Hello all! I am going to make this a sticky post in hopes that I can get all of you who have submitted pictures to the Pentax Photo Gallery (PPG) and have had them accepted please post a couple of them here and please link back to your gallery so we can see your work. We have so many incredible photogs on this site I am curious to see what Pentax considers your best work.

Thanks!

[Danny Delcambre]

Yes Pentax Photo Gallery accepted me a picture of Hummingbird. Look my user Danny Delcambre. Smile

[stevebrot]

not to point in anyones direction, but I think that the gallery standards are getting lower and lower...I remember when I first started looking at the images almost all were "wow" images now a lot of them are just "meh"...

I tend to agree, though I have noticed a significant up-tick over the last several weeks in the quality of offerings submitted for voting. Some truly excellent stuff has been floating through. At least the family Christmas snapshots are gone and endless stream of pretty girlfriend portraits has tapered off! ('cept for Montoya's shot...that one I really like...the expression is engaging...)

Steve

[stevebrot]

THis is always the return serve, if you will, of my PPG commentary. I agree to a point but really, a landscape is a landscape, ther eis no great light or shadows at play here ... it's a straight up landscape with an awfully blurry left side.

The bike is more interesting but the sheer number and impact of the technical problems overwhealm the image imho.

Translation...not up to your standards...not how you would have done it...not your taste...not your photo...

I never noticed technical or processing issues with the bike shot when it came up for voting. The shear graphic impact of the composition and lighting was enough for me. As for the landscape...I sort of agree with you, though I do find the image soothing and calming. Landscapes are a difficult matter from a number of perspectives...hard to do and even harder to judge. There is a wide range of taste...and as we all know...there is no accounting for taste.

In any case, I don't see any reason to rain on another forum user's parade. This thread is sort of a "winners circle" and a place for celebration. Lighten up.

Steve

[matiki]

Yes Pentax Photo Gallery accepted me a picture of Hummingbird. Look my user Danny Delcambre. Smile

Congrat's! That is a great shot. If it'd come up in my voting I'd have given it a thumbs up.

[Montoya]

endless stream of pretty girlfriend portraits has tapered off! ('cept for Montoya's shot...that one I really like...the expression is engaging...)

Steve

Might of helped that she's not my girlfriend. ;-)

[bbluesman]

This shot was received well over at the kit lens thread so not so surprised it got accepted. Still thankful and still one of my favorite shots

[casil403]

"THis is always the return serve, if you will, of my PPG commentary. I agree to a point but really, a landscape is a landscape, ther eis no great light or shadows at play here ... it's a straight up landscape with an awfully blurry left side.
The bike is more interesting but the sheer number and impact of the technical problems overwhealm the image imho."


Wow...ouch. I didn't think this was a place to critique approved photos so hence I think I will pass on showing any more. As always if you don't like something, don't vote for it....obviously someone liked it enough get them in there...and as to lowering and raising of standards, that sure seems to come across as snooty and elitist. Imho.

Thanks Steve for standing up for it....and I agree Lighten up!

[casil403]

Oh and just to be clear, the landscape was the wrong image posted...this was the one that was accepted...I suppose it must suck as much as the other one...lowering of standards...blah...blah...blah...

[axl]

Don't take it so seriously.
His comments were harsh but hey, did those shots get through? That's what COUNTS!
For one, I think the biker is a great shot. I'm not fan of the landscape shot (But this secondd one is much better IMO) but I thought other people see something I don't. It happens often.
We all have different tastes. You are right that this is not the place to critique but...

BR
Peter

[Alfisti]

Fair enough, wrong place to critique (though i question the point of the thread if all we dois back slap).

As for elisist/snooty, well it's supposed to be a body of work that is of "Gallery" standard (as described by Pentax themselves) and letting sub par images in devalues the entire idea imho.

Wow...ouch. I didn't think this was a place to critique approved photos so hence I think I will pass on showing any more. As always if you don't like something, don't vote for it....obviously someone liked it enough get them in there...and as to lowering and raising of standards, that sure seems to come across as snooty and elitist. Imho.

Thanks Steve for standing up for it....and I agree Lighten up!

[netuser]

Don't take it so seriously.
...............

BR
Peter

We have more voters now (more pentaxians ), so, sometimes some "not so technical images" get in. Nevertheless I believe they got in because they have some merit, for instance, reading the "Pentax Voting Criteria":

... ask yourself the following questions when considering your vote:

-Can you see this image in a traditional photo gallery or printed publication?
-Does this image elicit an emotional response?
-Is this image original?
-Does this image offer a personal perspective of the subject and display the unique vision of the photographer?
-Would this photo stop you if it were hanging in a gallery?

Sometimes I also think PPG is getting "easier" but I believe it's more the case of being open to more people and of course more diverse and unique images etc...

I give you an example using Montoyas's image (Montoya, please don't take my example the wrong way), I voted no for the image.
Why ? Because apart from being an image that, for me, tells a story and trigged an emotional response/perpective I could not accept that such a beautifull girl had her feet cut since it was not a fast image. He could hat the time to compose properly. So I voted no due to technical "error" but hey, I like her at the same, even being a "not so technical image" that got in so, congrats to all and specially to Montoyas because he now also have a boost on motivation to improve more

Again, my post is not to flame or start a "war". I'm just exposing/justifying my voting criteria because I believe our common gold is not to only get images IN the gallery for kudos but to get images in that show our improvement in this never ending road that is photography that also show the pentax gear possibilities.

And let's all remember like someone else already said, this thread is to announce new images and not for critique. So let's all have fun.

And like we say, those are just my 2 european cents

[netuser]

Yes Pentax Photo Gallery accepted me a picture of Hummingbird. Look my user Danny Delcambre. Smile

Can you point us the link to your PPG saving some time for looking ?

[sealisthenewbeaver]

My two northern european cents, even though this might be the wrong place. (If moderators feel so, move this to another place, thanks...)

We have more voters now (more pentaxians ), so,
Sometimes I also think PPG is getting "easier" but I believe it's more the case of being open to more people and of course more diverse and unique images etc...

I'd also say it's easier to get in, but only with certain type of photos. Which are IMO not like in the bolded line. Actually, I'd say it's the opposite. It's the same thing in PPG as it is in Flickr and everywhere. With more and more people joining the wonderful world of photography, the level of the photos start to go steadily down. It's not a matter of just "bad photography" per se, but also a matter of ability to value the shots.

What I mean it's that the people that are new to photography are usually the ones that are the most enthusiastic (especially in the webforums) and almost everything that's better than their work looks "amazing" to their eye. It's quite easy to tell that just by checking the "Post photos"-section in the Pentax-forums. And if they don't want to get any criticism or if they don't want to learn and become better photographers they're likely to stay at the same level for ages and just think buying more gear will make them better photographers.

Also, the easiest way to learn for most people is by imitating. People have a tendency to try to recapture shots they have seen and which are often getting compliments. For example sunsets and seascapes. Sure there are great shots of stunning landscapes, but if there's plenty of them to be viewed and voted, like in ppg, they eventually lose their wow-effect. (Especially as the artistic value on those often relies on the nature itself than on the skills of the photographer). Same goes with macros, pretty girlfriends, kids, birds and everything. There are shots in each genre that deserve all compliments, but still most of the shots are/become dull. Or definitely not filling any of the voting criterias that netuser posted before.

The motocross picture mentioned before is a nice example though. It is probably not going to get published in any motocross/freestylemotorcrossmagazine as there are too many flaws, but it was technically good enough and definitely different from most of the shots there and thus getting enough yes-votes, which it truly deserves just because of the originality compared to the usual ppg-shots. (Have you seen lot of action shots in ppg? I haven't. I guess those are for brands that can make a working af-system...)

Sorry about the long rant... I don't know if it's all because I'm writing a longish (read: annoying ) essay about a subject like this. Anyway, I'd still rather be overly critical than passive and give empty compliments (and yesvotes) to shots that don't really deserve those. Like alfisti said, letting sub par images in devalues the entire idea of showcasing the obvious talent of Pentax shooters.

[netuser]

.......... I'm writing a longish (read: annoying ) essay about a subject like this.......

[offtopic]
If it's going to be available online can you please then show me the way ?
I'm truly interested on reading it.
[/offtopic]

Back to topic... just some that got in

- Want to Play ?
- Flyby
- Small yet beautiful

and

- Ghosts, shadows of the past

Thanks for watching.

[sealisthenewbeaver]

[offtopic]
If it's going to be available online can you please then show me the way ?
I'm truly interested on reading it.
[/offtopic]

OT continues:
It's not going to be online. And even if it would be, I'm pretty sure that your finnish is not on the par with your photos.

Anyway, the essay is about Flickr, amateur (female) photographers, how they show/portray themselves and how the photograpic community online reacts to them and to their photos.