i have to kill/bribe/suck up to

to get votes, no this isn't me complaining i am just after some CONSTRUCTIVE advice about my last two posts as they IMO and a couple of other members been undervoted and i would like to know why they were

1 not voted for and
2 overlooked/ignored
3 no comments posted to suggest improvements (as i had from marco and tofu) in the last contest

here are the images that i am wondering about


18 votes

16 votes

Best English first!

I don’t give much comment because my English (and my Photoshop skills) are not so good. But 16/18 votes are not so bad!!!
- Almost Time = 73 entries »»» 192 views (that’s a nice idea, isn’t?)
- Just Off Shore = 79 entries »»» 224 views!

And we have just 25 votes to give away.

I never look at the names, just look ad the chop en vote (or not). Always save some votes for the last day. I’m always out of time, so others will too sometimes, I think.

The only reason I love the votes is because it proves I’m in progressive learning. Thanks to Sliver I know now what Blur is (hahaha…). And the comments are super: people make some time, just for me! That’s why it feels so good to be here!

Do you also mean you like comments even if they don’t give you a vote, and I don’t mean only a comment as: sorry, out of votes (what is also very nice imho). Or… you are a real vote-hunter?

Well I hope you understand what I think, and try to tell… ohhh, and I vote your watch!

@ All: please go on with the comments! It’s great! I’m not always agreeing, but it’s great!

I think your watch was overall a good job, but really not perfect integrated ,and inside of the watch was not cleaned. There were also original reflections on the border that were not removed.
Obviously this is my opinion.
Hope that i have explain myself with my bad english.

The lighthouse chop wasn't that well integrated.
The sand had weird color shifts, the lighthouse/rocks didnt look like a realistic fit, neither did the bones.
And i'm not sure what the blurred/grainy thing is on the left side, if it was intentional or not.

with the watch chop, its not a bad chop, Its just not a winner.
Its not that unique or amazing.

thanks for the reply FF all comments welcome.

the colour shift in the sand is as the original source ( should of posted it i suppose.) the grain on the left was suppose to be a sand storm coming in but in retrospect i should of ommitted it.

the bones in the sand i thought went in quite well but will try harder next time.

again thanks for comments

i am aware it wasn't a winning chop with this one ( never gonna be from me unless everyone else fails to enter) BUT there was one other picture with a the same theme/idea and came in with 19 more votes and just seemed strange is all.

thanks for the comments FF

never say that! just keep your head down and keep chopping

well i've been doing that for a while now but still no wins. maybe you shouldn't follow my advice after all

Come on, you're never gonna win with that attitude.
Take a look at my early entries.
I started knowing nothing about photoshop, but i still got a win a year later.
Keep working and learning, and you'll get a vote.

Sucks when you don't win... but sucks even more when you do... take marco as an example... you think he likes to winall the time? of course he does but that does not mean he likes to win everytime

It's ok Marco i feel your pain

As for the clock... i think that contest was ... a laugh

not to down-hearted right now but when a couple of well respected and winning choppers say my work is good then it sort of takes the wind out of your sails when no one votes for it.

i have entered some that i didnt think were all that good and have bettered both of these entries...just goes to show that not everything catches the "judges" eyes.

i think this topic was started because of my disappointment as i looked at the "lighthouse" chops and saw what other chops were around me and couldn't understand it.

anyway will carry on chopping and learning more about PS and hopefully will get in the top 3 or even a win someday BUT i will continue no matter what.

Don't be too disheartened. I've got an entry in the cave contest that doesn't have half the votes of the two you posted above......well actually 9 votes! Some days you got it, some days you don't.
I've had many (what I thought were) good entries which bombed....and as many (in my opinion) ordinary chops that went well. Go figure....It's all part of the fun I suppose.
I can't really see anything too wrong with those entries. They are nice chops, but maybe just lacking that 'oomph' factor. You know the sort of thing when you first see a thumbnail and think...wow....this is going to be good!
What you need to find is that killer, different, out of the box idea that will just blow everyone away. It'll come.
Cheers,
Brad.

Marco can post a load of shit and get a load of votes! Ask him.

I did not vote for your watch entry, because it had serious flaws, mainly perspective and cleanup. The idea was, obviously, not novel, so to get more votes, it should have been executed much better.

I will try to explain my thinking in detail in the following mini-tutorial

Open your source watch.


Determine the perspective by making a cross from 12 to 6 and from 3 to 9 on a new layer.