Dgrin Sharp Shooters Challenge #97

Welcome to Round #97 of the Dgrin Sharp Shooters Challenges. This challenge is open to any Dgrin member.

It will run from Monday, February 20, 2012 8:00pm PST time (GMT -8) on through Monday, March 5, 2012 8:00pm PST time (GMT -8).

***** Please note the time change. ******

The topic ready for your interpretation: The eyes have it!

Lets see come creativity here! The eyes are the focus but your interpretation is the key. Whether it be human, animal, vegetable or mineral, lets see what you can do!

There are no editing restrictions in this round.

Your Judge:
1 round 72 Hour Public Vote.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Your entry is to be submitted directly into a SmugMug gallery. It's pretty simple, just go to the gallery link below, and follow the upload instructions at the top of the page:

DSS #97 Entry Gallery

Remember, the basics stay the same: 1 entry per person, and the photo must be fresh, taken during this contest period. Do not use a minimal save method (such as "save for web"), and your EXIF will be embedded in your image, no worries!

To avoid disqualification, read, in full, the Dgrin Sharp Shooters Challenge Rules.

Love this one!

I just took a look at the gallery and I know who will be getting my votes so far. Great job everyone. I sure hope there are more entries. This is a great theme for a challenge.

I finally got a chance to take some photos of my 3 yr old granddaughter. She actually posed for me, so I've actually got one or two images of her where she wasn't moving... I'm not really a 'people' photographer, but I think I got a good shot of her for a change! LOL

I had a vision right off the bat, it took awhile, but I got 'er done.

I can't seem to delete the upload I made last night. The other half has a broken leg, and I figured I'd throw something up there in case I couldn't come back with a better image. And now I realize, I shouldn'ta thrown that image up there ...

Only the Mods can delete something loaded to the gallery. You just need to go in and edit the caption to read "Please Delete" and they will remove it.

I'd still like to see the comments in the entry thread scaled back until after voting, but it is what it is I guess. Good luck everyone, there are some real interesting shots entered.

Originally Posted by Jeffro I'd still like to see the comments in the entry thread scaled back until after voting, but it is what it is I guess. Good luck everyone, there are some real interesting shots entered.

What is there to scale back?

Originally Posted by DeuceFour What is there to scale back?

The comments in the entry thread.....I personally would rather the commenting (good or bad) wait until after the voting so as not to potentially influence the decision of others. I hold my comments until after the results are in.

My quick thought is that I love the comments. I don't know if they sway my vote one way or the other because I like what I like and I vote accordingly. Also, yes this is a "contest" but I use it more for working on my creativity and expanding my skills. If I win that is nice, but I get much more out of the comments and how I can make my work better. If we waited to comment until after the contest was over, I feel like people would not go back and therefore, we would not have the opportunity to make ourselves better. My suggestion, if there is a strong feeling towards this, would be to keep the comments hidden until the voting comes out and then reveal them when the results are revealed.

Like I said, personal preference, I see some pics get absolutely no comments, while others do. Not that this does influence anyone, but it seems like it could. I just choose to wait until the votes are in, then I can give my comments, good or bad, without any chance of swaying someone one way or the other.

The whole dynamics of the challanges are interesting. Not good nor bad, but interesting. The comments and interactions are part of that. It has been intriguing as a newbe to see the whole process. Still a great experince overall that has me stretching the way I look at things.

As a participant, I'd much rather get comments than votes.

I also hadn't thought about it before, but I can't remember a comment that has made me not vote for a shot I liked, but there have been some comments that have made me re-look at a photo & there's a few that I've voted for after that second look that would not otherwise have gotten my vote.

Originally Posted by SAMBALAM My quick thought is that I love the comments. I don't know if they sway my vote one way or the other because I like what I like and I vote accordingly. Also, yes this is a "contest" but I use it more for working on my creativity and expanding my skills. If I win that is nice, but I get much more out of the comments and how I can make my work better. If we waited to comment until after the contest was over, I feel like people would not go back and therefore, we would not have the opportunity to make ourselves better. My suggestion, if there is a strong feeling towards this, would be to keep the comments hidden until the voting comes out and then reveal them when the results are revealed.

You have hit the nail on the head with this with the exception of the 'contest' part. If you have noticed we do not call them contests. We call them "Challenges". A Challenge is personal, it is to challenge you to improve on your own work. Thus commenting is a valuable source of this challenge to learn.

In a challenge the focus is learning, which is the meat of life and the prize is just gravy.

A contest is focused on winning only, which is self absorb pride and causes those who lose to think they are not worthy and become envious or majorly disappointed.

Now my preference is to participate in a challenge where I can be fed and even if I miss the gravy I am full and content.

Been a while since I've entered in the challenges. I miss the day where we used to generate a thread where everyone put up there fav 5 or 10 images with some feedback included. Seems like there's a lot less feedback on images in the gallery too. For myself, I'd say not to be shy and give me a full critique on my image. That's what I'm here for. A pat on the back doesn't help me learn. Ideas and different perspectives on what I could've done to give my image that little extra punch!!! Don't worry about hurting my feelings, I can take it!! :)

Originally Posted by ghinson As a participant, I'd much rather get comments than votes.

Me too, I welcome the comments, good or bad. I try to give feedback, good or bad, after each challenge I participate in. I just hold mine until after the voting, unless someone posts a pic asking for comments, prior to submitting it to the entry gallery.

Here to learn and improve.

Originally Posted by Aspecto5 I miss the day where we used to generate a thread where everyone put up there fav 5 or 10 images with some feedback included. Seems like there's a lot less feedback on images in the gallery too.

Yeah I miss those days too.. I think it used to be a lot better back in the day when we had judges. Seems like there was always a lot more comments and feedback then.

Originally Posted by Aaron Nelson Wow, I waited and went back to read the prophetic words by Jeffro. What a let down....seriously? That's your best ensight for this community? My favorite was accusing me of plagiarism without any thought to it.... "HEY SHE'S A WITCH!, BURN HER TO THE STAKE! If there is a shot out there like what came to my minds eye, I've never seen it.... petty so petty. And for the love of god, if something doesn't work for you, try to suggest how to over come that technical flaw that bugs you about this or that... oh wait... thats right, you have no IDEA how, you just want it fixed to your liking. seriously, your comments are never welcome on one of my entries again. PERIOD.

Yeah Im gonna have to agree with Aaron on this one.. Not one of Jeffro's comments added anything to help anyones photography.. Let me sum it up.. "One of many, thats a bad thing" "It Didn't grab me" Wow thanks for all that amazing feedback!