Originally posted by Ragnorak
7 Battlement Unity - At first glance, I thought this was terrible, but I slowly began to appreciate it more and more. As somebody else said, you can nearly see them jostling for position. 6
This one grew on me the more I looked at it. I thought it was bad at first, too, and hesitantly clicked on it to see it larger. The more I looked at it, though, the more I began to really appreciate it. Now, I don't think I can ever forget this shot. I'm even going to mention it down at the chess club.
13 Foreshadowing Mate - I liked the simplicity of this photo. Great shadows, nice angle. The one thing that mildly bothers me about this one is the detail down in the bottom right corner. It'd be more effective if the photo was all shadow, so I think that might be worth photoshopping out. 8
I thought it was more effective to show the black and white squares on the board and to also show the shadows coming off of the board onto the table top. It worked better this way I believe.
18 Royal Perspective - Nice pic, would have placed higher in my votes apart from my couple of comments earlier. 7.5
It's *technically* a good shot, but I've seen sooo many of those types, I couldn't appreciate it. I've made several of those type shots, but in the end, I think they lose out for being so common and I didn't submit them.
19 Royalty - Another one pushing for a vote. Nice and simple, but effective, IMO. 7
Why are the pieces blurred? I didn't understand it, so I didn't vote for it.
21 Timebank Running - Very nice composition and great touch that it is your in progress game with Noodles. I think the light part of the wall may be just a touch over exposed, only down in the corner where it meets the shadow. 8
I disagree here. I think it's about perfect. I liked it instantly.
DdV and pinkthunder, the chess set is an Incan set I bought in La Paz, Bolivia. The pieces are 10% silver, and I bought it and posted it home for a total price of about $40. Sweeeet.
That is a sweeeet set. To quote Jim Carrey on 'Dumb and Dumber' "I like it a lot."
Re: Regicide, and e4.
I really like Regicide. I'm surprised it didn't do better. Maybe because the set is so unique. I didn't notice the piece in the rear had a knife, let alone know it was a bishop.
E4 was confusing due to the King (and probably the uniqueness of the set) and I thought the "rainbow" effect behind the pieces was PhotoShopped. There are a lot of these type shots, too, so I didn't give it much of a nod. I guess I was really looking for unusual shots to vote for, which this round certainly had. I honestly don't think I'll ever forget "Battlement Unity".
Like Ragnorak, I would also like more feedback--good or bad--about Foreshadowing Mate.
Originally posted by RagnorakI didn't mean to criticize you, I was just curious. I haven't rated the pictures and won't do so. I know how difficult it is. I also changed my opinion about some pictures several times and found it hard to decide how to vote.
You don't miss a beat, do you? 😉 I tried to avoid doing that, but it happened.
I counted 10 photos before voting that I thought had merit... 7, 8, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23 and 24.
In truth, I think I voted a bit too early as the bottom couple of places could have been filled by any of 4 pictures. His Own Enemy only really grew on me in the past c ...[text shortened]... t was all very close.
How about we see your ratings? You'll see how difficult it is.
D
Originally posted by NordlysI told him 🙂 I was curious whether you'd notice, it was the position that was on the board when I sent you the picture, and my timebank was running. But the position is probably not clearly visible.
Ha ha, I didn't even notice! How on earth did you notice? Or did he tell you?
David
*edit*: seems everyone is posting at the moment, but I have to go. I'll answer pinkthunders question later. ANd congrats to rbmorris for winning this round!
Originally posted by NordlysPurely in the interests of promoting discussion, I'm going to call you (unfairly, of course 😉 ) on that comment.
It's a good picture, but I felt that a lot of the credit would have to go to the maker of the set.
If somebody took a great picture of a beautiful, sleek 1920s sports car, would you appreciate the photo less because the car was so nice? (Ignoring the fact that you may not have any interest whatsoever in cars)
And surely the job of the photographer is to make something which may or may not be beautiful in and of itself, beautiful. I have plenty of photos of the chess set, in which you wouldn't be able to appreciate the quality of the handmade pieces. I felt my job, as photographer, was to show the fine detail of the pieces, and to try to bring the excellent craftsmanship to life. I didn't expect to be "penalised" for achieving that.
Again, just trying to promote discussion. The above comments aren't too serious, and are definitely unfair considering the context of Noodles' comment.
D
Been away the last 24 hours, so missed the outcome. Congratulation rbmorris. A really stunning picture, one which got my vote.
I must say, I wasn't very hopeful with my pics, more like happy snaps than art. But I'm very pleased with the decent scores I got.
This really was a fantastic round. And I had a lot of fun entering it. I think I've picked up a lot of good tips for future rounds from all the comments made in this thread. I'm really looking forward to the next one!
Thanks for running this, Nordlys. And thanks to everyone who commented on my pics.
I didn't comment when I voted, because I'm not very knowledgeable on photography. I just chose photgraphs that had the most impact on me. I was the first to vote in this thread, and looking back I don't think my vote would have changed if I were to vote again. Aside from Royal Perspective, these are the other pictures I voted for:
Regicide: I also thought this would do much better. It was a very strong entry. But maybe people found it too harsh - I didn't. I'm usually quite dismissive of fancy chess sets, but this one is superb.
KnightHawk was one of those photos that really grabs you on an emotional level. It creates an instant atmosphere. The chess connection was a bit tenuous, otherwise I might have scored this higher.
Your Move was cheeky and simple. Again, the chess link is tenuous, but it brought a smile to my lips.
Battlement Unity. I loved the contrast between the set and the countryside backdrop. If someone opened a picnic basket, took out a bread loaf, cheese, and opened a bottle of Cabernet... everything would be perfect.
1. e4 was all about the focus, picking up the king's pawn. The king being in focus, didn't bother me. This is a really unique chess set.
Timebank Running. I really liked this, but as B&W photos go, it seemed to lack something.
Chess View. Not really a great photo, but I really liked the backdrop, and loved the idea that a glass chess board could become a window on the world.
Two photos I didn't vote for, but which did do well:
His own enemy: I don't like the proportions of the photograph. IMO, it is too elongated to be esthetically pleasing.
Fate of the enemy: It was interesting, but confusing. Is the airship crashing into the king, or the king crashing into the airship? And in either case, what does it really mean?
Originally posted by RagnorakI don't see anything unfair about it, it's a fair and interesting question which I don't really have an answer to. Actually I have already given it some thought in an earlier round, when I gave you the first place for a picture of a sculpture ("Shroud"; I think it was in the "Manmade" round). I loved the picture, but I was aware that I probably loved it mostly because I loved the sculpture. If it had been a picture of a sculpture I didn't like, I probably wouldn't have given it as many points even if it had been photographed equally well. However, if someone had taken a picture of the same sculpture, but it had been a bad picture, I wouldn't have given it any points. I don't think it's possible to separate the subject from the photograph, and finding an interesting subject is part of good photography, but the photographer needs to add something to make it a good photograph (which I'd say you did in both cases). If someone took a photograph of a painting which simply shows the painting, nothing else, it would be a copy rather than a photograph, and all the credit would go to the painter. If the photographer would add something, I feel the painter should still get some credit, but so should the photographer. If you manage to take a great picture of a car which makes the car look interesting and beautiful, I'll give you all the credit. 🙂
Purely in the interests of promoting discussion, I'm going to call you (unfairly, of course 😉 ) on that comment.
If somebody took a great picture of a beautiful, sleek 1920s sports car, would you appreciate the photo less because the car was so nice? (Ignoring the fact that you may not have any interest whatsoever in cars)
And surely the job of the ...[text shortened]... too serious, and are definitely unfair considering the context of Noodles' comment.
D
Originally posted by PeachyHaha! But what you don't know is that the chess set isn't mine. The picture is highly Photoshopped. Actually that picture was taken of me last summer at the beach. In the actual picture, it's a sunny day and I'm on the front steps of the beach house with my family. Later, I wanted a chess picture for my RHP profile, so I cropped the picture, made some changes (to get the dark and sinister look) and then went on google image search and grabbed a chess set and superimposed it over the picture.
Mr. I was bored so i decided to have a look at RHPfaces.
Your only picture in there, showed the evil you with fiery eyes.. and knights turned to the side!
Ha! gotchya!! 😉
Here's the original: http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/3651/pic11nq.gif
You ALMOST got me! 😉
Originally posted by rbmorrisAh excellent recovery!
Haha! But what you don't know is that the chess set isn't mine. The picture is highly Photoshopped. Actually that picture was taken of me last summer at the beach. In the actual picture, it's a sunny day and I'm on the front steps of the beach house with my family. Later, I wanted a chess picture for my RHP profile, so I cropped the picture, made some ...[text shortened]... the original: http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/3651/pic11nq.gif
You ALMOST got me! 😉
And a pretty good editing there too.. But you swapped the kid for a chess board?! Now that is evil..
😛
Originally posted by rbmorrisAs a firm believer in knights-facing-forwardom, you should never have used that picture.
Haha! But what you don't know is that the chess set isn't mine. The picture is highly Photoshopped. Actually that picture was taken of me last summer at the beach. In the actual picture, it's a sunny day and I'm on the front steps of the beach house with my family. Later, I wanted a chess picture for my RHP profile, so I cropped the picture, made some ...[text shortened]... the original: http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/3651/pic11nq.gif
You ALMOST got me! 😉
I like to have the knights look approximately towards the middle of the board in the starting position.
I just checked out RHPfaces. Rag, you shoulda been a contender. You coulda been somebody. Funny pic!
I submitted 4 shots to the site. The first one of me and my wife around the campfire is a good example of how I got my unfortunate monicker--it's impossible for me to tan! I'm eternally some shade of red...or, as my friends say, pink. Damn them.
Originally posted by GatecrasherNoooooooooo. Not evil enough! 😉 I do have a nice executioner pic from Halloween though. Maybe I should send that one in.
Can I add [b]that picture to rhpfaces? Please? Go on? Say yes.[/b]
BTW, thanks for taking over that site from Starrmann. I think it's very cool that we have that.
Originally posted by rbmorris🙂
LOL Where's yours???
As an officially registered and legally operating terrorist, I don't think its wise to post a picture of me.. although I got a lovely three piece bomb-suit the other day.. If I can synchronise both camera and bomb to go off together, then I wouldn't need to use the flash!
Genius!