 - Ken Smith  Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Countdown to October Contest Results Hello everyone…it’s time to start the October countdown. Please share the photo you hope makes Staff Fav or higher. Based on the EP thread for October, I do NOT think BP has made the 2nd pass-through yet. If you’ve never participated in our thread or seldom participated, we’d love to hear from you. Good luck, everyone!
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Some helpful hints for attaching photos into a BP Forum Thread, if you're unfamiliar with the process: 1) Sign into BP. IF YOU HAVEN'T entered the Contest for today, you can use the "Photo ID" method to pull an existing image (from your Member Center) into your Reply here. a. Jot down the PhotoID # of the photo you wish to share. To determine your PhotoID, go to the little Pancakes icon, then click “My Photos”, then “Manage/Enter.” The PhotoID is right below the number. b. Go to the Countdown Contest thread. Click “Respond” at the bottom of the page. c. Type in whatever you wish; e.g., “Here’s my Fav image for the month.” d. Click the “Select” button below the text input box, and select “1.” Toggle on “Notify” box if you wish to be notified. Click “Submit.” e. The Image Uploader appears. On the right-hand side, you’ll see an input box for the PhotoID (from step 1a). Type it in then click “submit your photo.” Then, return to the forum thread and you’ll see your photo. 2) IF YOU HAVE ALREADY entered the Contest for today, you can't use the Photo ID method *today*. Either wait until tomorrow to reply here first, or upload a copy of the image (from your PC) and attach to this thread. This produces a duplicate image in your Member Center; however, you don't have to make that duplicate visible in your Gallery. 3) If you're uploading a duplicate, I suggest titling it "For Forum" so it stands out in your Member Center, for easier housecleaning later on. This can also help nudge BP viewers to go find the original image in your gallery, if they want to leave a comment. Likewise, if you want to add a comment to a photo seen here, first try to tell if it is a duplicate upload. As a courtesy, try to find the original image in the member's gallery and leave your comment there instead of on the duplicate... which may one day be deleted.
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
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- Carolyn M. Fletcher  Contact Carolyn M. Fletcher Carolyn M. Fletcher's Gallery |
Not picking, since neither of my faves have an EP...yet.
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- Lola M. Contact Lola M. Lola M.'s Gallery |
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Carolyn, let's see your third best fav! :-) Lola, thanks for joining the group. And you have a beautiful fall scene...and the cloudy skies give this a nice balanced feel, both in lighting and color. Good luck in the SF round!
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Just bumping this up the list, because I can't find it anymore under "all new responses" because of all the hacked clutter in front.
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- Dayna Cain Contact Dayna Cain Dayna Cain's Gallery |
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chrisbudny.com - Chris Budny Contact Chris Budny Chris Budny's Gallery |
Woohoo -- I made some Oct. entries! ;) Will pick a fav tomorrow, to post here, since I've already entered today...
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- Nikki McDonald Contact Nikki McDonald Nikki McDonald's Gallery |
Thanks for the bump, Ken. I'll have two for you tomorrow if I remember to put them in before I upload to the contest. Neither of them have an EP but oh well, this thread is as much about personal favorites as it is about contest hopefuls, isn't it?
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Hi Dayna, I really like this one...the floater plus the decaying ones at the bottom. Super job and hope to see it in the SF round...and welcome aboard. Chris...standing by. :-) Nikki, of course...show us your Fav for the month. That's what it's all about! :-)
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- Harriet Feagin Contact Harriet Feagin Harriet Feagin's Gallery |
Ken, Could you give the steps once more for posting photos here? Thanks,
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Hi Harriet, just use the steps I mentioned at the top of this thread. Or, you can just reply to this and attach a new image. Good luck and hopefully I answered your question.
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chrisbudny.com - Chris Budny Contact Chris Budny Chris Budny's Gallery |
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- Martha R. Mazon Contact Martha R. Mazon Martha R. Mazon's Gallery |
Is November really mostly over already?? Here's my fave for October.
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- Nikki McDonald Contact Nikki McDonald Nikki McDonald's Gallery |
Good luck to everyone who does have something, whether a personal favorite or not, that caught the judges' eye. And remember that those personal favorites that do not make it the first time through are perfect candidates for resubmission :)
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- Harriet Feagin Contact Harriet Feagin Harriet Feagin's Gallery |
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- Beth W. DeBor Contact Beth W. DeBor Beth W. DeBor's Gallery |
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- Carolyn M. Fletcher Contact Carolyn M. Fletcher Carolyn M. Fletcher's Gallery |
Seems like it's kind of late for a second run through. Resubmit, I guess is the best answer.
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Chris, Martha, Nikki, Harriet, and Beth…..welcome aboard! And good luck in the SF round, for any of your photos. Chris, your sure get around to lots of nice worldwide locales. That’s an impressive church and I bet it’s great on the inside too! Martha, I like the walker in this…a peaceful area and pretty flowers. Nikki, I’m really surprised Cigar Man did not get an EP. Doesn’t get much better than this. And I love the child’s expressions…similar to eggs on an Easter Sunday. Harriet, this is one of the prettiest photos of Cape Elizabeth I’ve seen…and quite surprised it did NOT get an EP. Beth, a very exquisite photo and I can see reflections in the drops. A super macro. Carolyn, I agree with you on the 2nd round; doesn’t look like we’ll have one. And I had more photos skipped in October than I can remember for several years. The EP rate is certainly lower than before.
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- Harriet Feagin Contact Harriet Feagin Harriet Feagin's Gallery |
You might say that the EP rate is lower for US. Oh well. Thanks for the kind words, Ken. We'll resubmit and hope for the best next month.
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Bill Johnson |
It's 11/21 and only 3 or 4 business days left in the month (depends on how one counts Friday). Are the SF's out yet? By the way do they list them when the come out? Last month they weren't up until the finalists were up or maybe it was the winners. But they weren't up when people said they were out unless they put them some other place.
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- Peggy Pfister Contact Peggy Pfister Peggy Pfister's Gallery |
Well, October really got away from me and I only submitted three entries, two of which got EPs. I guess favorite of the two would be this one. Best of luck to everyone! Peggy
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- Peggy Pfister Contact Peggy Pfister Peggy Pfister's Gallery |
Not surprised to get no EP on this one ... it's not really BP's cup of tea ...
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Hi Harriet, yes my comment on EPs was universal. :-) Bill, they don’t post the link to SFs until after finalists are posted. Unclear why. But they send out notification e-mails, no different than if you get a finalist or gold. And folks will chime in on this thread when SFs are announced including me if no one beats me to the punch. Historically, BP has posted finalists on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, etc so they’re not constrained by the non-business days. Just keep checking on this thread for SF status…and hopefully you’ll get the notification e-mail and then you’ll know for sure. :-) Peggy, welcome aboard. Only two three entries? You should also resubmit as many of us do. Only takes about one minute if BP web site working good. As for your flower photo; very nice details and it pops off the monitor. Good luck in the SF round. And your meter shot is pretty cool too. Please resubmit that one! :-)
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Susan Williams |
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Hi Susan, welcome aboard and thanks for sharing your fav image. I like the sleekness in this and similar to other folks on this thread, unclear why it didn't get an EP. Hopefully you'll resubmit.
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- Usman M. Bajwa Contact Usman M. Bajwa Usman M. Bajwa's Gallery |
Good luck to all with their favorites and others too. Usman.
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Hi Usman, thanks for joining the countdown thread. This is a little different for you. And it came out great; very nice colors. Best of luck in the SF round!
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Bill Johnson |
Ken, Thanks for the on the SF's etc. I'm aware that the reveal of winners and finalists can be almost any time. But those are most likely stacked and ready to go on software time which is 24/7. I assume the actual selection process is a group effort and is done on people work time and the employees probably get Thanksgiving off. But I could be wrong. Right after the winners are posted, there will be a frenzy of EP selection. That will include the weekend, but usually no EP's are selected on weekend or holiday time. So today being the 24th and no sf's yet, I figure they have 3 days to complete the decisions by end of work on the 26th.
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Bill, your guess is as good as anyone's. BP has gone up to the very last day to announce SFs, finalists, and Winners. And they may do the same thing this month. The mystique of the contest. :-)
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- Nikki McDonald Contact Nikki McDonald Nikki McDonald's Gallery |
I'm guessing - hoping! - SF's will be announced tomorrow. But I really, really wish they would do a second run-through. I have whole clumps of days that were skipped, once around mid-month and then again near the end of the month and I really like some of those entries :(
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- Carolyn M. Fletcher Contact Carolyn M. Fletcher Carolyn M. Fletcher's Gallery |
Me, too, Nikki, but it's way too late to hope for any second run through. I guess we can hit the resubmit button for a later time. I had my two favorites go without EPs in October. Not doing well at all in November, either. Awful, in fact. Yikes!
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Bill Johnson |
Totally agree with Carolyn. It's way too late to have new EP's to judge through the whole process. Speaking of the process, they have only judged Nov. through the 10th...so only 1/3 of the month. I doubt they will judge Nov. again until they pick winners. Right now they are running 18 days behind calendar...28th vs 10th. And that could grow still. That is about the largest gap I've seen this year at least. Usually they get somewhere between the 12th and 14th before the long lull. For me, the worst part of their getting so far behind in timeline is lost inspiration. Jim talks about that all the time. The staff picks don't get posted when they come out. They should be posted but that's a different point. When the finalists come out I really enjoy going through them and playing my own fantasy game of picking the winners. However that takes a couple of days. So when everything comes out back to back there is no time to play that game. (That's a lost inspiration opportunity for me.)
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- Peggy Pfister Contact Peggy Pfister Peggy Pfister's Gallery |
Hope everyone (U.S.) had a great Thanksgiving yesterday. Also hoping for SFs/Finalists soon! :) Good luck o all!
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Michelle L. Frick |
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Michelle L. Frick |
Good luck everyone!
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Bill Johnson |
Anybody get a Oct. SF yet? 19 Days behind on Nov. EP's.
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- Peggy Pfister Contact Peggy Pfister Peggy Pfister's Gallery |
Not me.
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- Nikki McDonald Contact Nikki McDonald Nikki McDonald's Gallery |
I'm thinking maybe they will reverse the order and get the GP and 1st place Winners out first. Just kidding. I'm eager to see what's still in the pool, too.
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- Peggy Pfister Contact Peggy Pfister Peggy Pfister's Gallery |
Staff Favorites are out, folks. One for me. :) Good luck, all!
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
BP had a very low Staff Fav rate. 414 SFs out of 7400 contest entries, for a success rate of 5.6%. Often, the finalist rate is higher than 5.6%. So, I bet they won't knock out too many SFs prior to announcing finalists. The "7400" is the highest number I've seen in a while. Good luck to all that got SFs! :-)
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Bill Johnson |
Ken, How did you get that information?
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Bill, it's on the notification e-mail...here's a cut/paste: Great news! Your photo has been selected as a Staff Favorite in this month's BetterPhoto
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- Nikki McDonald Contact Nikki McDonald Nikki McDonald's Gallery |
And for comparison, here are the statistics from the September Staff Favorites announcement: Great news! Your photo has been selected as a Staff Favorite in this month's BetterPhoto Contest! Over 6000 photos were entered into the competition... and your photo has been selected in the top 730 Staff Favorites.
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Bill Johnson |
Thanks Ken and Nikki, I did receive the email but didn't read it.
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Bill Johnson |
Here's something that goes in the Interesting column: Over the last 3 months the number of finalists has ranged from 432 to 472. Usually more entries push the number higher. With only 414 SF if they were all finalists that would be at least a four month low (maybe more, I only checked the last 3.) It also opens the possibility for non sf photos to be added to the group. Just saying...
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Bill, you're correct. The numbers are very low and they probably don't need to be. The mystique of the contest...
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Jessica Jenney |
With the new memberships offered now some people can enter several photos in the contest per day.
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Bill Johnson |
So Please help. Good news, I have a finalist!! Bad news, It's not in the gallery. It was supposed to be in the people category, but I can't find it. With send to tech help, but I fear it won't be judged going forward as it's not there. Let me know if you see it. It's a black and white soccer player. Thanks. On another note, I think I saw 457 finalists so 30 or 40 were added beyond the sfs or they continued picking SF's after they announced them.
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- Dayna Cain Contact Dayna Cain Dayna Cain's Gallery |
Bill, I think those 457 finalists might be Septembers and not Octobers which is why you can't find your finalist pic among them. I can't seem to find Octobers finalists anywhere as of right now.
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chrisbudny.com - Chris Budny Contact Chris Budny Chris Budny's Gallery |
Ah, talking Contest Stats... You know I can't stay away...! This month (i.e., Oct. results) is the new lowest number ever (265) of individual Finalists for a month. (Beating the former record holder, May 2014, which saw 283 Finalists.) This is only the 2nd time in my 108 continuous months of contest tracking, that there have been fewer than 300 Finalists given out. However --- the percentage of entries making it to Finalist in Oct. is 3.58% -- which is pretty much spot-on, when compared to the 9-year running average rate of 3.87% making Finalists. (Highest percentage was 11.54% back in 02/13. Lowest percentage was 1.06% back in 05/08.) Number of Entries Made (7,400) - hasn't been this high since 7/13. (All-time low was 5,400 entries this past June; all-time high was 38,200 entries back in 9/07. I think BP must have had more staff then, as the Finalists from those 38,200 entries were announced by the 24th ;)
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Bill Johnson |
Thanks. Dayna, You are absolutely right. I usually get to them on the contest page. But that is still pointing to last month. You can get to this month's using the link in the email. And there are only 265 finalists. I would delete my previous message if I could.
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Congrats everyone on your Staff Favs and finalists. Certainly, BP did not hand out many finalists this month. Chris, it seems like the finalist rate has been higher, at least in the last year or so. Can you double-check the rate for the last 12 months? As for stats...the good news is that 42% of the finalists will make gold. And 100% of Elements will get gold. Good luck, everyone! :-)
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Bill Johnson |
Hopefully the winners come out tonight then they can pick up on Nov. EP's. They are now 20 days behind in Nov on EP's and they only really have a week to 10 days before they have to stop and work on the Nov. SF's etc. The Holidays cut into the work timetables.
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chrisbudny.com - Chris Budny Contact Chris Budny Chris Budny's Gallery |
Hi Ken; no doubt about it -- the immediately prior 12 months saw a much higher percentage make Finalist, each month -- an average of 7.49% of entries (based on 12 months Oct-13 through Sep-14.) In fact, you have to go back to Mar-11 before you see a Finalist percentage rate below 4%. As I've built up the 108 months of stats, the running average has hovered in the 3-4% range... with the 9-year cumulative average sitting at 3.87%. Really, until summer 2012, it was generally fairly rare to see monthly percentages consistently exceed 6%.
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- Peggy Pfister Contact Peggy Pfister Peggy Pfister's Gallery |
I'm sure I must be looking right past it, but where is the October finalists page? I can normally find it, but right now I can only find September finalists ...
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- Nikki McDonald Contact Nikki McDonald Nikki McDonald's Gallery |
I don't think you are looking past it, Peggy. I think someone forgot to put it up. Here it is as it came in the email notification. You may have to copy and paste: http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGall2.php?catID=65117
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Thanks, Chris. Stats are fun...and I noticed BP awarded five more finalists in the Elements category. For those of you that save off your monthly contest entries...don't forget; this is the last day of the month so you have a few hours left to do so.
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- Peggy Pfister Contact Peggy Pfister Peggy Pfister's Gallery |
Thanks, Nikki!
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- Nikki McDonald Contact Nikki McDonald Nikki McDonald's Gallery |
What do you mean by this, Ken? " I noticed BP awarded five more finalists in the Elements category. " Was this before winners were announced and they were adding images to the initially released pools?
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- Usman M. Bajwa Contact Usman M. Bajwa Usman M. Bajwa's Gallery |
CONGRATZ to all the Winners of October Contest. Usman.
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Nikki, when BP first made the finalist announcement, they had 265 finalists. You can look at your e-mail to confirm this. And when I skimmed each category, I noticed Elements had 11, which would mean all got gold. A few hours later (and before they announced winners), I noticed that Elements had increased to 16. They added five more. And now when you look at the finalist URL, you'll see "270." http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGall2.php?catID=65117
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- Nikki McDonald Contact Nikki McDonald Nikki McDonald's Gallery |
Ah. Thanks, Ken.
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