Well, submissions are going until end of the month, and it will take me at least a week to finalize the drafts... so I'd after sometime between the first and second week of November.
No, not every submitted image. I will try to include every beardie. If two images were submitted, I pick the one that I think looks better and fits better into the layout.
Just sent my pics in. It was hard, I had it narrowed down to 4 pics that I liked, finally got it down to 2. They both sent as 3072 x 2304 (2.7 MB) so hopefully those will be fine.
Yes!! It's partly cloudy tomorrow, so I hope there'll be enough sunshine to get a few good shots of Duke. I'll get my pics to you tomorrow, I promise! I just have to take a few more.
Believe it or not, most pros will tell you that overcast weather is some of the best times to go take pictures. The light is soft and even, and not harsh and over shadowed. Of course, that's best for people/portraits.... softens the look.
I just sent in my 2 pics. Did you receive them ok? I was also wondering if they were both big enough for a full page, because I sent them in one email and hopefully they didn't get resized.
Just a thought... have you given any consideration to making a calendar with the winning photos from the photo competition? I know it wouldn't have as many photos as the calendars you are making already, but if you did the themed calendar, then the photo would sort of correspond to the month. Any thoughts? Maybe not for 2010, but possibly the 2011 calendar?
That's a great idea Trish... like using each of the "Original Photo" winners for one, and the "Photo Shopped" ones for the other. The only thing is that they would ALL need to be available in a reasonable resolution (minimum of 1600x1200 [not totally unreasonable]). That's 2 megapixels. That could be a rule for submissions for 2010 competitions, but I don't want to impose it if it will end up limited people from partaking in the fun of the competition. Anyway... something to think about. I like the idea, though!
Maybe you could do a completely seperate competition and have each month be some kind of seasonal theme, rather than having themes like "eating" or "basking" (as much fun as those are, I think seasonal pictures might be more fun for a calendar).
I'm not as sure about a separate competition. That adds a bit more work to it all just to manage the competitions each month, but also... it would mean people would have to put in more time and effort to get more pictures submitted... and all that. I fear it would deter from the competitions primarily intended just for fun.
So, I just read through, and noticed you said NOT to resize them ourselves, and to let you resize them? Yet you ask for a certain size? I didn't resize mine because you said not to, does this mean my pics won't be big enough to be full page pics? Or are you going to resize them?
I was specifying that there are minimum sizes to be considered for full page. It's simply a requirement in order to have the quality enough to blow the image up to a full page of print. Low resolution images will look pixelated (blocky). If you camera can take pictures that are at about 4 megapixels or larger, then the original image from your camera can qualify for consideration as a full page shot (see examples of previous years how I use images for various positioning and sizing).
So, people should send me the original quality and resolution of images as they come out of the camera. If they meet minimum size requirements I can/will consider them for the larger positions in the layout. I took a quick look at what you emailed in... they are at the minimum size for full page consideration (just slightly over the 2200 x 1700 appx. minimum). The main concern I see for those, though, that would likely rule them out for full page is that they are fairly blurry on the beardies themselves.
Aside from image size as a technical requirement for full page consideration, key photo quality components are a major part of the filtering I do when trying to narrow things down. Sharpness on the beardie is one key thing I do look for (along with general aesthetic, composition, exposure, etc.).