i think it should only include recent photos, rather than new people coming in and posting there best fish caught 5 years ago. Hard to know when the fish was caught but it is called Photo of the month.

Is it the person who took the photo that gets the prize for their photographic skills or the angler for their catch?

i think you sholud only win it once a year , just so others get the chance to win the prize, but maybe you can do a one off catch of the year comp? like the best of the best , or something like that?

it should be only photo's taken within 30 days, and it should be called "fish photo of the month".  cheers, i mean most of us have some pretty spectacular photo's of "old" fish but i don"t think these apply to this comp this site is about "doing" things now .  cheers

has been raised, personally i'm pretty disappointed for the guys who basically stood no chance winning last months prize. There were some great captures during the last month or so and deserved to have a chance at the prize. Except for Jack, how many more sunnies does a bloke need

Yes, that was a awesome tailor but it was caught 3yrs ago. Just not fair IMO.

I think the restrictions you have suggested are probably closer to what most would deem fair.

It is a competition not a giveaway at the end of the day.

good idea,if we keep bringing up old photos we will never go forward,photos of the current month only

I agree there should be some rules however those rules should be sorted out between the competition sponsor and site owner/manager prior to the relevant sponsor coming onboard. The rules should then be made clear to all the people that vote.

I am a massive fan of the 'Photo of the Month' competition and believe that if one guy takes the best photo each month he should win each month. That's the nature of the beast. If people want to win the competition take some creative photos, something with a little thought put into it instead of the 'weekend happy snap'. I agree the photo should be recent and it should be more about the quality of the photo, not the fish. Call it 'Fish of the Month' instead of 'Photo of the Month' if that is the road we are heading down. JMO.

The photo should be recent.I think that it should be called fish of the month due to the fact that more decisions are made on the size of the fish and circumstances of the capture than the quality of the pic.I would definately like to see guys whith great fish that have taken some care in getting a quality shot rewarded.Fourtuantely in the case of Jack D, he seems to excel on both counts.

it needs to be determined if it's the best photo or the best fish, best fish may seem fairer as we all don't have flashy camera's for those magazine style shots (i'm lucky i do) so make it the fish of the month and it has to be recent, must be your photo and it has to be uploaded as a separete image with a description of capture if it's a fish of the month comp, eg line class, bait, lure, SP, shorebased, boat, first capture, location etc then we can truely say it was the fish of the month. if it's photo of the month then the current photo rule should apply along with the description but everyone needs to be made aware if they are voting for the capture or the quality of the pic.

When i joined here i recall it being for the photo, people discussed the lighting in the pic, is it centred, glare, shadows, background etc but now it seems we are voting for the best capture which in a way is fairer for the above reason and it gives those night time fisho's a shot at winning and those without the $$$ to spend on a great camera.

At least with it being a vote (rather than one person deciding on the inner), its going to a get a mix of votes on photo vs fish and will at least represent what people think is the 'best'.

Also, even if it is more 'fish of the month' then the photo should still be a technically good photo even if its not magasine quality.

Exactly what Brucesta said!

 One peer judged (popular vote as usual) for the best "fish" irrespective of pic quality and another judged by the sponsor for best "pic". That way an awesome closeup shot of a whiting has as much chance as a shitty phone camera pic of a goliath size fish.

but most of your aforementioned points reley on the mods actually getting the photos and competition up and running, within a short timeframe of the photo being submitted. not too long ago we had a back-log of months of POTM comps, and some were won with a "quickest to 30 votes" approach, and 3 comps were dealt with within a matter of a week. not really fair IMO.

if they are going to have the comp, then run it with rules (like some mentioned above), and also make sure it is submitted in on time, and runs for the correct amount of time each month.

spot on andy.

I am a fisherman, not a photographer (as can be seen in my lack of pics). All to keen to get back in the fray fishing than to take pics, unless its a very memorable capture. I dont have a top notch camera and feel that if its a fishing site, its the fish that counts, not the quality of the pic (although if its hard to decide on the best the good shot will win).

If its photo of the month then the members with flash cams and programs to manipulate the shot have it in the bag. Photos like kelvin8tor's, Brad's, Kaneo and marc Russo are awesome, but they have the gear to take shots like that, and the youngsters on the site might not.

But as mentioned I dont think its fair that an old capture enter (I might even post an oldy up that should win!!!) because then anyone can bring out old photos. It is the photo of the month afterall.

JMO.

Neels

I think its a great idea Andy. I honestly don't normally vote because i figured it was a popularity comp mostly. When i do sometimes vote for a great shot or fish I'm often disappointed and surprised to see the results.

its just suppose to be fun start having rules and peole will just be its to hard

there has to be some rules , i mean look at the fish that were caught "recently" for this months comp that were beaten by a 3 year old photo of a tailor!now it was a monster tailor but 3 years old ? i've got a photo of a 5metre tiger i caught in carnarvon on a penn 16s and 80lb braid that is 2 years old but i wouldn't use it as it was too long ago.  just my opinion of course   cheers

Yeh I agree with alot of the points

*Photo has to recent

*I like the idea of having some kind of cap on who gets to enter, so that ppl cant just join to win the prize.

*It needs to be decided what we are voting on. Best fish or best pic... or both in seperate catogories.

*You can only win once a year.\

Personally I would like to see the prize go to the best picture.. just makes the comp a little fairer overall. Not everyone has the chance to jag a big barra or marlin. So it might bring the guys with nice bream, salmon etc into the comps. Just a thought.

Good discussion anyway.

P

Just looking at the recent self-nominations, how does that work again?

 As far as I am aware the historical selecetion process has been Adam picking 5 or 6 good pics from all posts submitted in general and putting them up for vote. 

Posting pics up under "photo of the month entry" headings merely helps Adam find the pics that people think are worthy. It isn't a guarantee that they wil lbe in the final 6.

Remember we have thousands and thousands of posts every month so finding the pics is hard work. So if you have a good one, there is no harm in posting like Marc has so we can find them again in the sort at the end of the month.

i dont really mind, as long as it is democratic who really cares.  It isnt that serious is it??

Me personally if a mate i took a photo of wins for a photo i submited then he gets the prize, well depending on the mate

but i dont see how anyone can really enforce that rule, i mean what are you going to do?

it sounds like some people take photography far more seriously than others after all it is a fishing forum is it not?

we should get to technical with this. Just stick to the current format just just have a couple of parameters

to stick to when making the selection of the finalists.

Good quality shot

Recent pic

Active member

Solid fish

 i dont realy care as i never catch anything worth while , the only thing i can see would be better is if the pic was a recent one, but then again that would be hard to police.

i personally vote on not just the fish or the pic but the story or the circumstances that go along with it

 Great discussion guys but is this really an issue.

I would have thought for most people the abilty to have access to a forum to brag about our weekend on the water would be enough.  If you post a pic whether its a day old or 6 years old it still brings somthing to this site.  If you're lucky enough to get a a pair of sunnies for the effort of throwing up an image and thereby adding some content to the site then thats great too. 

Most people I would have thought would be happy with the comments and feedback that they recieve for their fishy pics whether theyre big or small, old or new, phone cam or DSLR.

Even if someone joins up just to win the pair of sunnies, theyre still adding content to the site and whos to say we shouldnt recognize a great capture from days gone by.  I say throw up your old pics too.

Two cents added.  Keep it casual guys!!

personally I totally agree with all of that but this thread was started by the sponsor who provides the prize. Pretty sure it's the correct place for us to have the discussion

As the sponsor is questioning the Format off the comp, he is asking us, the members what we think, and this is precisely the right forum to discuss this, and answer his question. If the sponsor is questioning this, it makes me feel that he is not totally happy with the format.

Therefor we should discuss the issues, make it better and keep the sponsor happy. It doesnt mean we should change. I suspect he just want to get a feel for the issue, and maybe raise the profile. Not everyone votes, which is a shame, because after all its just a bit of fishing fun.

Keep it simple,best capture, recent IMO. Otherwise dont change.

Neels

okay agree with all of the above basically...

Young Yakker- i know it was really unfair imo, saying that yours was recent and probably metro too.

• Has to be caught with in that month!
• Everyone votes for what they think is best, so either fish quility or picture quality.

Sorry to say this Fergie, even though your tailor was a MONSTER and im jealous... it was caught in 08! thats 3 years ago, and you got into the photo of the Month competition, there the other captures were all recent and some of them were just crazy!

but oh well, thats just my thought about it...

Healthy discussion / debate is all good, no issues with that. I agree with alot of the points discussed & I think it needs to be as streamlined as possible for admin. One point I do disagree on is that a member can win more than once ie Jack - that dude goes to some serious effort to catch fish & post his pics, likewise alot of others. Personally I am not up for opening the vault of my old pics in an effort to win prizes, poor form IMO however I should upload them to my gallery in the interest of sharing (lazy bugger) 

May the best fish win!

ps. Cheers to the sponsors for providing the prizes, can't knock that!!!

I do agree that it should be the best Photo/fish caught in that month however If I also think it is all in the name of fun and if not winning the Photo of the month is going to spoil your day, maybe your being just a bit too competative. I think each photo should be judged on an individual cases by case basis in that if it is a beast of a fish it may deserve to win as much as an artistic or unique photo of a smaller fish and vice versa. As for the length of membership, if some one wants to join the forum just to win FOTM then all the more power to them because in the end they are the ones that are sad...

I'm not fussed what the rules are and am pretty happy the way it is with no rules. Vote for whatever pic you like and decide whether the story or capture or photo appeal to you. If one person submits numerous great fish photos  then good on them if they win it a few times. Strating to get heavy on them will only see the photos dry up. Remember no one actually enters the comp, the pics are selected from a range of images that have been submitted recently.

One common theme in this thread though is people seem to think the best photos come from expensive cameras which are needed to win. That couldn't be further from the truth, all a good photo takes is a bit of thought and maybe a little time. If you want a good photo just have a think about it and make the pic happen. Probably the best photo I've been involved in was taken on a $200 camera because we were willing to get a good shot.

As it has been said in the end the majority vote and we get a winner from there, good on them for winning but it's like a few others i'm not fishing to win prizes, i'm fishing to have a blast!

Also for those who would like camera tips, subscribe to the Fishwrecked Reeltime magazine, there has been some very helpful articles about getting that awesome picture too that has taught me a few things too!

Adam, why don't you set up a vote. Let the public decide, as they're the ones voting.

I personally think the Photo of the month should a recent photo, maybe a few months old, nothing over say 5 months old.

The details of capture should also be included, say catching a mac of the edge of a 50m clif would win over trolling for one.

Quality of the picture shouldn't really matter, these days even a 100 dollar camera will do a pretty decent job. I mean who would want to take a thousand dollar camera fishing....  I would hate to see people using programs to make there picture look better LOL.

It's just a friendly comp, lets keep it that way =)

 has nothing to do with the dollars you spend on a camera.

Whilst it might help with focus and lighting etc, the framing of the pic and the capturing of the moment is far more vital, and in my view should be what we are judging them on (a combination of the fish, the circumstances of the capture and the actual photograph). Remember no sunset pic has been put up or won a comp, it is a fish pic photo comp.

I dare say if you had to pick which photo was shot with the most expensive camera you would be very very surprised, as Troy says they all do a reasonable job these days. None of my pics for the mag are taken with a DSLR, they are all taken with a pretty cheap "bridge" camera.

It is and always has been a photo comp not a biggest fish comp, otherwise the old brick paving "kill" shots would be up there taking prizes.

Don;t forget guys that up until now every pic ever posted on the site has in effect been 'entered" into the comp. The final 6 each month are nominated by the owner of the site then every member gets the opportunity to vote on the ultimate monthly winner.

 I agree with everything said, but maybe a two month limit as you could have been on a fishing trip and you catch a fish late in the month but don't upload it until next month.

Also, say no dead fish, just a fish with it's throat slit doesn't look nearly as good as living fish

Still too annoyed to comment.  I run it how I think it should be run, has worked for nearly 6 years, think we are better off without a 'decent' prize then it really doesn't matter and the whinging will stop.  If you don't like an entry, or dont think it should win, then don't vote for it.  The reason Fergie made it in was due to a lack of quality entries.

I don't think anyone here wants it canned, just a little tweaking.

I'm sure between Adam and the relevent sponsor they'll sort it out.

If it's too hard don't worry about it.