Forum Index > Photography Talk > WTA Calendar Photo: Genuine or Fraud?
 Reply to topic
Previous :: Next Topic
Author Message
Kim Brown
Member
Member


Joined: 13 Jul 2009
Posts: 6900 | TRs | Pics
Kim Brown
Member
PostWed Aug 14, 2019 12:07 pm 
Tom wrote:
But I don't think it would have won if the judges knew it was a composite of two photos.
Maybe, but I don’t know about that. The criteria includes “artistic quality.” Professional photographers are allowed to enter, and do win; and many photos are set-up poses, so I don’t know that manipulation isn’t allowed. I never agreed with allowing professional photographers. Posed photos – sure, if it’s a posed family, or someone excitedly waving at the camera, or a kid holding onto a funny-looking stick at the beach - stuff like that. But good lord, I hope the glowing-tent-with-the-Milky Way-above-it phase is done. Not sure if the hiker-jump phase is over with (2 styles: a silhouette jumping over an outlet, and jumping in general), yoga poses, and uninspired arms outstretched in front of a view – I hope so. (this is for all outdoors photos in general, not just WTA). Remember the first year with all those over-the-top poses? The nekkid lady in what looked like a pooping posture, hanging from a log in front of a waterfall? A woman in a white dress with a looong veil wrapped around the terrain, the dog propped up at a campfire made to look like it was roasting marshmallows? That first year still cracks me up. First years of every new thing is usually pretty wonky. If I entered any of my extremely unique photos of mushrooms, clouds, or - I’m sure no one has ever thought of taking photos of raindrops on flowers hmmm.gif - I would surely win. hmmm.gif People enjoy the WTA photo contest; it’s nice.

"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area." Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Tom
Admin



Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 17835 | TRs | Pics
Tom
Admin
PostWed Aug 14, 2019 12:31 pm 
I did enjoy looking at the photos. BTW, I think you're an excellent photographer. In fact just the other day clicked thru on one of your photos to see what gear you were using.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Kim Brown
Member
Member


Joined: 13 Jul 2009
Posts: 6900 | TRs | Pics
Kim Brown
Member
PostWed Aug 14, 2019 12:52 pm 
Tom wrote:
In fact just the other day clicked thru on one of your photos to see what gear you were using.
Thanks. I have been using two old point-and-shoots because my DSLR done broke. I recently was given an old Sony DSLR (old that my bodacious freind gave me when she upgraded, but I haven't done much with it yet. I just bought a condo this year, so I'm more broke than I already was - should have stayed away from environmental studies and career - so it'll be a while before I get anything fancy, though I do like the Sony. And the condo.

"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area." Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
GaliWalker
Have camera will use



Joined: 10 Dec 2007
Posts: 4916 | TRs | Pics
Location: Pittsburgh
GaliWalker
Have camera will use
PostWed Aug 14, 2019 12:56 pm 
Kim Brown wrote:
Tom wrote:
But I don't think it would have won if the judges knew it was a composite of two photos.
Maybe, but I don’t know about that. The criteria includes “artistic quality.”
Stitching together different photos of the same scene to improve quality/resolution/depth-of-field/field-of-view/contrast is one thing. Creating a scene almost from scratch, like composites do, may be art, but I'm not sure it qualifies as a photograph. It most definitely needs to be identified as being a composite, at least in my opinion. As Tom said, the story behind the photograph in question was compelling. Unfortunately, the end result was not.

'Gali'Walker => 'Mountain-pass' walker bobbi: "...don't you ever forget your camera!" Photography: flickr.com/photos/shahiddurrani
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
BaNosser
Member
Member


Joined: 04 Dec 2009
Posts: 198 | TRs | Pics
BaNosser
Member
PostWed Aug 21, 2019 1:51 pm 
Quote:
Stitching together different photos of the same scene to improve quality/resolution/depth-of-field/field-of-view/contrast is one thing. Creating a scene almost from scratch, like composites do, may be art, but I'm not sure it qualifies as a photograph. It most definitely needs to be identified as being a composite, at least in my opinion.
Agreed.. I do a lot of HDRs.. many times it's the only way to capture a scene the way it actually appears... Digital cameras have come a long way.. but they are still a long way from actual eye balls... And regarding the image in question.. shadow on his face.. part of hair.. orientation of the peaks.. nuff said..

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
joker
seeker



Joined: 12 Aug 2006
Posts: 7953 | TRs | Pics
Location: state of confusion
joker
seeker
PostFri Aug 23, 2019 3:07 pm 
Kim Brown wrote:
But good lord, I hope the glowing-tent-with-the-Milky Way-above-it phase is done.
I like your optimism! wink.gif I think Galen Rowell pretty much explored this one to its logical conclusion many years ago, but that won't stop people from doing it again and again (and again) for decades to come. As for the original post and the photo it highlights, I think that any compositing of elements (versus, for the most part though even there there are edge cases, the sort of "exposure compositing GW mentions a few posts above) should be revealed for images used in anything approaching a "journalistic" or "documentary" setting, whereas I don't think it's as necessary for cases that are more about "art" or "pretty pictures" such as greeting cards etc. The intent of the WTA contest images is not clear to me, and I don't recall them calling this out in their contest rules, though perhaps they do and I simply didn't retain that bit in my memory cells...

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
ejain
Member
Member


Joined: 27 Apr 2009
Posts: 1497 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle, WA
ejain
Member
PostFri Aug 23, 2019 4:45 pm 
joker wrote:
The intent of the WTA contest images is not clear to me, and I don't recall them calling this out in their contest rules
The rules do allow "editing":
Quote:
How much editing is allowed? There are no restrictions on editing your photos prior to submitting them, though more natural scenes are encouraged. We want to showcase the beauty of the landscapes and trails in Washington as they appear in nature.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
garyw
Occasional Member



Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Posts: 18 | TRs | Pics
garyw
Occasional Member
PostSun Aug 25, 2019 10:08 am 
ejain quoted "We want to showcase the beauty of the landscapes and trails in Washington as they appear in nature." A hiker facing Rainier would not have images of Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood in his sunglasses. If he faced south, the image of Mt. Adams should be a reflection which it was not and Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood should have been switched. So, this photo does not show what one would see in nature if you happened upon this particular hiker and his sunglasses.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
joker
seeker



Joined: 12 Aug 2006
Posts: 7953 | TRs | Pics
Location: state of confusion
joker
seeker
PostSun Aug 25, 2019 1:23 pm 
Perhaps the judges weren't clueless on this front and decided that the image still met the criterion of "showcasing the beauty" and they aren't 100% literal in their take on "as they appear in nature" (one could have a lengthy discussion about the many ways in which even so-called "straight" photos fail at depicting what appears in nature btw!! see for instance many essays by Galen Rowell for a start on this topic....) We can only guess, unless one of us asks said judges :-)

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Tom
Admin



Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 17835 | TRs | Pics
Tom
Admin
PostSun Aug 25, 2019 1:35 pm 
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
NacMacFeegle
Member
Member


Joined: 16 Jan 2014
Posts: 2653 | TRs | Pics
Location: United States
NacMacFeegle
Member
PostMon Aug 26, 2019 12:37 am 
Tom wrote:
Seems one of the other photos was outed as well, oh my... https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/feb/10/the-price-of-prize-winning-photography-the-winner-/ https://www.craiggoodwin.com/blog/2019/1/8/w9vj6nwvravmxvgi5k9pplz2z4d472
I'd have to look back through my photos, but I'm not entirely convinced that the photographer was off trail - the photo could have been taken from the trail to the amphitheater. If he did go off trail to get this photo then he sure didn't do a good job scouting for a location - there is absolutely no need to go off trail to get an image like this! I wasn't too impressed by that photo anyway - the horizon isn't level and the lighting is poor. I also strongly suspect based on the patterns of the clouds, the flowers that are blooming, and the amount of snow on the mountain, that I was on the ridge taking photos when this photo was taken. If this is indeed the case, then this photographer missed all the good sunset colors by a few minutes. I'll have a look through my backup hard drives and see if my photos match up as closely as I think they do!

Read my hiking related stories and more at http://illuminationsfromtheattic.blogspot.com/
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Slugman
It’s a Slugfest!



Joined: 27 Mar 2003
Posts: 16874 | TRs | Pics
Slugman
It’s a Slugfest!
PostWed Sep 11, 2019 11:24 pm 
Take a mediocre picture of some guy, then fraud it up with an attempt to cute? No thanks. If it was 100 percent genuine and captured by pure chance then it might count as a cool-ish oddity.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Gil
Member
Member


Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Posts: 4057 | TRs | Pics
Gil
Member
PostThu Sep 12, 2019 7:35 pm 
Well, the new WTA photo contest is under way, so we can expect a whole new crop. I'm hoping that the judges will exercise a little more judgment.

Friends help the miles go easier. Klahini
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
   All times are GMT - 8 Hours
 Reply to topic
Forum Index > Photography Talk > WTA Calendar Photo: Genuine or Fraud?
  Happy Birthday speyguy, Bandanabraids!
Jump to:   
Search this topic:

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum