# July-August '08 Photo Challenge - "Travel"



## TwistMyArm

Hi everyone, 

For the first time we're going to try a two month challenge. This challenge will be for July and August '08. The theme for this challenge will be "Travel".  

For all those who wish to participate in this challenge please take a moment to read through the following: 

- The deadline for submissions is August 30
- The image can be no larger then 150KB*
- Include your forum username when submitting
- The submitted photo must be in the form of a .jpg
- Please keep your photo anonymous (no distinguishing watermarks, and no photos that have been posted previously on the forum)
- Submit no more than one photo
- If you wish you may include a title when submitting your photo (please use no special characters)
- The form must also be included when submitting the photo
- The forum Admins and Moderators reserve the right to exclude or remove any photo solely at their discretion
- The forum Admins and Moderators reserve the right to decide the winner of the photo challenge
- All submitted photos will be posted in a new thread within the first week of the following month

.........Copy and Paste this into your submission email...........................
*ThePhotoForum.com Username:*
**Photo Title (optional):*
*Is the photo 150KB or less? Y/N*
*Is the photo a jpeg? Y/N*
*Has this photo been posted before? Y/N*
*Please submit only one photo per challenge.*
*Please enter your email subject as "July-Aug '08 Challenge Submission"*
*Please ensure that the attached photo is named the title you wish it to have otherwise the title will not be used.
.......................................................................................................

Please email your photo to photochallenge@thephotoforum.com and remember to enter the subject as indicated.

All photos must include the form when submitted. Just copy and paste it into your email. This will ensure that no mistakes are made when photos are submitted and therefore, hopefully, no photos are excluded. If the form is not included in the submission email the photo will not be included in the challenge gallery and voting process. 

There is more important information regarding rules and procedures located in the FAQ section. We highly recommend that you take the time to read these FAQs. 
Good luck to everyone and have fun with this challenge!

*150KB will be taken as the size on disk and not the actual file size. Also some email programs consider 1KB=1000Bytes as oppposed to 1KB=1024Bytes. When these programs calculate attachment size they will often read larger then they actually are. To be safe we recommend a target size of about 140KB so that once sent it does not go over 150KB.


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## johngpt

Great idea about it being a two-fer. This gives time for folks to get somewhere, get back, and post. 

I've gone to find myself. If I should get back before I return, keep me here.


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## SBlanca

i just got back from lisbon yesterday and started processing photos today so i should be finished by the end of the week so i could try this one


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## JoeyMcDermottPhotography

i'm still a newbie on this?  does this have to be a photo taken in the present, or can it be one taken while "traveling" a few years back?


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## JoeyMcDermottPhotography

i think i made my screenname too long.


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## johngpt

JoeyMcDermottPhotography said:


> i'm still a newbie on this?  does this have to be a photo taken in the present, or can it be one taken while "traveling" a few years back?


Hellopersonwithlongscreenname!    

I've only been around for two challenges thus far, but have noticed that while it's preferable to submit something recent, shot especially for the challenge, everyone here seems to appreciate nice images. So, it doesn't really matter, in all probability.

But since the deadline isn't until the end of August, this should give most of us time to be thinking and working on it.

Most of all, have fun!


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## Big Bully

I think that the main requirement is that the submission is anonomous. So whatever you do.. Don't post it on this thread or any other thread until after the judging is over!


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## johngpt

Big Bully said:


> I think that the main requirement is that the submission is anonomous. So whatever you do.. Don't post it on this thread or any other thread until after the judging is over!



Good point. That's the single most missed item from the challenge constraints. Post nothing here, it has to go to the email address in the post which sets up the challenge, and there can be no identifiers on the image. And no larger than 150k, and...

:mrgreen:


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## Big Bully

johngpt said:


> Good point. That's the single most missed item from the challenge constraints. Post nothing here, it has to go to the email address in the post which sets up the challenge, and there can be no identifiers on the image. And no larger than 150k, and...
> 
> :mrgreen:


 

I wonder if we keep repeating ourselves if people will actually get it this month..


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## Hawaii Five-O

"I wonder if we keep repeating ourselves if people will actually get it this month.. "  

aww rats no I didn't


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## Harix

How to submit a decent photos lower than 150KB? That's the size of avatar


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## Big Bully

C677T said:


> "I wonder if we keep repeating ourselves if people will actually get it this month.. "
> 
> aww rats no I didn't


 


Hahahaha you are just too funny!


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## johngpt

Harix said:


> How to submit a decent photos lower than 150KB? That's the size of avatar


It's easy if you have photoshop. If not, I don't have a clue.

In photoshop, thanks to Dana's advice, once I've saved my image as a .psd file, and I don't want to make any more additions or changes, in the menu bar, I click on Image>Image Size.

My shots out of the camera are 52 inches by 36 inches. I resize to something like 18x12, click enter. *Don't save it!*

Then in the menu bar, I click on File>Save for web. When that tool opens, there is a slider which you can use to adjust percentage. When you move the slider and release, the file size in kb shows up in the lower left corner.

Get it to something just about 140k, so that there is some margin for error. When we attach these files to our emails to Dana, there is some 'growth' of them.

Click Save from that Save for web tool, and it'll prompt you for a name. I usually append the word 'web' at the end of the original file name. It saves as a jpeg in the same folder at the original.

And there you are!

That Save for web tool closes, and you're back at your original .psd file. I close its window without saving, because I don't want it to stay at the 18x12 size that I used just before opening the Save for web tool.

PM me if you have further questions. If you're not using photoshop, perhaps someone else can assist.


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## livingandart

Hi!  I'm new here.  This is probably a stupid question but...are we allowed to edit the images?  Or are they meant to be "au natural?"   I've seen different photography competitions have different requirements but I couldn't find anything written on this one about editing beyond changing the file size.  Thanks so much!  Oh, and glad to be here!  I love this site!  Wish I'd found it sooner!


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## iflynething

Sounds super interesting.

I do have one question, what about last month. I won, but don't know how to claim my prize. Can anyone help me with that?

~Michael~


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## johngpt

iflynething said:


> Sounds super interesting.
> 
> I do have one question, what about last month. I won, but don't know how to claim my prize. Can anyone help me with that?
> 
> ~Michael~


I've read that some monthly challenges don't have a prize. Some have. I don't recall if last month's challenge had or hadn't. 




livingandart said:


> Hi! I'm new here. This is probably a stupid question but...are we allowed to edit the images? Or are they meant to be "au natural?" I've seen different photography competitions have different requirements but I couldn't find anything written on this one about editing beyond changing the file size. Thanks so much! Oh, and glad to be here! I love this site! Wish I'd found it sooner!


I'm not totally sure. I expect there's a fair amount of adjusting via curves and levels, dodging and burning, along with cropping, but these are tried and true techniques going back to the beginning of photography. I've not, in the brief time I've been here, seen obvious merging of images. By that I mean, adding something from one image to another, such as replacing a sky with another, or adding some boulder from another shot to the entry image for foreground interest. It might be happening, but I've not noticed thus far. I'd guess there's some cloning and healing also happening. From what I've seen, the photogs here really try to capture it in camera rather than go for a lot of post processing. At least in the challenges. From my brief experience. I'm rambling aren't I?


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## iflynething

johngpt said:


> I've read that some monthly challenges don't have a prize. Some have. I don't recall if last month's challenge had or hadn't.


 

Well darn. No prize for me I don't think. I'm excited to just have won. I can add it to my resume 

~Michael~


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## BeerPongChamp

hey whats good. im new and i was wondering if WE ALL get to se the pictures people submit.


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## Antarctican

^^^ Yes. In early September (ie after the end of the submission period) all the entries will be posted at once, for voting purposes.


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## johngpt

BeerPongChamp said:


> hey whats good. im new and i was wondering if WE ALL get to se the pictures people submit.



BPC, outstanding signature image!


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## Xirtam

Harix said:


> How to submit a decent photos lower than 150KB? That's the size of avatar


To add to what you may have already found an answer for, the excellent (and free!) Irfanview program does cropping, rotating, and resizing, amongst other things. If you need help with that feel free to PM me. Though I may not have many posts on these boards yet (Admittedly I forgot about them due to school and other crap...:banghead,I know my way around Irfanview mighty well! :mrgreen:


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## johngpt

Xirtam said:


> To add to what you may have already found an answer for, the excellent (and free!) Irfanview program does cropping, rotating, and resizing, amongst other things. If you need help with that feel free to PM me. Though I may not have many posts on these boards yet (Admittedly I forgot about them due to school and other crap...:banghead,I know my way around Irfanview mighty well! :mrgreen:


I googled Irfanview. Looks interesting. Too bad they don't make a mac version or I'd give it a test drive.


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## richy

hey all, i was wondering if we have to hand in a photo about traveling, or if we could post a photo we took while traveling in a foreign country of animals or people....


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## manavachal

travel photos covers exactly which categories. thanks


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## Antarctican

^^^ The theme is open to your interpretation.  And then the voters will presumably decide how well the photo fits the theme as part of their voting decision


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## mdcrisp2000

Cool theme this month. First time I've ever entered


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## DannyB

WooHoo!!  I pick up my new camera today!... I shouldn't have any problem making this one.  Just hope its good enough, lol


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## ramzo

Hmm....nice contest...
I am newbie..and I am sure there will be no discrimination between the pros and the newbies or so called novice...after all we all have a chance to get another chance....

So bidding Goodluck to myself and to you all out there....Hope to learn a lot....

Cheers !!!!


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## johngpt

I just learned something which will affect how I finish off my images before sending as an entry for challenges.

I had been testing the file size of one image that might be an entry, and emailed it to myself.

For some reason, I thought to view the file in Preview (I use a mac), and discovered it had quite a bit less contrast than when I had been viewing it in Photoshop or Bridge.

I then looked at the photo in Preview directly from a folder on the hard drive, and it had more contrast than the one which I had emailed to myself.

Both the one from the hard drive and the one emailed to myself had already been Saved for Web. Other than the emailing and downloading to the desktop, nothing else had been done.

Pretty interesting. Something about emailing caused the file to be changed slightly.


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## Pugs

johngpt said:


> I just learned something which will affect how I finish off my images before sending as an entry for challenges.
> 
> I had been testing the file size of one image that might be an entry, and emailed it to myself.
> 
> For some reason, I thought to view the file in Preview (I use a mac), and discovered it had quite a bit less contrast than when I had been viewing it in Photoshop or Bridge.
> 
> I then looked at the photo in Preview directly from a folder on the hard drive, and it had more contrast than the one which I had emailed to myself.
> 
> Both the one from the hard drive and the one emailed to myself had already been Saved for Web. Other than the emailing and downloading to the desktop, nothing else had been done.
> 
> Pretty interesting. Something about emailing caused the file to be changed slightly.


 
When binary information (like a picture) is e-mailed, it is encoded at the sending side, and then decoded on the receiving side.  Perhaps in this process some data is lost?


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## johngpt

Pugs said:


> When binary information (like a picture) is e-mailed, it is encoded at the sending side, and then decoded on the receiving side.  Perhaps in this process some data is lost?


Dang it.

And I lost my decoder ring ages ago!   :lmao:




Daniel, yer shooting some great stuff.


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## MAGIC PHOTO

travel
i like this subject


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## Antarctican

ramzo said:


> Hmm....nice contest...
> I am newbie..*and I am sure there will be no discrimination between the pros and the newbies or so called novice*...after all we all have a chance to get another chance....
> 
> So bidding Goodluck to myself and to you all out there....Hope to learn a lot....
> 
> Cheers !!!!


Nope, no 'discrimination' as the entries are anonymous during the voting stage.


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## johngpt

Well, I've resigned myself to the idea that I won't come up with anything _out of this world_ between now and the end of the month, so I've emailed in my entry.




Meg...

could it possibly be?

(other than C677T joking around)

no one has inadvertently posted an entry here??????


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## Neuner

richy said:


> hey all, i was wondering if we have to hand in a photo about traveling, or if we could post a photo we took while traveling in a foreign country of animals or people....



Why limit it to that? Why not a ball traveling in the air or showing a means of travel like a train or plane?  If you look at travel as just going on a trip and you go some place, took a picture of something, how are we suppose to know that the subject isn't from your home town?  This is an international forum.


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## johngpt

Hey, I used kirlian photography to snap one of me astral traveling.

Aren't we all traveling on this spaceship earth?




My viewpoint is send in whatever you want, and perhaps those voting will think it's great.

And I'm always astounded when I'm so very wrong about things, ya know?


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## sohel

For the first time we're going to try a two month challenge. This challenge will be for July and August '08. The theme for this challenge will be "Travel".


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