Plant photography contest a flop?

[benny]

The contest has officially ended and we would like to thank all that have participated. Also, we appreciate the honest feedback that we have received on this thread. Hopefully, these inputs will help us make better decision as to which contests/events to run in the future.

We will keep then thread open for further opinions, comments, feedbacks for a few more weeks.

Thanks guys!

Cheers,

[Weirong]

Benny,

You should try the hard approach if the soft one doesn't work. Something like this: "All members shall at least submit 1 original plant photo for the competition. Otherwise, you can't post for 30 days!"

Ok, it doesn't work. Just kidding anyway.

I really think that the prizes do matter a lot to most people. Just imagine the response if you were giving out DSLR and macro lens. Even folks who don't own a camera would at least try to borrow one!
Well, I have my camera with me most of the time, after I bought it. So it's more like post and start the ball rolling kind of mentality for my case.

And I don't really think your pictures are that intimidating. It's the person looking at the picture to decide. Why don't you folks think like this: Benny is good. I will try to do better than him!
If you are that easily intimidated, most likely you won't have a very good chance to go far into aquascaping, since it's not always a smooth ride.

I don't see how anyone could miss such a bright banner directly at the top of the page. However, if that is really the case.... fill up the whole top page lah! There's still so much space anyway!

CHEERS!

[loupgarou]

bad timing, too lazy to shoot.. my qt tank of cory's just died one by one without any of them being shot at , my spectabilis still alive though..

[wks]

My personal opinion on the poor response of this plant photo contest is that both planted tank and photography are not cheap hobbies. I recently set up a 1 ft nano tank and it already costs me almost $100 just buying the tank, light and a Eden 501 filter alone. (no regrets using the 501 though) Furthermore I'm one firm believer that you need good equipment to do a really good job. Hence if I have to choose between spending money on a good camera and a good filter, I will definitely choose the latter.

[michael lai]

I also think it's the 'current' attitude and mentality that's contributing to the apathy issue. Maybe we can nominate someone to speardrive and somelikeminded folks to help. Maybe a mixture of MODS and MEMBERS to form a team to really generate more interest.
Points to ponder:
1) Guys( err...sorry and Girls ), most of you will need 'a camera' for this lifetime.
2) Nowadays, you can easily get a minimum 6 megapixel point and shoot camera for about $500.( which is good enough for alot of things )2nd hand even cheaper-go clupsnap.com
3) Creativity can only get better with time.
4) Words can be very misleading, a picture paints a thousand words.
5) Have you ever feel a need to give back to the 'Forum' what it has given you? A little bit of your time ain't gonna cost you if not then I'm truly sorry.



Cheers,

[vil]

i rather shoot fishes
no plants to show off!

[gummynut]

can there be a team category? this way, those who are shy can be encouraged by a stronger member, probably one with better photography skills. Pros can teach a newbie how to get the work done. also can promote interaction between forummers. maybe teamwork can also produce better results, i.e. high quality works, sharing of photography secrets and tools. But team formation must be of members randomly selected. interested participants are to register first and the list will be posted on the forum by a dateline. they will then be grouped through random selection. Entry from each team must include a piece of work by each team member, based on the theme of the competition. Workable?

[crandf]

I bet you'll get a lot more entries if the prizes are S grade CRS, starphire tanks, or certain plants that are near impossible to get(like Plaginum SP).

[Quixotic]

I think one of the main thing in photography is getting feedback/critique on what you are doing wrong or how it can be improved.

If feedbacks/critiques are something that can be provided for in the contest, then I for one would certainly be more than interested to participate.

But then, I do recognise and understand the challenges - time constraints and efforts - that the judge(s) may have. Therefore, feasibility will be a big question mark. Perhaps on a contest to contest basis?

Personally, I am one who would value the feedbacks/critiques much more than the prizes, but then, that's just me.

Just some random thoughts, but coming from someone who didn't participate in this, please forgive me if this may sound a little presumptuous.

[crandf]

Feedback/critiques? You dun need to join a contest for that. I'll settle for being more materialistic, since I dun think there's a secret manual/potion of anti-algae with 100% guaranteed success in <3 days against all algae and requiring no water changes or wet armpits or high costs.

[Quixotic]

Of course I don't.

But if I were to join the contest, I would dearly want to know where did I go wrong for me not to win it or what did I do right to win it? Wouldn't you? But then again, it's just me I guess.

[Ibn]

www.aquatic-photography.com

Check it out if you want to join such a contest and get feedback.

[celticfish]

hi people,
joined this site (www.aquatic-photography.com) recently and got an email update regarding their "photo of the month" contest. excerpt of the email below:

As you probably know, 2 weeks ago we sent out a survey with some questions regarding APF including our POTM contests. We have felt for some time now that something was off, and this survey provided us with some great answers.
As a result of the survey and Team APF conversations, we are doing some very sweeping changes to the way we run APF. We are trying to refocus, which includes MUCH more emphasis on Aquatic Photography, and a bigger than ever emphasis on Point & Shoot photography, rather than an all-encompassing DSLR answer.
The changes start with our POTM contests. From discontinuing the General POTM contest, to splitting our Aquatic Contest into two more focused contests, to implementing Monthly Prizes for both contests, we have tried to implement as many of the suggestions as we could.
We also want to promote posting of Aquatic Photographs on APF, and this gave us an idea for a Photo Of The Week Honor. Every Sunday, Team APF will pick the best photo posted in our galleries (Aquatic DSLR Gallery, Aquatic P&S Gallery, Aquatic Critique Corner) and make it our POTW. It will be listed on our main Portal page for a week, and added to the special Photo of the Week gallery for future members to see.

it seems they are having some similar issues to our photography contest to. but the feedback from their email had some good ideas i would like to share with you guys.

in particular, i like the idea of a point and shoot contest and the photo of the week honour...

comments anyone?

[Ibn]

There was a lack of participation on the general photography end of things vs. the aquatic. Aquatic photography submissions didn't have that problem and were still coming in as usual whereas the general submissions were dropping.

As a group, the team decided to stay out of the competition due to member feedbacks. We're just implementing some of the feedbacks from our members and trying out different things.

[hii]

Busy with freelance and moss, than lazy to take photo..when I realise it is game over liao.