# February '09 Photo Challenge - "Arboreal"



## Chris of Arabia

Hi everyone, 

Thanks to those who took part in the December challenge and congratulations to our eventual winner, lanceusa.

As you may be aware, I am taking over the running of the Photo Challenge from TwistMyArm. I would like to give him my personal thanks for what has been done here over the years - I hope I can adequately fill his shoes.

The Photo Challenge this month is on the theme *"Arboreal"* and to help out those who may not be fully familiar with the word, I have decided to help out a little with a definition for you:

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*Arboreal*
Ar*bo"re*al\, a. 1. Of or pertaining to a tree, or to trees; of nature of trees.   --Cowley.  

2. Attached to, found in or upon, or frequenting, woods or trees; as, arboreal animals.  Woodpeckers are eminently arboreal.   --Darwin.      


Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.     
Cite This Source
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For all those who wish to participate in this challenge please take a moment to read through the following: 

- The deadline for submissions is 28 February 2009
- The image can be no larger then 150KB*
- Include your forum username when submitting
- The attached 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 ensure that the attached photo is renamed as the chosen title)
- 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):*
*[NEW] Photo location (city, country)*:
*Is the attached photo 150KB or less? Y/N*
*Is the attached 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 "Feb '09 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 &#8220;size on disk&#8221; 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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## TwistMyArm

Awesome Chris, I don't think we've ever done anything like that.


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## Chris of Arabia

TwistMyArm said:


> Awesome Chris, I don't think we've ever done anything like that.


It can only go down hill from here... 

For those who might not have noticed, there is an extra bit of info we're looking for this month, and that's the 'Location (city / country)2 bit. We're interested in seeing how the end result of the Challenge is affected by where you are in the world - this should be a good topic for that.


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## robbie_vlad

I read in the FAQ that a photo that has already been put in a thread cant be submitted, but then one of the questions for the submission form asks "Has this photo been posted before?" 

I'm just gonna go and guess that you ask that to make your job of finding previously posted photos easier, but I would like to clarify (for myself atleast) if we can submit previously posted photos.


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## Chris of Arabia

No, the idea is that you don't submit previously posted images. The question is there more to draw the entrant's attention to that particular rule - not everyone reads rules thoroughly enough. If an image has been posted before, then the anonymity of voting is can be lost and may lead to bias in the voting. Stick to creating something new in line with the theme, don't post it beforehand and you should be fine.


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## Battou

I am so on this one, it has my name written all over it.


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## teneighty23

sweet, sounds like fun, almost everyone on this site should be entering this contest. my mind is racing thinking of ideas.


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## KD5NRH

Battou said:


> I am so on this one, it has my name written all over it.



I've had an idea for years that I'd like to try and that would fit this perfectly.  I even have a couple of thoughts on models, but unless I can find an indoor tree that looks right, it ain't happening this month.

Somehow, a woodland nymph in insulated coveralls just isn't right, but Photoshopping out goosebumps, not to mention having to run the shutter fast enough to avoid motion blur from shivering kinda kills the creativity.


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## Battou

KD5NRH said:


> Somehow, a woodland nymph in insulated coveralls just isn't right, but Photoshopping out goosebumps, not to mention having to run the shutter fast enough to avoid motion blur from shivering kinda kills the creativity.



Yeah, but it would do wonders for the sence of adventure


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## ShutterSpeed

if only arboreal came in march or april - i'm tired of dead trees. 

i've already got some in my queue...

lets see if I can do better than 3 votes this next time.


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## Dreamflight

Isn't 150 KB really small?  Thumbnail-sized photos are a bit hard to see detail in...or are attachment size and photo size different?  I've never really done this before.


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## AdamBomb

Dreamflight said:


> Isn't 150 KB really small?  Thumbnail-sized photos are a bit hard to see detail in...or are attachment size and photo size different?  I've never really done this before.



It's not Horribly small. When your resizing the photo, Set it at 72 Resolution, and about a 5x7" size. 

For an example, this one is 148 KB, Take a Look:


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## Battou

AdamBomb said:


> It's not Horribly small. When your resizing the photo, Set it at 72 Resolution, and about a 5x7" size.
> 
> For an example, this one is 148 KB, Take a Look:
> 
> [IMG - pulled]



It depends on your Jpeg compressoin too

This one is 121.76 KB


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## TamiyaGuy

Sounds like a really interesting challenge, I might even enter it this time. Shame I can only think of photos that a thousand people have taken a thousand times better than me .


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## kanmai

Still Confused with Title, Can anyone please help me to understand the title.


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## Battou

kanmai said:


> Still Confused with Title, Can anyone please help me to understand the title.



"pertaining to a tree, or to trees; of nature of trees"


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## Dreamflight

Battou said:


> It depends on your Jpeg compressoin too
> 
> This one is 121.76 KB



Mm, okay, that makes sense...I must have tested it on a photo with weird compression the first time.  The other ones are turning out more like I expected; thanks!  Hopefully I'll get some good shots tomorrow--it's a winter wonderland out there.  

"Arboreal" is an adjective...so is it supposed to just be _like _trees, or do pictures of actual trees work for the theme?


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## Chris of Arabia

The idea is that it's pretty much anything to do with trees: branches, roots, whole forests, the sapling in your back yard, things living in trees, things climbing trees, leaves (if you have them in your part of the world at the moment), lanscapes with trees in them. It's very much open to interpretation, so long as those who will end up voting can see that it's somehow related to or representative of a tree(s).


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## frfefarfearz

wooohooo.. i would love to join the feb contest 

i miss thephotoforum. its been a while since i last visited the forum


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## Admodel20d

im in, sounds interesting, and i've already got a pic lined up which i took last month. Not sure how well it'll do since some of you guys sound like you've done a lot of nature photography...


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## AlexColeman

I have got one. Not great, but for a 14yr old, it isn't too shabby.


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## AlexColeman

One question, where do we view them?


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## Battou

At the beginning of next month a thread will be posted with them all in a gallery.

What you will be looking for will be this "Poll: February '09 Photo Challenge Photos - ""Arboreal""


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## lekalgo

Sounds like a fun project, I've got a good photo to submit.  It probably wont win, but its a pretty nice photo all the same...


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## Dr Green Bud

Hi guys, where do you post send the entry pics?

I'm new!


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## Chris of Arabia

Have a close read of post #1 - everything you need is there


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## Dr Green Bud

sorry dude, cheers


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## Chris of Arabia

Any time - I aim to please (mostly )


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## Dr Green Bud

Me again, Ok I've sent my pic.

Fingers crossed and thanks again for your help.


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## frfefarfearz

i guess i just cant join this contest. there is no aborealistic place here


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## AlexColeman

Now I just gotta wait....


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## Chris of Arabia

OK, the door is now shut and I'm working my way through the next step of getting them uploaded. Thanks to all those who have decided to participate.


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## Chris of Arabia

OK - all the images are loaded to the February 09 Gallery, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow for me to start the poll. It's nearly midnight here and I'd like some sleep. Whilst you wait, have a look at this month's submissions and see if you can identify your favourite.


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## jlykins

So if it weren't for a half naked woman with some branches around her boobs I might have had a shot at this one... Back to the drawing board.... lol.


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## Chris of Arabia

jlykins said:


> So if it weren't for a half naked woman with some branches around her boobs I might have had a shot at this one... Back to the drawing board.... lol.



I'm sure we'll see in all good time what the TPF voting public consider to be a fair representation of the topic at hand - it could be you...


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## jlykins

Oh I'm not complaining, I just wish that I had thought of it first. : )


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## Reanimator

Where I can see the picture?
Photografika


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