mcash70 said:
Morgan, I just use the left/right arrows on my keyboard when judging, I go through them full size quickly at first to see whats entered, then I go back to the thumbnails? and use the mouse to star the favorites, I use Esc to reduced a photo that I have enlarged. Then the hard job of selecting the top 3.
That's pretty much how I've been doing it too. I just thought maybe there was a keyboard shortcut to star them in the slideshow view or something else that I overlooked. I'm down to my last two categories to go through now!
I would think it would be hard to come up with categories that would please everyone. I know there are diehard rose, daylily, and iris people here and maybe that is why they got their own category. Personally I think the bulb, annual, perennial, wildflower and native categories are kind of arbitrary too though. A good share of people wouldn't know if their picture really belongs there or not, and many might not even have an id on the plant to look that information up. It might be simpler to have categories that are more inclusive yet easier for people of all botanical knowledge levels to instantly see what is appropriate. Maybe even change up the categories a bit every year to rotate some more obscure ones in and keep the overall number of categories low. Since there's not a restriction on when the picture was taken for this contest I don't think not having every category every year would matter as much.
Some category ideas:
-single show stopper bloom
-interesting foliage
-harmonious color combos
-bold color combos
-single species -- big impact (like those fields of poppies, daffodils, or that flowering vine that ate your house)
-natural landscapes maybe divided by general biomes (desert, prairie, woodland, tropical, etc.)
-seasonal categories like winter's harshness, fall colors, etc.
-grand public garden displays
-small space gardens (apartment balcony, small allotment gardens, indoor houseplant jungle, etc)
-fruit and veggie gardens
-gardeners in action (a place for pictures of people and maybe even our "helpful" pets in action in the garden)
Maybe that last one would have to not be eligible for prizes though since there are concerns of fairness and knowing who the picture belongs to.
I'm sorry that I've taken this thread so off topic! I should probably be posting this on the site talk forum instead. I guess I don't have anything appropriate to add to this thread this time of year! Not many insects out and about any more. It's supposed to get up into the upper 50s today and I have to do some raking, so maybe I'll come across some bugs.
