P3D Re: Competitions suppressing creativity?

[michaelk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Michael Kersenbrock)]

> Well, in the 2D field, a few years ago the local county fair had a photo
> entry of a soldier in uniform, reflected in the Vietnam War "Wall"
> memorial. I thought it was a good picture, and it won "best in show" for
> all categories. Good enough - but the next year there were three or four
> entries on the same topic. The original photo may have been inspired, but
> I was considerably less impressed by the copycats.
~
>     1) If you ask a random person in the street what they want to see in
>        the nature of 3D, quite often the response will be "Zowie! I
>        want to see lots of depth, and I want to see stuff coming out at
>        me in front of the window!". But if they join a stereo club, the

I think the two paragraphs above are connected.  Because most people don't
see 3D very much, they're impressed by the stick-it-in-your-lap sort of 
3D, while someone who sees it all the time gets tired of it and is less
impressed even though still enjoying it occasionally.  Although somewhat a 
catch-22, if the public saw 3D all the time I think they'd be less 
demanding for that sort of dramatic effect.


>     2) There's usually considerable encouragement to mount to the stereo
>        window. But unless the photographer was careful when composing the shot 
>        to make sure the nearest object was at exactly the distance of the 
>        window, mounting to the window is a planned and deliberate departure 
>        from reality. (I expect the ancient Egyptians thought the curious body 
>        poses and angles of view they used looked "better", and they might even 
>        have denied that there was anything unnatural about them.)

Funny you should talk about that.  One of my favorite shots is Egyptian
of sorts.  I saw and quickly took a pic in Vegas's Luxor *busy* gift shop
standing on my knees with camera (Revere I recall) in one hand and side-lighting
flash in the other (hooked by cables w/light sensor on camera).  Gave a flatly lit
display (surrounded by shoppers and displays and such) dramatic lighting and
got rid of the surrounding distractions.   Anyway.... there was a piece too
close (well, subject was a bit too close, but my options were limited) and
it sticks out quite a bit -- but if "pulled in", eyeballs start straining.  I
had mounted  compromised for my screen, but on a larger screen, it'd hurt
people's eyes.  If it weren't for the "pressure" to meet "no sticking out" 
goals (within my other constraints) my karma would have been happier "purely 
mounting for the eyes" and let stuff stick out as they may. Thing sticking
out doesn't look BAD, just a bit odd that it's out there by itself.  And
I like it "anyway".  So there.  :-)

Mike K.


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