Calendar competition

 Written by: GeorgeMC

I haven't seen any talk about the calendar competion we launched last week so maybe it has been missed? or there's no interest

This is a site of slack lazy hippies
People will enter otherwise Im going to win all the prizes
Well.... the bragging rights!
And they sure wont let me get that otherwise they know they wont hear the last of it!

 Written by: George

I doubt the site is full of slack lazy hippies

 Written by: Mr_Chutney


In all honesty George, I'd completely missed it, and I'm on the site regularly- How was it advertised? (I link straight through to the forum for most visits, so the front page may also miss other members).

 Written by: GeorgeMC

who would you get the feedback from?

I think Seniour LazyAngel would get feedback from us lot?
You know, as in... "well.. the more of you who like it, then the more the judges will like it" sort of thing... I think...

 Written by: The rules

Poi Around the World - Calendar Photo Competition

2008 will be Home of Poi's 10th birthday and among the many things we are thinking of to help mark the occasion is a calendar. A calendar showing poi in use all around the world. And since Home of Poi could not exist without the dedicated following of the fabulous HoPpers, we want your help to create this calendar.
Therefore, we announce our latest competition - "Poi Around the World".

Tailed Poi being used at South Pole. Do not scare the Penguins!
Competition Rules

1. All submitted entries become the property of Home of Poi. By submitting images to this competition, you grant us permission to use them for any product or purpose we choose. Of course, credit will be given wherever possible, but your prior permission for each instance will not be required.
2. All submitted entries must be original photo images. No editing/touchup, photoshop creations, "pirated" images etc. Cropping is the only editing allowed. Submitter must be the "owner" of the image.
3. Only 3 images can be entered by any one person. We expect a LOT of entries - without a limit, we will have practicality issues including site bandwidth and fair judging. We think a limit will mean the images submitted will be of a very high quality.
4. Digital images submitted should be of at least 2592 x 1944 resolution or better to allow full-screen PC display and high quality printing.
5. Entries submission will close in31 July 2007. This is to allow sufficient time for "judging" and calendar production. Calendar will go on sale in October (in time for the 9th birthday).
6. Images must be of safe and legal content - i.e. no climbing over the barriers to take a photo at the tip of the Eiffel Tower/Statue of Liberty etc etc. If we believe or are informed that local laws were broken or personnel safety was jeopardised in the taking of the photo, the image will be rejected. (We care about your safety and you shouldn't have to go to great lengths to get a good photo).
7. Images must include at least one element of poi/staff arts being displayed. The performer does not need to be visible - but the prop/toy must.
8. Other requirements will be shown on the image submission page of the website.


Prizes

This is not a "1st, 2nd, 3rd" type competition. This is a competition essentially for "bragging rights"! However, each person who has an image or images chosen for the full page photo's on the calendar will receive a prize of USD$150 credited to their HOP account.
Remember we will be choosing at least 12-13 images - for each month and the calendar cover. If the images are particularly impressive we may choose more than one image per month, or produce more than one calendar - in which case each calendar would be "themed" (e.g. "Poi Around the World - Structures" & "Poi Around the World - Landscapes"). We will also use the image pool to create computer wallpapers, screensavers and possibly cards etc. so there will be many opportunities for bragging rights.

So there you are then - you have 3 seasons to get out there and take awesome inspiring photo's. The timing should allow you summer and winter shots regardless of where you live.
This is kind of a "Stills COL" and as such it should be easier for our members to participate in as you don't need high skill, video equipment, editing equipment, access to royalty free music etc. Because of this, as stated in the rules, we expect almost everyone will enter hence the image limit. Also, this should make the standard of the images very high indeed, so you need to consider all aspects of the image - the location, the lighting, the time of year etc.
And you probably don't have to travel to exotic locations to get that "winning shot" - although it may be hard to beat a shot of say brightly coloured comet poi twirling at the top of Mt Everest or in front of the Antarctic South Pole! Every place in the world has amazing scenic locations, and even the "normal" ones can be scenic in the right lighting conditions and with the right subject in the foreground. Consider lightening storms(!), sunrise/sunset, full moon, street/building night lights etc.
Given the competition name is Poi Around the World, we are likely to be looking for images showing recognisable international landmarks as the backdrop for poi arts, however this does not necessarily mean it has to be a famous building (pyramid, Taj Mahal, Stonehenge, etc), or famous location (Ayers rock, Niagra Falls, the view up Lake Pukaki of Mt Cook etc) as long as it is a recognisable location. A close-up photo of you twirling poi on a backdrop of snow doesn't prove it's the North Pole! It doesn't have to be a well known international location, but it should at least be recognisable to anyone who has been there.
Think about is it the kind of picture people will want to have on their wall for a whole month and then maybe want to frame it. Visual appeal is what we're after.

The submissions page will be added over the next few months and will be linked from this page. We will attempt to include the functionality for you to change your mind and replace an existing submitted image with another.
Good Luck and Enjoy!
George McNeur

 Written by: georgemc


Does it have to be of yourself - no. (in fact refer the rules - the person doesn't even need to be visible). The intent of the rule is to target the "image" rather than the talent.

 Written by: georgemc


Good points about the horizontal and vertical cropping and resolution - thanks all. Will cogitate on that some more, but the intent is to create a calendar, and hopefully most people know what a calendar normally looks like so can plan their images appropriately.

 Written by: Entheogen


I fully understand the no photoshop rule. I know a guy who can create photos with the craziest looking fire patterns- of course there's absolutely no fire involved, its all pasted/painted on. When there's a no photoshop rule, period, there won't be people looking at the end product saying, 'yeah, but that's probably faked anyway'.

 Written by: georgemc

Very hard to word a rule to allow people to edit for brightness etc but not add effects.

 Written by: the_mods_stole_my_name


this may sound silly, but does it have to be a pic of just one spinner? could it be a group of people doing their thing, like at a meet?

 Written by: Entheogen

But isn't using photoshop more of less synonymous with doing graphic art on a photo? I mean, editing something out can use the exact same methods as painting something in, so where is the line actually drawn?

I don't know where to draw the line. This is a forever ongoing discussion in photography forums. And I can submit pics to this particular competition without editing like this. But here is an example of a pic that I recently took and how I edited it. I edited out a piece of the slackrope and 2 small dots of light coming through the background fabric. And I still consider this photography. But like I said this kind of editing isn't necessary.

 Written by: Faithinfire

what about red eye?

Try to ignore it, its just a by-product of getting stoned

 Written by: TheWibbler


It's much nicer than pshop anyhoo

blasphemy!

who would speak out against the adobegod?!??!

stone the heretic!




cole. x

 Written by: Ze_Bubbles


i have some wicked ideas for this when im in france but my problem is a) im stupid, will a phone camera have enough resolution - mine is 3.2 megap.....?

what if i dont have a fancy camera whats the best way of getting the pic and being at least the minimum quality?

 Written by: TheWibbler


You can strtch a 3Mpix image to 5Mpix by using proper printing software, it uses fractals to determin what the missing pixels should be and works amazingly well.

i wouldn't say extremely well (although a 3Mp to 5Mp enlargement might not be *too* bad).

most printers would use hardware interpolation, not software i reckon - similar to what is used inside a high-resolution scanner.

quality of results depend on the content in my experience - its okay for enlarging very low res pixel stuff but i think its more than noticable on photos and it often has lots of trouble with text and other straight lines.


on the gimp v photoshop thing, i was only having a laugh to be honest
i only ever used photoshop 7 on a pc and moved directly to cs2 since i turned mac - i've never even used the gimp so i can't really comment at all.

i rarely use any of the advanced features and am really a lightweight photoshop user - pretty much only need it for image conversion, photo adjustment, scanning and so on.

i have to say i like the fact that adobe took the file browser out of photoshop and made bridge (but that's probably because i use photoshop, illustrator and indesign - if it could preview quark files too i'd be an even happier bunny but it'll never do that!).
i use it to manage my image library too.
why do you say its dodgy?

not sure the script-fu thing does it for me as i'm not a coder and far more important to me is photoshop's colour handling and tablet support (or does gimp supprt tablets now?).


cole. x

 Written by: _Clare_


I'm predicting beautiful things from Antti, Julien, Ry and Synge

....but there are more wonderful photographers you dont know.....so even more to expect........

 Written by: the HoP comp rules

i.e. no climbing over the barriers to take a photo at the tip of the Eiffel Tower/Statue of Liberty etc etc. If we believe or are informed that local laws were broken or personnel safety was jeopardised in the taking of the photo, the image will be rejected.

to be as pedantic s an insurance company, doesn't that mean no fire spinning at all?

I have some awesome pics from when I went on a stones tour , but nothing with spinning in as I was behind the camera on my own

I've tried and tried to use gimp, and gimpshop, and it's just way too limiting compared to psh. I think I preferred 6 over 7 because of line tools and some other things, but there's too many useful things in cs2 to go back to either, and I like what I've used of cs3.

I always prefer photo's untouched though, and think they should be for competition, if there's grain, or balance or retouch issues they won't count against it in the comp, and would (should) be done by a pro before they hit print.

 Written by: I said this in another thread

 Written by: Lots of people on HOP

draconian

Just because you know a word, it doesnt mean you know what it means!

 Written by: Wikipedia

The stringency of his {Draco - look at the wiki link} legal code gave rise to the modern English word "draconian," meaning marked by extreme severity or cruelty, especially about laws or governments.

Just a random bit of information for everyone

 Written by: Antti_Everything


I think the competition organizers should do a bit more than gently reminding people of the guidelines. There's a lot of good fire photography submitted. But not many of them fill the "criteria". And what's the point of being able to vote for photos that atleast shouldn't end up in the calendar...?

 Written by: georgemc


As we put the calendar together we may use some of our favourites in addition to the top 12.

This is personally my favourite photograph of them all as it really shows the spirit of sharing "Poi Around The World"
The look on the kid's face says it all and I love the tiny dog so I do hope it's included

 Written by: Durbs


Woot

Cool - congrats to the other winners and thanks for voting

np

Well done all of you.