http://www.dpchallenge.com is an excellent site. It has lots to learn, tutorials and I have spent much time reading there. They also have weekly competitions. There are some different categories of editing you can do and it’s this editing which yet again I fail to see as photography and more as digital art.
This is the Basic editing that is allowed.
* use any feature of your camera while photographing your entry, with the exception of combining multiple captures in-camera.
* crop, rotate and resize your entry.
* use filters or stand-alone utilities designed to preserve image integrity (such as Neat Image, Unsharp Mask, Dust & Scratches, and color correction tools). These filters must be applied uniformly to the entire image, and must not be used in such a way that their use becomes a feature. No “effects” filters may be applied to your image, with the exception of Noise and Gaussian Blur.
* saturate, desaturate or change the colors of your entry, but no selections are allowed.
* use only Adjustment Layers (or their equivalent). An Adjustment Layer is a special type of layer containing no image data that lets you experiment with color and tonal adjustments without permanently modifying the pixels. Adjustment Layers must be applied in Normal mode.
* add a border to the outside edge of your entry. Your border must be distinct and clearly recognizable as a border.
* use RAW conversion software as long as the changes are made globally to a single file on one layer and do not create new features or effects in the process.
* include existing images or artwork as part of your composition as long as the entry does not appear to consist entirely of a pre-existing photograph in order to circumvent date or editing rules or fool the voters into thinking you actually captured the original photograph.
So if you want to enter an image you are going to compete with people who are adept at the above. The Advanced Editing has all the above plus the intermediate. I certainly think you need to know more about Photoshop (or similar) than you do how to use the camera. From the About page:
The original idea behind the site was for it to be a place where the two of us and a couple of our friends could teach ourselves to be better photographers by giving each other a ‘challenge’ for the week.
Surely there is a difference between being a better photographer and being a better image manipulator?
A winner from this week illustrates this whole thing perfectly.
2 Comments
Apart from not having much time, this is one of the main reasons I don’t do much on DPC anymore.
It used to be about the photography side of things, certainly when I’m voting I look at the photography side rather than the photoshop skills of the person.
When I enter shots the most I normally do in advanced editing is clean up and scratches or white spots etc, but some of them take a really bland photo and make it look so much better.
There are sites that cater for PS skills, I think DPC should get back to photography and not just PS skills.
I keep meaning to check out the Smugmug forums, I’ve seen comments they are good.
And I agree about DPC.
They should have a “cropping only” category or similar. Push the focus back to composition and similar. Makes Basic actually mean Basic. And also exclude everyone who has entered anything above, or those with a high average. Some way of creating an entry-level competition because that way you can see results you might stand a chance of learning from.
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