COMMENT THREAD for the March photo contest.

[intheflow]

Comment on the photos being submitted here.

[intheflow]

1. F.Gordon, you were holding out on us.

I love your photo. :)

[JeffR]

2. Blue_In_AK's Arizona In Alaska rules

I just love this photograph.

[Ms. Toad]

3. Hey jhain . . .

You hang out along Highway 30 in Nebraska? Looks like one of the grain sidings that crop up every 10 miles, or so...

Here's one about 5 miles from where I grew up: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1829

[jhain]

8. Westhope, ND

Visited a friend there a few Summers ago and was the laughing stock every time I took a photo of a grain elevator. I am am east coaster born and bred and those things AMAZE me!

[Ms. Toad]

15. Not Surprising.

People would laugh at you in Nebraska, too. Sort of like me taking pictures of a street vendor - quite a novelty for a Nebraska farm kid, but the east coast folks I was visiting laughed at me too.

[intheflow]

4. realpolitik, your photo is showing up HUGH!!1 on my screen.

Your Hostess says: "Shrinkage would be appreciated." :hi:

Cool photo, though. Where was it taken?

[Fovea]

17. It won't let me edit the post

So if you'd delete it, I will repost smaller.
It is the KC Union Station, reflected in the window of a modern building next door.

[regnaD kciN]

19. You don't need to edit the post...

...all you need to do is change the image at , which your post links to.

[Fovea]

46. yeah, that's what i did

but I would'a preferred to have not resized the pic, but rather reposted using the medium size...

[intheflow]

34. You can eithr resize the photo in Flickr.

Or resize it offline & repost it on Flickr. Either way will work.

[bvar22]

5. New additions for my camera bag:

While attempting to shoot archetecture this week, I realized I needed some more tools.
1) Helicopter

2) Chain Saw

3) Portable Sun powerful enough to light up the North face of entire buildings

One benefit of this months theme is that I am much more aware of beauty and craftmanship that I was overlooking daily.
Minneapolis/StPaul has some fascinating buildings.

I really, REALLY wanted to get a decent shot of this neat 7-story tree house in Minneapolis, but it never came close to working.
This tree house is one of those wonders that must be walked around several times to appreciate. From any one angle, most of the detail is obscured by railings, shadow, or snow.

Good entries so far.
I love your entry, FGordon.
The old grain elevators are also sweet, jhain.


Took a ton of pics this week.
A few of them made me happy.

[intheflow]

6. I love all of these!

I want the porch in the last photo to be the porch on my house. And I want that greenhouse to be my greenhouse. :D

[JeffR]

7. Great pix

Love the second one especially.

[priller]

24. So bvar22, how did you do your submitted photo?

It's obviously a mirror image. What that the reflection off a nearby building?

[bvar22]

29. The building is the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

There are a couple of beautiful stone churches with steeples across the street, and I was looking for a good reflection shot of an old traditional church on the new art center (old vs new). I finally put my camera directly on the glass, and the result is the contest shot.

Notice the frosted area on the top 1/2 of the long horizontal glass front. At night, the art center rear projects images on this part of the glass. One of the employees of the Walker Center (who was investigating my strange behavior and numerous visits) told me that the building front has "especially flat glass and seams" to prevent distortion of the images they "rear project" on the glass. The flat glass gives that mirror like effect without the wavey distortions common to building refelections.

I retook the shot in late afternoon to get good sun on the church, and used a circular polarizing filter set to maximum reflection.
I photoshopped off the very top of the building. Like others in the photo forum, I feel a little guilty about photo shopping, but this picture was begging for it.

Here is an early trial shot before the polarizing filter. I loved the accidental airplane.



I have always hated this building (The "New" Walker Center).
IMHO, it is an eyesore and an insult to an area of Minneapolis that is rich in beautiful traditional buildings.




The Walker Art Center itself is a delight.
The programs and exhibits are always interesting, and it has a large outdoor garden that is wonderful.
It is not to be missed when visiting Minneapolis.
It is the new building that I hate.
http://www.walkerart.org/index.wac


Olympus C-750UZ set to auto.
polarizing filter

[alfredo]

9. I have committed Photo Contest suicide, but if one person

gets the message, the photo works. If nobody gets it, I still like the image.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. I get it. :-)

[bvar22]

13. I've always enjoyed and appreciated your work.

You have a very edgy, daring, and creative style that I love.

It probably won't win an archetecture "contest" in The Lounge (be great if it did!), but it will cause many people to stop and think for a minute. THAT is the goal I would like to achieve as a photographer.


I read several messages in your contest photo.
I like the image too.
:patriot:


Bob
St Paul

[alfredo]

14. Thank you. I never really desired winning. I like placing well,

but winning is not my goal.

The pictures I like are the ones seen through the eyes of a nine year old kid.
When I was a kid I fell in love with the Ashcan School of painting.
It was kind of a loose realism. It didn't really romanticise.
A nine year old can't be accused of being a romantic.








Pretty is nice, but not always interesting to me. Adults would walk by the doorway in my picture, but a nine year old boy would stop, check out the trash cans, or wonder what is behind the doors.

[Fovea]

50. George Bellows!

Hopper.
Sawyer?

[TahitiNut]

51. John Sloan

I like Glackens, too (part of the 'Ashcan School') ...

[Fovea]

53. Very Nice

Do you like Raphael Soyer?
While a realist, I like to think of him as a spiritual child of the ashcan school.

[TahitiNut]

54. I think his work is very evocative of the era.

It's funny ... the color pallette he uses reminds me of nothing more than the colors of the clothes my parents and grandparents had from the thirties and early forties, as I recall from when I was a small kid. My earliest recollection of the emotional effect of color is of those clothing tones. Soyer seems to use the same tones. Even his later work (60s-70s) echoes that spectrum, I think.

[Cobalt Violet]

20. I really like yours.

It is one of the most interesting. The least postcardy (unlike mine). It's true that it probably won't be appreciated as it should be by the lounge denizens.

I nearly didn't want to enter the contest because mine was so totally postcardy. It's the only architectural photo set I have at the moment. It feels to trite to me. There is nothing trite about yours.

[alfredo]

26. Yours is fine and will do well.

We both know the audience, and we both make decisions based on that knowledge.

I saw your image and that nine year old in me wanted to climb around in there and walk in the woods around it. it worked for me. The bright "postcardy" colors are unsettling, I like that. It grabbed me.

[bikebloke]

11. A Question

When I view my photos full screen, they're sharp as a tack. However, when slightly reduced in size through a viewer or coughed out of PhotoBucket, they lose that sharpness. Is it because I'm using the highest resolution my photo apparatus has (in case I want to make a big print to adorn my wall)? Maybe I should bring it down a notch?

I know which photo I'm going to vote for. And it ain't mine.

[intheflow]

12. I don't know what the problem is with the photo quality.

But I do know you should nevr make up your mind what photo to vote for until all submissions are placed. :P

[bikebloke]

21. No worries.

I was referring to my own photo submission. It pales compared to the others. I couldn't decide which to use, so went with more structure than a detail.

I saw a neat looking building with huge radar domes across the river. At full zoom, it was still boring. I suppose I could've walked out on the river for a closer, creative angle. But I didn't want to show off.

[regnaD kciN]

45. I'm going to disagree with you here...

I thought Crystal Pool was one of the best entries in this contest.

I found myself wondering about the history of that building. Was it an actual indoor swimming pool, a pool parlor, or something else entirely? When was it at its heydey, and how did it wind up abandoned and decaying? What happened to the owners, or those who used to spend time there? Any photograph that can leave me wondering about these things is a very fine image, IMHO.

[Blue_In_AK]

52. I agree. I voted for it. n/t

[bvar22]

16. I've noticed the same problem.

I posted a poll relevant to your question here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=280x14176

While scrolling through the Contest submissions, I "right clicked" on some of the taller pics to view the whole picture. When viewed at a lower resolution, some of them had noticible distortions, mostly along straight diagonal lines.
I have also read threads here about problems with photobucket auto-resizing pics.

I believe the problem is in the viewers, but that directly relates to the screen resolution each individual is using, and the size of the picture to be displayed.

You can do a simple test.
Upload to photobucket the same picture in different sizes that appear sharp in your photo editor. Then compare them in a test post at DU.

I'm only guessing here.

[bikebloke]

43. An added note.

Recently, I've been playing with a photoblog. The images are reduced in size, but retain their sharpness. I guess it all depends on the venue.

[Samurai_Writer]

18. Is this turning into the church contest?

Three churches so far. Guess because they have great architectural design and style.

[regnaD kciN]

22. Holy architecutural photography, Batman!

;-)

At least I'll be an exception...

[priller]

23. I had a church silhouette type of shot

as one of my choices, but I saw how many there were and decided against it.

Besides, it wouldn't have beaten Blue_In_AK's church. That's a fantastic picture!

[priller]

25. So you did get rid of the power line in your picture.

Get Photoshop?

[Whoa_Nelly]

27. WOw! Love this contest!

So many astounding photos submitted.

WTG, everyone!

[GOPFighter]

28. Car wrecked

Here is the photo I wanted to submit, but there's just one minor problem: the DAMN car parked in front of the church! I waited and waited for the driver to return, but.... :mad:

[Blue_In_AK]

30. It you have PaintShop or PhotoShop....

...can't you just "lasso" the car and remove it? It seems like the surrounding area is uniform enough that it could fill in and you'd never know the car was there. A confession -- I did that to a handicapped parking sign that I didn't like on my church photo.

ed. RadFemFL's power lines got removed, too. I don't think it's against the law to do that.

[bvar22]

31. Hope not.

I "shopped off" the very tip-top of the building in my submission.
I feel a little guilty, but it was begging for it.

[regnaD kciN]

40. Those who think there's "something wrong" with Photoshopping images...

...to make them look their best should read this thread.

[GOPFighter]

32. Yup, someday that car is going to disappear

But as long as I have other photos I can submit I'm going to draw the line at lifting whole cars out of my photos . (You may address me as Saint GOPFighter, but you don't have to geneflect). The modifications you, and others described, Blue, don't come close to killing an entire Ford!

[lakemonster11]

38. I think the easiest way to fill it in would be to

copy and flip the stairs on the left to fill in the right. It's symmetrical, so it should work.

[intheflow]

33. Calling Mr. McD!

Is that really Pilgrim Congressional Church, or is it Pilgrim Congregational Church? :shrug:

Or maybe Pilgrim Confessional Church? :shrug:

[Mr. McD]

35. Oops - It's Pilgrim Congregational Church

:shrug:

[intheflow]

39. You must hang out too much on political discussion boards!

:spank: :rofl:

[alfredo]

36. Priller, your picture

knocks me out.

[priller]

37. Wow, thanks.

It's a cool building, the Frost Tower in Austin. Kind of a retro-futuristic vibe to it.

[intheflow]

41. randr, your contest hostess wants to know...

which photo do you want subitted to the contest? Right-side-up, or upside-down?

[randr]

55. Sorry for not checking back in until now

Too busy too late I am sure. Personally I like the upside down shot but do not think it qualifies.

[intheflow]

42. Calling regnaD kciN!

Your submission photo is very large, though it's normal sized in the Exprience Photography Project thread. Would ou be so kind as to resize your submission photo? Muchas gracias! :hi:

[regnaD kciN]

44. (Somewhat) resized version posted...

While waiting for my ISP's web server (where my entry was stored) to come back online after a system crash, I went back over the archives of this group and found that the following standard was used in last year's contests. I don't know why it isn't still part of the rules, but suspect it may have been an oversight, and should be included from here on in.

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.

My reposted image fits both of the stated criteria (although I would personally tend to argue for the original, larger version under the terms of the last sentence of that regulation).

(I would note that the version on the "Experience Photography Project" thread was deliberately kept smaller than usual, since I was including a number of images, and didn't want to be too discouraging to dial-up users. However, I thought the size of that version was far too small to make a decent contest entry -- too much of the visual detail in the Space Needle reflection was blurred or lost altogether. Had that been the only size I could have posted, I would not have entered it at all.)

[intheflow]

47. You're absolutely right about the oversight.

I realized I hadn't put any of the regular disclaimers in, including the size recommendations of course, but also that the winner has to host next month's contest, and if you're a professional who doesn't want their art possibly stolen and profitted upon by others then don't enter. These rules were hashed out democratically in the group early on and certainly should be included in all current and future contests.

I'm going to blame the lapse on living in a tent for the last two months while volunteering in Mississippi. I'd never be that much of an airhead from the comfort of my own Denver apartment.

:rofl:

[regnaD kciN]

48. I don't think the oversight was yours...

It seems like a lot of those rules have been left out of the postings for several recent contests. I suspect it may have a bit to do with the chaos after last November, when the official winner-run December contest became the official winner-run January contest. ;-)

[intheflow]

49. There's still room for one more entry!

There are 30 posts in the submission thread, but one is real politik asking a mod to delete his/her post due to entry size. Even if real politik reposts a smaller version of the photo, it still means only 29 photos have been entered thus far. So if'n one of youse lurkers gots a shot youse been holdin' out on, get it in the mix!