Contest I've Got a Tale to Tell [Photography, Photostory]

I've got two questions:

1) How much photo editing can be used? Outside of making a comic style and adding dialog to the pictures, are we allowed to color correct, crop, ect? What about more heavy photo manipulation like adding in masks and layers for effects or even cropping two pictures together for some desired affects?
2) How obscure can our "shadow" reference be? Is it something that needs to be intuitively picked up from reading the story without having any explanation at all, or is there some other way for us to let you know how we incorporated that theme if it's a bit more obscure?

Thanks in advance!

 

Hi, PranBran,

You may certainly photo-edit. Crop, colour correct, add effects or filters, combine images. As long as you're starting out with a photograph, manipulation is fine. Many gorgeous shoots on the board have been heavily photo-edited. We do ask that if you are combining images, you retain the copyright to all your images or have secured permission to use them.

The only requirement for your shadow reference is this: "your story must in some way bear upon the idea of a shadow, however you choose to conceive and incorporate that." You can choose an obscure interpretation, though if it's wildly obscure, it would be nice to give the reader at least a hint of how the idea of a shadow applies. It needn't be a hit-you-over-the-head reference, though. As you are creating a story and have a variety of formats from which to choose, you have any number of devices at hand for accomplishing this. You could, for example, create a Shakespearean/Greek-like Chorus to subtly illuminate the point. You could create a simple visual reference, even in a texted story. It could even be implied. But the story should do the work ... we'd rather the author not need to preface with an explanation.

Does that help?

 

That helps perfectly. Thank you!

 

Will you be kind with the people for whom English is a foreign language if we choose a narrative format, if we let some barbaric grammar faults slip in ?

 

I have a question: If we set up our story so it has the owner interjecting now and again to talk to the doll, is that considered "conversation"?

 

We applaud our members for whom English in a second language, and we will make some allowance for that. However, if you feel self-conscious and would like to minimise the "barbaric grammar faults" , then perhaps you could ask a friend on the board to review your text for you. I'm sure there are members who would be happy to help you. Or choose a different format (silent, poem/lyrics/text written by another). We do ask that any text you incorporate be comprehensible. And we will follow the rule in General Rules that says, "We do not consider netspeek, l33t, lolspeak, or txt spk English."

If a verbal exchange is going on between any two entities and both are contributing, it's a conversation/dialogue. If the text looks like this:

Entity 1: Think it just might rain today.
Entity 2: I really think you're wrong.
Entity 1: *chuckling* Hmmm. *opens umbrella as downpour starts*​

... that's a conversation/dialogue, even if you are Entity 1 and your doll is Entity 2. If the text appears outside the pictures, it falls in the Dialogue format; if it appears inside the pictures as speech bubbles or free-form text, then it falls in the Comic/Manga format.

Hope this helps!

 

Are we permitted to write our own poetry/lyrics, or do we have to take them from a published source??
(I know that may be a dumb question, but I just want to be CRYSTAL CLEAR before I start working on anything.)

 

It would be great if you used your own lyrics, poetry and/or prose! It's also fine if you use the lyrics/poetry/prose of another, so long as you credit the source.

 

"If you use more than one post to complete your story, your entry will be disqualified." is one of the rules. How long can a post be? I am considering prose with photos to illustrate...
Thanks!

 

a post can hold...only 10 or so(i believe just a few more but not sure..) pictures total i believe..every photo story i've done, i have to start a new post after i hit the many pics, the dialoge doesn't seem to matter.

 

A post will hold no more than 12 pictures. (Emoticons actually count towards the picture count too, in case you're including them within the text that's outside the pictures.)

 

Is the entry form up yet? I might be horrible at finding it, but I don't seem to see it...

 

arlais and hobbywhelmed are correct (thanks!). A post will hold 12 images (that's why, in the rules, I specify 1-12 images for the story). The number of images includes emoticons. However, I'm pretty sure it doesn't include the signature image (my stories have let me post 12 pictures in addition to my sig image).

Text actually has a 11,000 character limit per post. That's a really good chunk of text! This character count also includes the coding for your embedded images, which, at 12 max, won't take up much of that 11,000.

Armeleia is finishing entry forms for some of the contests now. Each needs some beta testing before we release it. I haven't seen ours come through yet. I'll post in here when we're live.

 

The entry form is now available.

 

is that doll a 1/4 or a 1/3 and will he come with eyes?

 

The ANother Secret Bamboo is a 1/3 sculpt, though there are differing opinions on whether it looks better on an SD10-sized body or an SD13-sized body (I favour the SD10 size). You may wish to check the ANother Secret Discussion Thread in Size Discussion (saved you the quick search for the thread ). The prize is the head, not a full doll.

The winner will have the option of specifying whether or not he/she wishes to have the eyes as well. The eyes pictured are a purplish 12mm Souldoll urethane.

 

Ok thank you . If I win I'll check out the discussion thread.

 

Wow....
I've done it!!!!!
It's one of my first Photostories... and the first one I planed and took pics for, the others allways resulted out of shoots I did and thought they made up a nice storyline (The not edited ones don't get into count :P)
It was quite the learning process^^.
But it`s posted!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy, happy, happy.......
...
....
Now I'm getting paranoid.
Sshould I have.... or better....

 

took all the pictures and edited them and everything, then realized I had 13. I was like "Darn." So I cut one that wasn't super important out and I'll submit my entry soon.

 

WHEW! I can't believe I finally finished my entry! So much hard work-- but it was totally worth it! I can't wait to see everyone else's entries! Good luck!

 

My problems with my picture manager yesterrday had made all my work unready for the contest...
But when they will be fixed I 'll post my photostory in the gallery !

 

The Galleries Virtues are really looking forward to our first pass-through the entries (and they look great!). We'll be setting up a Skype call, bringing together Australia, Sweden and the US. There are only a few hours in the day that make that convenient for all of us! We'll review our judging criteria together, do our independent scoring privately, then tally up the totals, then post the results. When the results go up is still to be announced.

Ain't it the truth! I don't think I've ever finished something and really been done.

It's tough to have to be your own editor ... but so often they do say "less is more." I figure that's true for all the times except when "more is more."

I'm so glad you thought it was totally worth it! I think so, too, even when a story I've done doesn't get many comments. I think the first reason why we do these things is because we love them, and because the doing alone is worth it. The neat thing for me is that I often feel even closer to the dolls I use in photostories!

Oh, I'm sorry. Please do post your story in the Photostories Gallery! I'll make a special link to it from the results we post, so others can see the story you planned on submitting. When you post it, please PM me the link, okay?

 

Will these be posted up for the rest of us to see when the virtues are done voting? Or put up in the gallery?

I didn't enter, but I'd be interested in reading them. I bet there are a lot of interesting stories.

 

Ooooh! I'm so excited to see the results. ^-^
Good luck everyone!

 

Pinkeed, yes indeed! There are some wonderful, interesting and lovely stories. Everyone will be able to see and read them. We're sorting out the presentation ... with the hurricane, though, things are going a bit slower than we expected. I'm hoping to hang onto my electricity a bit longer.