# Photography Competition - $25 gift certificate



## KyleT (Jul 22, 2002)

Updated Rules, please re-read.

Welcome to the first Planted Tank Photography competition. This is going to be a community run competition in that members of the board are going to vote for the winner. The winner, as chosen by members, will receive a $25 gift certificate to AquariumGarden.com.

There are a few rules:
1. Images must be your own original work. 
2. The Image must be no larger than 1024 x 768.
3. By submitting your picture to the site you agree that both The Planted Tank and AquariumGarden.com have the right to publish photos on our respective websites. 
4. Pictures can be anything related to aquariums. Fish, plants, overall tank etc....
5. There is only one picture per person. Please send me only one picture. 
6.Competitors are to remain anonymous until end of voting to avoid any biased votes.

If you are interested in entering simply email me your picture. The higher the quality the better. Make sure to include your username in the email. For my email address click the button in my profile. 

The competition will start on May 1 and will run for 2 weeks. 

Good Luck!
Kyle


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Apr 15, 2003)

By no editing - do you mean NO editing? Not even cropping?


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## chinaboy1021 (May 30, 2003)

Ghori please dont enter the contest so the rest of PT can have a chance. ; )


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## KyleT (Jul 22, 2002)

Ghazanfar Ghori said:


> By no editing - do you mean NO editing? Not even cropping?


My Oh My. I'm sorry Ghazanfar. Your right that is rather ridiculous. I altered the rules slightly. Really I just meant to color alterations, adding in fish, etc... Image resizing/cropping is allowed. 

Kyle


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## mario (Feb 5, 2003)

Kyle, sorry to be picky, but color alteration are indispensable when working with digital cameras. Many color alterations are performed automatically when taking your picture in the first place (white balance).

Most cameras have automatic white balance. However, sometimes this automatic feature falls short and needs to be modified manually. Is that still acceptable?


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## KyleT (Jul 22, 2002)

See this is where it gets kind of sticky. See what I dont want is for people to edit the pictures to make them better than what really exists. For example you might want to make that rotala, just a tiny bit more red than it really is to make it seem healthier and better. This of course is not fair and not what the photo contest is about. 

Kyle


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## cich (Aug 5, 2003)

Ghazanfar Ghori said:


> By no editing - do you mean NO editing? Not even cropping?


Answer: 


Fender963 said:


> 2. No alteration other than image cropping/resizing is allowed.


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## KyleT (Jul 22, 2002)

Cich, 

I changed the rules after Ghazanfer's question. Before it read "No Editing". 

Kyle


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## GDominy (Jul 30, 2002)

Kyle,

Maybe we could firm things up a little? Say.. specify an image size so we have some criteria for submission?


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## Daemonfly (Oct 1, 2003)

Ah, a contest mainly for the guys with the expensive cameras


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## 2la (Aug 18, 2002)

Daemonfly said:


> Ah, a contest mainly for the guys with the expensive cameras


To some degree, perhaps, but if this is a true photography competition then neither the technical nor the compositional aspects (nor the subjects) of the images should be more emphasized than the other. However, the judges are going to be the board members at large, so going into it one should realize that certain subjects may appeal more to this forum's membership than others. For example, if total image crispness seems to be preferred, then a more artistic image utilizing a large aperture and smaller plane of focus may not rank as highly--even if it's the more photographically disciplined image. Enter at your own risk, I say (or just stay out, knowing that both the G-men are probably going to be entering...  ).


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## Leipo (Jan 28, 2004)

I often edit pictures so that they resemble the true colors that my fish have at that moment. I often find that my camera adds a rather greenish color to my foto's which I edit...


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## Gomer (Aug 14, 2003)

The problem with editing is that there is a tendency to use certain adobe filters such as Auto contrast, Auto levels, Image Multiply, manual level changing. Using these and others, you can get some unreal effects that are just not natural..but they sure do look good


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## Leipo (Jan 28, 2004)

I understand that u can use these alterations to make your fish/plant/tank look more beautiful than it really is, but many people (like me) use them so show how the fish/plant/tank really is according to the human eye and not according to a digital camera.

In the end it all comes down to trust...


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## GDominy (Jul 30, 2002)

2la, as a Canadian I will not be entering the contest, or if I do, it will simply be for novelty. Aquarium Garden does not ship outside of the US so even if I won, the prize would be wasted on me.

Besides.. as far as disciplined photography goes, I'm really quite inexperienced. I rely pretty heavily on post processing touchup in photoshop (I've been doing desktop publishing faaaaaaarrrr longer then I've been taking pictures)


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## 2la (Aug 18, 2002)

You're no different than the rest of us, Gareth. Post-processing is necessary particularly in situations where initial lighting isn't ideal or the camera's white balance is inadequate. Even when manually set, WB can change as your camera angle changes and more light hits the sensor or a nearby colored surface. I can understand the requisite that post-processing be limited to cropping and resizing in order to prevent less than scrupulous shutterbugs from enhancing colors, but it takes a lot of my own pictures out of the running (not that I'd enter) since I use Photoshop to correct my camera's minor mistakes. It's the digital equivalent of darkroom processing, but considerably more powerful and thus dangerous if not used properly.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

I don't understand why post-processing is considered a bad thing, even prohibited. I post-process all my images, and the least I do is to resize and sharpen them.

Consider this... most digital cameras save their images as jpegs. This involves -- besides compressing them -- a whitepoint adjustment and sharpening algorithm. Saturation and level adjustments within the camera are not unusual.

So, for example, I set my camera to "low sharpening" rather than the default "normal sharpening", because I believe that USM applied in post-processing does a gentler job than the USM algorithm that is built into the camera. So isn't that kinda ambiguous... since I do sharpening in postprocessing, my pics will not qualify, but if I set the cam to "high sharpening" they will, even though they will perhaps look oversharpened.

With all advances in optics and electronics, the human eye is still much more capable than any lens. Cameras just record reality, while the human eye adapts to the specific situation. Sensible color correction can bring an image closer to what the eye of the photographer saw in that moment. 

I understand that retouching (the elimination of parts of the original image or addition of elements that were not) or special effects like certain filters are frowned upon, even local enhancements... but wouldn't in the end the viewer notice if something looked unreal?


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## KyleT (Jul 22, 2002)

Well it seems as if the no edit rule wasn't so well received. So against my previous plans I'm going to go ahead and change this. It is going to have to be based on trust and all hopefully any drastic changes will be obvious. I also like Gareth's suggestion about the size restrictions. It is slightly unfair comparing a 1280 x 1024 to a 800 x 600 image. I have changed the rules so everyone please re-read them and submit your photos!

Kyle


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

I have full confidence in our top notch panel of judges!

Mike


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## rumples riot (May 29, 2003)

Fender will I have to resubmit my shots as I think they are bigger than specified?

Paul


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## Jeremy S (Feb 4, 2004)

How will the voting work? Will the pictures be posted on the forums in a poll format or will there be another part of the website dedicated to the voting and viewing?


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## KyleT (Jul 22, 2002)

I will create a sticky post in the forum with a poll option. The actual images will be on a separate page to be as fair as possible. If the images were just all posted in a post, the first posts would obviously have an unfair advantage. 

Paul, Go ahead and resend me your pictures.
Kyle


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## KyleT (Jul 22, 2002)

Contest starts soon and still only have 4 entries. Is anyone else planning on submitting a photo?

Kyle


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## wellbiz (Aug 6, 2003)

Kyle,

I will try sending you one.... A photographer I am not, but what the heck

Jason


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## Jeremy S (Feb 4, 2004)

So, are you going to start the contest today?


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## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

Jeeeeeeeez am I a bonehead.... Im here just about every day and do ya think I remembered to do this ! :evil: 

Atta boy :roll:


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