 Gianna Stadelmyer |
Still Life Category please... I LOVE the new categories in the monthly photo contest. One problem though is that many still lifes now don't seem to have a home. Doesn't seem right to compare them to details and macros, but they don't always fit under elemtns of design either. I'm afraid that many beautiful still lifes I have seen will get left out of the loop. Any chance our wonderfully receptive hosts at BP would add a still life category to the contest? I had already approached the idea with Heather on one of my own and she seemed receptive to the idea, but never heard anything. What do y'all think???? :-)
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Rob Bishop |
I totally agree. Most of my images qualify as still life, but I try to figure out which category to put them in. I'm not sure I pick the right one, but usually I try elements of design, because they really aren't macro. Good idea.
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Rob Bishop |
Oh well, Jan. We fell on deaf ears. And I really thought "still life" was a well known and respected category in most photography competitions. Just keep throwing them in "elements of design" and "details and macro". Then next month switch categories if you don't have any luck.
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Bob Cammarata |
...Might not be a bad idea! Maybe doing "Still-Life" as the Monthly Theme once in a while would work.
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Damian P. Gadal |
Next thin you know folks will be asking for a Black and White category...
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Rob Bishop |
Oh no Damian, not a Black and White catagory. Your right, let's quit making suggestions.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
When's a contest become over catergorized?
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Gianna Stadelmyer |
When's Gregory ever going to say something positive? Black and White will already fit in any category there is.... it just seems that stills are sometimes without a "home".
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Rob Bishop |
In photography, "still life" has always been a major catagory of learning in that art form. Just like, "portrait", "landscape", and "action/sports". And "black and white" usually was separate from color. I find that the present catagories aren't clear as to which one "still life" as I learned it fits in. I am not advocating another separate catagory as much as I am a distinction as to which present catagory deserves a re-naming to make it clear it is where "still life" photos, in their original and true to the art form style, fit. I am really sorry that suggestions and discussions about such things cause negative comments, and almost argumentative responses. But I notice that in almost all photography forums I visit. Make an honest comment that has no anger, or confrontational meaning behind it, and out come those who want to make it into an argument, or at least just to add a negative comment. It just doesn't seem worth it after a while. I really like this BetterPhoto site more than any other I participate in, and I guess I will just back off and continue to enter my photos, hoping that the catagory I pick, fits what the judges expected to see in that catagory each month. Please, just enjoy your photography.
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Gianna Stadelmyer |
Right on, Rob:-)
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
You're whining again Standlemeyer. Maybe that's why you don't see anything positive. But to the point, I see where still life's can easily fit into elements of design, because that's the main reason of taking them. Color, shape, texture, size perspective, line, chronological era keys(meaning something the hints, reminds, or is distinctive to a time period in case anybody didn't know what I meant). All part of still lifes. And I do agree that many contest have a category that says "still lifes". But that's just as broad an explanation as what the desing category has(line, shape,etc. is what it says. What are the boundaries of still lifes? And just as easily, a contest can expand into 7 more than the 10 that's already there. This topic of not enough winners being chosen is going to be a never ending topic. And reoccuring. Posed shots could get said to be left out because there's not enough winners of them, and it's different than getting candid shots. So, should there be a new catergory for Posed and Candids. There's journalism vs. artistic. Should action be separate from just people shots, since there could be condsidered a different skill in doing them? There's architecture The issue of around 300 winners not being enough was a problem. The big fits over the reduction of entries. 10 categories is already about twice as many as most contest have. If it's going to be a contest, somebody is going to get left out. Unless you want to keep expanding categories, expanding the number of winners. Making more than one grand prize because it's not fair that other types may not get a grand prize. So that's why I asked, when's a contest over categorized. Should there be a color grand prize, a digital grand prize, a black&white grand prize?
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
"In the end, a photo may fit into more than one category. For example, a landscape with strong lines leading up to a person, that you photographed in Tibet, might reasonably get categorized in Nature & Landscapes, People, Elements of Design, or the Travel & Place category." "These categories are intended to help you enjoy the photo contest. They are not written in stone and are considered suggestions more than rules" There's always going to be dissapointment somewhere.
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Gianna Stadelmyer |
OK, Greg, I'll ignore the sarcastic areas of your comment and address the real issue. Sure, still lifes fit into more than one category. So, I, and others will keep doing as we have and decide which one most appropriately fits with each one we submit. I only approached the subject int he forum after Heather commented to me in an e-mail that she liked the idea of a sill life category. I was trying to see if others felt the same way. You have made your point that you do not. Fine. Acceptable and noted. I am not complaining about the number of winners or finalists. I am willing to compete in whatever categories there are with however many finalist spaces there are and am happy to place where I may. I have been fortunate enough to get into the finals every month since I have participated and feel honored to be there with such talented people. I am NOT complaining about there not being enough winners. I am not WHINING at all. I was merely making a SUGGESTION....which is what I THOUGHT a forum was for: to air opinions and suggestions and to gather CONSTRUCTIVE comments. Talking down to people like one is God's gift to this web site is not constructive. Your comments, advice, and criticism might be taken better if it were done with an ounce of tact. Tact, to quote Webster's, is "the ability to appreciate the delicacy of a situation and do or say the most fitting thing". How about trying it out sometime.... a little common courtesy is all I ask. I hate having to put this thread like I have, but I won't be a doormat to individuals like you have proven yourself to be. Have a nice day.
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Gianna Stadelmyer |
Oh, and for future reference, it's S-t-a-d-e-l-m-y-e-r....
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- Carolyn M. Fletcher  Contact Carolyn M. Fletcher Carolyn M. Fletcher's Gallery |
You GO, girl! I agree with you, Jan.
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Rob Bishop |
Thank you, Jan, for your response to Greg. It was very well worded, and I agree with you completely. This never was an issue to argue, and I think we should be done. Rob
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Gianna Stadelmyer |
Thanks guys.... I am done. Nothing more to say:-)
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Seems like you say it's an open forum but only want agreement. And it's not even a point of whether I like a still life category or not. And it sure isn't about you personally. The point as I said is, if there's a contest that somebody wants to enter, if somebody dosen't win, you can always redraw the line to include this. Next time, redraw again because these didn't get in. I say it's the wrong motivation for recatergorizing. Funny that you said black&white can fit anywhere. They ought to try just picking 1st,2nd and make everything else a finalist/honorable mention. Everybody gets something.
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lyn winans |
I came to this thread as I wasn't sure where to post still life photos, obviously I'm not the only one confused. Mostly I've uploaded them into elements of design and judging from what I've seen here, that's the OK thing to do ;>) Thanks all !
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- Sharon Smith Contact Sharon Smith Sharon Smith's Gallery |
Since the majority of my photos are what I consider still life, I have been wondering the same thing. Glad to see I'm not the only one. I would feel more comfortable with a Still Life category, but for now it looks the consensus is to post stills in Elements of Design so that's what I will do. Thanks for posting this, Jan!
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Leanne M.E. Boyd |
Jan and Rob, you are not alone! I have sent a e-mail to Heather (and awaiting for a reply), with just that question. Under which catorgie would a still life fit!
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
it's back. several of them. anything natural under nature. flowers under flower. a real close still life under macro. something man made under elements of design. if there's a person in it under people. just like a picture of a person can be in different categories. a flower can be under flower, nature, macro. Pick one.
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Charlene Bayerle |
After reading this discussion,I just had to put my two cents in..... Thank you Jan for making it very clear, that everyone is entitled to their opinion without being made to feel inadequate or made to think it was a ridulous question. Gregory, you are quite harsh and really insulting in your answers to questions posted here. Maybe a more positive attitude would better this Q&A secion of Better Photo. You could get your point across in a more respectful way than ripping apart peoples comments.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
by saying it can fit in several. yeah.
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Leanne M.E. Boyd |
I have the answer from Heather, about still life catagories. I hope this will help! Leanne Hi Leanne, That is far too subjective for me to answer without seeing specific images. Thanks, Heather Young Buy "The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Taking Great Photos" Receive free photo newsletters: http://www.betterphoto.com/subscribe.php
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Sharon Day |
If Digital Darkroom and Special Effects were combined there could be a Still Life category without creating even more categories.
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Susana Matos |
i think it is not good to have too many cathegories as it will make the contest even more harder to follow. I have myself problems with having time to be here at BP and when I have some minutes I see so many comments to make that I never manage to get to the end and feel bad because I really would like to comment all the good photos that enter. So maybe the idea of combining Digital Darkroom and Special effects could be the solution to free a place for the Still life cathegory. Hope I made myself understood, sorry about my english...
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- Evy Johansen Contact Evy Johansen Evy Johansen's Gallery |
Oh yes - Still Life Category please... Like Rob most of my pictures are "still life" and I really have a hard time trying to figure out which category to put them in.!
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Janet Detota |
I understood you just fine, Susana, and agree with you completely!
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
It's getting funny now, because the reason digital darkroom and special effects were added and kept seperate was because of people complaining about what somebody could do with photoshop pushing out what somebody did who didn't know how or didn't have photoshop. Now it's confusion about having design and details, which really covers anything you can call a still life pretty well. But whatever ends up being done, there's seems to be a recent phenomenon to demand changes after each contest. But I say if those that are unhappy had a picture that was chosen a winner, they wouldn't be so dissatisfied or confused about categories.
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- Sharon Smith Contact Sharon Smith Sharon Smith's Gallery |
That's precisely the problem. Look at the winners in these categories the last couple of months. All wonderful photos but no classic still lifes among them. If you enter a traditional still life photo, it won't win because it doesn't really fit in anywhere.
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- Evy Johansen Contact Evy Johansen Evy Johansen's Gallery |
You are so right, Sharon - exactly my words!
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Bob Cammarata |
These are all good points but I think that having ten categories already doesn't leave much room for expansion. I don't agree about combining Digital Darkroom and Special Effects either. Going back to my original post a while back,...Why not make Still-Life a "Monthly Theme" every so often.
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Janet Detota |
I understand your point about combining SE and DD, Bob. I think making Still Life a monthly theme on a regular basis would be an acceptable compromise if nothing else can be done.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Go look thru past winners and you'll see that several still lifes have been chosen.
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Karma Wilson |
No, generally it is stills with strong elements of design (repeating lines, patterns, abstract quality). An excellent example is the still of watermelons that was a second place winner this month. It was obviously chosen for the strong lines and color contrasts. It's very nice, but it IS however not a traditional still life. This is a traditional still. http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGallDetail.php?photoID=584474&catID=560&style=&contestCatID=4&rowNumber=153&camID= and you see very few of them (don't know that I've seen even one) in the winners categories, but funny enough they are some of the most used photos in reality (greeting cards, calendars, wall art, etc..). So, I disagree. As far as combining DD and SE I don't see a problem. There's one first prize, 10 seconds, and several finalists as well. There is easily enough room for the two categories, which are both less competitive by miles than flowers or landscapes. Best to all, and all opinions respected, Karma
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- Sharon Smith Contact Sharon Smith Sharon Smith's Gallery |
Karma, I agree with everything you said. Sharon
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Janet Detota |
I have to take back what I said about making still life an occasional monthly theme. Too many people do them on a regular basis and that wouldn't be fair to them not to have a daily category to submit to every month. And I also agree with what Karma said.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Either you have an extremely narrow view of what a still life is or can be, or you only looked at one picture. The difficulty and confusion still escapes me as being that complex. There's the obvious cross-outs. No people in it, no animals in it, no landscape/cityscape in it, no filters used, nothing with photoshop done. That crosses out people, animals,landscape,special effects,digital darkroom. That leaves design and details. Two choices. And that's not even considering if somebody would be daring enough to try and experiment with putting a still life of unique souvenirs from a trip to some far off place and put it in the travel category. Imagine the uproar from just a little bit of thinking. The picture of the flowers with the gouard and wheat(or whatever it is) still is design or details. Why put those items together if it's not because of not seeing a some kind of relationship from one item to the others. The colors of each item is a detail. And design. Change the name of the category if you want to, but pictures for an elements of design and details can be combined in the same category. You can call the category "Other Stuff"
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- Sharon Smith Contact Sharon Smith Sharon Smith's Gallery |
Fine.. we can call it "Still Life". The fact remains that, as is, the type of still life that Karma and I and others are talking about - the classic still life - does not win.
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Janet Detota |
Gregory, Karma isn't the one with the narrow view, and she gave an example of only one picture in an attempt to show you what a classic still life is. There are many, many others. Why don't we just agree that we disagree and leave it at that?
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Karma Wilson |
Hi Gregory! Good morning to you. We'll have to agree to disagree. I see your point and believe you are wrong. But that's okay, the world is big enough for diversity. It's simple enough to see--in the BP's own description EOD should employ three things: Perspective All three of the BP given examples depict this and every still that wins depicts this. Details and design should be the following: Details might include a knot, a lock, or an abstract close-up. Anything goes as long as it is a tight composition of A detail. Tight composition...A DETAIL...hmmm...not exactly what you would call a classic still life. So, with a presentation of fact and BP's own words as well as examples of what actually wins I declare you wrong. Have a nice day. Karma
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
you can add "not written in stone." and "considered guidelines more than rules" to your fact list. As well as shape, form, texture, etc. If a classic isn't a tight enough shot for you, skip the details and try design. It invites any subject matter. So look at your fact list you declared, as well as some other winners you skipped over. I declare you whiny.
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Gianna Stadelmyer |
And I declare you ignorant, Gregory. Don't you ever get tired of this? You have said what you have to say on this matter many times over. You have made your point. Your tone is obviously not well-received on many occasions, and people are simply trying to express the opinions and work out in their own minds where things fit in. Doesn't make anyone wrong or right. But you can't seem to let it drop. You always seem to have to have the last word. Karma declaring you wrong was calling your OPINION wrong. Declaring Karma whiny (as you have done to others in the past) is PERSONAL. So, yes, I finally have had enough of reading this thread and feel the need to defend her and others that are simply expressing their opinion only to be "ridiculed" by you. PLEASE grow up!!!
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
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Rob Bishop |
So long, Gregory.
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Karma Wilson |
Dearest Gregory, I declare you unable to declare me whiny. :-) I'm giggling this is so juvenile. As a children's writer I find it highly entertaining and will probably get a funny poem from it all. Thank you, Continue to have a nice day. I still think you're wrong, but you've brought a smile to my face. Ta ta... Karma
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