TOPIC:

Edou wrote:

Could there possibly be place for another category?
People have really been putting pics in the gallery and I have seen a few beauties.

A "picture award" is definitely possible! (and a good idea)

There are a few possible routes to go:

• "Moderator's choices" to be decided in a poll.
• Defined (theme) photo competitions where one has to enter
• "Last months best picture" to be decided by the Mods
• and I am sure there are more.

Let me know what we should try, and I will look into the details.

-Lars

I think it would be the best idea to start with the first option...
There are a lot of possibilities with this so that's the easiest one to begin with I think.

Is there maybe a preference among members to make this poll anonymous or keep the votes visible like they are now?

Any other input or ideas about the subject in general are naturally very welcome!

trouble is with a poll, by members, how long do you run the poll before a decision is made?
i think it would be fairer for the mods to make the decision on a certain date, say last day of the month.
some members may not see some pics for whatever reason, if they miss the post or happen to be away for a while. some pics may not be posted up until the last day in which case some members may miss them as well, especially as members are worldwide and time differences vary

The idea with the (first) poll would be that the mods make a pre-choice and that the members could vote on these.
The duration can be limited and announced in advance.
New pics can always run in a subsequent awarding.
Or one with an altogether different set up. Like the theme photo competition.

Many possibilities...

Apologies in advance - but I can't not say anything anymore...

I honestly think we're kidding ourselves about the standard of the photos here - I know a poor photo when I see one - 99% of mine for a start.

None of these are of the quality I'd want use as desktop wallpaper, and definately not for a calendar. Believe me, I'd _love_ to have a TamiyaBase calendar of the best cars & photos on it - but nothing I've seen here is something I could live with for a full month, to be honest I'd be a little embarassed to have these images up on my wall at work at all.

Take a look at the Photo of the Month winners at Tamiya101.com and tell me ours are anywhere close.

This really is intended as constructive criticism, I'm just as guilty as the rest - but but between us, we definately have the cars, I'm sure we can find the locations - and with a bit of thought about composition, camera technology is such that I'm sure we can get some excellent photos.



A - Probably the best one here - but still flawed - litter in the bottom right, funny angle, and sunshine is a distraction - a few seconds earlier or a few later & it could have been perfect


B - a thumbs up for taking an action shot, angled composition could well have been accidental, but adds to the drama ... however the background is poor - so a tighter crop or a longer lens would have made a better shot


C - Very nice car, and the lighting shows off the paintwork ... but there's some distortion going on around the left rear suspension that makes it look wrong (further away & more zoom might have fixed it) & the background is hopeless - "only clear space in the house" syndrome?


D - Poor angle, no attempt to use the strong sunlight, shadows just don't work


E - Not a bad "studio" shot ... but front left wheel is chopped


F - A lazy photo - non-scale leaves & background


G - Good angle - but not with that background, "only clear space in the house" syndrome again


H - poor angle, poor background


I - cropping, again


J - cropping _and_ "only clear space" syndrome

Jon,
I tend to agree with you, but maybe the measurement of a good photo competition does not need to be "photographic quality" ?
Remember, the photos shown here has not been entered by the owners in the spirit of a competition.

Take a look at the winners/entries in the previous TC photo competitions, some are impressive, but the majority of photos are of "normal standard"

Hopefully a photo competition would raise the quality of the photos here?

-Lars

thats a bit harsh Jonny i think. we are RC freaks not photography experts.
its easy to point and squirt a top of the range camera when the subject is parked up against a fantastic backdrop, but when you get someone as clever with a camera as a chipmunk (my wife) taking vids or pics, i think we have come up with some pretty dam good pics.
stuff the tamiya site its the TB site that matters

JR's comments are fair in itself of course and they are the details I would tend to look at too.
Might be known that I am a bit of a freak for layout anyway.
But still - I enjoyed these pics a lot and (like Lars said) the competition element could raise the level...

The photos are only a few that are in my own gallery favourites.

thats a fair comment from JR and i agree with some of his points but as lars said they where not taken for competition level if they had i would have tried a lot harder and yeah it was the only clear space in the house most of my pics in my gallery are point and shoot pics generally for quick reference. A competition element would definitely raise my game some of the pics in tamiya101.com showroom are fantastic.