Friday, April 20, 2012

judges scores and remark for photo challenge 5 dp+ Pick

5th photo challenge is all about Photo Illusions without photo manipulation  - only 9 entries made it this time to the dp+ Pick. Though the judges still have varying ideas on the theme - there were a few dominant entries that became  common picks which is a definite improvement from past photo challenges. Plus the entry with the top score got picked by for 4 out of 5 judges as part of their top 3 choices. As was customary, there were 5 judges and only their scores and remarks would appear, not actually naming who picked who for impartiality. Here are the judges' top 3 picks each with corresponding scores on each criteria and their remark on why it was part of their top 3 choices:

Judge 1

3rd pick - Entry 32 - Danny Cruz - "Suspended banana eggplant" Nikon D90
Quality - 27/30
Creativity and Originality - 25/30
Theme Adaptation - 20/20
Overall Impression - 18/20
TOTAL - 90/100
Remark: It gives an illusion that it is a chocolate stuffed banana. The image followed the theme and it is nicely done. Great work here, simple yet creative.


2nd pick - Entry 1 - Juanito Vinluan - "Your grill or mine..." - Canon 60D
Quality - 27/30
Creativity and Originality - 30/30
Theme Adaptation - 20/20
Overall Impression - 19/20
TOTAL - 96/100
Remark: The image is amazing, considering how he got to that result with only pure skills. The image did an awesome job with the illusion. Overall the image is almost perfect, great work!


1st pick - Entry 37 - Nada Stambuk - "Dreamy" - Olympus PEN E-PL1
Quality - 28/30
Creativity and Originality - 29/30
Theme Adaptation - 20/20
Overall Impression - 20/20
TOTAL - 97/100
Remark: The best thing I like about this one is that it is not scripted. She did a good job in spotting this one and took her time to take it. The shot is simple, yet has a big impact.



Judge no. 2

3rd pick - Entry 1 - Juanito Vinluan - "Your grill or mine..." - Canon 60D
Quality - 10/30
Creativity and Originality - 30/30
Theme Adaptation - 20/20
Overall Impression - _10/20
TOTAL - 70/100
Remark: I like how the technicalities are done in this shot. Basically using the slow shutter and separating the main subject with a flash. I, however, find the colors too saturated. But over all it is a nice shot.



2nd pick - Entry 37 - Nada Stambuk - "Dreamy" - Olympus PEN E-PL1
Quality - 20/30
Creativity and Originality - 15/30
Theme Adaptation - 20/20
Overall Impression - 20/20
TOTAL - 75/100
Remark: I like the colors and proper exposure on the shot, not too technical and fancy, but effective.



1st pick - Entry 9 - Matthew Matchinsky - "Water lens" - Nikon D90
Quality - 20/30
Creativity and Originality - 30/30
Theme Adaptation - 20/20
Overall Impression - 15/20
TOTAL - 85/100
Remark: To be honest this is really a tough shot among the entries, it may look simple but it is really a hard shot to make. Timing, Fortunately he was able to deliver what is exactly needed. very nice.




Judge no. 3


3rd pick - Entry 37 - Nada Stambuk - "Dreamy" - Olympus PEN E-PL1
Quality - 30/30
Creativity and Originality -25/30
Theme Adaptation - 15/20
Overall Impression - 15/20
TOTAL - 85/100
Remark: Illusion ought to be something that remains a mystery, a riddle. In this entry, it took no time for me to see the illusion the secret of the photo is very evident to be inversion. Technically very sound..





2nd pick - Entry 14 - Victor Ursabia - "Defying gravity"- Canon 50D
Quality -30/30
Creativity and Originality - 25/30
Theme Adaptation - 20/20
Overall Impression - 15/20
TOTAL - 90/100
Remark: Technique is sound producing a high quality black and white image. The illusion effect, however, is a common and hardly original technique. Overall this is still very good.



1st pick - Entry 1 - Juanito Vinluan - "Your grill or mine..." - Canon 60D
Quality - 25/30
Creativity and Originality - 30/30
Theme Adaptation - 20/20
Overall Impression - 20/20
TOTAL - 95/100
Remark: The illusion effect done here is subject manipulation rather than photo manipulation. It leaves the viewer puzzled on how the photo was taken without photo manipulation. It requires a great deal of thinking, fishing idea on how to come up with the concept. A good use of the lighting is evident but some glare noted which for me reduces some quality properties to the photo. Still the best for me.



Judge no. 4


3rd pick - Entry 4 - Monching Corpuz - "The Amazing conjoined 'Siamese twin' giraffes - Nikon D90
Quality - 23/30
Creativity and Originality - 30/30
Theme Adaptation - 20/20
Overall Impression -20/20
TOTAL -93/100
Remark: Another good example of illusion photography which could probably be even more improved with a little better positioning of the photographer.



2nd pick - Entry 13 - Lily Vinluan - "Fairy godmothers" Canon 600D
Quality - 25/30
Creativity and Originality - 30/30
Theme Adaptation - 20/20
Overall Impression -20/20
TOTAL - 95/100
Remark: A great example of illusion photography, very creative. The ladies did a good job.



1st pick - Entry 38 - Zandro Cenizal- "Out of the way" Nikon D90
Quality - 29/30
Creativity and Originality - 30/30
Theme Adaptation - 20/20
Overall Impression - 20/20
TOTAL - 99/100
Remark: I like the creativeness of this photo - very much in accord with the original theme of the contest.



Judge 5

3rd pick - Entry 3 - Lara Juan - "Man's bestfriend" - Nikon D40
Quality - 20/30
Creativity and Originality - 25/30
Theme Adaptation - 15/20
Overall Impression -15/20
TOTAL - 75/100
Remark: A crisp and clear photo illusion - contrived but an effective photo illusion just the same, simple but well presented.


2nd pick - Entry 38 - Zandro Cenizal- "Out of the way" Nikon D90
Quality -28/30
Creativity and Originality - 30/30
Theme Adaptation -20/20
Overall Impression -18/20
TOTAL - 96/100
Remark: What I like about it is how it looks candid enough to be contrived. It's like the photographer just happened to notice the scene and just clicked and the story is all written in the man's face. Composition is solid, an undeniable photo illusion. If not for aesthetics this could have landed as my first pick.



1st pick - Entry 37 - Nada Stambuk - "Dreamy" - Olympus PEN E-PL1
Quality - 28/30
Creativity and Originality - 29/30
Theme Adaptation - 20/20
Overall Impression - 20/20
TOTAL - 97/100
Remark: No fancy technical stuff - that just did it. A simple yet effective photo illusion. Sheer aesthetic appeal placed it on my top pick, for at the end of the day, when theme adaptation is exhausted and when all is said about technical stuff, the bottom line is still how a photo would look and on that score - this entry is a winner.


Note: Just click on each photo for an enlarged view.



Thursday, April 19, 2012

dp+ photo challenge 6 for the month of May


"Camillus estrellius" photo by Camilo Corpuz

flower speaks

spoken eloquently 
in silence the flower speaks
of spring, of youth, of beauty
of fertility in poetry
of sweetness, of passion, of expectancy
of life, of love, of purity


- Gina Villanueva Uyan



May, in the Philippines, is the month of flowers. Termed "Flores de Mayo" or Flowers of May, it is a month-long Catholic and Aglipayan festival in May meant to honor the Virgin Mary in prayers through flowers being offered by young girls.


For our 6th photo challenge for the month of May  - It is NOT about the Flowers of May festival being celebrated in the Philippines though - it is plainly a celebration of flowers in photography. 


So for our theme in the 6th dp+ photo challenge, it would be Exceptional Flower Photo


It is extraordinary and beautiful flower photos that we're looking for here, without major photo manipulation. It can be something quite ordinary but looks splendidly extraordinary in picture, or something totally unique and beautiful and beautifully photographed as well. 


Since only minor photo manipulation is acceptable, please check out our mechanics on what covers acceptable photo manipulation in the photo challenge through this link: http://dpplus.blogspot.com/2012/03/dp-photo-challenge-general-rules-and.html


deadlines:

posting of entries: 

from May 1 - May 13, 2012, 
12 midnight, 
Philippine time


voting or liking of entries:
from May 1- May 15, 2012, 
12 midnight,
Philippine time


dp+ pick start of judging date:
May 16, 2012


Good luck to all!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

dp+ 10th month anniversary milestones

photo by Gina Villanueva-Uyan



It was dp+' 10th month anniversary as a Facebook group on May 17, 2012. Originally a Friendster group in 2007, many developments occurred since Digital Photography Plus' inception as a Facebook group on July 17, 2011. Here are the milestones from February 17 - May 17, 2012 - dp+' 10th monthsary:

1. dp+ group site members - 951 members. 


2. Number of Likes on dp+ official Facebook site - 686 Likes - to all members who haven't liked our official page, please do so.

3. dp+ site members - 165 members - hoping for more site members to come.

4. An HDR department headed by Edmund Chan - still in progress - sorry guys.


5. dp+ photo challenge 6 - with Exceptional Flower Photos as theme - awaits dp+ Pick result. To be posted is the announcement of dp+ photo challenge 7 theme.

6. A Picbadge site for the group still in operation. Members may add dp+ picbadge to show their support to the group.

7. Continuation of presentation of Certificates of Photography Excellence to the winners of dp+ Popular Votes Pick and the dp+ Pick. Winner for both Popular Votes Pick and dp+ Pick can opt to judge in the next challenge.

8. Continuous issuance of Certificate of Appreciation to the dp+ Pick Panel of Judges. To all our judges, thanks for extending your expertise to the group - it is very much appreciated.

9. A daily challenge still being developed and will be announced later.

In behalf of all dp+ administrators, we thank each and every member who continue to support the group. 

Thank you for sharing your photos and photo insights, appreciation of other members' works, joining the photo challenges as entrant or as voter or as a judge, or by just simply lending strength to the group when needed.

Congratulations to all those who won our photo challenges may they be the Popular Votes Pick or the dp+ Pick. Here's hoping for more photo challenges to to triumph over and many many more monthsaries and year-long anniversaries to come. Happy shooting to all - cheers!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Popular Votes ranking of entries - photo illusion photo challenge 5

For our photo illusion without photo manipulation theme for our 5th photo challenge, after the final casting of votes on April 14, 2012, 12 midnight, here is the ranking of the top 15 Popular Votes Pick entry - from Top 15 to Top 1 majority votes from members. They are:


Top 15 - Entry 31 - Joey Yepez - "Silhouette" - Nikon D300 - 15 votes

Top 15 - Entry 28 - Ali Akif - "Twin Rise" - Fuji Finepix S10001 - 15 votes

Top 15 - Entry 20 - Royce Malacaman - "Illusion" - Fujifilm Finepix HS10 - 15 votes

Top 14 - Entry 36 - Desertfox Navarro - "Hanged? dial... SOS" - Canon 50D - 16 votes

Top 13 - Entry 19 - BossMarty Brown - "Airway" - Canon 1100D - 17 votes

Top 13 - Entry 7 - Sam Ade - "Do not take our lives just because of money, please!" - Canon 450D - 17 votes

Top 12 - Entry 32 - Danny Cruz - "Suspended banana eggplant" - Nikon D90 - 18 votes

Top 12 - Entry 9 - Matthew Matchinsky - "Water lens" - Nikon D90 - 18 votes

Top 11 - Entry 27 - Macky Sevilla - "Memory discharge" - Canon 500D - 19 votes

Top 11 - Entry 26 - Joanna Lyn Ong - "Tete-a-tete" - Nikon D90 - 19 votes

Top 11 - Entry 24 - Sallie Tumlison - "Just a fishing story" - Nikon D40 - 19 votes

Top 11 - Entry 19 - Wendy Picton - "Doesn't get much better than this" - Olympus PEN 1 - 19 votes

Top 10 - Entry 35 - Karen Eaquinta Sharkey - "Horse with too many legs" - Nikon L20 - 20 votes

Top 9 - Entry 13 - Lily Vinluan - "Fairy godmothers" - Canon 600D - 21 votes

Top 9 - Entry 11 - Dennis Fabros - "Frankenfruit" - Nikon D70 - 21 votes

Top 8 - Entry 14 - Victor Ursabia - "Defying gravity" -  Canon 50D - 22 votes

Top 7 - Lara Juan - Entry 3 - "Man's bestfriend" - Nikon D40 - 23 votes

Top 6 - Entry 6 - Adonis Tividad - "Missile attack" - Nikon D5100 - 24 votes

Top 5 - Entry 5 - Lea R. Dellosa - "A mother will hold her child's hand for a while, but she will hold his heart for a lifetime" - Nikon D300 - 25 votes

Top 4 - Entry 38 - Zandro Cenizal - "Out of the way" - Nikon D90 - 28 votes

Top 3 - Entry 4 - Monching Corpuz - "The amazing conjoined 'Siamese Twin'" Giraffes - Nikon D90 - 35 votes

Top 2 - Entry 1 - Juanito Vinluan - "Your grill or mine?" - Canon 60D - 42 votes

Top 1 - Entry 37 - Nada Stambuk - "Dreamy" - Olympus PEN E-PL1 - 53 votes

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Popular Votes Pick winning entry for photo challenge 5

dp+ photo challenge 5 - Popular Votes Pick winning entry
photographer: Nada Stambuk
title: "Dreamy"
theme: Photo illusion without photo manipulation
camera: Olympus PEN E-PL1

Thursday, April 5, 2012

photo challenge 4 judges and their certificates of appreciation

For the "Celebrating Woman/Women" theme - 4th photo challenge, 5 people comprise the panel of judges - 2 administrators and 3 members. Member judges were Lennox Tpc, Pam Fereshetian-Ziehler and Edmund Chan. Administrator judges were Juanito Vinluan and Gina Villanueva-Uyan. Below are the judges' Certificate of Appreciation - thanks a lot guys! Only Certificates posted to this site are authentic certificates issued by dp+.















 



 













Note: For a closer look, please click on the image. Thanks!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

dp+ Pick top 11 entries, photo challenge 4


Only 11 entries made it to the judges top 3 picks for the dp+ Pick Award, dp+ photo challenge 4 with theme Celebrating Woman/Women for the month of March. The more number of entries included in this list the more varied the judges picks were. To be included in this ranking means one or more judges included an entry in their top 3 picks. There were 5 judges as before, 2 are part of the dp+ administration and 3 are select members of the group. Each judge picked their top 3 choices from all the entries and scored them based on 4 criteria which include Quality or the technical aspect of the photo (30%), Creativity and Originality (30%), Theme Adaptation (20%) and Overall Impact or Impression (20%). Each also gave their reasons for their picks. A total of 100% per judge is given to a perfect score in all categories per entry. Final perfect score is 500 points with 100 point percentage from each of the 5 judges. The one who gets the highest score wins. So congratulations to the 11 entries who made it to the dp+ top picks and here are their rankings in a reverse order from top 11 to top 1:


Top 11 - Entry no. 37 - Jimboy Caminade Sanchez - "Greatest Inspiration" - Nikon D90 - TOTAL SCORE: 75/500
Top 10 - Entry no. 18 - Shoot Mee (Keith S.) - "Filipina" - Canon 5D - TOTAL SCORE: 87/500
Top 9 - Entry no. 4 - Lily Vinluan - "There's always a window if the door closes" - Canon 600D -
TOTAL SCORE: 89/500
Top 8 - Entry no. 39 - Borj Meneses - "Her shadow and curves" - Canon 5D  Mark II -  TOTAL SCORE: 91/500
Top 7 - Entry no. 31 - Chito Francisco - "Woman as Warrior" - Canon 500D - TOTAL SCORE: 92/500
Top 6 - Entry no. 8 - Glenn S. Buenaventura - "Happiness" - Canon 7D - TOTAL SCORE: 94/500
Top 5 - Entry no. 33 - Docx de Jesus - "The Prayer Warrior" - Canon 5D Mark II - TOTAL SCORE: 98/500
Top 4 - Entry no. 12 - Sallie Tumlison - "I wish I could remember" - Nikon D7000 - TOTAL SCORE: 125/500
Top 3 - Entry no. 22 - Joey Yepez - "Bridesmaids" - Nikon D300 - TOTAL SCORE:  176/500
Top 2 - Entry no. 6 - Zandro Cenizal - "Has purpose through the years" - Nikon D90 - TOTAL SCORE: 182/500
Top 1 - Entry no. 7 - Sam Ade - "Will always be waiting for you" - Canon 7D - TOTAL SCORE:  187/500 -
PHOTO CHALLENGE 4  DP+ PICK WINNER










Friday, March 23, 2012

winner dp+ Pick - photo challenge 4


dp+ Pick Winning Entry - Photo Challenge 4
theme: Celebrating Woman/Women
title: "Will always be waiting for you"
camera: Canon 7D
total judges score:  187/500

As what's been customary for the group, there were 5 judges in all. This time no 2 judges have similar top picks. Only 1 judge picked this entry as top pick. So this entry won through judges' scores. Compared with Photo Challenge 3 with a total score of 188/500, this entry is 1 point lower in judges' score at 187/500. It could have tied with Zandro Cenizal's entry entitled, "Has purpose through the years" if Cenizal's entry wasn't given a 5 points deduction by one judge because of a quite visible watermark or signature.


Here are the remarks of all the judges who included this entry to his/her top 3 picks:


Judge 3
"Fantastic composition with idea in mind. What comes first to mind is that the off focus was done on purpose to portray the photographer's side of his story."

Judge 5
"Remark: When judging photos I don't give much weight on the caption or what the photographer has to say about his/her piece. I just look at the photos and let it speak to me with its own visual message. Undeniably a woman form, not even a glamorized silhouette of one - just a woman in utter simplicity and mystery, an understated force to reckon with. Simple yet speaks volume that celebrates a woman's mystic. Creatively done, I appreciate how the photographer subdued and contained his subject to present a remarkable, powerful piece.


It should also be noted that this entry is top number 2 in the Popular Votes pick, second to Zandro Cenizal's entry. A Popular Votes Pick winning entry gathered the most number of votes from dp+ members. This entry was the only entry that represented women in general. Very creative use of photographic technique, too! It's a simple celebration of woman minus all the embellishments speaking volumes. Congratulations, Sam Ade, wonderful job!




To be posted next is the ranking of dp+ Pick winners.