Official 2008 NCWoodworker.net pinup calendar contest

[Monty]

Well, folks... it's that time of year again! The hot weather is starting to break (well, at least in Hickory it is!), and that means that our old 2007 NCWoodworker.net pinup calendars will soon be "out of date". There are still a few fine project pics for us to enjoy from the 2007 calendar. If you haven't seen our calendar from last year, click below to review last year's winning entries:

​

Well, it's time start gathering entries for this year's NCWW pinup calendar!!! If you're not familiar with our calendar contest, here are a few points:

• Any forum member can enter
• All members get to vote on the submitted entries to select the final calendar pics
• You can enter as many pics as you want, but only one pic per member will be published (the one that gets the most votes)
• There are two categories for entries: Project entries (members will pick 12 of these - one for each month of the year) and Cover entries (members will pick one winner to show on the cover of the calendar)
• Any and all styles of woodworking (furniture, shop, woodturning, scrollsawing, carving, etc) are welcome
• Level of expertise does not matter (although you will want to show your best work)
• Attention to detail does matter (more on that below)
• There will be prizes for winning entries (more details later)
• Winners enjoy a full year of celebrity and prestige
• We all get to enjoy a cool calendar that showcases the incredible and varied talents of our fine woodworking community for a whole year!!!

So, dust off your camera and set up your best projects to enter into the contest! The more entries we have, the more fun the contest will be.

One important thing to keep in mind: the entries will be judged both on the quality of the woodworking and ALSO the quality of the photography! This is where "attention to detail" matters.

• If you're using a digital camera, use the highest quality setting for your camera
• Use the best lighting you can - you don't need a studio lighting setup, but make sure your subject is well exposed
• Make sure your subject is in sharp focus!
• Use a tripod. If you don't have a tripod, put the camera on a shelf and set the delay timer to eliminate any "camera shake"
• If possible, compose your subject in horizontal "landscape" orientation instead of vertical "portait"
• Fill the frame with your subject -- but not TOO close! Leave a little room at the left and right edges for cropping. Take a look at this example to see what I mean:
  
  
  (The shaded areas in the left pic will be cropped out. The right pic shows how it would look on the calendar -- not good!!! Leave some room at the left and right edges or your subject might get "clipped"!)​
  
  
• If you need any photography help, just ask - there are plenty of members here who can take a pic for you or help you manage the image. Post your photo help questions here.

All entries must be submitted to the 2008 Calendar Contest Photo Gallery.

DEADLINE:

• All entries must be submitted by 12:00 Noon on Sunday October 28, 2007
• Voting will begin at 6:00 am on Monday October 29, 2007 and will end at 12:00 Noon on Sunday November 4, 2007

 

[DaveO]

Wow, only a month. I better get out into the shop and make something nice, or at least photograph something well. I look forward to the challenge, and hopefully some very stiff, and numerous competition.
Dave

 

[Monty]

Hehehe - if anyone could crank out some winning projects in that amount of time, it'd be you! I set that deadline in the hopes that we might have a sample calendar in time for the Klingspor show.... but maybe that's too soon. Let's make it 6 weeks.

 

[skeeter]

Monty;

Is this actually two seperate contests, monthly and cover? Should people enter photos in both categories? Personally, I like a cover like last year, a preview of what's inside! (Just my opinion!)

 

[christopheralan]

What about some pyrographic artwork? I have some good wood burnings that might go well...

 

[jeff...]

I would like to nominate DaveO's funky cedar pen

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=9095

Thanks

 

[jeff...]

Also Clay's Walnut bed

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=9802

Thanks

 

[jeff...]

Skeeter's Desk

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=10269

 

[jeff...]

Don's walnut desk

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=10045

 

[Monty]

Monty;

Is this actually two seperate contests, monthly and cover? Should people enter photos in both categories? Personally, I like a cover like last year, a preview of what's inside! (Just my opinion!)

Good question - I should be a bit more specific. They're kind of two different contests for the same calendar. The cover contest is more of a graphics design challenge, whereas the monthly entries are intended to showcase the woodworking and photography talents of our group.


More details about the cover contest entries

Entries for the cover contest will need to incorporate the name NCWoodworker.net (preferably with the logo) and the date (2008) in the design. Other than that, it's up to you to decide what you would like to put on the cover of the calendar. The members will vote on which design we will use for the calendar.

The final dimensions for the image file need to be 2300 pixels wide by 1800 pixels high. When printed at 200 dpi, that image will be 11.5in wide by 9in high at 200 dpi. Whatever design you come up with will be full bleed (in other words the art will cover the entire page out to the edges), but be careful not to put critical design elements very near the edges or they might getted cropped a little. For example, consider that the calendar will have a line of holes along the bottom for the "spiral" wire binding. A template to show some guidelines is available from CafePress - click here to download it.

 

[Monty]

Oh yea - those "nominations" that Jeff mentioned are good projects, but the photos wouldn't do well in the contest for one reason or another (except for that last pic of Skeeter's desk).

When you're taking your pictures, pay attention to the background (ie, clean up the shop a little!) and also make sure you don't get the subject too close to the left and right edges. Most cameras capture images in a standard 4"x6" aspect ratio that will be too wide to publish in the calendar! Expect the left and right edges to be clipped off.

You can go ahead and do this yourself if you have image editing software. Just crop your image to 2300 pixels wide by 1800 pixels high, and you'll see what it will look like. Or, you can upload your image to Pixenate to get a little "preview" that's pretty close to how it would look in the calendar. To do this, just upload your image file to Pixenate, click on the "Crop" button, and select "8x10" aspect ratio. If your main subject gets clipped or is too close to one edge... go back and re-shoot the photo!!! :eusa_doh:

 

[JackLeg]

Earl's busta--- whatever that thing is! (It's a Buddhist thing, right Earl?)

 

[Monty]

Hmmm.... only one entry so far. It's a great looking project, but only one picture would make a pretty dull calendar!!!

 

[DaveO]

Thanks for the reminder Monty. I threw a couple of entries in there. I have to work on getting some better pictures of some of my projects or make me some better projects :roll:
Dave

 

[jeff...]

Earl's busta--- whatever that thing is! (It's a Buddhist thing, right Earl?)

Agree Earl's busta

This one

 

[cskipper]

We all know that I'm photo-challenged, but when I look at the properties of some of my pictures, I get dpi listed as something like 120 x 130 dpi. The pixel count is ok, but which is the single dpi number?

 

[Monty]

Sorrry, I didn't mean to be confusing - that's my fault. DPI is the resolution the image will print. If you're looking at pixels, make it 2300 x 1800 pixels. When you print that image at 200 dpi, it will end up being 11.5 in wide x 9 in high - that's the size of the calendar page. 120 x 130 pixels would be about the size of a thumbnail.

If you're able to manipulate and crop your images, that's fine - I've given the dimensions to shoot for. If you open your image in a good photo editing program like photoshop, you can use the crop tool to specify exactly these dimensions. I dug up an old thread about this from last year, to provide some pointers. Click here to see that thread.

If anyone needs any help with their photos - from taking the pictures to photo editing, you can post in a temporary photo help forum - here. However, if all those pixels and dpi specs don't make any sense, don't worry about it! Just use a good quality camera (at least a few megapixel), and try to compose the image with a little extra space on the left and right sides, and I'll do the cropping for you if your image is one of the winners.

 

[DavidF]

You mentioned changing the deadline to 6 weeks in one of the posts, so what is the final entry date now?

 

[FredP]

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1758&d=1165536777

would this qualify?:rolf: seriously i have an entry almost complete but pictures aint my forte' so i am waiting on TLOML to step up.:icon_thum

fred p [ resident nut. ]

 

[jeff...]

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1758&d=1165536777

would this qualify?:rolf: seriously i have an entry almost complete but pictures aint my forte' so i am waiting on TLOML to step up.:icon_thum

fred p [ resident nut. ]

I vote for fred's awesome box :icon_thum