thanks Adam

Good to know that you consider one of my most applauded macro shots as not good. At this point I can't figure out what the hell you guys are looking for in an image, based off of the rejections and acceptances. Seems to be a bit to similar to PPG

[Ash]

Don't lose heart guys.
This gallery is proving to be quite exclusive, but this doesn't mean 'best' - just different.
I agree that to attract the best entries, there should be more specific details as to what the acceptance panel is looking for in an 'exclusive' image, otherwise many of us will just continually be stabbing in the dark submitting many images that apparently miss the mark with the voters, or we'll just get frustrated and not submit any more...

[Class A]

Good to know that you consider one of my most applauded macro shots as not good.

Which one is it? Some of your macro photography is excellent. I'd be surprised if one of your best ones doesn't make it in.

[Boris]

Don't lose heart guys.

Sorry, it is too late for me . Surely it is not that much of a loss for anyone, but presently I should not try to post any more images for acceptance in PEG.

[ManhattanProject]

Thanks Adam

Good to know that you consider one of my most applauded macro shots as not good. At this point I can't figure out what the hell you guys are looking for in an image, based off of the rejections and acceptances. Seems to be a bit to similar to PPG

Sorry, it is too late for me . Surely it is not that much of a loss for anyone, but presently I should not try to post any more images for acceptance in PEG.

Im with you guys, the system seems to only be looking for a particular strain of image. It seems like it all about images that fill a list of checkmarks rather than the images themselves. Also, so many of the shots in the gallery are post-processed to death. More natural looking shots would give the gallery more legitimacy. It's a photo gallery, not an art gallery.

[ManhattanProject]

Also, I don't know what the deal is on this, but the forum photo storage system makes my photos appear significantly more blurry, dull and washed out. My photos don't look anywhere near as good when I submit them here as elsewhere. I don't know if its vbulletin or some other part of the photo storage system, but it needs some change I think.



PentaxForums:



Flickr:

[Adam]

Flickr auto-enhances their photos, which our attachment system doesn't do. If you upload to the user photo gallery (full size only) or the attachment system, your file is unmodified!

[ManhattanProject]

Flickr auto-enhances their photos, which our attachment system doesn't do. If you upload to the user photo gallery (full size only) or the attachment system, your file is unmodified!

The enhancement thing is absolutely false. The Flickr photo looks exactly like my original. If you're saying the full size version of my photo looks fine and its only the resized one as seen in the gallery that is pulverized, then I guess I can see that. But whatever you're saying flickr does is absolutely false because Im looking at my original right now and it looks like the flickr copy and not like the PF resized copy at all.

[falconeye]

But whatever you're saying flickr does is absolutely false because Im looking at my original right now and it looks like the flickr copy and not like the PF resized copy at all.

Hmmh, I don't see photos of equal size so impossible to say.

Is this a photo submitted to PEG? May I then suggest that you sharpen/clarify a bit less so the halo around edges goes away?

Nevertheless, your photo is technically not worse than other work already in the PEG. So, never mind