First off, I would like to thank everyone who entered a photo in our B&H 'Man and Nature' photo contest! There was a total of 259 submissions, of which 197 met the competition rules. That's almost twice as many as our previous 'Panoramic' competition!

Without further ado, I'd like to explain how voting will work for this contest. Unlike in previous events, we will not be creating a separate voting thread in which users can vote for their favorite entries. Instead, voting will take place directly in the gallery itself, using our photo rating system on a 1-5 star scale. With this large number of entries, I believe that this approach will be the fairest.

You can choose to rate either only your favorites, or all the photos. Attached are screenshots on how this is done. Simply browse to the gallery, select the first photo, rate it, and then cycle through photos using the filmstrip. Alternatively, you can browse the contest submissions in the gallery listings, and only pick your favorite shots to vote for.

Ratings can either be given through the dropdown in the upper-right of each photo page, or directly when commenting on a photo (you have to click on the 'post reply' button if using this approach).

PROCEED TO VOTE

At the end of the month, the photo with the highest star rating will win. If there is a tie, the photo with the largest number of ratings will win.

After you have voted, you can check which photos are winning here.

Good luck to everyone!

WINNER ANNOUNCED: B&H Photo Contest Winner - PentaxForums.com

[Adam]

Don't be rude. I am not participating and I am not complaining. I just wanted to point out something true . My solution was just a quick idea and as you pointed out far from perfect. Actually just as bad but in a different way.
The current solution is very vulnerable and as long as photos do not all have similar number of votes results will be statistically incompatible. I'm not saying it won't work I'm saying there is an easy way it can go wrong.
But no point in going on with this discussion now as it is not desired. Hope it will always turn out fair.

PS: Waving a "leave it to the pros" flag at the beginning of an argument doesn't set a good mood for the discussion. And also professionals are people who live by it but not necessarily do it exceptionally or even well.

I'm just playing

You'd definitely be right if each photo only got a few votes, but that's not the case.

Adam
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[Alex00]

How do we know how many votes a photo received.

[mawsonii]

All the disqualified entries are in the category below the qualified entries.

Your shot was either disqualified because:
-it did not appear to match the contest theme and no clarification was posted
-it was not taken between 7/6 and 8/1 2010, inclusive
-it did not contain EXIF or date information, and no date was provided when requested from the poster

Hummm? I'm not finding my submission in either the qualified or disqualified categories. The name of my submission was "Nature in a tight spot" featuring a tree in the lower right corner overwhelmed by two skyscrapers and huge wall ad for a brand of imported beer. Do you have ANY record of that upload? Thanks for your trouble.

[m8o]

mawsonii, anything you posted in the B&H Photo Contest Gallery should still show-up in your own gallery. But I'm not seeing any gallery photos posted from you. Are you sure you submitted it? You can click my id for example, then look under Statistics > Find all photos uploaded by m8o. You'll see my submission and the one I requested Adam delete (was put in the'disqualified' gallery)

[Earl53]

This is my first time voting in this contest and I have a problem with a lot of photos not remotely with the theme of the contest.

Show man's influence on nature, nature's influence on man, or man's presence in nature in your photographs. Be creative!

I feel I'm looking at photos for another contest or something. It seems that people took photos just to make the deadline and to have one taken in the time allotted. I feel bad that I'm voting 1-2 stars on photos that are not bad but doesn't seem to match the theme as I see it.

[Alex00]

Allot of photos in the contest do not match the theme on how man had an Impact on nature or nature had an impact on man.

[brecklundin]

Funny there Adam.... After your 2nd post I wasn't going to fight my nature and was about to make a snide remark such as "let the complaining about the voting begin". But I thought "let me wait and see". Glad to see the populous hasn't let me down. Ok, ok, I admit it. A few years back near 2000 posts ago I recall being of similar opinionated-ness.

know the difference between photographers discussing a contest and puppies?....puppies eventually stop whining.

FYI, the board about ebooks I frequent is even more likely to contest stuff like water being wet than here, if that helps everyone feel "better"....hehehehe...

[deadwolfbones]

Agree with a couple of the above posters. The majority of the entries I've voted on so far (1/2 of all of them) have been pretty terrible, and have had little to do with the theme. Seems like they're all:

-Shot of bird/horse/rodent/insect doing nothing in particular
-Shot of person in landscape, doing nothing in particular
-Shot of landscape with something artificial in it
-Shot of landscape with nothing in it
-Shot of rusted car/bus/chair
-Shot of trash in the water

Some of these could effectively convey the theme, but most of them are artless and lack any sort of compositional or artistic skill. Some are completely inexplicable. Mostly they seem like someone rifled through a pile of snapshots and picked out the most fitting cast-off to submit, rather than going out and actually shooting something with the theme in mind.

Sad.

[Adam]

This is my first time voting in this contest and I have a problem with a lot of photos not remotely with the theme of the contest.

Show man's influence on nature, nature's influence on man, or man's presence in nature in your photographs. Be creative!

I feel I'm looking at photos for another contest or something. It seems that people took photos just to make the deadline and to have one taken in the time allotted. I feel bad that I'm voting 1-2 stars on photos that are not bad but doesn't seem to match the theme as I see it.

It's fine to award stars based on the relevance to the theme- that's what I did (see post #2)

Hummm? I'm not finding my submission in either the qualified or disqualified categories. The name of my submission was "Nature in a tight spot" featuring a tree in the lower right corner overwhelmed by two skyscrapers and huge wall ad for a brand of imported beer. Do you have ANY record of that upload? Thanks for your trouble.

There's no record of any uploads from your account- sorry.

How do we know how many votes a photo received.

Hover over the star rating.

Allot of photos in the contest do not match the theme on how man had an Impact on nature or nature had an impact on man.

If you read each photo's description and comments, a weak tie should at least be established. I've disqualified all shots that were just plain nature. With that said, some photos in the contest definitely come closer to the theme than others.

[Earl53]

Well I finished voting in the contest and everyone got a vote from me. Maybe it’s my interpretation of the theme but again I saw too many photos that weren’t close to the theme or lacked some impact. Nice pictures but... I did manage to give 4-starts on one photo. I thought it matched the theme the most.

I had just joined this site towards the end of the contest but managed to get one in. The weather wasn’t with me when I shot it but I hope my description helped with the photo.

[deadwolfbones]

Well, finished voting.

m8o's "Urban Oasis" is my favorite, and one of only five or so photos that have any kind of compositional merit and still address the theme...

[Ecaterin]

Agree with a couple of the above posters. The majority of the entries I've voted on so far (1/2 of all of them) have been pretty terrible, and have had little to do with the theme. Seems like they're all:

-Shot of bird/horse/rodent/insect doing nothing in particular
-Shot of person in landscape, doing nothing in particular
-Shot of landscape with something artificial in it
-Shot of landscape with nothing in it
-Shot of rusted car/bus/chair
-Shot of trash in the water

Some of these could effectively convey the theme, but most of them are artless and lack any sort of compositional or artistic skill. Some are completely inexplicable. Mostly they seem like someone rifled through a pile of snapshots and picked out the most fitting cast-off to submit, rather than going out and actually shooting something with the theme in mind.

Sad.

Phew - I'm glad someone came out and said it :P I've seen such fabulous work from people at the forums, I expected to go into this contest gallery and be blown away and I so.....wasn't. :P At least, not by the majority of submissions. What happened?

[Danny Delcambre]

Oh Where's my pictures??? Very Interesting. I did uploaded it before but not show up. I just puzzled. Sad

[Adam]

Oh Where's my pictures??? Very Interesting. I did uploaded it before but not show up. I just puzzled. Sad

Your photo wasn't taken during the contest period and was therefore disqualified. Sorry!

[mawsonii]

mawsonii, anything you posted in the B&H Photo Contest Gallery should still show-up in your own gallery. But I'm not seeing any gallery photos posted from you. Are you sure you submitted it? You can click my id for example, then look under Statistics > Find all photos uploaded by m8o. You'll see my submission and the one I requested Adam delete (was put in the'disqualified' gallery)

Thank you for introducing me to my "Statistics" page. Apparently, I was confounded by the upload procedure. I was convinced that I had successfully uploaded my entry. Obviously not. Hopefully, I can get this figured out before the next contest.

Cheers!