Sep 2024 POTM Voting Thread

[JoJosReef]

Also, where do you send the entry's for potm?

This month's entries are all in and the voting poll us up. Wait for the Oct contest to start and submit it in the thread!

 

[JoJosReef]

There!!!

 

[ieatbugman]

Thank you!!! Also im stealing that meme

This month's entries are all in and the voting poll us up. Wait for the Oct contest to start and submit it in the thread!

 

[maroun.c]

How about we see more votes!
May the best picture win.

 

[tbrown]

How about we see more votes!
May the best picture win.

But that means I won't win!

 

[smitten with ocean life]

i voted! but it was hard to decide!!

 

[littlefoxx]

Willing to share the reasoning and hope you will take it as a constructive criticism.
I'll start by saying it's a very good picture anyone would be proud to take, and the o ly reason for it not to be on the finalists list is the sheer number of other pictures that fit the theme maybe a tiny bit better, some of my comments will be nitpicking bit with the need to drop the number of pictures so heavily one needs to nitpick unfortunately.
Starting with the picture before looking at the black and white side:
-picture is rather soft and better sharpness would help a lot here not sure if its the processing or the lense, not on PC to check the exif data to tell what camera or lense was taken, but normally this tends to happen with use of magnification lenses or shooting wide open on a lower quality lense, or it could just be the processing....
-Central position of the subject isn't really flattering, This is a bit cliche and many center framed subject look nice but imagine this site taken from a bit of different angle with the shrimp at the upper left corner of the shot looking at the viewer top down for example.
-You caught goodd eye contact so the moment was there however missed on focusas the focus hit on the coral right in front of the shrimp and the eyes are really soft so you don't really look at them and in such a shot focus has to e dead on the eyes to take ones eyes right there. more detail (smaller apreture) was needed to see more of the shrimp at the focus point and that all went missing.
- Air bubble between the arms takes the viewers eyes away from the center of the shot which is the eye.
-The antenna at the righ side showing flat horizontal and cut in the middle while the one on the left side of the picture is deleted from motion leads to an unnatural unsatable or unbalanced feel to the overall image, cutting the antenna in its middle didn't help as well.

Going to the black and white aspect

Black and white images were notorious and still are for grain whic even the best newest pro mirorless cameras can't replicate or come close to IMHO.
so basically looking at a black and white image histaorically these were very sharp pictures with high levels of grain (close to noise) which in a colored imge wouldn't be accepted. Quality black and white fim used to give very contrasty results which with the built in grain was a very specific appearance. the contracst allowed to see a quick shift from black to white and where near black would turn dark black so there was always a stepp contract in the pictures.

-I'm not sure if your shot was shot in black and white or converted to black and white, I presume it was converted as the conversion is overall flat due to lack of contrast, its almost flat gray hich doesn't really match the black and white theme. there are many black and white conversion actions or tools and some do provide a flat conversion but its not what black and white photographers recognize as a good black and white scale.
-Image as said above is too soft for black and white mostly because of the focus not being where it should, use of a large aperture or maybe jsut from distortion from glass I'm not sure however end result is far from the sharpness of a black and white pic.
linked to the softness i don't see noise to mimic Grain and that is the most aspect i would expect in a black and white shot. I'll allow myself to use an example from the submissions Picture 14 and 17 have crazy noise and that hard to describe feel for picture 17 where the pctopus suckers look so noisy to the point of annoying you , might be abit overdone in pic 14 but still fitting the theme perfectly. that would make it a bad picture if it was in color but for a black and white theme it shows that the photographer knew the needed points to match the theme and executed them rather very well.
its stil a reefing community and POTM stills trugles at time with people choosing to vote for the nicest or rarest aquatic subject so many would vote for your picture I'm sure. and all above is not to say your picture isn't nice on the countrary I pretty much love it despite the nit picks and even as is its a worthy picture, yet looking at all the above rationale I believe the correct choice was for other pictures to make the final cut.

I hope you take it as its intended as a constructive criticism, I thank you for participating and for the clear passion you have for that shot which is critical its one of the few shots that were very close to making the final list but which had to be removed to limit the number of pics in the voting thread.

Whish you good luck in future POTM submissions.
Maroun

Wow… someone knows photography!! I know I was late in my shot so it didnt count but I would love to get some feedback from you on mine! Always looking to improve my skills this was the one I would have submitted if I had seen it earlier!

Also I voted 13 mainly because those angels are so cool and the black and white makes it even more stunning to look at! But dang was it a hard choice, so many amazing pictures! Love black and white photography

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Wow… someone knows photography!! I know I was late in my shot so it didnt count but I would love to get some feedback from you on mine! Always looking to improve my skills this was the one I would have submitted if I had seen it earlier!

Also I voted 13 mainly because those angels are so cool and the black and white makes it even more stunning to look at! But dang was it a hard choice, so many amazing pictures! Love black and white photography

You can vote for more than one I believe...

 

[Mschmidt]

I just toyed

Just found out on samsung in the pro menu bring saturation down to the minimum then add a bit of contrast abd u get amazing black and white shots.

I couldn't find the menu in pro, but in the regular I did see some filter options...

B and w regular

B and w vivid

But that means I won't win!

Same. Want to form a gracious losers club?

 

[tbrown]

Same. Want to form a gracious losers club?

I try to always be gracious when I lose so, yeah! I'm in!

@revhtree any badge options for "Gracious Loser"?

 

[Mschmidt]

I try to always be gracious when I lose so, yeah! I'm in!

@revhtree any badge options for "Gracious Loser"?

I lose so much, I wouldn't have the energy to be angry about it. And with the potm I'm like a little leaguer playing in the majors.

Any advice @maroun.c?

 

[Reefering1]

So, I take it, those other 2 guys are out of contention for the "gracious loser" badge..(?)

 

[Mschmidt]

There should probably be a chance. I can't imagine one opportunity should make or break the inclusion.

 

[exnisstech]

So, I take it, those other 2 guys are out of contention for the "gracious loser" badge..(?)

They get a box of kleenex

 

[Reefering1]

They get a box of kleenex

 

[Reefering1]

They get a box of kleenex

Can make them share it. That way the one who gets the bigger half can feel like a winner

 

[Mschmidt]

Ooooo name brand! That'd be a very nice take.

 

[exnisstech]

It's a photography contest... picture quality matters.

I totally agree. This is the point that is being missed by some. The finalist are selected by image quality and subject matter if there is a subject and that alone and I think the mods do a darn good job.

 

[Griev]

I totally agree. This is the point that is being missed by some. The finalist are selected by image quality and subject matter if there is a subject and that alone and I think the mods do a darn good job.

Which was a perfectly fine answer! I was just leaving the feedback and defending my perspective when it was misunderstood. I was only offering a way to make the finalist selection more inclusive, but that's clearly not what people want.

I only ever took offense at the way some people reacted to my feedback in a weirdly personal way. I think I've explained my thoughts and have made no demands for the contest to change.

This is a really hostile clique of people in this sub forum. I wont be participating in future contests.

 

[exnisstech]

This is a really hostile clique of people in this sub forum. I wont be participating in future contests.

I don't think they're hostile. There is never more than one winner in a contest. All others are loosers. Simple as that. When people don't like to accept the fact that they lost its comical, at least to me. When I was kid they were called sore loosers and taunted. This is that in the digital age. But alas we're supposed to accept anything and everything these days. Fortunaly we are still able to taunt the sore loosers. FWIW originally I joined in because of the member who refused to accept the critique of his image offered by @maroun.c or his explanation of the process of selecting finalist. You hopped on the train after that if my memory is correct, which it may not be since I'm old. Happy reefing