Here is my
First, it seems that a contest now may suffer from too few entries each month. We had the same thing at the Yahoo group and the competition suffered as a result. Over time, people seemed to be even less interested in it. Perhaps for now we should just encourage people to post photos they want to share, without having the framework of an official "contest." For those who sometimes need additional motivation, such as myself, perhaps a monthly theme would work, but simply as a form of inspiration. We could encourage people who have an image that meets the theme to post in a a "theme thread" in the gallery - not with the aim of competing, but simply to share what we've done and get feedback from others.
Second, I have been very interested in the digitally enhanced vs. non-digitally enhanced debate. I very much enjoy adding digital enhancements to my photos. Perhaps it is a reaction to the fact that I am most certainly NOT permitted to do so at work! It is a dismissable offense. There are certain effects that are very difficult to reproduce without digital editing software, and to me it is a matter of personal preference. I think my pictures look better when I get through with them - but those are MY pictures. I have a vision for almost every Playmobil photo I work on, and it starts with the basic image and goes through adding backgrounds, effects, etc. Everyone has their own vision (based on talent, ability, time, resources, etc.) and everyone's vision for their own work is equally valid. I have seen some fantastic digitally enhanced photos, as well as some non-enhanced photos that have left me speechless.
If this debate ever moves beyond that and to an actual contest, I think DD's rules are an excellent starting point. As far as determining whether or not a given image has been enhanced, I am including the guidelines we use at my work, for a major international news agency. Hopefully they can be of some help in defining the terms of the debate.
"The content of a photograph must not be altered in PhotoShop or by any other means. No element should be digitally added to or subtracted from any photograph. The faces or identities of individuals must not be obscured by PhotoShop or any other editing tool. Only retouching or the use of the
cloning tool to eliminate dust and scratches are acceptable.
Minor adjustments in PhotoShop are acceptable. These include cropping, dodging and burning, conversion into grayscale, and normal toning and color
adjustments that should be limited to those minimally necessary for clear and accurate reproduction (analogous to the burning and dodging often used in darkroom processing of images) and that restore the authentic nature of the photograph. Changes in density, contrast, color and saturation levels that substantially alter the original scene are not acceptable. Backgrounds should not be digitally blurred or eliminated by burning down or by
aggressive toning."
