BackdoorArts
Senior Member
For the past couple years I've been involved at a site called DPChallenge.com, short for "Digital Photography Challenge". Its focus is to provide site participants with weekly challenges (one open to anyone, two additional open only to paying members, plus two monthly member only Free Study challenges), each with a specific topic that must be shot for within the week after the announcement, and followed by a week of voting by site participants.
I went there hoping that it would be a place that would allow me to get some real critiques and instructive comments on photos taken for each challenge, and I liked the idea of having to shoot for the assignment instead of, like other sites, allowing people with huge catalogs the opportunity to pick their lifetime bests. Alas, the site has its drawbacks, namely that comments and feedback are rare, and the 1 to 10 scoring system used when voting is labeled "Bad (1)" to "Good (10)" but there is no defined or enforceable criteria by which you're supposed to apply your votes - so you can throw any number at any photo with no need to justify it. Yes, it might as well be "Hate" to "Love" with whatever that may mean to any person at any time, and yes, it can be maddening when you see a 1 or 2 on a shot you know is one of your best and you will never understand why some one felt the need to give it to you.
What I'm saying is, the place is far from perfect.
With that said, if you can get past the eccentricities, oddballs and occasional nitpicking about how the place is run (one guy started it over 10 years ago and it basically survives on his willingness to push it forward - he does not openly participate in challenges and rarely posts in the forum), it can be a decent tool to get you out to shoot things you wouldn't normally shoot with deadlines looming. Each challenge has a set of editing restrictions that must be followed, from "Minimal" (which is literally shooting JPEG SOOC with resizing and basic sharpening the only possible edits - no brightness, contrast, etc.) to Expert (which is basically whatever the heck you want to do, from compositing 1000 images to complex digital art). The majority are in the Advanced category which allows for most regular photographic adjustments (including the removal of spots and powerlines, but not anything that would be considered to have changed the image in any significant way), as well as HDR techniques (but not panoramas). There are also occasional League situations where photographers form teams and compete against each other in an 8 to 10 week tournament for pride and glory - but no actual prizes.
Yeah, I know, I'm doing a hell of a job selling the place, right?! Site participation has been down of late, and it would be great to infuse it with some new blood and maybe get things going. Any registered user can participate in the weekly Open challenge, and those who pay the $25/yr membership fee are eligible for all challenges (well worth it). I invite you to come on over and at least try it out. Open Challenges are announced on Tuesday night at midnight Eastern time, so on Wednesday morning you'll know what we're shooting this coming week (currently the open challenge is "Tourist Guide - What would you show a tourist who showed up where you live?" and that ends tomorrow night). Prizes are virtual so the glory is whatever you want to give yourself.
The forum activity is almost non-existent, but it's an opportunity to shoot and post. Let me know if you head over.
I went there hoping that it would be a place that would allow me to get some real critiques and instructive comments on photos taken for each challenge, and I liked the idea of having to shoot for the assignment instead of, like other sites, allowing people with huge catalogs the opportunity to pick their lifetime bests. Alas, the site has its drawbacks, namely that comments and feedback are rare, and the 1 to 10 scoring system used when voting is labeled "Bad (1)" to "Good (10)" but there is no defined or enforceable criteria by which you're supposed to apply your votes - so you can throw any number at any photo with no need to justify it. Yes, it might as well be "Hate" to "Love" with whatever that may mean to any person at any time, and yes, it can be maddening when you see a 1 or 2 on a shot you know is one of your best and you will never understand why some one felt the need to give it to you.
What I'm saying is, the place is far from perfect.
With that said, if you can get past the eccentricities, oddballs and occasional nitpicking about how the place is run (one guy started it over 10 years ago and it basically survives on his willingness to push it forward - he does not openly participate in challenges and rarely posts in the forum), it can be a decent tool to get you out to shoot things you wouldn't normally shoot with deadlines looming. Each challenge has a set of editing restrictions that must be followed, from "Minimal" (which is literally shooting JPEG SOOC with resizing and basic sharpening the only possible edits - no brightness, contrast, etc.) to Expert (which is basically whatever the heck you want to do, from compositing 1000 images to complex digital art). The majority are in the Advanced category which allows for most regular photographic adjustments (including the removal of spots and powerlines, but not anything that would be considered to have changed the image in any significant way), as well as HDR techniques (but not panoramas). There are also occasional League situations where photographers form teams and compete against each other in an 8 to 10 week tournament for pride and glory - but no actual prizes.
Yeah, I know, I'm doing a hell of a job selling the place, right?! Site participation has been down of late, and it would be great to infuse it with some new blood and maybe get things going. Any registered user can participate in the weekly Open challenge, and those who pay the $25/yr membership fee are eligible for all challenges (well worth it). I invite you to come on over and at least try it out. Open Challenges are announced on Tuesday night at midnight Eastern time, so on Wednesday morning you'll know what we're shooting this coming week (currently the open challenge is "Tourist Guide - What would you show a tourist who showed up where you live?" and that ends tomorrow night). Prizes are virtual so the glory is whatever you want to give yourself.
The forum activity is almost non-existent, but it's an opportunity to shoot and post. Let me know if you head over.