Final GT4 Photomode Tournament - PmC Round 1 - Poll

[Nicknamealguem]

Congrats to Nicknamealguem, NTX, GrumpEone, and David48 on advancing to the next round...which I will have up later tomorrow.

Thanks for the votes and criticism everyone. Congrats to everyone that passed as well. I have to focus really hard if I want to beat one of PmC kings (NTX), in the next round .
Luke, it was a good battle, your shot was really solid, really good choice of a very good rendered car, and a pretty good shot all together, but has it has been said, the drift part is lacking…

me vs. Nickname I voted for Luis obviously. He has a solid shot, although to tell the truth, I am surprised he is killing me at the moment. He has said earlier that he is poor at drifting shots, but I think he could have done better. The fact that he has tried to brighten up a dark night shot gives it weird lighting and poor quality, although it has good use of ingame blur. Would anyone care to tell me what exactly is wrong with my shot?

Honestly, I don’t know if I could make a better shot. I consider this one to be one of my best drift shots to date.
I don’t know if you remember, but there was a round 1 PmC tournament where I actually won by two votes against Swiss Legend, where the theme was American Drift. In there I actually learned that the most important thing about a drift shot is actually showing the drift itself (and having a good composition helps too). So, that’s maybe way I didn’t focus on the actually composition but in the drift itself.
My problem with drift shots is that I find it difficult to drift properly and that was one of the phew drifts I didn’t crash into a wall. It’s not that it is too difficult to capture the drift itself.

Also, not wanting to point a finger, but, as I said in the competition thread, this battle was a hell of a coincidence.
_
Into the analisis, as I said above and has it been said, your shot is pretty solid, but it doesn’t show any drift at all.

As for the Sixties:
NTX blows away with a magnificent shot, showing his skills as one of the best PmCers of GTPlanet. I can’t point any flaw to it, it’s simply perfect, composition and mood wise.
As for Reteku, I expected a bit more from him, after seeing his gorgeous image in his gallery, this one was kind of a disappointment. The shot is kind of flat with no real mood and shape.

The Red Cars:
Grump. A good shot, though I would like to see better in the next rounds, mainly the corrected “washed out” effect. Has for composition, you should be careful with the surroundings. First, the rumble strip curve. You should allow the full curve to be done, and try not to crop it, has that will allow a stronger composition. Also, be careful about the Horizontal/Vertical stance of the frame. Since in that in the background, there is some tall buildings, I would have opted by a vertical or portrait stile frame (to also not run into the mistake of cropping the tallest building), but has you would want to focus on the drift, I would have lowered and zoomed the camera, not capturing higher than the street lights.

80Y: It’s quite difficult to evaluate a shot simply because it’s not your style of shots, but truth be told, I’ve seen great shots with this type of camera. But I’m not liking this one, the car is ubber blurred and saturated, the road is ubber saturated as well, and it get’s kind of boring to look at only car/road.

Phototravel:
Well, it seems someone forgot about contrast. Lancer Evo shot is a bit bland. It has contrast and the car is in the middle and badly positioned.

As for David shot, though it is in the same place, it has a good composition overall.

 

[Boffin]

80Y: It’s quite difficult to evaluate a shot simply because it’s not your style of shots, but truth be told, I’ve seen great shots with this type of camera. But I’m not liking this one, the car is ubber blurred and saturated, the road is ubber saturated as well, and it get’s kind of boring to look at only car/road.

May I ask what my style is? I'm not having a rip at you or getting defensive, its just I didn't know it was that definative, and I don't know how other's recognise it. 👍

 

[Nicknamealguem]

May I ask what my style is? I'm not having a rip at you or getting defensive, its just I didn't know it was that definative, and I don't know how other's recognise it. 👍

It's not a "your" directed at you. It's a "your" directed at a hypothetical person.

It's like I'm talking to someone else but directing to me, so, in other words, I was saying that it's difficult to evaluate a shot because it I don't like the style or type or shot, so I was saying to a a reader that it's difficult to evaluate a shot simply because it's not the kind of shots you are used to, or are your style or are withing your likings.

Sorry for the confusion. 👍

 

[GrumpEone]

Theme: Drift - MinoltaMan89 vs. Nicknamealguem

MinotaMan89 - I really liked the clarity of the car, a real nice shot. But the real negative to your shot is the lack of action; at that angle you lost most of the evidence of a drift, and that's not good in a Drift themed competition.

Nicknamealguem - A good drift shot, I like the drift angle, the shot just screams action. The motion blur is good, although a bit too much in the front of the car.

I voted for Nicknamealguem, shot mainly on adherence to the Theme, If the theme wasn't drift I would have chose MinoltaMan89's shot.


Theme: The Sixties - NTX vs. Rateku

NTX - I really liked the car choice and location, and the shot is of very good quality with excellent use of lighting and shadow.

Rateku - This is another shot of excellent quality, it is setup very well. The eye moves very well throughout the shot, the colors work really well together.

I voted for Rateku, I thought his shot had more substance to it. This was the hardest decision, and best match of the round.

Theme: Red Cars - GrumpEone vs. 80Y 2C2

GrumpEone - Since my analization of myself may be biased, I will explain what I was trying to do. I took many shots of this particular drift until I had exactly what I wanted, my plan was: to lead the eye into the shot from the right by the rumble-strip and smoke, lead the eye through a nicely reflected Vette, then led by the lamp posts up through the buildings, and out near the top. The text may have annoyed some, but it was simple direct, soft and in the border, which is not really part of the shot.

80Y 2C2 - I thought this shot was plain and far too over-contrasted, for my tastes. Although the road texture came out kinda cool.

I voted for 80Y 2C2's shot because I couldn't vote for myself. I really was amazed it was separated by only my vote, when the poll came out I thought I would win by a large margin. The only things I would have changed, was eliminated the text as it didn't seem to go over well, and maybe used the brighter red 'Vette, other than that I was pretty satisfied with my shot.


Theme: Phototravel - LancerEvo7GSR vs. David48

LancerEvo7GSR - This is a good shot of a nice car. The reflections were pleasant, and the background has good depth. The shot is of real good quality, and works well.

David48 - A very elusive shot, I like the concept. The camera angle seems okay but I think the orientation of the shot hampers it. There is too much of nothing going on in this shot, half the shot is just dead space. It almost seems as the car is part of the background.

I voted for LancerEvo7GSR's shot. In my book, a shot showing 3 planes of the car, and a good background; beats a shot with dead foreground, showing only a portion of 1 plane of a car in the background.


Those are my short-version analyzations, and opinions on the entries. If you would like deeper analysis of your shots, I'm sure someone will help out over here:-=> Photomode Discussion & Analysis Thread. (Discuss here, not in Comp. threads) <=-

Also I am very surprised with the results of this poll.
Congrats to all advancing; and some who aren't advancing, you got robbed! lol

 

[Boffin]

Theme: Red Cars - GrumpEone vs. 80Y 2C2

GrumpEone - Since my analization of myself may be biased, I will explain what I was trying to do. I took many shots of this particular drift until I had exactly what I wanted, my plan was: to lead the eye into the shot from the right by the rumble-strip and smoke, lead the eye through a nicely reflected Vette, then led by the lamp posts up through the buildings, and out near the top. The text may have annoyed some, but it was simple direct, soft and in the border, which is not really part of the shot.

80Y 2C2 - I thought this shot was plain and far too over-contrasted, for my tastes. Although the road texture came out kinda cool.

I voted for 80Y 2C2's shot because I couldn't vote for myself. I really was amazed it was separated by only my vote, when the poll came out I thought I would win by a large margin. The only things I would have changed, was eliminated the text as it didn't seem to go over well, and maybe used the brighter red 'Vette, other than that I was pretty satisfied with my shot.

Hahahaha - I'm glad I'm not alone on this one. See, I thought I'd win by a large margin. I found the 'Vette shot not contrasted correctly, and while the composition was technically following the rule of thirds, it still had an air of snapshottishness, I saw no real focus to the image, and the car was covered over with the poorly rendered smoke that comes with GT4. Coupled with a non enticing 2D backdrop of Hong Kong, I didn't find it as an appealing shot.

Obviously I'm in a minorety, and my whole hearted congratulations on making it through. 👍

I suppose my style (as I see it) is a bit more out there. I always vote on a PMC basis. Not deducting for imperfections in the shot that are down too GT4 graphics - but more looking at the best shot that someone did with the tools they had to hand - and compostion plays a VERRRYY big role in my decision. I supppose this half explains my shot. There were some dodgy reflections on the car, so an increase in contrast both made the shot load, accentuated the action and the speed, and gave it a blurted look that I felt was deserving showing a Camaro going balls to the wall at the Test Circuit. Things have obviously changed from the last time I came here, as I didn't get talked down due to bloated colours or dodgy renderings before. But that was almost a year ago.

 

[David48]

Sooo... when is the next round going up?