Where is the creativity??

[Wingo]

I must admit that this month I am quite disappointed with the quality of the creativity of the shots in this month's contest. I'm am not meaning to take away from the hard work that everyone has put in, as a whole most look great, but, there are quite a few re-occuring themes. A lot are taken from a ground or terminal perspective and just look like a person has taken a photo. Most are from a rear or front quarter on the same level as the jet. Almost all angles are plain, boring and repetitive. Looking through the entries, after the first 10 I start to get a feeling of deja vou.

What happened to the creativity? The unique angles? The purpose of this month's contest is to capture the power of a large airliner hauling itself off the ground. Personally I haven't seen this as yet, except for a select few. What happened to the interesting angles, the super close views cutting out parts of the aircraft, the fish eye views? No one seems to be experimenting and capturing the power of the take off.

There are plenty of oppurtunities to take unique, different or interesting shots. All that is needed is experimentation, thought and time, but it seems most people can't be arsed to do anything. They just rotate, take some screenshots and post one up.

I will iterate, as a whole the shots look great but lack the uniqueness I have come to expect from the members of SimV. I just hope that the uniqueness may return next month.

[mostickity]

well there was a pretty big limit on what we could do this time around. I was thinkin the same thing earlier but I dont think its the people its the theme. And I think everyone did a great job considering.  :)

[Foxtrot Sport]

Good god why post this?  This is a screenshot contest, everyone has their choice on what they're entering.  Just because it's a unique angle or such doesn't make it a great shot.  Maybe some other people see a huge amount of creativity this month.  I sure do considering the restrictions of the rules this month.

Why post such a thing?  Looking for an argument, because please, don't reach for it here in the V

[Steve_Butka]

No one said they wanted to argue, brothers.

But I am starting to take a notice to the fact that offering any criticism these days is just looked at as being rude, when it doesn't have to be.

Criticism is a good thing and those who cannot take it need to understand what "competition" is.  Especially when it involves starting fresh from square one at the beginning of each month.  Without criticism, we do not learn, we don't improve upon our 'eye' for things, and the entire community loses out on a lot of potential as a result.

The person that started this thread noticed a trend, and he made a point about it. he also happens to be right.  this contest was kind've tough and god bless that.  competitions should be tough.  

I do think that perhaps it'll be easier for the judges to find the ones that "stick out" since so many of them are similar-- but that's jsut my two cents.

Live and let live.  This is a forum for opinions, and people's voices.  There's nothing wrong withg going against the grain every once in awhile.

[Alphajet_Enthusiast]

The theme this month greatly limits what one can do with the shot.
I think this month has seen a lot of creativity. After all, one has to chose the right scenery and the right aircraft, and the right angle. We've seen several very good screenshots thusfar.
Did you read Ashar's post? And the technique he used to capture that unique angle? Now that's creativity.  ;)

[SomeGuy]

That's how I got my angle as well--I haven't even seen a link to F1 view!

[Souichiro]

That's how I got my angle as well--I haven't even seen a link to F1 view!

http://www.simviation.com/fs2004utilities7.htm

I too played with my tower views!

Actually I do think that there's a lot of creativity this month. mainly iin different area's than usually. Roller's reflections on his plane for instance. As others have said this comp is especially challenging!

[Wingo]

mostickity - There aren't limits, it's just a bit more difficult. But it seems that most people don't want to step up to the plate and take the challenge.

HighFlyer24 - I'm not trying to pick a fight or cause a problem. I'm only expressing my opinion and making it heard. The angle does contribute a lot to how well the shot comes out. The angle and zoom determine what is shown in the shot.

Steve_Butka - Thankyou. At least one other person has their head screwed on in this place.

Alphajet_Enthusiast -  As I just said, there aren't any limits, just larger challenges. There isn't much creativity in this months. If you look at one shot, you've looked at most of them. There is very little difference.

[Theis]

As the word goes: "Impossible is nothing!"

[Hai Perso Coyone?]

It's commercial airliners...you can hardly fit those darn things in one frame...leave the creativity...Mine took me ages to fool around and fit on...

[Ecko]

I admit, I'm greatly disappointed with what I came up with, no feel to it..

When you get use to Walk&Follow, there's just no other option for screenshot taking. So with the (new) rule, it gets a lot harder, but yeah, also a lot more fair. And then with this month theme, that was seriously impossible.

[Mees]

i think it was very limited, rotation, wheels on the ground, only to play with the lights effects, angles

[Clipper]

I'm convinced, as I noted in my entry post that the topic has SEVERELY limited the creative potential this month, I think that most would agree. As well, there seems to have been a trend recently to making pics as photo-realistic as possible. Stretching, fish eye and other "surreal effects" are being used very sparingly. It's unfortunate,  but looking at the past winners, i'm sure most fall into the category of  "acheiving realism". An edited screenshot contest would certainly allow for more experimentation with bizzare angles, extreme color and many other "creative" perspectives. I'm sure next months competition will make things a lot easier for all to use their creativity. Clip  :)

[Foxtrot Sport]

When saying, "You've seen one, you've seen 'em all" what do you really expect from a contest sporting shots of airliners taking off that must have it's main wheels on the ground.  It's bound to be similar in most aspects.  

It's hard to get any more creative with the limitations of this month's contest, and as Clipper said, it would seem everyone is striving for realism.


-HF

[beaky]

Very important to be able to put your money where your mouth is, so let's have another look at your (very nice) screenshot:

http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1144926942

What exactly is it that really sets this one apart from the crowd? Your view zoom setting is a little closer than most? It's good (although the forced perspective is a teeny bit unrealistic for my taste), and yes, as usual some of the others are mediocre, but... it's not my favorite so far (no, I won't say whose is my fave). One problem I have is that I can't really tell if the wheels are still on the runway (one of the requirements). They probably are, but is not clear if that is so.
Don't get me wrong; it's a wonderful screenie, but I agree with those who say the limitations this month are very tight (not that that's wrong).
I think you'd better bring more if you're going to slag everybody else's talent like that.
BTW, you will notice that I have nothing this month, and probably won't bother...