Photo Contest!

Post by **Barbie** » 25 Nov 2003, 05:29

Planet Catfish is happy to announce a monthly photo contest. This first one will be open for picture submission from November 26th, until December 15th, with voting through the 29th. The winner will be announced on December 30th. Submissions should be emailed to photocontest@planetcatfish.com with your name, camera used for the picture, and type of fish pictured. Rules are as follows, until further notice:

1. All pictures must be of Catfish! (Dead or alive, already in the Cat-elog or not) One picture per member, per contest please.

2. All pictures must be no larger than a maximum dimension of 640 pixels, and be less than 300K in filesize. (This is an important one!

3. There will be a 2 week entry period, after which, all of the entries will be reviewed and 20 will be chosen for voting. The voting period will last for 2 weeks. Any pictures submitted during the voting period will be eligible for the next contest, not the present one.

4. Submission of pictures is permission for them to be used in the Cat-elog. Not all images will be used, as some species are already well documented, but this will strictly be at moderator discretion. If your picture shows up in the top left corner of the thumbnails page for that species, it is the one that Jools feels best represents the species, so congratulations!

5. The top 3 pictures from each contest will be added to the Photo Contest Archive.

6. Only registered users are allowed to vote, and we ask that you please only vote once.

If you have suggestions for improving the contest, scripts you have seen to make it more automated, or any other suggestions, we'd love to hear them. Get your cameras out and Good Luck!

Barbie

doctorzeb · Post by **doctorzeb** » 25 Nov 2003, 09:02

Can we jazz it up a bit with photoshop?

Post by **Barbie** » 25 Nov 2003, 17:48

That brings up a good point. I use photoshop to crop and white balance most of my pictures, but I don't change the way the fish actually looks with it, as I feel that's unethical for using in contests. That is one of those things where its extremely difficult to prove, and usually basically at people's discretion. I tend to not vote for pictures in contests that have been obviously retouched, but its really a matter of preference, and that preference is going to be at the hands of our members, so what do you all prefer?

Barbie

ClayT101 · Post by **ClayT101** » 26 Nov 2003, 00:04

Another reason for me to get a digital camera

Graeme · Post by **Graeme** » 26 Nov 2003, 00:24

I Prefer Natural Pictures! (Nature intended!).

Graeme.

RogerMcAllen · Post by **RogerMcAllen** » 26 Nov 2003, 00:39

I agree, natural is the way to go.

RogerMcAllen · Post by **RogerMcAllen** » 26 Nov 2003, 02:48

It is not stated, but the rules seem to imply that there are divisions. Are there? I was thinking perhaps an amature division for those of us who can barely use a digital camera and don't have acess to photo editing software.

Post by **Barbie** » 26 Nov 2003, 03:05

For now, no, there are no divisions. That will definitely be something that could be considered in the future, if we get a large enough turn out.

As far as the photoshop issue, I think that the voting will weed out whether or not people prefer the pictures that have been touched, or retouched. That will be fair to everyone, without having to set up too many stipulations and guidelines. Agreed?

Barbie

Post by **Shane** » 26 Nov 2003, 03:25

Ofcourse they have to be catfish. Who would be so silly as to waste tankspace on any other kind of fish?

-Shane

Link2Hell · Post by **Link2Hell** » 26 Nov 2003, 11:50

Yep Shane, who would want take pics of things like c****ds let alone waste tank space
But it is a nice Dicrossus filamentosa

Should the pic be of single fish or can you use a pic with multiple fish of the same species ?

Chris

Post by **Barbie** » 26 Nov 2003, 22:32

I think the number of fish pictured is completely at your discretion. It's all about presentation and what the members of the board like after all

Barbie

Link2Hell · Post by **Link2Hell** » 27 Nov 2003, 14:42

Thanks Barbie
Now I only have to get them to pose for the camera

L2H

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 28 Nov 2003, 12:20

doctorzeb wrote:Can we jazz it up a bit with photoshop?

Yes and no. Amending the colour, making it balck and white, airbrushing out reflections and so on are fine. Making a fish look different by things like, for example, making the fins longer, changing eye or patterning / patterning colour are out.

Pose is all important, a not very well set shot of a fish with all it's fins up is going to be favoured over a catfish sitting on a very pretty piece of wood with nice plants in the background. Of course, a nice setting and a nice pose from the fish is what we all should aim for. A perfect shot of an unusual catfish will be rated slightly higher than a perfect shot of a common catfish. BUT quality will otherwise win out over rarity. A nice setting colour also be a black background...

Other features such as breeding shots or "family" shots will also be considered highly. The jury is still out on shots like feeding frenzies which might be visually interesting but we're not sure yet how to rate them!

Jools

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 28 Nov 2003, 12:22

Link2Hell wrote:Should the pic be of single fish or can you use a pic with multiple fish of the same species ?

Your call. A nice profile of a male and female or a shoal may well score more highly than an individual unless the individual shot is "top left thumbnail" (as explained by Barbie in her first post) quality in which case it will be rated highly!!!

Jools

Post by **Barbie** » 29 Nov 2003, 15:51

If you would like to see the submissions so far, they can be viewed HERE. Keep them coming

This promises to be a great contest!

Barbie

Skyetone · Post by **Skyetone** » 29 Nov 2003, 18:32

i submitted a pic... love the sight.... Lurked for a while. But I actually have knowledge to share. So i will

Post by **Shane** » 30 Nov 2003, 21:33

Barbie,
Can you explain the voting process? I norticed that a number of people have already cast votes and I assume that we have not even received all the entries. Perhaps the voting should be opened up after the deadline for submitting photos? I am a little confused (nothing new there).
-Shane

Post by **Barbie** » 30 Nov 2003, 23:45

The voting process will be implemented after the 15th, when all the photos have been submitted, and the 20 finalists have been chosen. The voting ability on the gallery system that I have at fishaholics is just there for looks, none of those votes will count. I'll check and see if I can't disable that feature in the photo contest gallery

Barbie

mallemalle · Post by **mallemalle** » 03 Dec 2003, 14:59

i got my camera working again today, so i sent a pic as well

Kaare Thode

clothahump · Post by **clothahump** » 03 Dec 2003, 19:36

Can I use this one?

RogerMcAllen · Post by **RogerMcAllen** » 04 Dec 2003, 01:02

What is it, caterpiler, cat, or catfish?

Elle · Post by **Elle** » 13 Dec 2003, 20:39

That's a wierdlooking um pet you've got there, clothahump.

Oh! I know! It's a.....a.....a caterfish-thingamabobber! Yeah! That's what it is! Right? Must be really healthy to have such bright skin!

Post by **Barbie** » 15 Dec 2003, 17:45

OK Everyone, the clock is ticking down the hours! The contest submissions will be taken through today, and then your chance to have an entry in the first ever, Planet Catfish photo contest will be gone forever!

(holy cow, I should be a used car salesman!)

To view the submissions so far, you can go HERE. I think we've had a great turnout so far, with some awesome pictures!

Barbie

INXS · Post by **INXS** » 16 Dec 2003, 16:40

Barbie,
I don't see a clue about the contest on the PC home page - am I blind?

If there isn't a link on the home page - can one be added? A really obvious one for blind people like me.

I didn't realize there was a contest until now - which of course is late

BTW - how do you view the contest?

Post by **Barbie** » 16 Dec 2003, 17:12

For right now INXS, the contest entries are here http://www.fishaholics.org/photogallery ... p?album=59. Eventually we will be implementing a script of some sort as an integral part of PC, but this first contest was a way to test the waters and see what sort of turnout we'd have. I processed all of the submissions manually. This post contains all of the rules and criteria needed to enter, for now. A link on the PC Home page will definitely be something we add when the script is added.

There will be a contest every month, so don't get discouraged, just submit your picture for the next one! Sorry the post didn't get your attention before now.

I honestly think we got some great submissions, that will be a great asset in the CatElog.

Barbie

RogerMcAllen · Post by **RogerMcAllen** » 16 Dec 2003, 18:51

So when/how does voting work?

Post by **Barbie** » 16 Dec 2003, 20:01

By the end of the day, the pictures will be set up as a poll, with each person getting one vote. The software that we are looking into would allow a rating system, but for now, this should work fine. Sorry I'm so slow with all of this

Barbie

*NOTE* There will actually be a delay of one more day in getting these posted. We might have found a script that would simplify everything greatly. Stay tuned! The contest will still end at the same time!

RogerMcAllen · Post by **RogerMcAllen** » 17 Dec 2003, 05:58

My picture is not the greatest, but one of the keys seems to be good lighting within the aquarium. If you don't have this and your flash goes off it will ruin your pic as it reflects off of the glass.

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 17 Dec 2003, 07:49

Tbone... lighting is a big deal. mine was taken of a fish in a 90 gallon with 350 watts over it... Patience helps... ;) I can kill about 15 megs on my media card for each decent picture I actually get. A digital is a lifesaver. I'd never attempt fish photograpghy with a standard camera, unless I knew way more about the workings of one.

Post by **Barbie** » 18 Dec 2003, 18:16

There has been a slight technical problem with posting the photo contest, namely that the pHpBB doesn't allow 20 polling criteria, so please bear with us as we figure out a different system to implement as soon as possible. My apologies for the delays, hopefully it won't be necessary to have a public caning...

Barbie