>>> LPS#4 Semifinalists List!

[Shay Stephens]

Congratulations are in order, the 10 dgrinners below are now qualified for the semifinal starting May 14!

:clap:clap:clap:clap


http://1anda2.smugmug.com/photos/147919935-L.jpg
Post 33 - Greensquared - Soil Sample


http://lrichters.smugmug.com/photos/145108729-L.jpg
Post 10 - richtersl - I Just Want to be Human


http://dalantech.smugmug.com/photos/145726878-L.jpg
Post 16 - Dalantech - Frozen in Time


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/180/464916057_733951ec49_o.jpg
Post 5 - bgaras2001 - new life


http://lovieking.smugmug.com/photos/146530321-L.jpg
Post 18 - kingmamaof2 - I Saw Her Move


http://photographyplayground.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1819
Post 32 - osoi - Off With Their Heads!


http://www.smugmug.com/photos/147551181-L.jpg
Post 30 - seastack - Morning Fog


http://joshfreeman.smugmug.com/photos/147877388-O.jpg
Post 71 - JFreeman - Setting Lights During Tech Rehearsal for Dracula


http://www.dgrin.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=18885&stc=1&d=1177738321
Post 53 - ultravox - Evolution.


http://sherstone.smugmug.com/photos/146439887-L.jpg
Post 25 - sherstone - "slice of life"




And a first for the Last Photographer Standing contest, A breakdown on the voting!

Position - Points - Photographer
1 - 32 - Greensquared
2 - 23 - richtersi
3 - 22 - Dalantech
4 - 21 - bgaras2001
5 - 16 - kingmamaof2
6 - 16 - osoi
7 - 15 - seastack
8 - 10 - jfreeman
9 - 10 - ultravox
10 - 10 - sherstone
11 - 9 - Povertybarn
12 - 8 - DRabbit
13 - 8 - sser
14 - 7 - JimW
15 - 7 - eoren1
16 - 6 - chertioga
17 - 6 - sunione
18 - 5 - vandana
19 - 5 - pyroPrints.com
20 - 5 - LiquidAir
21 - 4 - anwmn1
22 - 4 - speck26
23 - 4 - Annie222
24 - 3 - Aurora
25 - 3 - Tessa HD
26 - 3 - urbanaries
27 - 3 - heatherfeather
28 - 3 - shatch
29 - 2 - ristyz
30 - 2 - indiegirl
31 - 2 - annnna8888
32 - 1 - alex
33 - 1 - s.shinjin
34 - 1 - dizzy

[Nikolai]

WTG, everybody! :thumb
Special congrats for seastack: 3 out of 4! :clap

[osoi]

Great Job to all who were selected... And to all try, there were some awsome photos in this round...:thumb


:deal omg i made it.... :barb

[Dalantech]

Wow -I'm humbled to be in the company of some really great artists! Thanks!! :cool

[padu]

wow... that was very humbling... not even one vote. and I even thought I had some chances judging from the unnoficial popular votes...

next time I promisse I won't forget the title :cry

[seastack]

WTG, everybody! :thumb
Special congrats for seastack: 3 out of 4! :clap

Ah man, you're keeping track ... thanks Nikolai. And thanks to Shay and the Tabulatron3000 for posting the rankings, helps give some insight into the judging. Very helpful.

[Nikolai]

Ah man, you're keeping track ...
Like you don't :-) :wink
Of course I do, I wanna know who'm I competing with in May:-) :D

[JFreeman]

Thanks guys, there's some amazing photographers there to be competing with come the middle of May

[ChrisJ]

Great shots! :clap

6 artificial, 4 organic. Again a pretty even split. I definitely had trouble with this theme. I think fewer entries showed that others did, too.

I expect a *lot* more shots for LPS #5!

[lynnesite]

Great choices, wonderful entries, congrats to the ones now movin' on.

[douglas]

Congrats everyone, great entries :thumb

[sherstone]

I'm honored to squeak into the 10th spot.

Lot's of surprises in this round, many I liked didn't even get one vote. :scratch
Thank you Shay for the breakdown that is very valuable information.

A big thank you to all the judges and the time they took to bring us
this excitement!

[ultravox]

OMG! Thank you v.much. I am still not beliveing this. To be selected amoung such wonderful semifinalists. For me, a day to remeber.:barb

LE. original sized down with EXIF (just for the record.:deal)

[thebigsky]

Oh dear, not a single vote, rejection I can handle, but delusion, that's a whole different can of worms.

Still looking at other entries that received no votes, I'm in good company.


Charlie

[Greensquared]

Okay, I am shocked, stunned, humbled and totally ecstatic! :barb I was just so happy to have found this forum and be truly inspired by you all, and now this! Thank you, thank you to everyone who has offered me encouragement and support (especially Fashiznitsngrins!). Congrats to the other SFs too - awesome job!:clap :clap :clap

[thebigsky]

Okay, I am shocked, stunned, humbled and totally ecstatic! :barb I was just so happy to have found this forum and be truly inspired by you all, and now this! Thank you, thank you to everyone who has offered me encouragement and support (especially Fashiznitzngrins!). Congrats to the other SFs too - awesome job!:clap :clap :clap

Well done Greensquared, your image is in a different league to most of the other entries and I'm glad the voting reflected this.

I'm looking forward to following your progress through the competition.

Charlie

[VisualXpressions]

Wow -I'm humbled to be in the company of some really great artists! Thanks!! :cool


First of all congratulations to all semi-finalists this go around:clap "Soil sample" is especally noteworthy!

Dalentech... Very interesting shot, not one of my choices though; I guess because I don't understand what I'm looking at? Maybe because I haven't delved into macro photography... anyway someone please educate me? Is it artificial or organic? And what is the small flower? A reflection in a drop of water or a refrigerator magnet like my wife thinks?:scratch :bow

Thanks
Winston

[Dalantech]

First of all congratulations to all semi-finalists this go around:clap "Soil sample" is especally noteworthy!

Dalentech... Very interesting shot, not one of my choices though; I guess because I don't understand what I'm looking at? Maybe because I haven't delved into macro photography... anyway someone please educate me? Is it artificial or organic? And what is the small flower? A reflection in a drop of water or a refrigerator magnet like my wife thinks?:scratch :bow

Thanks
Winston


I turned my kitchen sink into a studio for that one. It's a water drop falling in front of a flower and I used the flash to freeze its motion. The flower behind it (out of focus and in the upper left corner) is refracted in the drop. The real trick is getting the image of the flower in the drop in focus. I took that shot hand held and about a dozen frames before I got the drop where I wanted it. I was shooting at the minimum focusing distance of the lens (Canon's 100mm) so it is a true macro photograph (life size magnification).

Minimal post processing on the computer: I cloned out a small reflection from the flash and did a minor levels adjustment and bumped the highlights by about 5 percent. I also cloned out some of the flower in the background (odd reflection from getting damp). Spent all of five minutes in Photoshop Elements before I saved the RAW file as a jpg...

As for the theme: I looked up the word "organic" in the dictionary and one of the definitions is this:

"Fine Arts. of or pertaining to the shapes or forms in a work of art that are of irregular contour and seem to resemble or suggest forms found in nature."

So I went looking for a way to shoot something organic, to suggest the shape, but not to shoot it directly...

[VisualXpressions]

I turned my kitchen sink into a studio for that one. It's a water drop falling in front of a flower and I used the flash to freeze its motion. The flower behind it (out of focus and in the upper left corner) is refracted in the drop. The real trick is getting the image of the flower in the drop in focus. I took that shot hand held and about a dozen frames before I got the drop where I wanted it. I was shooting at the minimum focusing distance of the lens (Canon's 100mm) so it is a true macro photograph (life size magnification).

Minimal post processing on the computer: I cloned out a small reflection from the flash and did a minor levels adjustment and bumped the highlights by about 5 percent. I also cloned out some of the flower in the background (odd reflection from getting damp). Spent all of five minutes in Photoshop Elements before I saved the RAW file as a jpg...

As for the theme: I looked up the word "organic" in the dictionary and one of the definitions is this:

"Fine Arts. of or pertaining to the shapes or forms in a work of art that are of irregular contour and seem to resemble or suggest forms found in nature."

So I went looking for a way to shoot something organic, to suggest the shape, but not to shoot it directly...


Absolutely amazing! I never would have guessed :thumb Thanks so much for the explanation!

Winston

[MaxThompson]

Congratulations to all - the "Soil Sample" is the best! These are all great shots!

[kingmamaof2]

Congratulations to all the qualifiers!~and thanks Shay for the breakdown of points/votes. It obviously was a tough round to judge.:thumb Great job guys!

[Swartzy]

Oh dear, not a single vote, rejection I can handle, but delusion, that's a whole different can of worms.

Still looking at other entries that received no votes, I'm in good company.


Charlie

Not to worry Charlie......I'm with you on this one :wink. Here, I thought my idea was incredibly creative....here's the great part of it.....we learned tons of new stuff! Yaaaa!

Congrats everyone for participating and way to go top 10ers :clap There were many many great entries this time around, so if your's didn't make it, don't fret. Go get the next one. :thumb

[Green2]

Okay, I am shocked, stunned, humbled and totally ecstatic! :barb I was just so happy to have found this forum and be truly inspired by you all, and now this! Thank you, thank you to everyone who has offered me encouragement and support (especially Fashiznitsngrins!). Congrats to the other SFs too - awesome job!:clap :clap :clap

Congratulations Emily! Great shot!
I am happy that you found some inspiration here.
This is a great community and forum. Well done. Thank you all for sharing and helping.

Congratulations to all of the other qualifiers! There are some really talented artists here.

Yes - we are related, and what is wrong with a little healthy competition amongst family members?

....Now, what to do for LPS #5 now that I have de-lurked.....:scratch

[richtersl]

But it's a very happy state of shock. :barb There were some phenomenal entries this go-around and I was afraid to even open this thread this morning.

The encouragement and support from everyone here has been fantastic! You guys are the best cheerleaders! :lynnma :lust

Congrats to all the other semi-finalists!!! :clap

[thebigsky]

Not to worry Charlie......I'm with you on this one :wink. Here, I thought my idea was incredibly creative....here's the great part of it.....we learned tons of new stuff! Yaaaa!

Congrats everyone for participating and way to go top 10ers :clap There were many many great entries this time around, so if your's didn't make it, don't fret. Go get the next one. :thumb

I've certainly learnt a few things, not sure they'll improve my photography mind. :scratch

Charlie

[Tessa HD]

that was fun!

Tessa HD

[JillG]

Congrats to all the winners:clap:clap and to all who entered. Thanks also to the judges for their time and effort. It's a joy for me to see all the different takes on the themes ( sometimes I'm really surprised ):D and be involved in some of the works in progress. This challenge, as Shay probably intended, is making me think outside of my own little box. Of course I'd LOVE to qualify and I still have almost a year :rofl
Jill

[Dalantech]

Absolutely amazing! I never would have guessed :thumb Thanks so much for the explanation!

Winston

Anytime :)

[Tentacion]

wow... that was very humbling... not even one vote. and I even thought I had some chances judging from the unnoficial popular votes...

next time I promisse I won't forget the title :cry


Your photo was a winner in my book, but I guess cuz you forgot the title that was a factor..Don't feel bad, I didn't get any votes either, good luck in the next round!! :thumb

[padu]

Your photo was a winner in my book, but I guess cuz you forgot the title that was a factor..Don't feel bad, I didn't get any votes either, good luck in the next round!! :thumb

Thanks for the encouraging words...

The bummer is that I actually HAD a title for the picture, just forgot to include :cry

In case anybody want to know (which I doubt), the title is "Allura Red"... which is one of the FDA's approved food colorant.

[Dee]

To the semi finalists and all who entered.

[photogmomma]

Congratulations to ALL! Very, very tough round.... I am awed by the wonderful photos and think the judges did a phenomenal job!

Congrats again! :clap :D

[heatherfeather]

Congrats to everyone! I am loving this! Even though I haven't won a place in the top ten yet, it still is quite stimulating! Perhaps next round...

I do have a dumb question. (I think they multiply in my head like rabbits)

How many votes does each judge have? I mean, I loved having the tabulation of who got how many votes, but it made me confused a bit. Do the judges only have 10 votes total, or do they get to rank each picture as well by giving them more than one vote (or one or none!)? The reason why I asked is that the big winners had over 30 votes for them. And if there is only 60 votes total... hmmm. :scratch
This question is probably answered somewhere else, but I haven't found it.

I was pretty tickled to have 3 votes, but looking at it closer, it may not be as wonderful as I had first thought.

[Shay Stephens]

How many votes does each judge have? I mean, I loved having the tabulation of who got how many votes, but it made me confused a bit. Do the judges only have 10 votes total, or do they get to rank each picture as well by giving them more than one vote (or one or none!)? The reason why I asked is that the big winners had over 30 votes for them. And if there is only 60 votes total... hmmm. :scratch
This question is probably answered somewhere else, but I haven't found it.


The judges pick their top ten photos, and rank them from 1 to 10 (1 being their favorite, and ten having barely made their list.

The rank is inverted to apply points. A photo that ranks a 1 gets 10 points, a photo that ranks a 10 gets 1 point.

All those points get tallied and the final top ten is chosen from the photos that have the most points.

[pyroPrints.com]

The judges pick their top ten photos, and rank them from 1 to 10 (1 being their favorite, and ten having barely made their list.

The rank is inverted to apply points. A photo that ranks a 1 gets 10 points, a photo that ranks a 10 gets 1 point.

All those points get tallied and the final top ten is chosen from the photos that have the most points.

would it not be easier to rank them from 10 to 1 then (10 being the favorite, and 1 having barely made their list)? :D

[heatherfeather]

The judges pick their top ten photos, and rank them from 1 to 10 (1 being their favorite, and ten having barely made their list.

The rank is inverted to apply points. A photo that ranks a 1 gets 10 points, a photo that ranks a 10 gets 1 point.

All those points get tallied and the final top ten is chosen from the photos that have the most points.

Thanks for that explanation... I figured it must be something like that. Now it is nice to know what you all actually do. Good job setting this up- you guys are awesome! :thumb

[LiquidAir]

The judges pick their top ten photos, and rank them from 1 to 10 (1 being their favorite, and ten having barely made their list.

The rank is inverted to apply points. A photo that ranks a 1 gets 10 points, a photo that ranks a 10 gets 1 point.

All those points get tallied and the final top ten is chosen from the photos that have the most points.

Not to say it happened this way, but given these rules one judge ranking a photo #1 would have been sufficient to put it in the top 10. The other side of that coin is that all 6 judges could have selected a photo near the bottom of their list and it might not have made it in. Another way to look at this is that #10 on one judge's list is only 1 point better than the other 90 photos entered which, given the competition, means you have a pretty good photo but it doesn't get you far toward qualifying.

What this means in practice is that convincing one or two judges that your photo is great is better than convincing all 6 that your photo is good enough. Mind you, I don't have any specific advice about how to achieve that goal...

[indiegirl]

I'm stoked to have made any list, even with my wee 2 points. Love the inspiration, can't wait to keep going...

[Shay Stephens]

would it not be easier to rank them from 10 to 1 then (10 being the favorite, and 1 having barely made their list)? :D

Conceptually, but the change in the amount of work still needed is negligble.

[Shay Stephens]

...convincing one or two judges that your photo is great is better than convincing all 6 that your photo is good enough.

A great photo is generally better than a photo that is good enough :wink

We are trying to motivate people to go out and create great photos. Do that and the rest will take care of itself :D

[Shay Stephens]

I'm stoked to have made any list, even with my wee 2 points. Love the inspiration, can't wait to keep going...

Those two points can be the launching point to great things :D

Congratulations on earning them :clap

[Robert]

Congratulations to all. Well done.
Never mind not making it into the first ten. I couldn’t even come up with an entry this time that I found worth while putting forward.
That is depressing, believe you me.

[LiquidAir]

A great photo is generally better than a photo that is good enough :wink

We are trying to motivate people to go out and create great photos. Do that and the rest will take care of itself :D


Truely great photos are the ones that stand the test of time. That, of course, is a test which can't really be applied in this format. It would be interesting to run a poll in a year to see which shots people like best after seeing them in the banner for a year.

[Shay Stephens]

It would be interesting to run a poll in a year to see which shots people like best after seeing them in the banner for a year.

That would be interesting!

[dlscott56]

Fantastic job everyone!!!!:thumb

I can't believe how much I'm learning by studying all of the very talented photographers photos posted in these forums.

Thank you so much for sharing :clap.

[NanaMo]

I do not need to tell anyone that #4 was a great challenge......:scratch...so WELL DONE to those who made the top 10! :barb

To the judges :wink thanks for pushing us to our limits and challenging our creativity and photographic abilities!!!


:bow,

Maureen