Questions About PHR Photo Contest Answered Here...

If you have any questions about the 2009 PHR Photo Contest, I will be glad to answer them here. This year, we're giving away a set of Nitto tires to the winner, so the stakes are a lot higher than before. I just want to make sure everybody has a chance to make the deadline with an acceptable entry.

We've also promised to publish every entry that meets the criteria. If you're unsure of the criteria, read the story on the contest rules, which you can find on this link:

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/hotnews/0905phr_2009_photo_contest_rules_tips_entry_form/index.html

Although I didn't make a big deal out of it in the contest guidelines, we will be choosing somebody (or a group of people) from the contest entries to be represented on the cover.

Thanks in advance for your entry!

Johnny  

We've been live with the photo contest for four days, and nobody has a question yet?  

I have a question. I have this spot that i have in mind, but the building I have in mind has a company name on it. It is a very unique company name, just something small and local. Would that be okay? And Also, I was in last years magazine, but my car looked different, and I was not the photographer. This year I will be photographing my car myself. Since this is a photography contest, It won't count against me that my car was in last years issue, will it?

Thank you,
Moe  

Let me break your questions down individually:

Signs: We generally don't like signs, symbols, graphics, logos, or other readable material in photos. They distract and take away from the focus of the image, which is the car. It would be a failure path if the goal is to win a photo contest.

The same car: If most people would recognize it as the same car, then it's the same car. If you gave it a different color and put different wheels on it, then we would consider it a different car. If you just changed the wheels, or laid a stripe on it, we'll probably toss it.

Repeat photographers: We want to maximize the opportunity for new people to get their car in the magazine, so you would need to show a huge effort to restyle your old car before we print it again. If you want to showcase your photo chops, then find another nice car in your town, and shoot that one. The owner will thank you for the effort, you'll be a hero to him, and you can still win prizes that way.  

Ok. The sign thing, makes sense. I'll just use another place I know of.

The car was actually in the 2007 issue, not last years, does that change anything? And it only has new wheels, but does look completely different, but I do understand what you are saying about it, if it looks the same or not.  

You can take your chances if you want. There's always the possibility that we don't get as many cars as we'd like, and we choose to print some of those that don't follow all the criteria.  

We had a question come in by email that asked us if they could send in shots of the interior and engine. We've answered that guy privately, but I wanted to post a response here for everybody's benefit.

I totally understand why people might want to send us interior and engine pix. Normally, we'd want those for our regular Hometown Hot Rodding column to help describe the car, and determine whether we would like to further pursue it as a full feature. In this instance, however, we need just exterior shots.

We will only have room in the January photo contest story for one photo from each car owner (which we'll pick from the five you send), so the interior shot isn't needed. If you are filling out your entry form properly, we will have all the info we need for the write-up on your car. If there's something interesting or out of the ordinary about it, it should be described in the required cover letter.

Due to the huge volume of entries we got for the Reader Projects issue, we learned that too much information or too many photos is just as bad as not enough.

I want to reiterate that this is a photo contest first and foremost. The car is obviously extremely important, but showing it off in the best light possible is the primary idea. It's the photography effort that we're looking for here.  

Are you running the announcemnt in the magazine too, or just on the web.  

It's running in the magazine next month, but if you wait until then, you won't have much time to enter. The magazine story is identical to the web story on the home page, so you won't get anything more out of that when it hits.  

Another question that came in via email yesterday is: Can I send in pictures of more than one car? Can I send in a picture of a group of cars?

The answer is, yes you can send them in, but, no, we won't use them for the photo contest. We would consider those letters/photos as we would any normal letter we got in the course of the year.

The photo contest is limited to one car per entry, and one entry per photographer/entrant.  

Johnny,

Can we enter the photo contest with the same CD's we submitted from the Readers Rides entry? Do you still have the CD's?

Thanks, you are doing a great job.  

Not really. We'd like you to make the effort to take a great photo. The contest is focused more on the art of the photograph than the nuts and bolts of the car. We also need the specific information we're asking for on the entry form, and the cover letter.  

Any more questions?  

Question regarding post processing of photo entry.

Rules state - Don't adjust the color, contrast, or brightness of an image to sweeten it up after the fact. Take the right exposure to start with-we'll know the difference. If you use Photoshop for anything, you better be good at it.

Typically all digital images need some post processing, white balance,levels, sharpening,cropping, etc. especially if originally shot in RAW format. In addition very few parking areas, whether at the beach, industrial park or at a park, don't have stripes,pavement cracks, random weed, etc., which normally need to be cloned out or removed.

I interpret the rule to mean any post processing done and the entry will be disqualified. Am I correct in this interpretation of the rules?

Regarding printing - what size of print should be submitted 8x10,8.5x11? Should they be borderless?  

Thanks, John  

I'll answer these in order:

Image tweaking: unless you're a pro, don't do it. We have our own process for pre-press. When you do your own processing, and ours is added on top of that, it makes for a very bad result.

Location: Instead of putting in the effort to Photoshop your images, put in the same effort to find a good location without parking lot lines, light poles, etc. You can also take a few moments to pull out errant weeds that get in the shot. That's not too much for us to ask (And we do all of this for every photo shoot anyway).

GOOD LOCATIONS ARE OUT THERE. Find them.

Post processing: again, if you choose to edit your photos, it better be damn good, it better be realistic, and it better knock our socks off. You're treading a thin line here. You're going to be "hero," or "zero."

Print size: 3x5 or 4x6 is fine. Anything in that size range. 8x10 is too unwieldy when we're looking through thousands of images.