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First of all, welcome to the Competitions section of the Photomode sub forum.
Before you enter any competition or decide on creating your own, please, read up the info in this post/thread.
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READ THIS FIRST: Competitions, everything you need to know
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First of all, welcome to the Competitions section of the Photomode sub forum.
Before you enter any competition or decide on creating your own, please, read up the info in this post/thread.
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A look up at some general rules;
Rules, rules and more rules. The world is made of rules, but not always as we understand them.
The same can happen with Photomode Competitions. Whant to know how some of the most popular competitions work? Well, just come along.
Competitions like the Photomode Competition or the 2.0 Advanced are weekly competitions that have a new competition week every week. Explaining a little further, competition week XX is posted (normally on Sundays) and it then stays OPEN for about 7 days. After those 7 days, the competition is CLOSED and a public poll (where everyone votes for their favorite picture) for about 4 days, giving space for any 1 day tie brake poll, is created. All pictures in the poll are chosen by that week Judge.
While the voting process is being conducted, another competition week is already OPEN, leaving no empty spaces between competition weeks.
This isn't necessarily true for all competition, some may run through a monthly format and others only appear from time to time. It's up to the hosts to decide which would suit their competition best interest.
Winning a competition is easy, you just have to enter a picture (within rules) into the OPEN competition (you don't say...
) and be the most voted in the poll (really?). Yeah, it's that simple, but remember, do not sway the poll or the Judge for that matter. Winning a competition will give you the ability to judge that competition next week in one thing I like to call, the A-B-A-B format – week one winner judges week three and week two winner judges week four.Also, you will know if you won by visiting the poll page (that is obvious, isn’t it?
) and we are pesky enough to Private Message you with it and all the details of what you should send to us. Don’t forget, the theme should be sent by P.M. to the host of that competition.About judges, there are cases where the Judge is not last week winner. This is caused because a limit of 2 days will be given to receive a theme. After that limit, it either passes to the second placed user when it is able to determinate it, or the host will be the one who carries the judging job.
Since the Judge will also have to choose the best 25 pictures of all that have been posted (a P.M. will be sent to the judge, when the week closes, in order for him to determinate the best 25), he cannot enter the theme he judges.
It is also important to define roles:
Competition HOST: Apart from posting every competition week and it's poll, hosts are the ones who make sure competition rules are being followed. They have no responsibility on the theme or the entries that get into poll (apart from excluding entries that don't abide to the competition rules), but can decide the amount of entries that go into poll (stating it clearly in the competition rules when competition begins).
Competition JUDGE: Either being the previous week winner or it's runner up, the Judge is the one who chooses theme. The judge job is to make sure the week theme is being followed and it is the one who chooses which entries (within his preferences) get's into poll.
Themes: Themes will obey to a specific format, used as well in the GT4 Competitions, of theme name, a brief explanation about it, cars of choice, locations of choice and if Phototravel can or not be used.
Classic Poll Style size: Yes, it’s true, there will be poll sizes, and it would be impossible to run a weekly competition without it, so the poll will be limited to the best XX entries.
[Please note: Don’t be upset if you didn’t got into poll. People's tastes are subjective, so the Judge's decisions will stick. Don't be discouraged!
H2H Poll Size: Well every fourth week (starting with week 2 for the 2.0 and week 4 for the PMC), there will be a Head to Head poll. In the Head to Head, there will be given a theme (like i.e. Red vs. Blue and you have to choose to either submit an entry to the Red side or an entry to the Blue side. Two separate polls, this time with a limit of XX entries by poll and in a 3 day period, will be posted with each side. In the end, the winner of both sides would confront each other in a final poll, with a 1 day period.
To explain some of the rules more in deep, I'll use the Photomode Competition rules:
- Only one entry per user allowed. It must be that user's own work and never previously used in a competition;
Even though the same image could have different edits both inside or outside GT5, as long has it is the same core image, it will count has the same image.- Entry post must be marked with a FINAL ENTRY text;
- Entries may only be changed once and it must be indicated clearly;
- Link edit of the same entry won’t count toward entry change.
- Entries must be posted in either thumbnail or a preview. We recommend you to link either to it's full size;
- Posts containing bigger previews than allowed, full sizes or links only will be ignored;
- Previews should not exceed the limit of 500px in either direction and should not have any effect not present in the original image;
Lastly, but not the least, the Deadline. A week is never closed until the host says so in a thread post and/or the thread title, that varies from OPEN (open to entries) and CLOSED (no more entries allowed). So, even though the deadline may be passed by one day, if the competition is open, entries are still allowed.
Note: Sometimes hosts may extend the deadline to get more entries, so it is quite normal for this to happen.
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Competitions - about
The Photomode Competition is most known for it's "no editing outside Photomode allowed" rule, keeping all entrants in the same level of field and priming the photographic and creative skills of entrants.
The competition runs in a weekly basis - week starts and ends at Sundays and polls are open while next week is already up, as explained here.
One interesting inclusion from it's precedent in GT4, is the inclusion of an Head to Head week, every fourth week (starting from week 4).
Like the Photomode Competition, the 2.0 Advanced is also an weekly competition with H2H inclusion from it's precedent in GT4, every fourth week (starting from week 2).
The 2.0 Advaced Competition also primes photographic and creative aspect of entries but, different from the Photomode Competition, it allows some editing outside GT5 Photomode. You can basically edit your image with any given Photoshop tool/filter, as long as it doesn't alter the geometry of the image. Using multiple images, and adding elements from the outside is frown upon and against the rules.
Despite having the power of photoshop in you favor, having a good image from the beginning is crucial.
The name says it all, Photoshop. You can basically use any editing program to edit your picture any way you see it fit the given theme. Everything is allowed, the only limit is your mind.
Different from the first two competitions, this one doesn't have an Head to Head week, but a Graphic and Manipulation week instead.
To explain the difference, and quoting Revolution. explanation about both: "The competition will have two categories, Graphics and Manipulation. These categories will alternate week to week, depending on the choices of the competition winners. Themes coming from the Graphics category will be heavily graphic design and visual communication based, for example magazine covers, movie posters et cetera. Themes from the Manipulation category will be more about manipulating the photos you have taken, for example a 'pimp my ride' style theme where you add bodykits and big wheels to your cars, or a police car theme, where you convert your cars to police cars using Photoshop."
For this as well, was created the Judge Choice award. Whille the public vote winner get's to choose the theme, the Judge choice winner get's to implement if the week will be Graphic or Manipulation.
The CCCL is the strictest of the competitions. As the name reads, Certain Car Certail Location.
This means, all themes will have a certain car, let's say '08 Dodge Challenger SRT8 in one track, let's say Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
All entrants must take a photograph with these limitations. This competition primes creativity above all, since trying to be unique is not easy at all.
The competition weeks alternate between PMC rules and 2.0 rules in a A-B-A-B, format.
The Tournament is one of the most exciting competitions in the Photomode department. Far from the weekly formula, the tournament is actually a knock out type of competition, that works as a seasonal event of the Photomode area, where every entrant battles each other through a number of rounds until two get to the Final.
Also, there are actually two running at the same time - one with PMC and other with 2.0 rules.
And to keep all fairness, entries are confidential. That means, entries must be submitted through Private Messaging to the HOST, without any identifying element to it. Any form of identify a picture within the qualification week will result in immediate disqualification.
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How to post my entry in competitions - (Imageshack)
First of all, before submitting any entry, make sure you have read and understood the theme and all entry requirements for the competition in hand.
One easy way to start posting your entry is to post it in a thumbnail format. This is automatically created in some free image hosts like Imageshack. To do this, just upload your image and copy the text in the Forum Thumbnail option, like in the image below:
Afterwards, just paste it in your post and you are done. Be sure to have FINAL ENTRY written above your image.
[Tip: Before you upload your image, you may want to resize your full size image to a more confortable size.]
_______________
Now, to do it the way the some photomoders do, and will give an advantage in the poll, is to post it with a preview linked to the full sized image.
Although at first it may seem to have some steps, you can do it in less than 5 minutes.
To begin, you will need an editing program like Photoshop or the freeware Gimp, since you will have to resize the picture twice:
First, the full size in any dimension you want:
Then, resize the picture again, changing the widest dimension to 500px (this may be the Width or the Height, depending on the picture in question). Remember to keep the image proportions (like you can see in the image bellow).
Save that picture with another name like examplepreview.jpg:
In your image host, upload both pictures.
Now it’s the tricky part:
Copy the direct link of the preview image (like showed below):
Go to your post in GTPlanet, hit the Insert Image button, paste the link code there and hit OK:
Now go to Imageshack and copy the direct link of your full size image, the same way you did with the preview image.
Go to GTPlanet highlight the code in your post, like in the image below:
and hit the Insert URL button, paste the direct link and hit OK.
Your image code should look like this:
Where you can read [ URL= "URL of the Full Size Image" ]
Again, don’t forget the FINAL ENTRY text, and you are done.
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Another way, if you don’t want to save two equal images in your HDD (although you can delete the preview afterwards), is to just upload the same image two times with different resize options. Image hosts normally deliver some options, as shown below, in the resize department:
Just remember, the limit in preview images is 500px.
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Creating your own competition.
Before creating your own competition, I leave you with some questions you should ask yourself with:
- Does the competition I want to create already exists?
- Is there a competition with the same type/format/rules?
- Do I bring something new?
- Does the community benefit from another competition?
- Do other competitions benefit with my competition?
- Is it worth it?
- Will I have time to host it?
- Do I really want to host one? Or do I just want people to look at me?
If the competition already exist or with the same type/format, there is no point in creating another one. Also, if you don’t bring something new, hardly your competition will get much longer than 5/10 weeks. In this point, you can probably want to ask yourself if you want to create a long run competition or a short term one.
What I ask with the "Do other competitions benefit with my competition?", is that too many competitions co-existing can actually damage the entry rate of all competitions and asphyxiate the Photomode Competition sub-forum.
My advice, before you create any competition, is to look around and be active by entering some already existent competitions.
Also, try to understand their format and how they run or even ask other hosts for advices. Also, there are hosts who may not have more time and/or interest in running they’re competition. You may grab it from there. Give it some time.
If after all this time and thought you still want to host one competition but still don’t know where to start, or really think you would bring something new to the community , there is maybe some things you would want to consider:
- How would your competition run?
- How much time will it be run (again, long run (undetermined weeks) or short term (10/20 weeks))?
- Will it be specific to one theme like rally or race cars, or will it be wide open?
- What about rules?
To understand how some competitions are hosted, please, read the brief about in the posts above.
About rules, you can use the rules below, free of charge
: - Only one entry per user allowed. It must be that user own work and never previously used in a competition;
- Entry post must be marked with a FINAL ENTRY text;
- Entries may only be changed once and it must be indicated clearly;
- Entries should be posted in either thumbnail or a preview. It is recommended to link either to it's full size;
- Previews should not exceed the limit of 500px in either direction and have any effect not present in the original image;
- A free image hosting service, such as ImageShack, Photobucket or Flickr is recommended;
- Winner gets to choose the following week's theme;
- Only the best XX entries choosen by the judge, will get through poll
- The judge cannot enter is own theme.
Feel free to contact any competition host, if you have any doubt about how to run a competition.
Happy hosting.
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