New Feature: Personal Projects

A short while ago after our competition system was launched, Mello (Steve) proposed an idea for competition themes but I felt his idea could be developed into something very unique and I am now extremely pleased that it is now ready to be released to the community as a beta.

It's being released as a beta to get members feedback and hopefully fine tune it with the great ideas I know I will get from everyone.

I'm very proud to introduce the Personal Project Management System!

Sounds interesting but what does it do?
This new system will create personal projects that will be generated just for you! I'm not sure if this has been done anywhere else but this could be another world first for a photography site like ours.

How do I access my Personal Project Management Page?
You can find the link to your personal projects page in the top navigation bar right next to the competitions link. Clicking on Projects, you see your very own management system page (shown in the image below). On this page you will be able to generate the randomised criteria for each of your projects and also see the projects you have pending and have also completed.

You can randomise your project based on a database of criteria which currently include:

• The Theme
• Light Source
• Focal Length
• Environment
• Colour Type

The above image shows you what you will see on your personal projects page and you will find 4 options on this page to manage your projects, these are:

• Challenge Me: Clicking on this button will generate your personal randomised project. You can click this as many time as you want until you see something you like the look of. It is important at this stage to make sure you have the correct lens etc. before you accept the challenge. If you don't, keep clicking that button!
• I Accept: When our system has chosen a project that you like to look of, click I Accept and the details will be added to your personal project queue. You also get the chance to confirm you want to proceed so you get a second chance before accepting. Note: The system will only allow you to have 3 open projects at any time. To be able to accept a new project you must first complete one of the projects you have in your queue.
• Upload Project: When you have completed your project, this button will allow you to upload it to the members gallery and you then have the option to AutoPost the image for critique. Yes, this new project system has been fully integrated with AutoPost.
  Important: To submit your project, you MUST use this button to submit your image.
• View Thread: Once you have submitted your project photo for critique via AutoPost, this button will allow you to go straight to your posting to read members comments.

Here are some more screen shots:



You will now see a bar above the AutoPost options for images that have been uploaded via your personal projects page. This bar indicates that the image is related to one of your projects and you can now AutoPost the image as normal.



The above image show the additional details that will be posted along with your image into the forums via AutoPost. This will allow all members to see what the actual chosen criteria was for this image and will help with commenting / critique.

Please make sure you do not strip out the EXIF information otherwise members will not know if the project was completed with the chosen criteria.



When viewing the critique forums, all personal project thread titles will be prefixed with [PP] to make it easy to identify all personal project threads/images.



The above image shows the new block on our homepage. This new block will show the latest three projects that have been accepted by our members.

I hope you will enjoy this new feature and it will prove to be a valuable tool to encourage you to take photos that you would not normally take.

Again I would like to extend my thanks to Mello, as without his original idea our new Personal Project system would not exist.

As always, I'm open to suggestions and ideas on how this could be improved so we can all fine tune it to make the system a tool that will sky rocket everyone's photography skills.

Thanks to everyone once more for your impeccable support for the site.

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Paul

this looks great. haven't finished reading it all yet but i'm up for it if only to get my backside in gear!! Not sure if i was ready for my baby and its really taking its toll on us but its our hobbies, friends, nights out (what are they?) that keep us going. hopefully i can become a more interactive member and this will be my vehicle to do just that. cheers Paul. Think maybe IBM aren't appreciating you too much. Your development of the site is just getting better and more unique compared to the glut of Photo forum sites out there..

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Danny Federici 1950 - 2008 RIP
lifelong member in good standing of the house rockin', pants droppin', earth shockin', hard rockin', booty shakin', love makin', heart breakin', soul cryin'... and, yes, death defyin' legendary E Street Band

Canon Forever

1Dmk11,10D, 20mm,28-70mm,200mm, Elinchrom3000,1500,600's,500's, Multiblitz200,Bronica SQb, expensive Manfrotto tripod

Cheers Paul,
looks like another great feature you've added to the forum.
I think this could really help with my creativity block...

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http://picasaweb.google.com/cyclone.photography
Spelling by Mac, if it's wrong, blame that lol.

what a great idea ... may help get my "get and go " back when im feeling deflated!
and save me thinking of new projects that are not work related
what a clever boy you are !

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The eyes are a window to your next pay cheque

You will get your time back Andy I promise you that. I felt the same for ages but before you know it everything will fall into place.

Thanks for your kind words about the site too, it's really appreciated.

I'm hoping it's going to help with mine too

Hey I'm just the coder, the real thanks should go to Mello

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Paul

Paul,
it's pretty obvious this stuff must be time consuming so:-

"Nice one!" to Mello this looks like a great idea that should help loads of people out with ideas...
And "Huge thanks!" to Paul for taking the time to put this and all of the other great ideas into action.

__________________
http://picasaweb.google.com/cyclone.photography
Spelling by Mac, if it's wrong, blame that lol.

Cheers Merv, this one only took me a day. I must be getting better at it

__________________
Paul

well theres brain and braun so which one are you and which one is steve

__________________
The eyes are a window to your next pay cheque

Steve is from EY up lad country, does he qualify..? LMAO

__________________
Danny Federici 1950 - 2008 RIP
lifelong member in good standing of the house rockin', pants droppin', earth shockin', hard rockin', booty shakin', love makin', heart breakin', soul cryin'... and, yes, death defyin' legendary E Street Band

Canon Forever

1Dmk11,10D, 20mm,28-70mm,200mm, Elinchrom3000,1500,600's,500's, Multiblitz200,Bronica SQb, expensive Manfrotto tripod

Wow! This is exciting! Talk about an avenue to get the juices flowing...got me thinking already.
Can't wait to get started.
Thanks Paul and Mello...you are both very creative and skilled.