POTM POTM Rules

Possible POTM?!

Now what is up with that?? If you want to submit something as POTM then fine. But I think "Possible POTM" posts are pretty lame as you either stand by what you've shot or don't even post it for POTM. I don't get it...
There was some discussion earlier as to how many times you could re-submit and so forth, but having these "Possible POTM" is just rediculous.

What's the take on these?

 

Actually i would have to agree, it seems more and more people are posting "possible potm" pics. There are almost more possible potm posts than there are real ones. So people, try to doubt less, if you think its potm material, then post it under that subject and see how many votes you will get, if you dont think its potm material, then dont bother.

 

Well I see what you're saying, but the reason mine was a possible was because I had ideas for further shots but hadn't yet the time to execute them so was throwing it up for critique. I didn't want to enter it because we've said you can't change entries once made so if I'd have made it POTM then two of my shots later in the month turned out better, then I'd be screwed.

tbh, I'm not looking for "yeah do it, I'll vote for you" more to get a feeling of whether or not it fits the theme. Maybe I'm used to how things work on a different challenge I frequent but if it's a no-no that's cool with me.

 

^ What Hwulex said. It's not a 'ye I'll vote' thing, its a 'Err, does this meet the theme? Am I going to be lynched if I enter this?' kind of thing. I think its the theme this month more than anything since it's so difficult (imo) to quantify.

 

Well ! all really wanted todo was see what people thought of my photo - I never really got into the the POTM as I mainly use film so rarely scan things in. But looking at the pic I posted (It wasn't taken for the POTM - its actual college work) I felt there was a partial connection - mainly those of the textures in the shot and that it was scanned - technically decaying or old, rather than the subject matter being something decayed. And even then, thats a long shot

Surely this where the tags come in. "POTM" tag = POTM related/or POTM entry and "Photo's" tag = a photo - not for the POTM.


/Fr4nk

 

I guess it was just the title of said posts that bugged me then. But still... I just think you should keep away from that title... it makes more sense to ask in the title if the pic fits the theme or whatever concern you have with it. "Possible POTM" is no matter what like saying: "Well I don't know if I'll post this as one of my two allowed shots until I hear what people have to say". Have some cojones please

Oh and by the way I was brought to this by the multitude of posts with Possible POTM in the title... Had there only been one or two then it would most likely have been very different.. it just started looking like a really sad trend...

 

What is the level of post editing that you can do?
example: could I take a picture and keep the main object in colour and make the rest of the pic in black and white?

 

From what I've seen in the POTM so far, I'd say some minor tweakings are allowed to get the final nuances you're looking for in a picture, as long as it still remains similar. For example, in my POTM for june-july I cropped the original pic, cranked up the contrast just a tad and added some shadow/cloning to the right side to get rid of some distracting parts, but apart from that, the rest is exactly the same as in the original. I'd say that's enough tweaking, more than that would be too much, like, lets say, make a brunette blonde or so

Do the rest agree?

 

I'd say try to keep the essence of the photograph, so that it remains a photograph.
Sharpening, curves, levels, exposure corrections, colour tweeks, cropping, exposure blending and so on, IMO, are fine. So long as the final result is still a photograph and not just an exercise in Photoshop.
Selective colouring as you describe is acceptable, especially as it annoys olv.

 

I can't log in to http://potm.webshaped.com/

It's like it's just harvesting my username and password.

 

Yep, there seems to be a problem, I can't log in either.

 

I've just fixed the login issue. Sorry about that!

 

Just to clear something up before I submit any entires, are we allowed to manipulate the photos in anyway other ran re-sizing?

I.e. colour enhancement & sharpness etc?

As an example:

 

Yep that's fine, I would expect most photos have been enhanced similarly!

 

I just want to make sure, Can I entry with pics I've taken eg last summer, or does they have to be taken after the theme was announced?

 

They have to be taken within the time the theme was announced. The idea of the compo is to get people out using their cameras

 

Hello, can a newbie join in POTM?
I could use an excuse to get my camera out.

Tatty

 

Yes you can.

 

Thanks. Standard is a bit high so I may have to work up to the July one instead!