December '10 Photo Contest

[Brad]

Chameleon Photo Contest
December 2010
view entries​

No Theme


Win A Gift Certificate To: ... you choose












































1st place: $50 gift certificate
The winner of this contest may choose a gift certificate to one of the companies listed above. This should give the winner a nice choice of where to use their gift certificate. The certificate can not be split up and used at multiple places.


How to enter the contest:
contest entry deadline: December 17, 2010

• To submit your photo, click here.
• Fill out the form and click submit.
• You are welcome to change your submitted image anytime before the submission deadline.

Rules:
Please view the contest rules before submitting a photo. Click here to access the contest rules. The contest rules have recently been updated.


dates
entry deadline: December 17
voting: December 18 - December 31
contest results will be announced on January 2 2011


Note:
Please review the contest rules. The photo entry period will be extended if a minimum of 10 valid entries have not been received.


The Chameleon Forums reserves the right to modify these rules at any time. Please check this thread often if you are participating in the contest. Feel free to reply to this thread with questions if you have them.

 

[Brad]

Entries that did not meet the format requirements have been removed.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/photo-contest-rules-102/

 

[Brad]

Today is the last day to enter the December '10 photo contest.

Entries that did not meet the format requirements have been removed.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/photo-contest-rules-102/

 

[Brad]

slideshow

Having a hard time deciding on your favorite?

Slideshow: Click to view slideshow

Comparing the original size of each image can help and is recommended. Photos should not only be judged by the chameleon displayed, but also on composition and image quality.

 

[Brad]

We had about 50 entries this month and only 16 final slots available. This resulted in many good photos not making it to the final voting round. If anyone would like to know how their photo could have ranked higher please send me a pm. A large majority of entries could have benefited from a little noise reduction.

 

[Hoj]

thanks alot there are some kool shots ill keep trying haha

 

[smashtoad]

Having a hard time deciding on your favorite?

Comparing the original size of each image can help and is recommended. Photos should not only be judged by the chameleon displayed, but also on composition and image quality.

Oh yes...composition and image quality were obviously high on the list of criteria in choosing the final 16...

Nice move...just delete all the evidence of crap you can't defend...you guys are pathetic.

 

[smashtoad]

I thought the photos were supposed to show evidence of good husbandry? Not only does this make no sense...in the photo "Zephyr"...the cham looks stressed out of his mind.

Does that display good husbandry? Pissing your cham off for a photo?

This contest is a steaming pile of remanufactured Taco Bell.

 

[Olimpia]

Smashtoad, let it go please. We get that you're upset, but there's no use in making a big deal of it. Personally, I would agree with you to a degree, but this contest is supposed to be in good fun. None of these photos are ending up published in National Geographic or winning thousands of dollars. So all you can do is just try again next month, or ask the mods privately why yours was not chosen so you can use that advice to your advantage next month.

 

[smashtoad]

Of the 16 photos that made the final...at least 8 belong to Senior Members, and one to a "Hired Goon" that is a moderator...

When there is $50 up for grabs, you guys could at least pretend to be non-biased.

You can delete my comments all you want...until one of you tries to defend your horrible choices...you are only proving that I'm right.

 

[smashtoad]

Smashtoad, let it go please. We get that you're upset, but there's no use in making a big deal of it. Personally, I would agree with you to a degree, but this contest is supposed to be in good fun. None of these photos are ending up published in National Geographic or winning thousands of dollars. So all you can do is just try again next month, or ask the mods privately why yours was not chosen so you can use that advice to your advantage next month.

Thank you...God...thank you. I just wanted some acknowledgement of my point. If they leave the rest of my posts alone, I will comment no further.

$50 is a lot of herp supplies...the contest should at least be valid. In it's current form...it is not.

 

[Trace]

Well since my name has been mentioned I guess I better post. I enter the contest because I think I take nice pictures - just like everyone else thinks that enters their photos in the contest. Some months my photos make it and sometimes they don't. I don't call that favouritism. Do you? I also don't take it personally if they don't make it to the final cut.

As for the posts being deleted - me again. Guilty as charged. I removed the posts because honestly people were starting to bash you and your bad attitude so I pulled everything before it got out of control. Pardon me for thinking about you, the rest of the group here and trying to keep the peace.

Trace the Hired Goon.

 

[Amanda1801]

people vote for the photo they like best - its a bit of fun - get over it and enter "proper" and "valid" contests...

 

[steelheadchaser]

It appears that I will be offering the sole dissenting opinion here.

While not agreeing with the tone of some of Smashtoad's writings, I do understand his frustration with the contest. The photograph he submitted is technically excellent. That is not negated by whether or not one likes him. He obviously knows what he is doing behind a camera and takes his photography seriously.

Comment's to the affect of "just let it go", "deal with it" or suggestions of "going elsewhere" do not address his concerns, nor do they promote civil discourse. In fact, remarks about some people "not liking pygs" supports one of his points. It is a chameleon photo contest, not a chameleon beauty pageant. Nor should it be a personality contest among the membership.

Smashtoad has brought up some valid points. The fact that they were made in a less-then-diplomatic manner does not necessarily make them invalid. Hopefully they will be addressed privately, if not in the thread.


(Steelheadchaser now ducks for cover and dons his asbestos suit...)

 

[Ace]

It appears that I will be offering the sole dissenting opinion here.

While not agreeing with the tone of some of Smashtoad's writings, I do understand his frustration with the contest. The photograph he submitted is technically excellent. That is not negated by whether or not one likes him. He obviously knows what he is doing behind a camera and takes his photography seriously.

Comment's to the affect of "just let it go", "deal with it" or suggestions of "going elsewhere" do not address his concerns, nor do they promote civil discourse. In fact, remarks about some people "not liking pygs" supports one of his points. It is a chameleon photo contest, not a chameleon beauty pageant. Nor should it be a personality contest among the membership.Smashtoad has brought up some valid points. The fact that they were made in a less-then-diplomatic manner does not necessarily make them invalid. Hopefully they will be addressed privately, if not in the thread.


(Steelheadchaser now ducks for cover and dons his asbestos suit...)

well said....i agree, when you put it that way...

 

[Olimpia]

I just thought he should stop fighting because I'd hate to see him banned and not be able to try again (and win, because his shot was great) in the future because of his anger. Which I said, I agree with to a larger degree than I'd like to admit. This contest is often a beauty contest or popularity contest where people will vote for a veiled or panther just because it reminds them of their own pet (or "ooo pretty colors"). Which is why I've been trying hard to take a great photo of my Jackson's in an attempt to try to win this contest with a slightly less popular chameleon.

You also have to achnowledge that the great maority of forum members are not art or photo majors, professionals, or experts, so they vote for what they like without knowing judging the photo on its artistic merit or quality. And I can only assume that perhaps none of the judges have any more training. If this were a site geared toward art and photography, it would be completely different. All you can really do is ask respectfully for the judging to be more technical, or just try again next month and see how it goes.

 

[steelheadchaser]

This contest is often a beauty contest or popularity contest where people will vote for a veiled or panther just because it reminds them of their own pet (or "ooo pretty colors").

You also have to achnowledge that the great maority of forum members are not art or photo majors, professionals, or experts, so they vote for what they like without knowing judging the photo on its artistic merit or quality.

I agree with your statements above. If however I understand the judging correctly, the first round of cuts are performed by one individual; voting by the members, which can often be subjective, doesn't occur until later.

Photos with technical issues such as poor exposure, out of focus, incorrect size or other requirements stated in the rules are culled before that point in the process. It is at this point where Smashtoad is taking issue. He is contending that a number of photos do not meet the posted criteria.

 

[nicholas]

It appears that I will be offering the sole dissenting opinion here.

While not agreeing with the tone of some of Smashtoad's writings, I do understand his frustration with the contest. The photograph he submitted is technically excellent. That is not negated by whether or not one likes him. He obviously knows what he is doing behind a camera and takes his photography seriously.

Comment's to the affect of "just let it go", "deal with it" or suggestions of "going elsewhere" do not address his concerns, nor do they promote civil discourse. In fact, remarks about some people "not liking pygs" supports one of his points. It is a chameleon photo contest, not a chameleon beauty pageant. Nor should it be a personality contest among the membership.

Smashtoad has brought up some valid points. The fact that they were made in a less-then-diplomatic manner does not necessarily make them invalid. Hopefully they will be addressed privately, if not in the thread.


(Steelheadchaser now ducks for cover and dons his asbestos suit...)

Steelheadchaser,
He recieved those comments ( Deal with it, Go some where else, etc) because of how he reacted to not making it into the finals of the contest.
And when someone comes on to the forum and does nothing but bash it's members on their photo skills just because he did not win the contest that he clearly thought was "rigged" from the beginning, he is bound to get some less than polite comments in return. And while he did bring up some valid points about how a "Professional or Official" photo contest should be conducted he probably should not have brought it up in such a nasty way. He also mentioned that he believs that this forum is "Cliquey" and that we only vote for people that we know or like... which i do not believe to be the case either as I just recently won the last contest with a very underappreciated and not well know genus and species and I have not been a posting member of the forums for very long, nor have I ever really taken pictures before I aquired my K . tenuis. The resposes that he recieved from the other members and my self may not have promoted civil discourse but what do you expect when somebody comes in and insults long term and respected members on their photos when he also does not have a perfect photo either. He made comments on how other members chams looked stressed in their pics when his did not at all look normal coloration for a Brev and in fact looked quite stresed as well. Sory for the rant, however what happened was just so uncalled for.

Sorry for cluttering the tread again Trace. I just had to make one more post on the subject.

 

[steelheadchaser]

Nicholas, I fully appreciate your point and stated the same in my first post. Understanding his frustration does not mean agreeing with all his statements or supporting his conclusions.

I would hope that cooler heads would prevail. It is not realistic to expect things to magically become calmer by responding to in-artful posts with ad-hominem attacks and insults of ones own.

Granted, it can be hard to not lose composure and respond in kind to what is deemed an offensive post. It does make for a much more reasoned response though.

 

[morpheon]

While i do not agree with the way things have been said at the beginning, i think it is time for the people in charge of the photocontest to review the way things are being done. Afterall, even if Nicholas is a great example of how some things are going Ok, the system is obviously not working perfectly, and things could be improved.

For example, some rules aren't applied systematically, while i believe some of them should be. For example, as a past judge for the photo contest, i took some time making sure that nothing human/artificial was in any of the previous pictures. Sadly, this is not something that is respected 100% of the time... So far in this monthly contest i found at least 3 pictures with human objects in them, and i haven't taken more than 20 seconds browsing through pictures!!

Another example is the clear public preference towards Calyptratus and Pardalis. Maybe there could be something done to make sure we don't have 4 calyptratus, 4 pardalis, 2 theme, and 2 "other species" winners per year! I'm thinking of making a little more complex mathematical formula to give more points to rarer species, or about specifying that X and Y months are for pardalis, Z and A months for Calyptratus, and a few months for the "other species" just like the calendar contest is made

And for those who believe people vote for someone who's popular, and not for the best picture, maybe we could make the photos anonymous! That, coupled with the rule of not posting any photos that has been shown previously would make voting for people a little harder!

This is just a small part of what could be improved, and maybe discussing about it publicly would help finding better solutions for everyone... If we get the Ok to discuss it. But without having any moderator/administrator to officially say that they are open to discussion and suggestions, we will just keep complaints low, things won't be solved, and it might explodes again in a few months...

On a side note, we are all humans, and nothing is perfect. Therefore, we can not expect things to be perfect, and i am sure that not many of us would do better if we were running the photo contest! So please, don't forget to thank those who spend countless hours making this forum such a great forum, even if it's not perfect!