May Photo Contest Theme: LIGHT AND SHADOWS -- Submit entries here.

[ConsAreLiars]

May Contest Theme: LIGHT AND SHADOWS -- Submit your entries here.

You don't have to read all, or any, of the following to participate -- just put the title of the image in the Subject header and the link to your picture and any comments in the body. (If you're not sure how to do that, ask.)


LIGHT AND SHADOWS

The theme means whatever you think - it is an abstract theme and can include almost any subject matter, but the general idea is that something about the light and the shadowed areas are important to the impact of the image. If that is too vague, there is some discussion of the theme in this thread -
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=280&topic_id=3468&mesg_id=3468 - but don't feel limited by those ideas.


IMAGE SIZE

Ideally photos should be 700- 900 pixels in the longest dimension and under 200KB in size. Files bigger than that are hard to view and appreciate on a typical monitor, and keeping the file size down makes it easier for dial-up users to view the photos. In my experience this is do-able, but there may be images where the photographer thinks a greater width is needed to fairly display the image, or that file compression to that size loses too much of the image.

Since some who have photos to share may not be familiar with image processing tools, when large files appear in the submissions thread, it would be helpful if people participating in this forum who have the needed skills and tools would volunteer to reduce the file size as needed (and image dimensions also only if agreed to by the photographer). A good and free image viewing program with basic editing functions is Irfanview http://www.irfanview.com/

Ideally, and with the help of the group, all the images that appear in the Lounge contest will be within those limits, but this is a general guideline only.


DISCUSSION OF ENTRIES:

From the group description: "The purpose of the Photography Group is to discuss photography as an art, skill, and means of communication, as well as share photographs."

I encourage folks to feel free to comment on the entries and what they like and/or how they think the image might be improved. I felt a bit reluctant to comment during the last contest for fear of "lobbying" but I think it was a mistake on my part to see it as a "contest" instead of the "collaboration" which I think is what it should be. The goal here, as I see it, is not to decide who has the "best" photo, but to help all of us appreciate the art and truth-telling of photography, share our efforts with others, develop our skills and appreciation of the medium, and build a supportive and helpful mini-community.


SCHEDULE:

1. This Submissions thread will run through the next weekend and be closed on Monday evening (Pacific time) 5/23. The idea is to give any whose online time is limited to weekends a couple chances to enter.

2. If there are over 30 entries, only the first 30 will qualify, and if the contest yields less than 30 they will be divided into approximately equal groups for the next stage.

3. A few days later (depending on how long it takes me) I'll divide the entries into Stage I polls, based on submission order, which will be posted in the Lounge and run a few days - ideally ThursAM-MonPM, so as to include one weekend.

4. Assuming close to 30 entries and 3 Stage I contests, the final ten will include the top two in each contest and then the four others which got the highest vote totals, regardless of the particular Stage I contest they appeared in. The intent here is to try to recognize the fact that several popular images might appear in the same contest while another has only a couple of real crowd-pleasers.


THE WINNER:

Well, I think there should be more than one, maybe three of the final 10, but until we reach a consensus and work out the mechanics, "the winner" will have not only the respect of the voters but maybe get their work posted in the Photography section of the Demopedia. In addition, "the winner" has the option to organize and host the next contest or, if unable or unwilling to do so, the obligation to recruit a substitute host. The general feeling seems to be that "the winner" should sit out the next contest, and/or the person who hosts the next contest should stay out. I don't agree, but believe this is the way things are for now. So be prepared to sit out the next month's contest if you get too many votes in this one.

[Blue_In_AK]

1. Arcade on the Santa Cruz boardwalk

[TahitiNut]

9. That was one of my favorite places to stroll and people-watch. n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

15. We go there to stroll and people-watch

every time we go to California. :)

[intheflow]

35. This looks so surreal.

The light balance is great, nothing seems washed out or muddied. Nicely done! :applause:

[lakemonster11]

2. Broken Glass

[intheflow]

36. This is fine photography.

That is a truly lovely photo. Thanks for entering, lakemonster11, and welcome to DU. :hi:

[Blue_In_AK]

46. Yes, I love this one, too.

Mine's photography, but this is art.

[lakemonster11]

54. Thanks

Thanks, guys. I'm flattered! :)

[Longgrain]

3. Here's mine

Simply titled, "Cemetery Tree". I tried to summit this in the last contest, but didn't get in on time...



This was taken in the same cemetery in Amherst MA where Emily Dickenson is buried.

[Blue_In_AK]

84. There you are, LongGrain...

I don't know how I missed you before. I really like this picture.

[Longgrain]

95. Thanks, I just sort of captured it in passing

Wasn't sure how it was going to come out, but luckily it worked.

[Mr. McD]

4. At the beach

[electricmonk]

5. Cord

[Longgrain]

6. Wow, that looks like it could be a painting!

Or a charcoal drawing.

Great stuff! :thumbsup:

[electricmonk]

7. Thanks

It's an older photo took it in '92 in my Mom's kitchen. She had the oven door open and it cast the perfect shadow from the phone cord.

[TahitiNut]

16. It's noticing that makes all the difference.

Good eye. :thumbsup:

[intheflow]

37. That's kind of sensuous.

I don't even want to know what Freud would say about me thinking a phone cord was sexy. :eyes:

[MissHoneychurch]

8. Staircase

[Blue_In_AK]

10. Gosh, you guys are so artsy ...

I'm impressed. :toast:

[Placebo]

11. Swallow

Edited to fix link

[Blue_In_AK]

12. I was expecting a bird when I saw the title. :-)

I LOVE this.

[Placebo]

14. Heh...

not unless you can eat a swallow :P

wait...what?...:silly:

[Blue_In_AK]

17. Wouldn't make much of a meal. n/t

[alfredo]

13. the morning made

a shadow box.



let me know if it doesn't render properly.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

18. Sand Fences

[TahitiNut]

19. That's got texture, too. Nicely done.

:thumbsup:

[Placebo]

29. Love it...

wish we had beaches like that here in Chicago. :hi:

[Immad2]

20. Cicada's Lost Shadow

[ConsAreLiars]

26. Immad2 - I don't see this one

The link I get shows this small (4801 byte) Yessy Art Gallery Logo. Some galleries block requests by "unauthorized" users and instead send a logo like this.

Anyone else having this problem?

[ralps]

28. Yes, I'm seeing the Logo too.

:hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :shrug:

[ralps]

21. Here's my submission.

Nighttime Streetlights


It's 1568 x 357, 240 KB. I would prefer not to resize it but I will if you really need me to.
:hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo:

[ConsAreLiars]

44. No need to re-size

Your style of work is what alerted me to the need to keep the limits flexible. Cutting it to half the width and height would obviously do an ufair injustice to the image.

[alfredo]

22. I am having problems getting my image to show. I have altered it

reinstalled it, and for some reason it isn't working. I think I will have to either have my entry removed, or go to another server. If all fails, I will have to use a different picture. I keep getting an I/O error when uploading.

on Edit, I think I got it to work.

[Blue_In_AK]

23. Alfredo, I see your image just fine. n/t

[alfredo]

25. I used anothe FTP application and it worked this time.

For some reason the other one was munging up the upload.

[Blue_In_AK]

24. Dupe -- ignore

[Webster Green]

27. Market Street, San Francisco, 3-20-03

[Princess Turandot]

30. Final Shadows..

Trinity Church Yard, New York 1993

[intheflow]

34. Ooh! Back on the cemetery theme!

I like this a lot. Although it's so sad that people vandalize tombtones. Great dappled sunlight on the grass.

[Princess Turandot]

39. Oh those aren't vandelized..they are very old..

Trinity Church's cemetery has a number of notable Americans buried there, as well as church members. Those are probably all tombstones from the 1700's.They kind of let nature takes its course most of the time.

I love cemeteries. Was there a cemetery photo contest before?

[intheflow]

42. I grew up by an old cemetery like this.

I grew up in a fairly well-to-do New England town, and had a "thing" for old cemeteries. Sadly, most of this kind of damage is done by vandals. There's been a lot of time for vandals in 300 years. It's rare for the stones to break on their own; all the damage we had in my hometown cemetery was due to vandals. :(

Yeah, our second or third contest was cemetery themed. F.Gordon has been kind enough to post all the contests on his web site, so check it out: http://onionfarm.smugmug.com/gallery/507356 I have three cemetery photos because I hosted that month. But one of the photos is from my hometown cemetery. :)

I see you're not exactly new to DU, but welcome to the Photgraphy Group! :hi:

[Princess Turandot]

45. Thanks..

I'm not sure why I haven't ventured in here before.
Might be the 9,000 digiphotos of cats on my computer, although I have a few other themes...

I live in NYC; we've got a rather remarkable collection of historical (in terms of their residents) cemeteries here,
with the American Valley of the Kings at Woodlawn Cemetery, home to most of the departed robber barons in awesome mausaleums, and Greenlawn, a park-like cemetery in Brooklyn, with many a mobster in residence. I'm not comfortable going to those alone to shoot photos because they are so large, and on weekdays, are very quiet.
Trinity & its related St. Paul's Chapel are just due east of the WTC site and by some stroke of fate, had virtually no real damage done to their cemeteries, just some collected debris.Trinity has children buried there who died in the 1600's.


I'll check out the contest collection.Thank you for the link.

[amerikat]

31. I'll enter this one

No title.

[RetroLounge]

32. Solitude

I was out in the woods this weekend, and we had no sun for almost the entire time, and constant rain. Saturday afternoon I had about an hour of sunlight, so I grabbed my camera and took off. This is a trail I found near Green Lake, WI, after an hour of a very peaceful walk alone in the woods...

Right after I took this the sun ducked into the clouds again and the trail became dark.



RL

[intheflow]

38. Really nice, RetroLounge.

I never can seem to get even light balance on paths. It's always either too dark or too light. This lighting is like Baby Bear: just right. ;)

[RetroLounge]

74. Thanks! I got lucky...

:hi:

RL

[Princess Turandot]

41. very nice..

I feel like I'm walking in those woods while looking at the pic.

[RetroLounge]

75. They are very beautiful woods...

:hi:

RL

[Blue_In_AK]

47. Beautiful, RetroLounge n/t

[RetroLounge]

76. Thanks!

It's no Alaska, but Wisconsin is okay :D

:hi:

RL

[ralps]

85. Nice photo RetroLounge!!!!!!!!

:hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo:

[intheflow]

33. Sara's Eyes

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

40. very nice... I love the extreme close up photos

I have a whole series of them of family and friends, they hate them at first, but a few years later, they like them.

Odd.

[intheflow]

61. This is cropped from a photo of her whole face.

I think I like the whole face shot better, but didn't think I should just be plastering Sara's face all over the internet without her permission. And the eyes say it all, anyway.

[TahitiNut]

43. OK... I'll embarrass myself and enter "Neither sleet nor ..."

[Blue_In_AK]

49. How did you get the sparkles to show up?

Every time I try to take pictures of sparkles in the snow, they wash out.

[TahitiNut]

50. They were far, far more "sparkly" in real life ...

... and (less so) on the un-resized "original." In real life they were like mini-rainbows ... like a field of diamonds. In the 1MB 'original' some of the sparkles have 'rainbow edges'. This reduced copy doesn't show 'em nearly as much as the "original." That's much of what motivated me to freeze my tush and get the photo. It was coooold and the sparkles were fabulous. I'm just happy that some of them showed up -- since I didn't PhotoShop this one.

[ConsAreLiars]

53. Sharp pinpoint highlights are one of the first things to suffer

in a raw scan when the data is averaged across adjacent color sensors. Resizing does the same thing. And jpeg compression does the same thing. You might want to play with whatever software you are using for resizing by boosting up the sharpening level. Just don't go so far that every black object gets fringed with a white border, as we sometimes see. The sparkles are an important quality in the image you posted here, and it is effective as submitted, but if you want to work on it more and get a better and more accurate reproduction, go ahead. Feel free to put up a revised version of "neither sleet nor ..." if you wish.

[TahitiNut]

51. Here's a crop from the original ...

This 3X enlargement of a crop might give some idea of how dense the sparkles are on the original. Most of the very smallest 'sparkles' washed and make the snow look tinted.

[regnaD kciN]

48. Neon Beams

[intheflow]

59. Is that lit entirely by neon?

Very nice lighting, whatever the source. The angled beams are pretty funky. What kind of building is this?

[regnaD kciN]

64. Yes...

It was at a restaurant with a beamed ceiling in the waiting area, and a couple of neon beer signs hung among the rafters. This was taken two days after I got my digital camera, and was just taking a set of random shots for printer test purposes. While I was doing so (and taking quite a few unmemorable photos in the process), I just happened to be lucky enough to look up while waiting to be seated.

[RagingInMiami]

52. Well I was hoping to take a new photo tomorrow, but it looks like this

thread is filling up pretty quick, so I'll submit a photo I took last month which some of you have already seen.

This is called "pelican at sunset".

[intheflow]

58. That is one mighty fine photo.

Every cloud should have a silver lining that pronounced.

[RagingInMiami]

79. Thanks

I had about a 45 second window when the light was like that, then it went away.

[yvr girl]

55. Girl in the Cave

Edit: Should I make this smaller?

[RagingInMiami]

56. Nice shot

Glad you're joining us down here in the photo group.

[ConsAreLiars]

57. No need to make it smaller.

Unless you want to. It fits within the general size guidelines. It needs a slight amount of scrolling on my set-up, but not much, and I can appreciate the image as a whole since the scrolling needed is fairly minor. Those who use an smaller screen size might have some trouble, however, so that is something you might want to consider.

[intheflow]

60. I had a cave photo I considered submitting.

I'm so glad I didn't. This is a far superior shot. Who knew you were artsy? Welcome to the Photo Group! :hi:

[yvr girl]

62. Thanks

I have my secrets.

Thanks for the welcome everyone.

[ET Awful]

65. Yay for Yvr!!!!!

:) :hug: welcome to the group :)

Very cool shot!

[yvr girl]

69. This is such a friendly group

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

[TahitiNut]

70. Well, just don't get too close to one of us. (He pinches.)

:hi:

[ralps]

67. Cool photo yvr girl. I'm glad you are here!!

:hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo:

[maveric]

63. Pier Perspective.

[intheflow]

80. That's an odd photo.

Odd in a good way! :)

It almost looks like there's a submerged walkway, like a double-tiered bridge. The best part, though, is the bird flying on the right. imo.

[F.Gordon]

66. "Alive and Still"

Sorry to post and run. See I owe a few people the courtesy of a reply. It's just been one of those kind of weeks....

Just happened to see this thread, and noticed it filling up very quickly. Thought I'd better get in a snapshot for the contest now before it's too late. BTW: I can't believe all the great photographs being submitted. All fantastic!! :applause:

ConsAreLiars... I'm within' your res size but if you need me to scale it down a notch or two just let me know. And I still think you should become the permanent host.
:evilgrin:

[kliljedahl]

68. Rock Island State Park

My first post in here.





Keith’s Barbeque Central

[ConsAreLiars]

71. Up to 23 entries now

including Immad2's entry, which hopefully will become available before the contest closes. If not, the 31st entry will get put into the place now held for Immad2.

(edit for coherence)

[intheflow]

72. ConsAreLiars, I hate to ask but...

can I change my entry? I talked with my friend and she said it would be okay to use her whole portrait. If you'll allow me, I'd rather submit "Shadowed Sara" instead of "Sara's Eyes."


Shadowed Sara




I will of course abide by your ruling, O Supreme Maker of Photo Contests (this month, at least).
If you say the eyes only photo stays, then that's cool by me.

[ConsAreLiars]

77. I see no problem in changing one's entry

After discovering that my entry last time was "discolored" and that I had a more accurate image available (this was when I had made only a few scanning efforts before the scanner failed to survive a hardware/OS upgrade and hadn't yet bought a replacement scanner) I wondered about doing this, but didn't want to confuse things. Now that I am doing the contest it seems to be no trouble at all to make substitutes.

My own feeling is that this is a friendly learning process for most of us, and the goal is primarily to share our favored images with others on DU, even if they are only "Loungers," so finding that a preferred image is now available is just one of several reasons for doing this. I recall someone else saying they put up a second choice image due to deadline pressure, which I don't think should be a factor, and maybe others might want to reprocess images that they feel didn't do the original justice or make other changes. My own attitude is the contest should be as flexible as possible, although others who host it may feel more comfortable with a more rigid structure.

So, in short, anyone should feel free to make whatever changes they wish until the contest is ended.

[intheflow]

81. Thanks.

I'm much happier with this shot. :hi:

BTW, your photo is up on the Demopedia page: http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/DU_Photography_Group :thumbsup:

[alfredo]

96. I guess I should change to one I just finished today. It seems to

fit the category better. If you give the OK, then I want this to be my entry. My first Rose of the year.

[intheflow]

114. Man, the competition's getting tough!

:cry:




Of course I'm just being silly. This is a gorgeous photo, alfredo! :applause: It makes me impatient for my roses to bloom.

[alfredo]

115. I guess I should have stopped trying to get that first image

to load. I wasted several hours tracking down the problem. It turned out to be a combination of a flaky ISP and the FTP program I am using.

I still wasn't happy with my selection and wished I had spent time shooting more images and searching my drive for more Ideas instead of screwing around with that image.

thanks for the good words.

[RagingInMiami]

78. Much better

A perfect example of lights and shadows

[GOPFighter]

89. Either one is a winner

The cropped photo of the eyes really grabbed me when I was scrolling down through the photos. However, I like the patterned shadow of the full face.

[Samurai_Writer]

73. Doggy Heaven

This was shot early in the morning when the sun was coming in my patio door and reflecting brightly off the open blinds. And of course, the 'shadow' is Magic, being black and all. :)

[GOPFighter]

82. Hoar Frost

Gotta' be quick these days!

[intheflow]

86. How do you DO that?

My snow photos all look like I shot them with a Kodak Instamatic camera, yours all look like they were shot by Ansel Adams. Another beauty, GOPFighter!

[GOPFighter]

88. It was the weather, not me

I've never seen such a fantastic occurrence of hoar frost as we had January 21. Ansel Adams would have had a stroke trying to capture all of the beauty of that day. I was just a spectator with a camera.

Thanks for the kind words, intheflow. BTW, none of your pictures have ever looked like they came from an Instamatic.

:hi:

[alfredo]

98. Lovely

[keithjx]

83. King Midas

This is my first photo post here. My fiancee is doing this for a living, but I'm still just learning. This is using a technique called "painting with light." No photoshopping either - this is straight from the D70 to YOU!

KJ

[intheflow]

87. Welcome to the Photography Group, keithjx.

This is a very cool photo. For those of us always learning, how exactly does one "paint with light"? The effect is quite striking.

Nice to have you join us. :hi:

[keithjx]

90. Here's the set-up I used....

Best to do this at night or in a room w/o a window. Keep the room as dark as possible.

I used a black velvet drape over a bench, and mounted the camera on a tripod. Exposure time was 30 seconds, at f/11. I used a little pen light with a cone of paper around the bulb to direct the light a little better. As soon as I hit the shutter, I used the pen light to "paint" my hand with light. I barely touched the dimmest parts, and really let it soak in light on the brightest. The hardest part (this was probably my 10th image) was watching the stray light. With the aperature this closed, I could afford to have light stray for 1/2 second and it wouldn't pick it up.

Anyway, it was really a fun technique, and I wanted to do one of my head, but that would take two people, and my fiancee was busy. Give it a try though - it's pretty dang easy after you've done it once or twice, and you can make some really funky images.

Thanks for the :hi: !
KJ

[TahitiNut]

91. You might even be able to "shake hands" with yourself, right?

It seems obvious that the subject must be held mostly stationary, but unlit movement wouldn't register. Thus, an overlap of images could be achievable. Employing such techniques might yield a ghostly and interesting effect.

[keithjx]

92. You are on to me!

The other image that I was TRYING to prepare for this was of my guitar, and my hand at different places on the neck. But I was moving the guitar too much when I changed positions, so the strings and bridge blurred. I wanted to at least get a photo entered, and the contest was filling up, so I did the easier one. But yeah, the final pic of the guitar has 5 left hands going up the neck and one right hand with blurry fingers strumming it.

KJ

[superconnected]

93. Okay, Under the freeway Seattle

stairway

[Blue_In_AK]

94. Is that by Pike Street? n/t

[superconnected]

97. actually it's I5 we are looking at

I believe it's the West Seattle Bridge it's converging with.

[alfredo]

118. I really like the composition and the

contrast. Any more or any less would not have worked as well.

[Ms. Toad]

99. Sunlight in a rain forest near Cairns, Australia

[Feli]

100. Oh, I've been there . . .

Wel, I've been to Australia at least, very nice.:thumbsup:

[Ms. Toad]

102. Hmmm...

Does it really count when it is your daughter saying your photo is very nice?:7


Thanks. :blush:

[TahitiNut]

108. Yep. Counts double.

But you knew that. :silly:

[Ms. Toad]

110. Like my father says about me,

We claim each other in public.

My daughter and I are carrying on the tradition. She's been looking at DU over my shoulder for a while, joined on her own a few weeks ago, and asked me to donate so we could enter the photography contest. Isn't her window great? http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=280&topic_id=3628&mesg_id=3777

[TahitiNut]

111. "Isn't her window great?" See? It counts double.

Yep. I'm a sucker for leaded glass and gardens. :thumbsup:

[Feli]

101. Secret Garden Room

I took this picture at a B&B in Victoria, Canada overlooking a garden:

[TahitiNut]

112. Welcome! Nice shot!

I'd like to see it in muted tones.

[Robb]

103. Smoking Section

Every now and again I get lucky... the local volunteer firefighters were practicing setting a building on fire then putting it out just a couple blocks from my house. In my opinion, the best part is that the firefighter is carrying a propane tank and torch. :)

[ralps]

104. I can't see your photo. All I see is the "FortuneCity" logo

:hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :shrug:

[Robb]

105. Aha... this happens from time to time

...Try dumping yer cache and clicking on the main page (I use it to dump various things):

http://members.fortunecity.com/ocp/thingy.html

:)

[ConsAreLiars]

106. It needs to be hosted on a site which allows direct linking to the image

Most here seem to use photobucket, but many others are also used. More are listed at http://www.filehost.ws/

[Robb]

107. Yay! Here it is:

http://www.imageshack.us>

[ConsAreLiars]

109. Works fine - 4 to go (n/t)

[intheflow]

113. Wow, that's a pretty intense photo!

It's nothing that would have come to my mind for the "light and shadow" theme, but this really works well. Plus, as you say, there's that element of danger with the huge fire and the propane tank. Very nice, Robb.

[RagingInMiami]

116. That's a very nice photo

Now I'm going to have to rummage through my print photos, the ones I took before I had a digital camera, and look for a shot that I took in Southern California when I worked for a newspaper out there.

It involves firefighters and flames as well. (I've been meaning to scan it in for the last few weeks but I've been lazy)

[Schema Thing]

117. I call it: "No, Seriously"

[DS1]

119. All Hands Present

[TahitiNut]

120. Orrr...... "Second Dog"

(Watch) ... or "Seven Bells" (which is 7:30 pm). The 2nd dog watch is from 6pm to 8pm.

Very nice photo. :thumbsup:

[DS1]

128. Thanks, this was just around 6 pm

But I'm not familiar with those terms, and with the title felt like noting how hazardous commercial fishing is.

[Blue_In_AK]

141. I don't see this one. n/t

[TahitiNut]

148. Yep. It's gone missing, it seems.

:shrug:

[DS1]

151. It thought since there were two overflows it wouldn't be worth

posting a special thread for the sake of them.

[DS1]

150. I deleted it

[ralps]

121. ConsAreLiars, right now I count 32 entrys including the image of

Immad2 that is not showing up at this time. You might want to check my numbers. :hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo:
edit because I forgot Immad2's name

[GCP]

122. Am I too late?

Disneyland at Dawn.

[TahitiNut]

127. Oh, wow! That's really gorgeous.

Lovely!

[ConsAreLiars]

123. I count 29 now - Is anything missing from this list? - Titles OK?

(Immad2 decided to withdraw the entry and join in later.)

Two images are replacements for earlier entries, so I think the count of 32 agrees with my tally, but people should check to see that I haven't missed something and that the titles listed are what you wish to see associated with your pic when the contest is posted.

Any other recommendations or advice?

If there are several more submissions to the contest beyond the limit of 30, I will be glad to post a non-contest thread called "Too Late for the contest but worth seeing" (or something) that will not have a poll associated with it, but will be linked in the Lounge contest announcement along with the three votable threads. Presumably folks interested in the contest would also enjoy seeing and commenting on these non-contest photos.

Please check the list below for errors:

1. Arcade on the Santa Cruz boardwalk

2. Broken Glass

3. Cemetery Tree

4. At the beach

5. Cord

6. Staircase

7. Swallow


8. My first Rose of the year

9. Sand Fences

10. Under the freeway Seattle stairway

11. Nighttime Streetlights

12. Market Street, San Francisco, 3-20-03

13. Final Shadows

14. No title

15. Solitude

16. Shadowed Sara

17. "Neither sleet nor ..."

18. Neon Beams

19. Pelican at Sunset

20. Girl in the Cave

21. Pier Perspective

22. Alive and Still

23. Rock Island State Park

24. Doggy Heaven

25. Hoar Frost

25. King Midas

25. Secret Garden Room

26. Smoking Section

27. "No, Seriously"

28. All Hands Present

29. Disneyland at Dawn

[DS1]

124. good to go for me

:thumbsup:

[ConsAreLiars]

125. Kick! ( (n/t) (just kidding))

Any ideas regarding encouraging over-30 non-contest submissions?

[DS1]

126. are there or aren't there? I'm confused

If not, then lock after 30 is reached and go ahead with polls early, if so, lock now and either post extras ahead of contest so they don't get drowned out, or ask the contestants if they want them included in such a thread

mine's been posted before, I don't mind what happens

[ConsAreLiars]

129. It;s an empty category now,

so we're waiting for #30.

I'll plan on starting the contest in the Lounge reasonably soon afterwards.

Thanks

[ralps]

130. You forgot post #99's "Sunlight in a Rainforest near Cairns Australia"

"King Midas" should be # 26, "Sunlight... # 27, "Secret Garden Room" # 28, "Smoking Section" # 29, "No Seriously" # 30, "All Hands Present" # 31, and "Disneyland at Dawn" # 32
:hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals:

edit- I know I'm being really picky about this. I hope you all understand where I'm coming from. I consider myself to be somewhat of a perfectionist in parts of my life.:shrug:

[ConsAreLiars]

132. Thanks for catching my mis-numbering and omission

It would have been hard to get those three #25's into one slot in the poll. Sorry I let the fact that there were 32. Details do matter, it seems.

Thanks for all the help you (all) have been giving.

[flaming bondage mask]

133. I got 34

Arcade on the Santa Cruz boardwalk
Broken Glass
Cemetery Tree
At the beach
Cord
Staircase
Swallow
a shadow box
Sand Fences
Cicada's Lost Shadow
Nighttime Streetlights
Market Street, San Francisco, 3-20-03
Final Shadows
No title
Solitude
Neither sleet nor
Neon Beams
pelican at sunset
Girl in the Cave
Pier Perspective
Alive and Still
Rock Island State Park
Shadowed Sara
My first Rose of the year.
Doggy Heaven
Hoar Frost
King Midas
Under the freeway Seattle
Sunlight in a rain forest near Cairns, Australia
Secret Garden Room
Smoking Section
No, Seriously
All Hands Present
Disneyland at Dawn.

Oh well, if you want to run pics without any shadows that's fine w/me :P

[ConsAreLiars]

136. Two of those were withdrawn:

Cicada's Lost Shadow and a shadow box. But we're over 30 in any case.

I feel it's inappropriate for me to exclude any photos offered in good faith and that it is not to decide if the light and/or shadow aspects of any image are sufficiently prominent.

[intheflow]

131. I count 32,

not counting Immad2.

[ConsAreLiars]

134. 32 it is, and the contest openings are filled up

I've corrected the numbering and put the omitted one in, and unfortunately the last two, #119 and #120, didn't get in soon enough.

It's unfortunate when the constraints on the number of entries turns the entry process into a race, but scarcity does that.

[RagingInMiami]

135. You've done a hell of a job hosting this contest

It just shows the popularity of the contest that it got filled up so quick. And it really did. I was thinking I was going to have all week to take a photo to submit.

[ConsAreLiars]

137. If I could only count ...

and proofread.

I'll alert the rest of you when the contest goes into the lounge and hope that any mistakes I might make there get caught in time to be fixed.

I'm planning to have one main thread that introduces the contest and has links to the three threads which contain the polls for the 3 groups of 10. If I am quick enough, each of the 3 subthreads will link back to the Contest intro and through it to the other two.

Because of the undesirable "race" aspect of the entry process, I'm fond of the idea of including late arrivals in a fourth (no voting, for the pleasure of viewing only) thread which would also be linked in the intro thread. Any thoughts on this?

[ralps]

138. That would be a cool thing to do. From what I remember in Longgrain's

first couple of photo contests he posted a thread with the late arrivals/ extra photos & linked it the the poll thread. :hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo:

[ConsAreLiars]

139. Aha! Precedent!

The last one was the first I had seen, and there were less than 30 entries so the issue did not come up then. It provides a measure of recognition for the good work being done by DUers here and opportunity for "late" entries to be shared with others via the contest mechanism, even if they are not subject to vote.

[RagingInMiami]

140. I think the addition of more photos that aren't supposed to be voted on

might confused and overwhelm people.

I do agree with posting them in the lounge, but maybe once after the contest is well underway, possibly the following day.

[ConsAreLiars]

143. Overwhelm is possible since

there are a lot of photos involved, especially for dial-up. With no voting option, I doubt the Loungers would be confused -- no more than usual, anyway. I think I could clearly isolate out and identify the non-contest thread as such.

Part of this may be a difference in how we regard the "contest" aspect. I don't take it very seriously, just an opportunity to share (show off?) our pics. Going over 30 entries is technically difficult, at least for a disorganized keyboard-challenged novice like me, but I don't see this as a good reason to deny those of us here who would otherwise lose the "enter quickly" race an opportunity to share their pics on a nearly equal basis. On the other hand, it may be that some regard the contest aspect as central, and this additional thread would be a diversion from the competition.

Thanks for pointing out the downside of this idea.

[intheflow]

142. I agree wtih Raging.

When I hosted, the contest had 10 entries, and then I had only about 4 "extra" photos I posted in a separate thread from the contest. This is far more complicated with the prelims.

You're doing a great job! :thumbsup: When will the contest go up?

[ConsAreLiars]

144. The contest will go up

as soon as I get "a round tuit." My work schedule ranges from non-existent to erratic, but this week has been busy. However, at this point, it looks like a short day tomorrow and so I hope to get it up sometime during the (west coast) afternoon Friday.

How long do you think it should run? I guess about 4 days is OK for stage I - FriPM thru TuesPM, essentially. The Final stage will begin ASAP thereafter, but I'm not sure what past practice has to say about how long it should run. Any suggestions?

[intheflow]

145. I thought it worked well for 24-hours

for each stage. That's what all the contests ran before last month's. 24-hours is enough time for it to make the greatest page, which saves a lot on kicking.

Maybe longer for the prelims makes sense. Figure, the prelims will be advertising for the final. You could always put what time the finals will be posted and for how long in the prelim thread.

They also ran the finals on Saturday evening until Sunday evening. I think the weekend thing worked well.

[ConsAreLiars]

146. Some people get broadband access only via work,

so I think weekdays are important. On the other hand, some folks may only have the time and opportunity on weekends and evenings. Shortening the longer (in terms of content) Stage I to three days (ending Monday PM) should give DU Lounge regulars ample opportunity to participate, and announcing the "Finals" timeframe at least gives those with fewer opportunities to browse fair notice of the

If we kick the main thread, rather than the 3 Stage I subthreads, it should be possible to give the prelims some attention without trying to keep 3/10 of page 1 devoted to the contest.

Thanks for the advice. I'll have to think about the duration for the "finals" contest. I have the time to get online everyday, but many do not. Maybe a short 24 hours is best - luck of the draw for the less frequent visitors to that forum.

[DS1]

149. 24 Hours is more than enough

I think it kinda starts to suck the joy out of Photography when they go longer (like when I ran it :blush: ) - it kind of appears to be pushy and "chorish".

And mine is 50% of the overflow, like I said it's been posted in the lounge before so it matters little to me to post it again - hence I've renamed the file.

And perhaps if we had a little prize/badge of honor like a very small icon that the winner can put in their sigs, with months won for repeat winners - just to add the element of winning something tangible.

[RagingInMiami]

154. I like that idea of having an icon in your sig

But of course I'm biased.

[intheflow]

153. "A round tuit"

Here are a couple to choose from... just in case you couldn't find one on your own. :silly:

[MissHoneychurch]

147. Is it possible to sort the entries in the polls a bit?

like separate animal pictures from landscapes?

Just a suggestion

[Samurai_Writer]

152. You don't want to compete with the cute critters? ;)

Just teasing. But you know, my Doggy Heaven is going to get all the pet lover votes! ;) *kidding*

[Maestro]

155. Here's my entry for what it is worth

I have resized it. I hope it is not too big. It's under 200K but the dimensions are a bit off.

[superconnected]

156. Maestro, It's great.

I would have voted for it.

[Maestro]

157. Thank you so much

My daughter is one of my favorite subjects. ;)

[Blue_In_AK]

158. The "light" is obviously in the pink dress.

Beautiful shot and beautiful little girl.

[Maestro]

159. That is for certain!

She really does radiate sunshine. :)