I had the joy of reviewing the past week's postings in the Flora Gallery for the Moderator's Pick selection for the first time. I can really appreciate what Ronnie and David accomplished and to think that they did it for two forums for a long time, well that is above and beyond the normal call of duty. I thought you might be interested in the process. I'm hoping to be able to do some Monday morning quarterbacking regarding what struck me about the particular image selected and hope it will be at least a little bit educational.
There were 69 images posted last week. Of those, six were from me and other moderators and thus ineligible for consideration. There were only two postings from non-members so the final pool was 61 images. Of those 61, 22 had 10 comments or more. My initial elimination yielded a group of 13 images, any one of which could have been selected and I would have had a clear conscience and a ready justification. I was able to whittle that group down to 5. From there on it was plenty tough. I had quipped in the thread announcing my coming on board as moderator that I would utilize adult beverages and left handed cigarettes to aid my thinking. That was supposed to be a joke but now I'm having second thoughts.
After much coin tossing and bouncing back and forth between the finalists I was able to make the call for Sam Rua's Sharp Contrast.
This is an almost completely subjective exercise. I realize my choices are biased by my own assumptions and what strikes me as compelling. Sam's image combined good subject matter, technically correct exposure, and solid composition. Plus, he sent me more money than anyone else.
Some Monday morning observations . . .
There are a bunch of really high quality images being posted. Its a cliche, but there were many deserving images, only one can be selected. Flora has increased in both quantity and quality of posts due to the consistent participation of an expanding number of posters and especially due to a number of folks who post a comment on almost every image.
Its a blast getting to really examine a large body of excellent work. I'm amazed at how good you folks are. So keep 'em coming. And all of you SOA types, don't despair, there's at least a 5% chance one of your offerings will be found acceptable. Have a great week y'all.
Bill, thank you for caring so much about doing a good job. The anxiety you express shows you are doing well.
Posted by Wayne Rhodus on May 14, 2007 at 11:30 PM
Bill, thanks for the insight into your new dilema ... much tougher than selecting an intimate detail shot out of a field of Texas wildflowers in spring! I don't envy the demands of your new job but it's nice to know you're out of the running now. A little better chance for the rest of us!
Hey Bill! I've been gone on a long road trip, so am slowly catching up with NPN and probably still be awhile before I start posting again. But just wanted to say it's great to have you as Moderator of Flora!
congrats again on the new job, I certainly don't envy you. A comment about the process of choosing photos, however. You mentioned that you use comments made as an initial screening process. I think this is a reasonable method, but I have noticed many posts that include responses from the poster, or more general discussion. How do you deal with these?? It would seem that I could simply reply to my own post several times to bump up my chances of being picked. Obviously, the subjective nature of your task demands that you actually look at the photos, and I assume that this is the final method of judgement.
Brian: A good question that I hope I can answer sensibly. I do think its fair to say that comment count is a good rough measure of an image's general appeal. Indeed there are threads that have lots of comments that are the result of a conversation between the poster and one or two commentators. OTOH, for better or worse some new and/or infrequent posters get fewer comments despite excellent image quality. Sam's image did not have the most comments but it had a lot and of those a large number were very complimentary and of more than passing courtesy to a regular participant. You might be interested to know that my second choice had less than 10 comments. In ES&S there was a real aberation in that the chosen image only had 8 comments at time of selection in a forum where many images get 20 or more comments. Its those pesky adult beverages again. Hope this clears up the process for you somewhat and be assured that I review both the quantity and quality of critiques before throwing the dart and tossing the coins. >=))>
Discussion
6 repliesThere were 69 images posted last week. Of those, six were from me and other moderators and thus ineligible for consideration. There were only two postings from non-members so the final pool was 61 images. Of those 61, 22 had 10 comments or more. My initial elimination yielded a group of 13 images, any one of which could have been selected and I would have had a clear conscience and a ready justification. I was able to whittle that group down to 5. From there on it was plenty tough. I had quipped in the thread announcing my coming on board as moderator that I would utilize adult beverages and left handed cigarettes to aid my thinking. That was supposed to be a joke but now I'm having second thoughts.
After much coin tossing and bouncing back and forth between the finalists I was able to make the call for Sam Rua's Sharp Contrast.
This is an almost completely subjective exercise. I realize my choices are biased by my own assumptions and what strikes me as compelling. Sam's image combined good subject matter, technically correct exposure, and solid composition. Plus, he sent me more money than anyone else.
Some Monday morning observations . . .
There are a bunch of really high quality images being posted. Its a cliche, but there were many deserving images, only one can be selected. Flora has increased in both quantity and quality of posts due to the consistent participation of an expanding number of posters and especially due to a number of folks who post a comment on almost every image.
Its a blast getting to really examine a large body of excellent work. I'm amazed at how good you folks are. So keep 'em coming. And all of you SOA types, don't despair, there's at least a 5% chance one of your offerings will be found acceptable.
Thanks again for your time and effort!
Wishing you all the best!
congrats again on the new job, I certainly don't envy you. A comment about the process of choosing photos, however. You mentioned that you use comments made as an initial screening process. I think this is a reasonable method, but I have noticed many posts that include responses from the poster, or more general discussion. How do you deal with these?? It would seem that I could simply reply to my own post several times to bump up my chances of being picked. Obviously, the subjective nature of your task demands that you actually look at the photos, and I assume that this is the final method of judgement.