The contest selection is done
This month's judge, Melissa Robotti, finished reviewing the 82 contest entries and narrowed the choices to the Top 25. We'll load them into the Voting Machine and open voting later today. Meanwhile, here are Melissa's thoughts on the photos she judged:
"Many of this month's entries showed a lot of creativity. The photographers looked beyond the obvious to make some very interesting photographs. It's great to see photographers thinking outside the box. I encourage everyone to keep experimenting!
"A few things to keep in mind:
"When composing your photo, be sure to pay attention to all the elements in a scene -- look at everything that is within your viewfinder. There were some entries that were close to making the cut, but didn't because part of the main subject was cut off or there were other things in the photo that distracted the eye from the main subject, didn't complement it, or detracted from the photo in some other way. These problems can be easily fixed by carefully considering your composition before hitting the shutter button.
"Also, pay special attention to your focus point and make sure your shutter speed is fast enough. A few photos had strong composition, but were eliminated because nothing was in focus, or something that should have been in focus was slightly blurry. A good shutter speed rule of thumb for digital SLRs (handheld, not on a tripod) is the shutter speed should be 1/focal length of the lens. So if you were using a 50mm lens, you should use a shutter speed that is 1/50 of a second or faster.
"Keep up the good work, RAW Dawgs!"
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I think this was a tough month. I know I was not at all happy with any "tis the season" photos I managed to take. I did submit one and I didn't even like it! Judging by the number of entries, I think others must have thought it was tough month also.
In some cases focus and shutter speeds that yield less than "technically correct" images might be done purposefully...
Good point, Matt. Rest assured that Melissa is experienced enough to recognize when somebody was blurring an element of the photo deliberately. In fact, you'll see that she chose some in which that was done.
In some cases, the photographer may have been going for that effect, but just didn't get it quite right.
I agree with Linda. Its my 2nd month in the contests and I just threw one into the ring for the heck of it. It was not a shot I thought was particularly great. If you don't play, ya can't win!
I feel like I'm waiting outside the casting director's office, hoping I have a speaking role.
Hadleygrass, I'll send you out a Bloody Mary.
Just in case no one has noticed, a few images from the application came out slightly more blurred than how the actual images appeared on flickr. Hopefully unfocused images weren't culled using the boston.com application.
Hi, Norm -- you're right; if a Flickr user has her or his settings to not allow others to see the original size of a photo, then all we can take is a version that is 500 pixels wide. Our Flash photo galleries display horizontals wider than that, so those photos get blown up.
But no, our judges don't use those Flash galleries to view the photos. They view them in a regular browser gallery that maintains the original size. So no worries there.
Hadleygrass, I couldn't agree more. I'm obsessively checking, as I did this last month. Glad to know I'm not the only one!
Looks like I'll be building sets.
linda - i also had a hard time this month - but i think that is always much better than an easy month - after all if we push ourselves out of our comfort zone we will learn a lot more about our photography - good luck everyone!
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NOVEMBER'S THEME SilhouettesConvey emotion, set a mood, or create an air of mystery ... silhouettes can convey a lot in a handful of pixels. It's a challenging theme; position your subject in front of a light source, and expose for the light. One rule: Your photo must be taken this month.
Deadline: Midnight November 30
Read more about the November theme
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2008 winners: Dec / Nov / Oct / Sept / Aug
PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE WEEK
Lee CullivanBelmont
Lee's photography has followed the path of his life: From landscapes in his beloved Maine, to images of the urban landscape when he moved to Boston, to photos of his children. And even though technical skill is important to his work, his main goal is to have fun.
Lee's essay and photosOn Assignment
PhotoWalks of Boston
Tipsheets
Photo critiques
'Work' the picture
OTHER PHOTO SITES
INside Boston.com