I am taking part in the competition as I did last year...and came no-where...the thing is most of the really good images never get seen..why?.. because no-one votes for them..why?...because you can only be bothered to trawl through the first few pages..where the highest voted images appear..people only vote for these images..if you enter a picture and uploads are at a premium, your images are gone in minutes never to be seen again..most probably and most importantly by the editor or the judges.  How do you get round this? ...make lots of new friends! only vote for pics from the U.K. or ask people to vote regularly on your entry via a Link here is mine:  http://poty2008.dcmag.co.uk/userGallery.aspx?UserId=6d8b7fc7-1ec3-4772-826e-f79b4368f606  

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http://community.dcmag.co.uk/photos/skippers_gallery/default.aspx

skipper:

I am taking part in the competition as I did last year...and came no-where...the thing is most of the really good images never get seen..why?.. because no-one votes for them..why?...because you can only be bothered to trawl through the first few pages..where the highest voted images appear..people only vote for these images..if you enter a picture and uploads are at a premium, your images are gone in minutes never to be seen again..most probably and most importantly by the editor or the judges.  How do you get round this? ...make lots of new friends! only vote for pics from the U.K. or ask people to vote regularly on your entry via a Link here is mine:  http://poty2008.dcmag.co.uk/userGallery.aspx?UserId=6d8b7fc7-1ec3-4772-826e-f79b4368f606  

Votes are meaningless, they have no bearing or influence on the final outcome, so why bother?

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FACES,STREET,PROTEST & CANDID
A BLOG
My Flickr

It just seems to me Alan that the more votes you get, keeps you on the first page of the readers choice...so more people see your pictures....you of all people should be a contender...your work is easily as good (and more importantly)consistent, as any of the winners last year....maybe we can't compete with some of the tragic documentary pictures or some of the dramatic landscapes, which are, I have to admit, quite stunning, but we have equal opportunities in sections such as creative vision, urban and black and white,(the u.k.is 18% grey most of the time anyway) lets take on the rest of the world in those categories. I don't know if many of you went to 'Focus on imaging' but interestingly the winning images from last year were exhibited on the Digital Camera stand, with the exception of the winner, which was deemed to be too graphic for public viewing, and the burns victim another category winner which was disqualified.... for being taken too long ago.....surely these things should have been thought of long before.... taken that this is such a high profile competition.

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http://community.dcmag.co.uk/photos/skippers_gallery/default.aspx

The idea of the "Reader's Choice" voting system may be slightly flawed (and I don't have any idea how to improve it).  But the concept (which I expect DCM is striving for) is sound.  What skipper says seems to be right...  The idea is that readers see images they like and vote for them; when an image is voted on it will move to the front of other images in that category, over time the image will slowly move down the line until it is voted for again or becomes the final image.  But, as mentioned earlier, they have no bearing on the judges decisions.  I posted a question about the "Reader's Choice", and the "Editor's Choice" systems,  but after trawling the forums was able to glean this from other posting responses.

However, just because the image is a "X's Choice" doesn't necessarily make it more likely to win...  I see plenty of "Reader's Choice" images that IMHO are not up to the standard of a winning entry, but they're high on the votes (I know some of my friends vote for mine because they're mine, not because they know the image is a good one).  Whereas other excellent images, low on votes, have more winning potential.  I would expect (and hope) that the judges check all new images as they are uploaded (daily, weekly whatever) and quickly strike out those that do not have winning potential while noting those that do.  I've seen this done in other competitions where the number of entries is large, unless the image truly contains the "Wow, I wish I had taken that image!!" factor the judge dismisses many (mainly for technical errors).  The number of of final images to judge would be reduced considerably and quite easily thus simplifying the judging a great deal.

http://poty2008.dcmag.co.uk/userGallery.aspx?UserId=fb191260-a105-4abc-aca8-bb3d08867c3d

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Demosthien

My POTY 2008 Entries

"Loyalty above all else; except honour."

(=II=)

I agree with Demosthien....and I think we all should participate in DCPOTY 2008 and do our best .....I think just taking part is a way of improving our photography.....I'm sorry if I sound anoraky but I 'Live' photography....cheers Paul  

http://community.dcmag.co.uk/photos/skippers_gallery/default.aspx

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http://community.dcmag.co.uk/photos/skippers_gallery/default.aspx

I think most of us will be entering some of the subjects, the voting and editor's choice are a way of perpetuating the interest in the competition, but have nothing to do with the final results.

I see you are from Whitby Skipper, I was around there most of last week, staying at Ebberston. Great part of the world, and smashing fish and chips!

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FACES,STREET,PROTEST & CANDID
A BLOG
My Flickr

Alan , look into the 'Victorian Image Studio' next time and say hello....it's on Sandgate opposite the lucky duck shop....regards Paul

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http://community.dcmag.co.uk/photos/skippers_gallery/default.aspx

Don't know whether or not I should reply to a thread that's gone cold, but here goes.

I'm relatively new (less than three years) to digital photography, have no trainig whatsoever, and am trying to teach myself to take 'nice' pictures, with the help of magazines and books. I hope, in due time, to graduate to 'good' photographs. I'll never be a 'proper' photographer, as an eye problem means I cannot use an slr camera and I rely a lot on 'autobracket' and automatic settings.

I entered this competition last year and learnt a lot. I'm entering again this year, and hope to get comments to tell me I've done well, or where (and how) I could do better. Votes are very welcome of course as they boost the confidence of a 'middle-aged-housewife-with-a-camera,' but helpful comments are better.

I know I'll never win a competition like this, but it's the best way to get exposure, get comments from other people than husband/children/ neighbours, especially people who are interested (and experienced) in photography and also to see what other people do. How to 'tackle' certain sudjects and to avoid taking the same picture over and over again etc.

I have taken most of the pictures with this conmpetiton in mind, so they're all new.

All comments welcome. (But please try to frame a negative comment in a positive way!)

And may the best photograph win!

Reinardina.

 

 

Hi all,

In fact i just saw this magazine first time when i was in Scotland August 2007, and really i liked the magazine, then i subscribed for it since that time, and i saw those amazing photos and the competitions.

I feel i have nice good enough photos to be submitted, but really i posted most of my photos on different websites and i found that my photos even they are really nice but not enough to be in any competition, just i won one time in a great site with a photo taken from Scotland and it was my first biggest winning in my photography life since i do photography as hobby 2 years ago, so i am not sure if i should join and try it.
I don't have much photos this year, so do they accept photos that were taken last years?

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My Flickr Gallery