Minimalism Scores - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

04/27/2005 08:55:52 AM · #51

:(

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pawdrix

Nikon D700

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF

04/27/2005 09:22:04 AM · #52

I am so happy that many people didn't follow the challenge guideline on this one. The size of subject really isn't the nuts and bolts of minimalism though it can play a major role.

I've seen some great images in my first run through.

I'm doing poorly as I kind of expected but I wanted to get this image out there. I pushed about everything I thought might matter to some voters to the limit and it shows. I had my entry in mind the moment the challenge was announced. It took a ton of luck to pull it off and I was forced to go horizontal and instead of vertical because the subject screamed for it, taking more away from the minimal side of things. And I had very little minimal to spare. So it goes....

Votes: 62
Views: 74
Avg Vote: 4.6452
Comments: 5

".....and I feel fine" -REM

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

04/27/2005 09:25:11 AM · #53

I'm taking a relatively hard line on this one, and basically scoring images in 2 tiers. First I look at the image based on the challenge criteria: Create an image where your subject is the strong point of the image, but only occupying a very small portion of the image space. I'm looking at "strong point" and "small portion" very carefully; it's not enough for me that the subject be "small" if it doesn't in some way dominate the composition, nor do I consider it to be acceptable that the subject, although dominating the composition, fills more than about a quarter of the space, and preferably less. Therefore, if there's NO identifiable subject standing out within the context of the picture then no matter how strong the picture is, it's ALL subject to me. There are a relatively large number of images that, IMO, fail to meet the challenge in precisely this way despite the fact that their overall "style" is what might classically called "minimalism."

So, no image that fails to address these paired challenge criteria, IMO, is receiving more than a 5 from me.

Contrariwise, no image that DOES address these two criteria is receiving LESS than a 5 from me. If, in MY opinion, an image meets the challenge criteria directly, it is getting a 5 even if it's otherwise boring or technically deficient. And it's therefore beating out otherwise truly excellent images that simply do not fit the challenge, in my opinion.

Among those images that DO meet the challenge, I'm scoring more or less as usual except with an arbitrary "no-lower-than-5" bias. If the image moves me, if it's technically superior, or if it otherwise stands out from the crowd in a positive way, it's moving up to my higher range of votes. I'm also tending to be tough on images that take the easy way out by essentially making a "sweet" capture of some subject then floating it in a sea of pure white or black to meet the challenge. I'm looking with great favor upon images that seem to be integrated and natural in their presentation and still meet the criteria. And I'm looking with greatest favor of all on the images within that subset that seem to me to be approaching true, "artistic" minimalism while still anchoring themselves firmly within their own picture space without resorting to visual trickery to do the job. I'm liking best those images that present a vibrant subject on a visually interesting (but subservient) ground. And there are quite a few of those.

To each of these shooters I say "Congratulations! You GOT it!" This has been, in many ways, an interesting challenge to score.

Damn, I'm philosophical this morning, LOL.

Robt.

Edit to add; "Dang, Pawdrix and I are the alpha and omega of viewpoints on this, aren't we? Ain't DPC just wonderful?"

Message edited by author 2005-04-27 09:27:37.

04/27/2005 09:27:46 AM · #54

4.06, but what the heck can i complain about, it helps if you knew what minimalisim is, I had no clue. Obviously I gunned for the wrong thing though because people are saying it doesn't fit the challenge.

Message edited by author 2005-04-27 09:33:54.

Olympus TCON-14B 1.45x Teleconverter

04/27/2005 09:33:04 AM · #55

Originally posted by sacredspirit:

Love can do all but raise the dead.

Barry

Sony DSC-S85

04/27/2005 09:33:20 AM · #56

My head is exploding too:-) and if your head isn't exploding it most likly well be after you read this:

I'm not taking the voting part of this challenge lightly. My goal is to be as fair as possible to all the entries. The first thing I did this morning was to view all the images to get a feel for what is there. I haven't cast one vote yet as I am still formulating how I am going to approuch this.

I believe that the title of the challenge is just as important as the description given. I have taken the time to go to the Challenge Archives to see how the top three entries did in past challenges when it came to meeting the title's expectations of what the viewer would see. For the most part I feel the top three photographer's photo's subjects in most of the challenges were consistent with what the title of the challenge was. I feel this is important for both the artist and viewer. If we like it or not it seems to me that the title of the challenge is important. After all you wouldn't want to by a book on history then finding out that it really is a book on Math.

That being said. I understand that the discription of the challenge is important. (just like discriptions of art competitions are. Even though there is some question to how the discription of challenge relates to the title.

Like I said I looked at all the images and I must say that there are some very nice image here, most of which don't meet my understanding of what minimalism is but may meet the discription of the challenge.

To be fair I am going to judge the entries by four things that I feel are important on a scale from 1-10 each.

1. How the image meets the difinition of Minimalism. (Title)
2. How the image meets the give challenge discription.
3. Technical
4. Artistic

After struggling with my entry...I hope this ends the struggle..

Barry

om10

Olympus E-20P

04/27/2005 09:41:37 AM · #57

Originally posted by om10:

Oh my goodness...

Votes: 27
Views: 30
Avg Vote: 6.3704
Comments: 1

For the first time ever I hit the big 6 !

Votes: 62
Views: 70
Avg Vote: 5.9194
Comments: 4

Why..... boo hoo....I dont want to live...he, he. oh well at least I can say I hit 6!

pawdrix

Nikon D700

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF

04/27/2005 09:45:14 AM · #58

Robert-I think you covered many bases and a lot of area AND so early in the morning too....very impressive.

I'd bet anything that my entry will fall into your sub-category unless you go by this "I'm liking best those images that present a vibrant subject on a visually interesting (but subservient) ground" where I'll score a 10. Unless you're considering, focus, dof, composition and ALL the little stuff....just kidding.

I'd like to revisit this one after the challenge voting is over.

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED

04/27/2005 09:47:19 AM · #59

ok, after reading the forum replies, i decided to go back and look at what minimlisim really consists of. To my dismay I realized my picture is contrary to what the challenge is. So as a learning block I realized that -qualifiying substance i have an otherwise incredible picture posted, yet i am scoring very low. This is great news, good job DP participants, its seems we are finally making correct judgement on what truly meets the challenge title/description. I am personally excited even though my picture is not doing well, I know that sounds funny, but i am a true believer in meeting the specified challenge title.

DannyM

Nikon D90

04/27/2005 09:49:21 AM · #60

Holy @#$%. Just when I thought I couldn't get any lower than my People score. This is disastrous.

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I've got to step up. This sucks looking at these numbers. These last challenges I've been submitting just because I want to participate. I'm not focused lately. :-(

No pun intended

Message edited by author 2005-04-27 09:51:26.

Blinks

Olympus Stylus 300 Digital

04/27/2005 10:19:00 AM · #61

OK... this one hurts. I debated for about two days between two photos, one which was cookie-cutter minimalism and another which could pass for minimalism but I was very proud of. I finally decided to enter the one that I was very proud of. And now it's getting sunk faster than the Titanic! It's hard to not be upset about it. I haven't even broken a 5 yet. :(

bcoble

Olympus E-300 EVOLT

Olympus 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Digital ED

04/27/2005 10:26:49 AM · #62

I have looked at all the photo's. The first thing I am going to do is determined whether the entry fits the challenge or not. If I believe it does not fit the best I am going to do is give it a three, regardless of how well the photo is. I know there are going to be upset people but I feel that is only fair. If the photo meets the challenge a minimum score of 5 is given. After reviewing the quality of the photo I will vote accordingly. Forgive me, this can be ugly!

04/27/2005 10:29:23 AM · #63

Originally posted by sacredspirit:

i have an otherwise incredible picture posted, yet i am scoring very low. This is great news, good job DP participants, its seems we are finally making correct judgement on what truly meets the challenge title/description. I am personally excited even though my picture is not doing well, I know that sounds funny, but i am a true believer in meeting the specified challenge title.

During my hours of scoring this morning, I found about 5 or 6 very good images, that I felt did not meet the guidelines of the challenge. I did not score them low. But not nearly as high as I would have had they images been within the guidelines of the challenge. I think I commented on each case like that, so my thoughts should not be a surprise to anyone who fell into that catagory. Good luck, however with your entry.

04/27/2005 10:33:00 AM · #64

Originally posted by Barry:

1. How the image meets the difinition of Minimalism. (Title)
2. How the image meets the give challenge discription.
3. Technical
4. Artistic

Barry

Barry, I like your guidlines for voting, but in my view, I think Artistic would come before Technical, as an image must catch my eye and capture my interest before I start looking at it technically. Just my thoughts.

04/27/2005 10:36:54 AM · #65

i would really like to withdrawl my photo from this challenge. Mostly because I didn't read before hand what minimilisim consisted of. However I cant find anyway of doing so, if anybody knows anything that would be helpful feel free.

cpanaioti

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM

04/27/2005 10:53:31 AM · #66

Originally posted by sacredspirit:

Unless you've done something against the rules there's no way to remove it. 'Not meeting the challenge' is not a reason for DQ.

Prof_Fate

04/27/2005 10:57:20 AM · #67

Well...I have found my niche!
My average has been sinking this year (so much for my justifying the purchase of a DSLR to the wife...) but i have finally found something i am excelling at! Minimalism!

Votes: 75
Views: 94
Avg Vote: 5.9067
Comments: 3

My all time highest is 6.020 so this is just amazing me.
Of course this means my next challenge entry will be a let down.

Blinks

Olympus Stylus 300 Digital

04/27/2005 11:08:30 AM · #68

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

OOHH! So that's how it goes. I was wondering why my scores are a consistant up and down from week to week. Oh... and this might be a stupid question but... what's an DSLR?

Artyste

Sony Ericsson W810i

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Pentax

04/27/2005 11:10:01 AM · #69

I'm running a 4.5 right now with my first *ist Ds entry.

It's because the masses don't have any freaking idea what minimalism really means.. (or I don't.. but given what most of the entries constitute.. I think my first theory holds up.) Too many people confused this challenge with "Negative Space"

They *are* different.

04/27/2005 11:12:13 AM · #70

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

Keep Going, Your Doing Great!