# Jan '07 Challenge Photos - "Free-For-All" - Sponsored by joby.com



## TwistMyArm

Well we got what we were hoping for with this months challenge. 63 photos in all this month! Good luck to everyone who submitted this month. 
Please keep in mind the new restrictions for voting this month. 

Free-for-All

Also thanks again to Joby.com for sponsoring another great challenge.

You may notice that in the gallery some files appear larger then 150KB, but every photo included was less then 150KB when uploaded to the gallery.

Please keep in mind that we are trying to keep this challenge anonymous (and unbiased) when it comes to both the submitting and the voting. Please avoid sharing your opinions about any specific photos until after the voting has completed and the winner is announced.

Please read the titles carefully in order to avoid confusion before voting. The photos may not be sorted in the correct order so to ensure you view them in proper order scroll to the bottom of the page and where it says "Display Options" ensure you select Sorted By: "Image Name" Sort Order: "Ascending" and then click on the "Show Images" button.

After viewing the photos please take the opportunity to vote for your favorite. Good luck to all. If there are any questions please let us know.

The mods/admins of thephotoforum.com may decide the winner from the top five submitted photos. The winner of the photo challenge will be contacted by Private Message (PM) on the day that the winner is announced. If the winner does not respond to the PM within 30 days they will not receive their prize and it will be put towards a future challenge. If we are unable to ship the intended prize to the winner do to his/her location we will provide another prize of equal value. 

The polls will be open for the next seven days.


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## Arch

now theres a tough decision....


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## gizmo2071

Heh. I totally forgot about this contest.
Ah well. Theres a few really great images in there 
Tough call.


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## kulakova

no chance to win...=(
too many good works..=)


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## Steel26

I new this was going to be a hard comp.  But wow some of these images are really amazing.


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## bryanwhite

Yikes!  _VERY_ stiff competition on this one...


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## GoM

Voted....SO not gonna win, but that's not entirely the point of this


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## Parago

GoM said:


> Voted....SO not gonna win, but that's not entirely the point of this


 
Exactly my thought. Still.. wonderful to be part of this. Great stuff.


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## zaramuni

holy smokes some fo you out there really rock! You are a very talented bunch!


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## Thor the Mighty

so what the hell howcome some images are like 240kb and we were told 150?! 150 is like thumbnail sized and its kind of rediculous because people cant see the photos as well. lame.


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## RacePhoto

Archangel said:


> now theres a tough decision....



Pretty funny. After I looked at every picture and made notes, I looked again at the numbers I wrote down and finally got it down to eight. Then I looked again and ended up with two. I couldn't decide which one. But that means a whole list of them stood out, eight jumped out at me and I still had to pick only one. The other 55, just about any one of them could have been a contender, it's just personal taste.

Great Work everyone.

I'm impressed!


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## outlier

Very hard choices. Partly due to the apples and oranges nature of the free for all. Great work!  Given the large number of entries, a fairer way to do this is to have each photo rated on a scale or two e.g., technical 1-5, Artistic 1-5.  Then the winner is chosen based on the highest average ratings. This avoids having 80 people look at earlier photos in the list and only 30 making it to the end to look at the later photos.  It also gives losing entries (like mine) some feedback as to whether the photo was good or okay or 'nearly the best'.  Just a thought.


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## CameronBrown_Photography

so i cant see the pictures, where are they???


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## Thor the Mighty

try clicking on the "free for all" link in the very first post, on paragraph down.


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## Stoney229

why does it say I connot vote?  How do I vote?


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## Stoney229

oh I guess because I'm a "TPF Noob!"


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## Steel26

i believe they did that because they didnt want people getting their friends to sign up and vote for thier pic.


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## Parago

Steel26 said:


> i believe they did that because they didnt want people getting their friends to sign up and vote for thier pic.


 
Or signing up a couple of times themselves like last month..  

@Thor the Mighty.. document size has nothing to do with actual image size. The size in kb is determined by the resolution, not by how big (in inches) your image is. When you work in Photoshop, after everything is done, go to 'save image for web', that way it's being compressed a lot more and you can retain the actual image size (in inches) even though you will only need (for example) 250kb.

Did this make sense? maybe someone else can explain it a little better.


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## ngirly1991

why does it say i cannot vote on this poll...i did vote once.


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## Parago

ngirly1991 said:


> why does it say i cannot vote on this poll...i did vote once.


 
You need to have at least 25 posts from now on to be able to vote.


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## CameronBrown_Photography

ok, well i feel stupid


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## RacePhoto

Steel26 said:


> i believe they did that because they didnt want people getting their friends to sign up and vote for thier pic.



I suppose some people will vote for their own picture, but that doesn't do much for me. Heck, I already know I liked mine.  I don't view this as a contest with competition, but more a matter of being a compliment from others who have the same interests.

It isn't about winning, in my personal view, it's about someone else saying they liked what I did. That's more meaningful to me in the long run.

Free For All was nice way to ring in the new year. I'm working on next months assignment now.


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## ngirly1991

i didnt know they changed rules. anyway thanks  now i gotta hurry up.


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## ngirly1991

anyway i completed to 25 and it still said i cant vote...?


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## machangezi

Yesterday, when I had a look at the polls, the second pic had 11 votes followed by pic number 8 with 7 votes. Now the poll shows different results! Did the board get hacked or something?

P.S: I might be wrong but really it was different yesterday.


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## doenoe

i just read in the off-topic that there were some problems with the server or something. So everything after the 5th is gone. Posts, threads and by the looks of it, the votes too.
you can read it HERE


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## EYEAM4ANARCHY

...and it still says I can't vote.


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## Arch

TwistMyArm said:


> The polls will be open for the next seven days.


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## Steel26

Its pretty clear who won but when are they going to announce it.


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## Parago

What I find funny is that there were like 60 entries or something, but only 40 votes have been cast. So not even all the people who participated had the decency to vote. Pretty lame. Just my two cents. :meh:


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## machangezi

My guess is that most of the entries came from newly registered members. They couldn't vote cos of the 25 posts restriction.


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## TwistMyArm

Thanks for your patience people and thanks to all who participated again this month. Those of you eager to learn who submitted 07janphoto02 it was machangezi.
Congrats machangezi and nice job!


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## machangezi

Thanks very much Twist. Special thanks to all those who participated and voted in the poll.

Sincerely,

macha


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## Parago

machangezi said:


> My guess is that most of the entries came from newly registered members. They couldn't vote cos of the 25 posts restriction.


 
That would make sense. Why is that, tho? 

Anyways, congratulations. I didn't vote for yours simply because I had a feeling it would win anyways.


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## RacePhoto

machangezi said:


> Thanks very much Twist. Special thanks to all those who participated and voted in the poll.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> macha



_I'm calling for a recount._ The photos had higher numbers one day and lower the next. And in case anyone is taking the above seriously, I'm kidding. I don't think anything would have changed the winning photo in the end.

Now I wonder, and I haven't looked, can I write to one of the people who didn't win and explain why I voted for their photo, because I liked it so much?

Somewhere up above I wrote something like this. *Congratulations to everyone for taking the time to enter (and vote), there was a fine selection and variety of photos.* I enjoyed seeing all the different things that people picked for their Free For All.


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## machangezi

Thanks Parago/RP. It's a coincidence that I won this competition on my birthday, Feb the 10th!


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## LaFoto

RacePhoto - now that the voting is over you may say whose photo you voted for and why.

And I must say that only 40 votes *is* pretty lame and I feel a lot more long-standing forum members COULD go and vote, even those who don't hand in submissions. I mean we are so many here who come very, very regularly and I am sure I am communicating with more than only 40 people on a very regular basis. How come they don't spend that little amount of time that is necessary to look at the submissions and vote for one?


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## LaFoto

But something IS funny here and may have to do with the board crash: I liked the idea of "Free Beer for ALL!" and voted for Photo 30, which I guess, just guess, was submitted by Alex_B (was it, Alex?), for I just LIKE the idea of FREE BEER  ... and when I cast my vote, it later said that 2 persons had voted for that photo. Now it is only one, and the line is no longer in italics for me, so it now looks like I never voted.

Could be I voted shortly before the crash ... and by the crash and our loss of everything between Monday and Wednesday, my vote as well as several others simply got lost. Maybe in the end a lot more have actually voted. For 40 DOES sound a very, very, very low number ... and with Photo 30 now only having 1 vote, when it was 2 right after I had voted ... also the votes must have gone lost.

But congratulations Macha to your submission, yours was a "near miss" for me, I just preferred the thought of "Free Beer for All!" . You won - and on your birthday! - all the same. Congratulations again, also for your birthday!!!!


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## Parago

For me it was a very close call between Number 40 and Number 46, I ended up voting for Number 46 simply because it really captured my attention and I found myself literally studying it, looking at it more than once, even after I had already voted. And *that* for me is, what a good photograph should do. Fascinate. 

As mentioned before, machangezi's photo was definitely one of my favorites, but for soem reason I just knew it would win so I decided to give somebody else my vote. :mrgreen:


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## Alex_B

LaFoto said:


> I liked the idea of "Free Beer for ALL!" and voted for Photo 30, which I guess, just guess, was submitted by Alex_B (was it, Alex?), for I just LIKE the idea of FREE BEER



No, it wasn't me! In my TPF-career I only submitted one image to a contest so far, and that is a while ago 

Also, I am not into the lager type of beer  .. I am an Ale and Stout person. Lager is for whimps


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## RacePhoto

LaFoto said:


> RacePhoto - now that the voting is over you may say whose photo you voted for and why.
> 
> And I must say that only 40 votes *is* pretty lame and I feel a lot more long-standing forum members COULD go and vote, even those who don't hand in submissions. I mean we are so many here who come very, very regularly and I am sure I am communicating with more than only 40 people on a very regular basis. How come they don't spend that little amount of time that is necessary to look at the submissions and vote for one?



I think there were more than 40 votes but the crash wiped out some. I'm not complaining. The vote percentages were about the same, before and after, so it didn't change the outcome.

The winner stood out, but I didn't vote for it. Not because it wasn't the best or just because I knew it would win or anything, I just found that two other pictures appealed to me personally. Best is totally subjective and I guess I'm from Pluto. 

I voted for number 7 because I liked the scene, and composition. (train guy? Night scene with lights? Perspective of the shot over the locomotive cab? I don't know what did it.) Ya, I'm the one... But I sat and looked and looked at 45 and 7 over and over, before I finally had to pick one of them.

The white barn in the snow with the subtle dashes of colors. I wasn't one that jumped off the screen at first, but the more I looked at it, I said to myself, that's something that could be hanging on a wall in just about any room of a home.


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## Parago

White barn in the snow? Number 45? And I thought that was an Infrared Shot. :blushing:


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## Chase

The winner actually ended up with 11 total votes. Well deserved, congrats!


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## Steel26

There were some really amazing shots entered in this one so i guess i wont complain with 2nd.  Personally 45 was my favorite.


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## machangezi

It would be very difficult for me to choose, after seeing some great entries there, If I had the right to vote.


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## RacePhoto

Parago said:


> White barn in the snow? Number 45? And I thought that was an Infrared Shot. :blushing:



Now I have to go back and look closer. Maybe the person who submitted it can tell me more. Just figure I come from Wisconsin, it's been freezing cold and snowing here, so when I looked at it, I thought the trees were covered with frozen snow and ice. Just like at home. :mrgreen:

That's what it looks like around here right after a wet snow and ice storm.

I see your point!


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## JTHphoto

LaFoto said:


> RacePhoto - now that the voting is over you may say whose photo you voted for and why.
> 
> And I must say that only 40 votes *is* pretty lame and I feel a lot more long-standing forum members COULD go and vote, even those who don't hand in submissions. I mean we are so many here who come very, very regularly and I am sure I am communicating with more than only 40 people on a very regular basis. How come they don't spend that little amount of time that is necessary to look at the submissions and vote for one?


 
yeah, my vote was wiped out too, it was one of the 11 that chase referred to above.  congrats to the winner and everyone else that submitted, it was NOT an easy decision! :thumbup:


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## meotter

i just gotta know... is the winning shot a real photo?  how much of it is touched up and how much of it is just photoshop, or did it come straight from the camera that way?  

there is a certain air of umm... fantasy that i feel when i look at the pic.


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## Arch

Im sure the winner should be able to explain in more detail if he wishes.... but yes it is a real photo.


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## noname

Parago said:


> White barn in the snow? Number 45? And I thought that was an Infrared Shot. :blushing:



That was mine...not infrared, but looks like it b/c of the ice....


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## machangezi

meotter said:


> i just gotta know... is the winning shot a real photo? how much of it is touched up and how much of it is just photoshop, or did it come straight from the camera that way?
> 
> there is a certain air of umm... fantasy that i feel when i look at the pic.


Yes, it's indeed a real photo. I, actually, had to get three cameras lined up (Nikon F90X, Canon Powershot and Nikon D70) for this shot. The one you see is from D70. F90X's (SLR) result was far better than D70 but it, somehow, doesn't look good once scanned. 
No colour enhansment's been done in PS. Only the bushes on the right side got a little touch of "clone stamp".


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## Parago

noname said:


> That was mine...not infrared, but looks like it b/c of the ice....


 
It really does! It's a beautiful shot, that's for sure. :thumbup:


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## bryanwhite

This was an amazing contest, with great photos.  I enjoyed looking at all of them very much.  For me personally, it was a close call between about fifteen of them.


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## machangezi

Thanks very much for the little heavy duty Gorillapod. I just received it this morning and it's amazing! I have to admit that it was a quick shipment (from the States to Thailand). I'm sure the Gorillapod will solve me several problems, especially when I'm in mountaineous regions. 
Once again thanks very much.


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## Chase

Hope you enjoy it!


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## TwistMyArm

You deserved it!


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