Photo contests and sharpening

I read with interest the judges comments from the NCUPS photo contest and the one thing that was of particular interest was the fact that the judges felt that some of the images were over-sharpened and over-saturated. I also read where this was more of an issue in the open category where one would assume the photographers would be more savvy about PS issues. As I do enter a number of contests this got me to thinking about how images are viewed for contest judging.

I always apply any sharpening as the the last step in my work-flow with the image sized to it's final output dimensions. Contests differ in the dimensions they require; NCUPS wanted 2048 in the long dimension while BTS likes 1500. I guess my question is, do the contests view the images at 100%. If they're not, then it is quite possible that images would appear over-sharpened.

This problem is exaggerated when viewing a projected image - at least on my projector. I always size my images 1024 X 768 for projection. That way the image matches the native resolution of my projector and I don't get any distortion.

No sour grapes, just throwing this out there for discussion and possible input from contest organizers so I can better prepare my images

Good thread idea Larry.

I saw those judges comments in both the LAUPS and NCUPS and would love to see examples of what they felt was over worked images to learn from. I know Rand has suggested that the D2X has super saturated shots right out of the camera.

I have done the sharpening as my last step but, before downsizing to contest specifications for size. I did place in both contests so maybe this has no negative impact on it. Or maybe it does as I did not win any category either. Thoughts?

I think I had a thread awhile back on what general sharpening parameters people were starting from with their images. If I recall most were pretty close to 150%, .9, 0-1 in terms of settings. Maybe the settings people have been using for contest being posted here may aid in the discussion of sharpening also.

If the contests demand a submission at 2048 pixels wide, and then display it on a 1024 x 768 projector, it's going to look crappy. When the video card re-renders the image, it can have jaggies and look oversharpened.

Cheers

James

If the contests demand a submission at 2048 pixels wide, and then display it on a 1024 x 768 projector, it's going to look crappy.  When the video card re-renders the image, it can have jaggies and look oversharpened.

 

Cheers

James

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Exactly! That was my point. I don't know how the images are viewed. That's why I started this thread.

Interesting, so ideally we should sharpen it based on the image displayed at a 50% zoom.

They asked for between 1024 and 2048 on the long dimension

Interesting, so ideally we should sharpen it based on the image displayed at a 50% zoom.

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Ideally, the image should be sharpened at 100% and viewed at 100%

They asked for between 1024 and 2048 on the long dimension

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You're right Todd. I sized my images at 2048 thinking that more resolutuion is better. Maybe not.

I hope that, as digital's acceptance becomes ever more the norm we will see better technical specification of the requirements of contests and image users in general.

Without a full description of the viewing system it is impossible to optimise a digital image to show it at its best.

The more people who promote ideas like this, the more likely it is to be taken on board.

When you enter a contest, it might be worth putting a note in commenting on anything ambiguous in terms of the digital viewing system (ie lack of info about it) to drive this point home.

At the NCUPS meeting on Friday, I spoke with someone who witnessed the judging; it was done at her house. She told me they used a large high res monitor. I forgot which one.

I was curious about the comment also. My guess is that one of the judges shoots only video and is not used to the high contrast and sharpness on still photos.

She told me they used a large high res monitor.

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How much you want to bet the monitor was not colour calibrated either.

So Eric, What monitor will you be judging the wetpixel competition on. That way we can all go out and buy one and optimize our entires for that particular monitor.

How much you want to bet the monitor was not colour calibrated either.

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I doubt that. One of the judges works at Backscatter. I think he would see to it that this was done correctly.

I don't question the judging. The winning photos are quality shots.

I would be interested in learning from these judges comments. Examples of what they are saying would probably help many people. The trick is they would have to post someones photo as an example and that person may not appreciate that.

How much you want to bet the monitor was not colour calibrated either.

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Let's not take that tone. I started this thread to create some useful dialog. I'm sure the contest organizers use all due diligence but that doesn't mean there aren't issues to explore.

Hi everyone,

A very quick reply as I am at work and I can reply in length later.

We used a Dell High res monitor (wish it was mine) I think 21" widescreen. It wasn't color calibrated. :-( But it was good it was there as the projector we were going to use looked like crap (if you'll pardon the expression). The monitor looked BEAUTIFUL.

There were only a few images that were oversharpened and oversaturated but they ellicited immediate comments from all 3 judges. All of which are familiar with digital photography, two as professionals.

I wouldn't want to publish anyone's images that they commented on but I'll over sharpen a couple of my own later and upload them so you can see some examples. I'll oversaturate also.

Next year we will determine how we are going to display them, calibrate that device and give more precise directions on size and resolution. As always, input from entrants and photographers is welcome.

Best,

Kathy Mendes

SEA 2005 Coordinator

SEA2005@ncups.org

Hi Kathy,

If it was only a couple of images I am not sure you need to post examples.

I think most know what these would look like. It just sounded like the judges felt many entries were editted and entered this way. Based on what you are saying it sounds like only a few did and therefore the majority can rest assured that their photos were fine in their saturation and sharpening.

Thanks again for running a great contest!

Wait, wait, wait! Please post some examples. Not everyone, including me, know what these look like. I think if you posted a "correct" example as well as the same image over-saturated and over-sharpened it would really help neophytes like me!

Ok, just one.

Here's a sample of oversharpening. This first fish is a JPG taken right out of the camera, a tiny bit of levels applied and resized.

Pretty good, huh? :-)

And here's the same JPG but with some over-sharpening. I upped the saturation also. I hope you can see it well as an attachment. If you can open it in Photoshop and view at 100% you can see the over-sharpening better.

Best,

Kathy