[travis_cooper]

I am new to this site and was wondering if there is any interest for an idea that I learned from another site. The purpose behind this "side challenge" is to get immediate feedback and a lot of practice in a short time on a specific theme. When participating in these type of challenges I have personally learned a lot and I think that it is very helpful to all that participate. However, if not very many people participate then it isn't very fun, and you don't get much out of it, so before just starting one I was wondering if it would be something people would be willing to do.

The guidelines are pretty simple, anybody can start one of these, having multiple running at the same time isn't a bad thing, in fact it may mean that more people will find one that they are interested in. So somebody starts a thread titled December Side Challenge - [Your theme here] or something to that affect. Next anybody that is interested in that topic can post pictures as much as possible during the month, the more you participate the more you learn, at least that has been my experience. It is usually best if you upload the picture to your gallery and then link to it as a thumbnail in the thread for the next part. Now everybody that is following this thread can go comment on your picture. Hopefully these comments will try to stay away from the "nice shot" style comments and would instead point out good things and things to work on in the picture. The reason I say to upload this to the gallery instead of just putting it in your reply is so the comments people leave will be associated with your picture, instead of with the thread. This is usually easier so when you look at the picture, you don't have to remember where you posted it at and search through the posts, rather your comments on that shot are all right there. Then you learn from the comments, that you think are helpful (please don't get offended by what people say, and hey, they may not fit your style anyway), and you post a new picture when you get a chance with the same theme. Note also that the comments should be to the fact that they met the theme, but more importantly write to other photographic aspects to the picture, composition, lighting, exposure, etc. It is also best if you only submit pictures that you have taken specifically for this, mostly because the idea behind it is that you learn, and grow, and hopefully the next shot you post shows that improvement.

I personally have learned a lot from doing these side challenges, and I think that it would be helpful to others here too. But like I said it doesn't help much if there isn't a lot of participation, so who would be interested in something like this? If there seems to be enough interest I will start the first one off and submit a picture so you can see how it works a little better.

[daacon]

Hi Travis and welcome the forum! I am not sure if you are aware there are a couple of places to get comments on your shots - one is specifically for critiques in fact Here

I think this was set up as a result of the forum growing and people posting pictures and asking for suggestions on improvement (instead of the standard I like it , nice capture. etc).

The other couple of areas people use is the Post your Photos asking for commnets and Post processing asking for post processing tips.

I do like the idea of a signle theme however and a signle place to ask for help and or suggestions. We have some great photographers here as well as many wizzards at post processing (of which I am neither haha)

I think these types of threads probably belong in the Phot Critique . The title can be monthly theme with the understanding people are looking for comments on what camera settings , framing post processing, tips, tricks , etc could have been done to make the picture better.

I for one would participate in such an activity - not so much a contest unless at the end you declare some sort of winner

my $0.02.......

[travis_cooper]

Yeah, I realize there is a place to get critique on a photo, but hopefully this would be more than just that, because of the theme we would all be shooting similar types of shots. So not only can you learn from the critique on your shot, you also learn from other shots being posted. I don't mind putting this in the critique section, I just thought this section labeled as challenges and games was the best fitting. You're right it isn't a contest, just a challenge to try and post often and to fit the theme, there wouldn't be a declared winner, the biggest winners will be the people who participate the most.

Thanks for showing your interest, anybody else out there think this might be something you would want to do?

[travis_cooper]

Any more interest in this? Maybe I will just start one and see what the participation is like. Where do you think it best fits, here in the min-challenges, or in the photo critiques?

[JCSullivan]

I suppose what Travis (Welcome by the way) is suggesting is a online tutoring with many tutors and possibly many students. Not a bad idea I suppose.

So, what you're saying is, I

1. grab a shot of something,
2. post the image
3. Get feedback (good or bad, hostile or not)
4. grab another shot and repost
5. anyone can do the same within the same post??

[travis_cooper]

I suppose what Travis (Welcome by the way) is suggesting is a online tutoring with many tutors and possibly many students. Not a bad idea I suppose.

So, what you're saying is, I

1. grab a shot of something,
2. post the image
3. Get feedback (good or bad, hostile or not)
4. grab another shot and repost
5. anyone can do the same within the same post??

That is exactly what I mean, but you should also try to keep with the theme. So for example if there are people that like portrait shots, they could start one on portraits, then all the pictures would be portraits. Hopefully the people that know a lot about portraits would join in and then those that are just learning could get a lot of helpful information during the month. Or the topic could be textures, or water, or sports, or nature, or landscapes, etc. With all the pictures being on a specific theme and if a lot of people participate there is really a lot to learn. Doing this on another site I have grown a lot, not just learning about that specific topic, but other aspects as well.

[gokenin]

another site i visit has something similiar to this they call it the monthly assigment and you would go out take pictures that would use the assigment and would post them to get an idea from the others what you did right and what you could improve. I think this is what is being talked about?

[mtnbearhug]

What you are talking about Travis is very similar to what I brought up a few weeks ago in this thread..

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/suggestions-errors-help/13221-offering-lessons.html

This is kind of what I had in mind, although maybe more structured. But if we could get something like what you and JCSullivan are talking about that would be GREAT...

I like the idea of the professional knowledge database that we already have but would like a chance to try something and then get feedback on it. Whether it is random from many like in your idea or just from one particular person.

You have my vote to try something like this... I would definately try my best to participate. Maybe we try a couple posts and if it works and then perhaps we can talk to Mo about adding its own catagory (like the critque section).

Kim

[travis_cooper]

Okay I started up the first challenge. If you don't like the theme I started feel free to start one of your own. It can't hurt to have a couple running at a time. The theme I chose for this month is black and white, you can find the thread here.