Feb. contest: Photo Scavenger Hunt

Assuming the answer is no, but want to be sure - can you combine items or does it have to be 28 separate photos?

How is the winner decided? i.e. first preference to all 28 photos or lesser photo but better in perspective?

Good question, KR, and one that I will clarify in the rules above. You are correct: They must be 28 separate photos.

Hi Ray,

First we'll see if anyone photographed all 28 items, and photographed them according to any details specified in the list. For example, if somebody shoots a red light, but doesn't capture the green light facing left or right. Or they take a photo of a red van instead of a red SUV.

If nobody gets all 28 items correctly, then we'll see who got 27, etc. Once we have those finalists, we'll ask a pro to judge each set based on the overall quality of the photos. That's where skill and creativity comes in to play.

So the first cut is who photographed the most items accurately; the second judging is on quality. Does that make sense?

This is totally cool and will liven up February quite a bit. I am also glad you are returning to Flickr. I love looking at the photos each month but it takes so long for some of them to open that I usually give up after the first 10-12. I know you are doing this only this month but please consider keeping it permanent! Have fun everyone!

sounds good, now time to go run around :)

Hopefully, the gift certificates may be used to purchase from Hunt's online, as I don't live in any area where they have a store.

Hi Terry -- I'm happy to say that our developers implemented ImageMagic into the upload tool; it automatically reduces the image size behind the scenes, so the photos load very fast now. Others have asked that we return to Flickr, but it's a lot of work for us to download the eligible photos into galleries. In our gallery, we can easily eliminate ineligible images, and tag the Final 50 and the Top 10 for those galleries. Let me give it more thought.

Thanks for doing the scavenger hunt, by the way ... I hope you enjoy it.

What are the rules for post-production/editing on the photos? Are they not to be edited at all? a little? what is acceptable? And I assume the format is JPG?

What a fun idea for this month's contest

awesome! gonna be a busy month!

As a photographer and a member of a camera club, I have organized 'scavenger hunts' and photo competitions many times. This sounds like great fun!! But personally, I think the categories are too difficult to capture, especially in the light of being 28 images needed. We have found that the more categories there are, the EASIER they should be. Categories like "taken from an unusual perspective", or "ruby red", are far easier to capture, but still result in lovely and creative images. Photographers won't be discouraged, and would be more inclined to enter. This way, they are judging on the PHOTOGRAPHY, and not the 'ability to find or set up' unusual images.
Just my thoughts. In any case, I wish you luck! It certainly will be fun - AND challenging!

Hi Neal, we allow post-processing and editing of photos for all of our contests; I'll add that in above. We don't limit the amount -- that would be too difficult to determine and judge. All that matters is that the end result is a great photo (as subjective as that may be).

Here are Flickr's guidelines on the file formats they accept: http://www.flickr.com/help/photos/. We prefer jpegs in case we download any of the contest photos to put in our own galleries.

Thanks Sarah! This is our first time doing a photo scavenger hunt, so your experience is really helpful and your ideas terrific.

The reason I made some of the items difficult, honestly, was because we're giving prize money, and I wanted to cull the field. If 100 people get all 28 items, then I'll have to ask a volunteer judge to comb through 2,800 photos, and I didn't feel comfortable doing that. All of the pros I've used so far have been so generous of their time that I don't want to squander that goodwill!

How does your camera club judge scavenger hunts? And of which club are you a member?

For rule two, if you want to create one tag instead of four for the scavenger hunt, you can put quotations around "boston.com contest february2011 scavenger" just like I did and it will create one tag.

"boston.com contest february2011 scavenger"

Is this allowable?
I think it'll make it alot easier to find the pictures to judge them.

Frankly, I love the idea of having to try to find all 28 pictures. The challenge for me is the pile of snow-we never get enough snow in St. Louis! I may have to drive to Chicago!

You mentioned downloading the photos. Do we have to change our permissions to allow you to do this. I think most of the images I see don't allow downloads. If we need to share the set with you to allow this what is the email we would need to enter?

Hi Andrew, I appreciate the suggestion, but sometimes we like to sort on just one or two of the tags to see, for example, all Boston.com contest entries from past contests. And also it's nice to get our photos in any search for just "contest" on Flickr.

Thanks,
Teresa

Although a newbie to the Boston.com photo contest (and thus lacking the perspective of past contests), I think this scavenger hunt photo contest was brilliantly conceived and executed. I'm done with the 28 but it was quite exhausting. (My daughter had a snow day yesterday and so it was the perfect activity).

I found some of the qualifications were diabolical -- for example, my mailperson told me that all the numbers in the houses in my small city start at 100 and so I would have to look elsewhere. I had initial difficulty in capturing the steam (which was perfectly visible to the naked eye but not on camera). The Beatles LP I found was priced $65 at a used book store, but otherwise would have been difficult for me to find. And I didn't know anyone with a Boston Terrier before now -- although I've always thought of myself as a cat person, this dog was adorable and playful.

So hats off to both the concept and the particulars of the execution. It took me so long to focus on the clock at 8.08, by the time I took the picture it was 8.10 a.m. Oops! :0)

Good morning! This is fun and a great way to keep February from getting too dreary. Quick question, please: some of your items are very specific about the quantity of the item needed or allowed (like icicle or uniformed police officer) while others (like "red SUV", "Boston Terrier" or "Beatles' LP album cover") don't specifically say to use only one. Would a picture be disqualified if there was more than one of that particular item in the photo (say three red SUVs lined up)? Thanks!

Hi there. Does the Flicker account set need to be set to "Public" under privacy settings?? or will the tags allow you to see the photos anyway?? Thanks, Mark

Hi Lisa,

No, photos will not be disqualified if there is more than one red SUV, Boston terrier, etc. in the photo. I singled out icicles and officers for specificity because I received inquiries about those, and because they are more likely to be seen in groups than, say, red SUVs.

Just keep a couple of things in mind:

> We have to be able to identify the vehicle as an SUV, so photographing just one may help in that regard. (Multiple Boston terriers shouldn't be a problem to identify!)

> Usually the most successful photos are those that have a single focal point. Remember that quality matters as much as quantity.

Thanks for giving this a try!

Yes, Mark, please make sure your settings allow anyone to view your photos, not just family and friends. You can change that on this page:

http://www.flickr.com/account/prefs/photoprivacy/?from=privacy

And on the top-level Privacy page (http://www.flickr.com/account/?tab=privacy), please set the "Hide your EXIF data?" answer to No.

OK ... another question (sorry): How do we actually know that you are able to see our photo set ... ??

Are there any alternatives for the snow-related items for people who don't live near snowy places, i.e. Southern California and Florida?

Good question, Mark because sometimes people have their Flickr settings incorrect and their photos don't show up in the tags search.

Here's the URL for the tags search. If you see your photos here, then so can I. I'll also publish the Flickr screen names of those who have entered so far.

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=boston.com+contest+February2011+scavenger&m=tags&z=t

Ah, Olivia, I admit that when we came up with this list, we did favor New Englanders. It's the first time in RAW's history that we did. I realize that residents of other snowy states will benefit as well. All I can suggest is that you take as many of the photos as you can and see where the chips fall. You never know ...

windy -- yes, you can use the gift card to buy online from Hunt's. Their online order form, on the page where you enter your address and credit card information, lists "Hunt's gift card" as one of the choices, along with Visa, MasterCard, etc.

RE:
"6. White steepled church. I didn't hyphenate white steepled on purpose. I don't want a photo of a church with a white steeple. I want a photo of a white church that has a steeple. The church has to be all white. And it's not a photo of a steeple; it's a photo of a white church with a steeple."

Then you may want to change the photo on the raw homepage that shows a white steeple (void of a church). It may be the reason so many (including me) have just steeples.

Thanks, Mark .... and thanks ... this is a cool way to burn through February : )

Mark, you are absolutely correct ... we're changing that now. We also had a single chickadee at a birdfeeder, and that'll be gone as well. I'll be more careful about what we post to represent the contest!

Glad you're enjoying it.

If I have two rolls of film in my photograph, is that acceptable? I feel it makes for a much stronger composition.

Oh, yes, Lisa -- more than one roll of film is fine.

sorry to be so granular, but I wouldn't call a "watch" a "clock", would you?

No, I wouldn't ... please make it a clock, folks ...

ugh too much work ... forget it

How specific are you being on the child's doll? Is a stuffed animal doll acceptable?

I have the anniversary addition of Monopoly so all the pieces are gold. The rules state the silver shoe, so is the gold going to disqualify my entries?

If you can't see the entire SUV (example the photo of the snow-covered SUV), will that still count, since you can't see the name of the SUV?

What a great contest! I've really enjoyed searching for these items and trying to capture them in a creative way. Unfortunately, all my efforts are for naught - I can't get the pictures to show up in the search. My flickr name is amitchellj4. I've checked the tags and the privacy settings and they appear correct, but they still don't appear. Please HELP!

Hi Al -- I didn't remember that the Anniversary Edition had gold pieces. Yes, a gold shoe is fine.

Hi RG: We don't necessarily have to be able to see the name of the vehicle, but it does have to be identifiable as an SUV somehow, either by shape or name. And if we can't see either the shape or the name, and it could possibly be a small truck or a van, that's a problem.

Hi Al - make sure all of the boxes on this page are UNchecked:

http://www.flickr.com/account/prefs/optout/

And here's another Help page from Flickr about search:

http://www.flickr.com/help/with/search/

Let me know if either of those help.

Those lawyers are at it as usual, not content with a one-time royalty license, but a license "in perpetuity". That's a long time. No thanks.

On the traffic light, must it be the old-style with all 4 directions in one signal or is a modern arrangement with separate signals ok, so long as the other rules are met (photo shows both red forward and green for the cross street). The old style might be harder to find than a barber pole, but perfectly appropriate for a scavenger hunt.

singular heart shapped candy?

How specific are you being on the child's doll? Is a stuffed animal doll acceptable?

Hi Samantha ... it's actually more of an editorial need than a lawyer requirement. If we asked for a one-time license, we wouldn't be able to use the photos again in an editorial context. For example, for our January "What's That?" contest, I republished the Top 10 winners from last year's contest to show current entrants the type of photos we were looking for. Without a longer-term license, I wouldn't have been able to do that. Don't forget that a license is not the rights to the photo; those remain with the photographer. It's simply permission to continue to use the photo in an editorial context.

Sure, David, a modern arrangement with separate traffic lights is acceptable -- the lights can be on different poles or overhangs, as long as the specifications that you mention are met.

Singular candy, multiple pieces of candy -- either is good, SJ, as long as at least one piece is heart-shaped.

Hi Lisa -- I'm not sure if you mean a doll that is a stuffed animal, or a stuffed doll that an animal plays with. All I can say is that a doll is a model of a human being, and it should be a doll that a child would play with. Does that answer your question?

Is Gum Candy

Nah, I think that's a bit too much of a stretch, Em.

Ah, my grammar skills were not on point when I was reading this list. I took a picture of the Park Street Church and just realized it's not within the rules.
I just Googled "White-Steepled Church"... one of the links to Flickr is even MY picture. Dangit, I have to go and re-do my whole collection!

This seems like a silly question, but you can only submit one photo for each of the 28 items, yes? I see on Flickr that some people have multiple shots of the same item tagged, i.e. one person taking multiple heart candy shots, etc.

I am going to elaborate on the stuffed doll question, the doll is in the shape of a girl but is stuffed rather than plastic, does that qualify?

Yes, Mike, you are correct that it is one photo per item. Some people sometimes post more than one photo so they can think about it for awhile, and then before the deadline they remove the tags from all but one. That's happened in past contests.

But I will reiterate that rule before the contest ends, because anyone who has more than one photo for an item will be disqualified.

Yes, Nicole - the doll doesn't have to be plastic. It just has to be recognizable as a doll.

Kids sledding., icicle, snow pile ... wohow! It will be difficult this month ... I live in a tropical island in the southern hemisphere. I'm going to look in my fridge, maybe some ice??
:)

However, it's a great contest - I love it!

I've been playing around with different photos for some of the items and posting them all to my Flickr set just so I can see them all. I plan to delete all but the final 28, one in each category, before the February 28 deadline. Is this OK?

do action figures (eg. GI Joes) count as dolls? i've always thought of them as dolls for boys

"4. Birds (more than one) at a bird feeder"

Am I correct that in your dictionary feeder includes one who feeds. Although as an alternative I have birds at my wooden bird feeder, I am sentimentally inclined to substitute my original photo from the first day of my daughter feeding corn to the ducks at the local duck pond. The cup of corn she was holding was clearly visible.

I hope you rely on the sets because there are major glitches in the search function. Even correctly tagged items (with all the privacy functions etc. set correctly) do not appear. No amount of proofreading the tags has helped. Judging from comments on flickr forums this is a recurring and unexplained phenomenon that flickr regularly reports it is working to resolve.

Fun scavenger hunt. It's addictive when I see how others do items so well.

Hello, I have another ? I see some of the items are really specific. can number 7. Calendar showing the month of February be an electronic cal just showing the month of Feb or does it need to be a more traditional paper calendar?

I know this might be a burden on the judges, but it would be cool if we had a best of 1 Analog clock, 2. Barber's pole, etc. since we are all spending so much time getting this done.

Good morning, Teresa! Thanks for your help earlier this month. I have another quick question to ask in order to hopefully prevent a disqualification later in category "10. Dog-eared paperback". Dog-eared has two meanings that I'm aware of: 1) shabby and worn and 2) folded over pages, like a dog's ear. Can the picture be of either or do you prefer one definition over the other? Thanks for your help.

SLG: Absolutely. As long as you have just one photo per scavenger hunt item by midnight Feb. 28, then you're good.

How much creativity allowed for some shots? Specifically the shot of the birds at a bird feeder where I used two fake birds at a birdhouse. The rules just state 2 birds at a bird feeder. They never said they had to be real.

Also, on the red SUV: I shot a Matchbox red SUV and also shot a real one. I still haven't decided which one to submit.

Thanks,
Tom

MIKE: I know that GI Joes and other action figures do work as dolls for boys, so yes, they're allowed. I just don't want to stray too far afield from the traditional definition of doll. Otherwise we'll open the door to Weebles, figurines, and everything else.

MIKE: It can be electronic. But remember, it has to show at least part of the month, not just a single day.

LuluandLucy: Ha, very clever, characterizing your daughter as a "bird feeder." Sorry, I had the plastic or wooden kind in mind.

Yes, we will rely on the sets, although we won't be able to find the sets unless a photographer's photos show up in the tags search. After the contest closes, my plan is to post an entry listing all of the screen names of photographers whose photos I found via search. If anyone's is missing, then I will ask them to email me a link to their set. That way we'll be sure to capture everybody's entry.

ELLEN: That is a great idea, but it probably would be too much work for a judge. But let me give it more thought. Maybe I could use more than one judge this month.

LISA F.: Interesting you should ask this. When I posted that item, I had in mind the first definition: Shabby and worn. But when I saw several entries with one corner of a book page folded down, I went to my dictionary and lo and behold, that's also called "dog-eared" - which I didn't know. So both depictions qualify.

Teresa -
If it is too much to ask of a judge to do a best of each of the 28, maybe we as the community could vote.

In any case, thanks for the challenge. I have one left to do. I have been avoiding looking at everyone else's until I get mine done. It has been fun and made me move out of my comfort zone, and learn a lot about my lenses and Photoshop.

Hi Tom,

Fake birds, huh? That's a new one. It never occurred to me that I would have to write "live birds"! I appreciate the cleverness, but the birds have to be living, breathing creatures -- that's more challenging to shoot.

Somebody else asked about taking a shot of a toy SUV, and that, too, has to be the full-sized real thing.

By the way, the adult standing beside a tall snowpile also has to be alive. ;-)

Thanks for answering the questions. Here's another: Does the February calendar have to be 2011? Also, I'm not sure what the traditional definition of a doll is. I'm using a wooden nested doll that I played with as a kid. I hope this works.

Question .... although you say you are giving a bit of space on the Boston terrier pic, I'm thinking that a photo of another photo, be it on a calendar, dog book, computer, or whatever is basically someone else's photo being photographed. Is this allowed?? Thanks.

another question? Birda at a bird feeder, does it have to be the outside type of bird feeder or does birds in a cage at their own feeder qualify?
Thanks

SLG: No, the calendar doesn't have to be from 2011. And sure, a wooden nested doll works.

MARK: Yeah, that's the only item out of 28 where I'm letting people be really creative, so I'm going to let anything go. Remember, the ultimate judging is on the quality of the photo, not the quality of the image being photographed.

Teresa,
Has anyone else expressed concern over all their photos showing? When I search from your link, I see most of my photos, but a couple just don't seem to be showing in the search. I have checked the tags and when I search the tags in my own photostream I see them. Are we safe as long as we have them in a set and you can see most of them? As always, great job.

TIM: Yes, that's right; as long as some of your photos show up in Flickr's search and I can use them to get to the set in your photostream, then you're all set.

I agree we should do some sort of sub-contest where a winner is chosen for each category. Nothing official; just a way to give recognition for some outstanding shots.

Could we vote somehow on Flickr? Maybe create a new Flickr group specifically for this contest?

I recently uploaded my photos to Flickr, with all of the correct tags, and the ability to be publicly viewed. But when I search Flickr (in the search bar) with all of the tags, my pictures do not show up. Should I be concerned? Or does it just take time for them to show up?

Hi Jesse -- It does take time, but send a link to your Flickr account to me at raw@boston.com and I'll check it out for you.

Hi Teresa, I just wanted to say, this has been a really fun contest.
It was a lot of work for me to find all 28 items. I didn't finish the last one, till this morning. Just want to say thanks for having these monthly contests.
I am trying to improve my skills all the time. Participating in these contests, really shows me how much more I have to learn. So glad Feb. is gone!

Teresa-
This contest started out really fun - I took all of the photos with my sons - ages 8 and 7. We started running out of time and it started to be stressful (for me) they still had a great time.
We met a lot of wonderful people and spent some quality time together.
Thank you!

I agree with the ladies; this helped pass a pretty dreary month quickly. I also learned 2 things:

1. I don't know anyone with a Boston terrier.
2. Don't take photos of anyone's children unless they are your own or a friend's, unless you are also looking for a chance to get a photo of scavenger hunt item # 26 ; )

Good luck all, and thanks Teresa.

EXHAUSTED! ...but what a great way to get out of a winter funk!
Thank you!

This was a fun thing to do! Definitely learned a few things...most churches around here are either brick or stone with a white steeple. And In this state, Delaware, it is illegal to take a photo of a police office, any police officer!!! They even said it was illegal in most other states. So, I did it on the sly....Whew! Hope you do this again! Thanks~ Can't wait to see the end result...

Wondering if a judge has been selected and/or if the entries have been narrowed down yet. This was a great way to spend February!

I am sure this is a tough one to coordinate, but is there any update on the hunt?

My 2 cents worth:
Champagne glasses: if the glasses aren't flutes or the broad and shallow type, they're not champagne glasses.
Kids sledding: In order to sled down, on must go up the hill. Both should constitute the act of sledding, but at least one should be going downhill (and not walking).
Rocking chair: no rockers--no good.
Steaming soup: no steam --no good; no soup--no good.
Church: Your clarification was clear; no white church--no good.
Birds: Since you never answered Nicole's question (Comment 76, 2/23), either should be acceptable.
Clock: Not a clock--no good.
Time: Not exactly 8:08--no good.
Cop: Not clearly in uniform--no good.
Snow pile: if you can't clearly discern the age of the person--no good.
Paintbrush: Nail polish isn't paint, ergo nail polish brush--no good.
Red light: if more of the red light shows than the green--acceptable.

Just popped in here looking for an update on the hunt myself, RT. I guess there's nothing yet.

Have to disagree with That Other Guy re: nail polish...
It is called "Painting your nails," so I'd say that the brush is a paintbrush.