I dont mean equipment necessarily but a low quality snap shot with little effort going into the entirity of the image (a snap of a laptop on a piece of cloth for example - sorry) baffles me a little, especially when it gets voted for. As you said good results can be made with lesser equipment (camera phone) but there's no excuse for shoddy effort

I think part of the reason this sits here and not in the photography section is to try and drag people like me into it and increase their enthusiasm and therefore ,hopefully, expertise .

If it was a "serious" competition then yes the photography section is where it would better sit.

It's meant to be fun. And an excuse to get us to go out and practice the craft.
If all you have is a camera phone, then that's fine.
It's not the kit you use, it's how you use it. It's how the operator interprets the theme - if you don't think a pic is any good then don't vote for it.
How seriously people want to take it is, of course, up to them and I'd hope that the gear used to take the image isn't considered as much as the image itself.

Well, to paraphrase, it's not what you've got but how you use it that's important.
Plus, let us not forget that sometimes, the perfect picture won't happen when you happen to be wandering along with your epic DSLR.

I quite like the competition as it is. I haven't won anything yet but the score is creeping up slowly so, some day it may happen
Which would you prefer, a great picture (in terms or content) that's a bit fuzzy round the edges or a technically perfect but dull one?

And least we forget, it's just a bit of fun.

To answer your question I would prefer a picture that is a great picture but one where someone has at least 'attempted' to frame it, or expose it correctly, etc - regardless of equipment, I'm certainly not elitest! I dont think if a picture is technically perfect it has to be dull either. I think my comment has been mistook to mean you have to have the best camera. I didnt say that.

1st Old Wood
2nd Maybe This Time
3rd Waiting for the Green Man

A good picture will relate to the theme and good in terms of content and arrangement of said content.
I'm not saying anything about pictures in this contest, because they are far better than I could produce. But I think for beginners, it's hard to know how to frame something well, or quite what the photo will show...I can never get a photo to look like what I can see with my eyes, but some people have stunning pictures.
If I were to enter photos you would see something like a gargoyle on a wall, and just that, a factual document displaying the gargoyle on the wall, yet others can give it that something else which makes it look good.

And it think that is part of the point, beginners can enter, and they don't necessarily have the eye for things like others do.

Perhaps we should move this discussion to a new thread.

Bimpety-bumpety-boo!

Voting closes at midnight tonight, folks!

1. Heaven Can Wait

2. Waiting for the Call

3. Maybe This Time

Very classy photos, if this comp was more elitist no one would enter, it's never patronising either :p

1) Heaven can wait, (I'm staying here)
2) 8 Seconds
3) Wet

But why?

It says "patience" to me anyway, even if it isn't in a way most people would choose to interpret it for the purposes of a photography competition. It may not be the nicest image there, but it fits the theme in a clever way. I didn't think many of the entries this round (great, as some of them were) particularly captured the theme.

Well, it's my final post as the comp organisiser, as Al's taking the reins back.
It's been fun keeping his seat warm and it's nice to hand the comp back to him.

Anyway, the results:

1st: Maybe This Time, ProfessorF, 50 pts
2nd: Heaven Can Wait (I'm Staying Here), gavomatic57, 35 pts
3rd: Waiting For The Call, HeatherKay, 22 pts

4th: Old Wood, AlunD, 21 pts
5th: 8 Seconds, pveater, 18 pts
6th: Waiting For The Stars, l3v1ck, 12 pts
7th: Waiting For The Green Man, davrosG5, 11 pts
8th: Wet, macnea1/onemac, 7 pts
9th: Patience Patient, JJW009, 3 pts
10th: No Name Yet, fakesnake, 1 pt
11th: Who's Next, And When?, brattacas, 0 pts.

Well done all.
I'm thinking about the next theme. I'll sleep on it.

Cool - Alex goes out on a high....

Congrats mate and a huge thanks for keeping my seat warm

Well done everybody on another cracking comp.



Al

Well done Alex! A great way to finish your stint as host.

I got a third.

Blimey! Thanks for the votes everyone! A cracking - and difficult - round, so well done to everyone.

Here's looking forward to Alex's theme...

*goes off to charge batteries and clean lenses*