I want you to know how much I appreciate your post. It's the most common sense approach I've seen in quite some time. I' printing this out to keep by my camera.
Shannon: this is a great service to those seeking to improve their scores. You have managed to present a valuable guide that if read and re-read will help those struggling to rush their image into a challenge without considering the meat of this proposal.
Anyone who expends time to help out their fellow men is certainly my friend. Kudos to you on this superior effort to help elevate the quality of images.
Hmmm... I wrote this fairly quickly, and just made up a challenge topic off the top of my head. In retrospect, maybe "Shoot an Endangered Species" was a poor choice of words. :-(
Feel free to add to this. One major point I missed was a note about appeal. I've seen many photos that are well taken and nail the challenge topic, but most viewers will look at it and think, "Ewww. Who wants to see THAT?" The Habits challenge had a number of assaults on the eyeballs.
Thanks for the post scalvert. A good read. I agree appeal is without a doubt one of the most important elements in winning a ribbon. I’ve come to think of the challenges like advertisement. The one with the best ad wins, but it needs all the elements that would sell or in our case be voted upon. And you don’t sell a product with unappealing subjects or made in such a way that it appears unappealing. I think there is also the concept of training ones eye to be aware of the difference. What might be appealing to me may not be to you or others. I’ll admit there is a lot more to this than I was aware of before joining this site. I’ve come a long way; still have a long way to go thanks for the help.
And a Happy New Year. John
great post, very interesting and helpful! I'm so happy I found a link to it in a black ribbon winner comment (I always take a look at black ribbons!)... hope I'll be able to put in practice your advice ;)
