First: Review the 4 elements that you should look for in the picture as listed on the rules page and quoted below.
Rather than try to get an all at once feel for each image, break down the four elements and assign them a value on a 1-10 scale - 10 being the best. Next, total the four numbers. In this way, 40 points would be a perfect score.- Quality of the picture (technique)
- Originality (moment or the species of cacti)
- Composition (a cacti in landscape or a particular situation)
- Relevance (how well the picture represents the theme)
For example:
One image you may give an 8 for picture quality, a 7 for originality, another 8 for composition and a 10 for relevance. This would give a total score of: 8-7-8-10 = 33/40.
Another image may get the score of 8-8-6-10 = 32/40
So while the two images may be very close, you can cast a more confident vote for the first image as having a slight edge. If it is a tie, you just may have to flip a coin!
As stated above, the contests are not formal and the first rule is to have fun with it!
I'd like to thank forum member Brad (paracelsus) for coming up with this scoring method. With so many neat images each contest, I often have a hard time choosing just one of them. This formula will certainly help!