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Show us your most Controversial Entry !

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Vittorio Fracassi

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There are many reasons for not scoring high in a Challenge and one which used to make me angry was the one where a few 0.5s and 1s killed the 4.5s and 5s and dropped the average by just so much as to exclude my entry from the top ten.

After collecting a few (of which the following are good examples, I think),





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and after reading Alain Briot’s essay “Understanding Criticism” in Michael Reichmann’s Luminous Landscape http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/understanding_criticism_part_1.shtml I realised that a controversial score is in fact a sign of distinction and character.

As Julius Caesar said: “Many enemies, much honour”.

So if you have challenge entries which have scored both high and low please show us your examples!

Vittorio
 
Your first looks side lit not back lit, your second shows nudity which is not allowed under DPR rules, your third is not a human subject but is a statue . . .

I think you were fortunate to score so highly.

--
Take a look at my album . . . http://www.F1Album.com
 
thanks for taking part in the thread RaptorUK and for the comments, but

the idea behind this thread is to uncover cases where the public (voters) were strongly divided, which is an event that shows up well in the votes histogram, rather than pass a judgment on my poor or good photography.

By the way you have some good examples of controversial entries in your personal Challenge section:
"Glad to be out of the rain"
"Cornish village"
"Crying over spilled milk"

all photographs with character, by the way, to state a few...

Thanks for giving me the occasion to clarify my intent, my english is a bit rusty after so many years away from England,

Regards, Vittorio
 
Hi DK,

Thanks for replying, at least one dpreview member has the courage to show his less shiny side.

Forgive me for screenshooting your image but it is useful to have it under one’s eyes.





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The low profile of the dandylion stars as opposed to loud coloured and flamboyant stars is an attractive and delicate interpretation of the Challenge subject. The chosen image, a reflection, the subtle tones, the lightly outlined geometric texture of the mirror surface add coherence and underline the overall elegance.

Not for the average Challenge voter who seldom has enough time for a second glance or to entertain the question and answer game in his mind and heart.

Just as IQ tests are said to assess one’s ability to take part in IQ tests rather than evaluate one’s intelligence, Challenge votes assess the ability to tackle Challenges rather than give a measure of photographic value, forgive my philosophical statement, :-) .

Regards, Vittorio
 
My point is this . . . I think your three examples and my "Crying over spilled milk" entry show that many voters do not read the rules, that should be no surprise ans many Entrants don't either. This means that entries that are good photographically but poor in compliance with the rules can get a big spread of votes . . . it can also work the other way too.
Vittorio Fracassi said:
Thanks for giving me the occasion to clarify my intent, my english is a bit rusty after so many years away from England,

Regards, Vittorio
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--
Take a look at my album . . . http://www.F1Album.com
 
yes Raptor UK, you have a good point, but your logical approach is a little inhibitory of showing controversial entries. I am not so interested in finding why I or others think that an image is controversial, I want to see the pictures.

Which could be inspiring, not for competing well in challenges but for our/my? photography in general. But never mind holiday is over, back to more serious work,

Regards, Vittorio
 
...medians are the only way to go, all the more with such a system which prohibits true normal distributions, both because of the limit scores (0.5 and 5) and the low vote count. Obviously fixes your issue too.
 
hi jmgir,

my image of the “relatively chaste” nude swimmer was allowed to compete in the Faceless Portrait Challenge. The host decided so and no formal complaint was received or given course to. The theme probably required to stretch the “no nudity” rule allowing to pass images which induced an aesthetic rather than a sensual reaction. The public (voters) however responded in a way that indicated the presence of:
  • a numerous group that probably wanted the entry to be disqualified, voting 0.5 and 1
  • a group that probably overruled the “no nudity” principle declaring that the picture was very good by voting 5
  • an evenly distributed minority that had mixed feelings and voted from 1.5 to 4
This is what I consider a typical case of “Controversy” ( a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of opinion, Wikipedia) between those who don’t even want to consider the aesthetic value and stick to the dpreview rule and those who privileged the photographic content.

I was curious to see the reaction of the voters in another Challenge and entered it to Clothing Optional, whose title seemed very much borderline and promised more tolerance of interpretation. Unfortunately I was not able to see whether the conservativism and law abiding attitude of the challenge voters had evolved towards more openmindedness, or not, because it was disqualified.

Now to your controversial example, of which I include a screenshot:





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there is no sign of "public" controversy, here. It is in fact a very good example of the contrary: the smooth distribution of the scores indicates no predominant group or groups, since all cathegories are represented and the mean value is the more populated one. Very few said it was poor, many said it was average, a few said it was good and no one said it was very good.

I presume that the controversy arises in your mind since your opinion differs from the voter’s average :-) and I agree, since IMO the picture is good.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity of going into more depth, Regards, Vittorio
 
Hi EdBen,
thanks for your contribution.

As I said to RaptorUK, above, I am not looking for a solution of controversies, I am curious to see Challenge Entries with a vote distribution which clearly shows dominant extremes, and to trigger a discussion about the possible reasons.

My intent was not clearly stated in the thread introductory text and there was no adequate response, if ever there would have been one.

Well that’s it, Regards, Vittorio
 
I can see why this did not score highly, it is not an easy picture. It chalenges the eye and does not fit a calender standard. Personly I can see what you are trying to do (well I hope so) but I'm not a big fan. I would have maked it middle points.
 
It is a tough one, my eyes are directed to the tree branch just at the right of the stone window. The picture doesn't do much for me because what I would consider the focal point is the little house and it is out of focus. I would have much preferred the stone wall out of focus and the house sharp without the tree branch in the way. The ranking is midway and seems OK to me, imo.
 
leno said:
I can see why this did not score highly, it is not an easy picture. It chalenges the eye and does not fit a calender standard. Personly I can see what you are trying to do (well I hope so) but I'm not a big fan. I would have maked it middle points.
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Thank you very much for your reply.
It's better than most of the other votes. :D
I only didn't follow what do you think I were trying to do, but I'm curious. :)
 
jmgir said:
It is a tough one, my eyes are directed to the tree branch just at the right of the stone window. The picture doesn't do much for me because what I would consider the focal point is the little house and it is out of focus. I would have much preferred the stone wall out of focus and the house sharp without the tree branch in the way. The ranking is midway and seems OK to me, imo.
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Like this?





Couldn't do anything about the branch, though.
Thank you very much for your reply.
 
It is better to me because now you have framed the house, sorry you couldn't do anything about the branch but I don't know what other photographers would say about it.
Paulo Matos said:
jmgir said:
It is a tough one, my eyes are directed to the tree branch just at the right of the stone window. The picture doesn't do much for me because what I would consider the focal point is the little house and it is out of focus. I would have much preferred the stone wall out of focus and the house sharp without the tree branch in the way. The ranking is midway and seems OK to me, imo.
Click to expand...
Like this?





Couldn't do anything about the branch, though.
Thank you very much for your reply.
Click to expand...
 
I think either the house-in-focus or the wall-in-focus can work because the wall itself has interest. For the house-in-focus there needs to be less wall, and for the wall-in-focus version, less house.

In either event, the score killer is the branch, it is just distracting and un-interesting. It's too late for the challenge, but if you are able to re-take this photo (and it is possible to do so), get someone to hold the branch out of the way.
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BartyL
 
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