[tncasual]

It was a difficult task, but I successfully voted.

[luftfluss]

Voted.

[jva59]

Terrific shots. Congratulations to the photographers. V. hard to choose only five.

[garywakeling]

Please consider moderating any strong feelings you may have in these comments, we cater for a wide and sometimes young audience, please consider this when posting in future.

[Sandy Hancock]

Further to Gary's comment, some posts have been removed, including a couple of well-intentioned ones which quoted the unpleasantness.

This thread is for voting, not critique. The images shown here have already been selected into the short list for voting, so let's allow the democratic process to take its course

[SEVASTIANOS]

Further to Gary's comment, some posts have been removed, including a couple of well-intentioned ones which quoted the unpleasantness.

This thread is for voting, not critique. The images shown here have already been selected into the short list for voting, so let's allow the democratic process to take its course

This is a contest where we can all share and enjoy each others works and even offer some respectful and well meaning critique. The world can be an ugly place so it is nice to have a medium and forum to share some positivity. Thank you for the work you do to keep it that way,Sandy.

[pblogic]

I agree with Pentax-Andreas - the photos should not have any personal identification including camera & exposure data. You could assign a random 3 or 4 digit I.D. for your use. But the best solution is to have the submissions judged by an unbiased group which is the case for most photo contests. Maybe a panel of the moderators or winners of past contests. For example, this contest should have been judged by Ivan. His prizes, his choice.

If copyrights are a concern, have a limited copyright assigned to the Forum with each submission. Label the photo with a Pentax Forums copyright.

There are many great photos submitted to all of the contests. There are also so-so photos. In my years as a member, I have seen great winners and sometimes a not so great winner. A Forum contest should not be a popularity contest.

This is a great forum with lots of useful info and entertainment. I enjoy it very much and regret that I don't have the time to participate as much as I would like. Thank you all.

I agree with most of this. It's important to be anonymous. It's not about intentional preferential treatment, it's about unconscious bias. We all tend to judge the people we like more favorably, and the majority of us tend to like things that are more popular than less popular. Anonymity is really important when judging art.

I do not however understand why we can't have settings data. I find it very interesting to see the exposure settings.

I would also love to see an OOC competition.

[luftfluss]

I do not however understand why we can't have settings data. I find it very interesting to see the exposure settings.

Some imaging editing programs strip exif by default.

[pblogic]

Some imaging editing programs strip exif by default.

I see, thanks. That's too bad. I really enjoy seeing how others create their images. However, I was really replying to

"the photos should not have any personal identification including camera & exposure data."

by zoneV. I wanted to know why they thought hiding camera settings was somehow important to unbiased judging. That didn't make any sense to me, and I was curious about their thought process.

To me, seeing the camera and the settings is just really fun and informative, and I can't see how that hurts unbiased judging. I agree that anonymous judging is ideal. I'm not fussing about it, just saying it's ideal. However I don't see how camera and settings data would hurt that in any way.

Thanks!

EDIT: Spelling and clarity.

[SEVASTIANOS]

Camera settings wouldn't change how I vote for the best image. I'm pretty sure that the rules also said that the image must include the exif data to even qualify which I agree should be a requirement. Since I am new to all of this I am also confused how one can remain anonymous considering when you enter the photo into the contest everyone can see your image under the post you initially made.

[Serkevan]

Finally voted, which was harder than I thought. Bringing it down to ~15 was easy, but after that it was torturous.

[PCFiend138]

It definitely was not easy, but I managed to narrow it down and vote.

[zoneV]

I mentioned that contest photos should be devoid of info to have the photo stand without distraction. The camera data is not likely to influence anybody, but it is only partially relevant. There has always been "post production" work (the printing process for instance), but it is so-o-o much more common and extensive these days. Imagine what it would be like to capture some of these pix in a single Kodachrome exposure! I find it more interesting to figure out what I would have to do to get that photo or effect. Similar to Clackers' nifty mini-seminars. Also, it is trivial to conceal photo info for the display - witness the final 100 pix without any visible info.

I think a goal of one's contest or professional photo production should be to create a picture that makes other photogs say "I wish I did that!" Otherwise, it is enough that your pictures satisfy a creative urge and please you. After all, any art is usually produced for a commercial purpose OR as a personal expression. Michelangelo often put his soul into his work but he still expected to get paid.

[vijaykishan]

Agree with the many comments here, too many excellent pictures here. There are at least a dozen of them that I'd love to ogle at every morning. IMHO and in my own mind, the top 10 cannot be rated higher than each other, irrespective of which one pic wins. I observed that bought in my own bias of certain things - how difficult was it to achieve the image, how much PP has been done, is the copyright hindering the beauty of the picture, my own preference of composition, colour, human element, symmetry, surprise, story element, novelty, texture, emotion that the pic evokes etc. So in summary and again IMHO the top 10 in my mind are equal. A huge thanks to all contestants who have presented their stunning work here for all of us to enjoy. wow, what a contest.

[reh321]

Agree with the many comments here, too many excellent pictures here. There are at least a dozen of them that I'd love to ogle at every morning. IMHO and in my own mind, the top 10 cannot be rated higher than each other, irrespective of which one pic wins. I observed that bought in my own bias of certain things - how difficult was it to achieve the image, how much PP has been done, is the copyright hindering the beauty of the picture, my own preference of composition, colour, human element, symmetry, surprise, story element, novelty, texture, emotion that the pic evokes etc. So in summary and again IMHO the top 10 in my mind are equal. A huge thanks to all contestants who have presented their stunning work here for all of us to enjoy. wow, what a contest.

I voted early on. In comparison to you and many others, I had problems selecting a third one; all of them were good, of course, but not quite as good as the ‘best two’ in my eyes. By the time the voting has ended, I will have forgotten exactly how I voted.