Should 2 photos be chosen for finalists?

[cindylea]

Hi everyone...First of all, Nancy both of your photos this week are excellent. I like them both so much. Two of Sam's were chosen last week and he and I were talking. We think that the best of the two photographs should be chosen. It seems like that would be more fair. I would like to hear what others think about this.

Cindy :-)

[Nancy S]

That seems fair to me, too. It's a great honor to be chosen at all, and I know there are so many that could just as easily be a finalist as those that are selected. It must be a difficult job to choose.

[skeuos]

I personally have no problem with it at all; I was actually thinking about sending Ruth a pm commending her for picking what she felt were worthy shots regardless of who shot them.

Newcomers have as much chance as old members; each shot should have equal opportunity.

[cindylea]

Ruth,
I don't mean this as a slam to you at all. Nancy is right. It must be difficult to choose the finalists.

Cindy

[cindylea]

Sorry I keep rambling on. This is also not about the fact that neither Sam nor I were finalists this week. I think every one of those photographs deserved to be in the finals. I just wanted to make that clear. I am just talking about future contests.

Cindy

[Aladyforty]

I have no problem with two making the finals. what I want to know is when HDR became legal with this contest? Ive been out of this site for some time and came back and noticed that there are MANY obvious tone mapped and HDR shots in here. Have the rules changed?

[cindylea]

Thanks, Nancy, Steve and Julie. Does anyone else have any input on this subject or Julie's question about allowing HDR photos on the site? I would love to hear from you.

Cindy :-)

[RTaylor]

2 photos from one user have been placed in the finals almost from the beginning. I remember many times where some of mine, and I'm sure some of Matt C's photos among others have been in the final 6.
There are many online contests I have seen where members sometimes win POTD's for up to 3 separate categories.
Some have even been lucky enough to win POTM, 1st and second place for separate images.
I think it would occur here more often because we only have about 20 participants each week with some being beginners and still learning.

As for HDR? if you think about it, HDR has been happening for years, but it just wasn't called "HDR" back then, they called it double exposures.
Now a days, many of the newer DSLR's can do in camera multiple exposures.
What comes to mind when I hear HDR or tone mapping, I think of a user from Byte a few years back, Lygor.
His work was amazing, but I think was probably double exposures or really heavy use of filters on the lenses.
Here is a link to his Byte gallery.

Lygor's Byte gallery

If you search through the archives 2003-2008, I'm sure you will also find other photographers that used special post processing.

I don't do HDR images, but many photographers that come to my booth at outdoor shows, think I do because of the backlighting I capture. They can't figure out how I get the picture without blowing the highlights. Practice practice practice

[RTaylor]

just caught this image from Tony Sweet.
He's on my Facebook friends list.
He is out North West giving a workshop.
Here is a picture he took that is a 5 exposure HDR image.

His process is exceptional, you'd never know because it looks so natural.

http://web.me.com/tonysweetphoto/ton...and_Day_4.html

[Aladyforty]

yes HDR has been used but if you read the guidelines

"Levels, brightness, contrast, curves, gamma, intensity, tone, hue, saturation, desaturation, lightness, channel adjustment, colour balance, tint, resizing, cropping, burning and dodging selective areas. Various filters to sharpen, soften, blur, despeckle, add grain and remove noise, can also be used to create a better final image. Remember photos should only be edited to improve the final image not totally change it.
NOTE: In some cases judges may ask to view the original file.

’‚’‚…‚’‚‚ The use of a cloning stamp tool may be used to remove minor and small unwanted objects, such as telephone poles, cables and power lines, debris etc."

I have always been of the opinion that they were not supposed to have too much alteration.

I also remember some time back queries being made about filters being used. Seems to me if HDR is used then all other effects should apply as well

[cindylea]

Ruth,
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I am completely satisfied with your response and your explanation. I appreciate your straightforwardness. It was not my intention to question your expertise in choosing the final six. I know you are more than qualified.

It was simply something that Sam and I had thought about and I thought it might be worth mentioning. I hope that I did not step on any toes by bringing this up.

Have a great weekend.

Cindy