Photoshop contest
Encyclopedia
A Photoshop contest, or sometimes photochop contest, is an online
game, in which a website
or user of an Internet forum
will post a starting image
— usually a photograph
— and ask others to manipulate the image using some kind of graphics
editing software, such as Photoshop, Corel Photopaint, The GIMP
, Paint Shop Pro, Paint.NET
or Microsoft Paint
.
While Photoshop is the industry standard image editing program, Adobe discourages use of "Photoshop" to refer to anything other than Adobe's photo editing software, to prevent its trademark
from becoming a genericized trademark
.
s.
Such contests are nowadays finding increasing participations in many blogs.
A more "underground" variety of these image manipulation jokes involves the blending of celebrity faces with nude or pornographic
images, often combined with references to movies, music, magazines and other forms of related popular culture
.
) is a game played through sequential alternating photoshopping of an image
. Photoshop tennis originated in graphics-related internet forum
s in the late-1990s/early-2000s, and shares an earlier history with online image games such as SITO
's "PANIC" (started January, 1994). The game was made popular by art director Jim Coudal in 2001 as "Photoshop Tennis". The matches on coudal.com have since been renamed Layer Tennis, as they are no longer restricted to the use of Adobe Photoshop.
Each match of Photoshop tennis is generally played with two competing players. The players pick a starting image, or one is "served" by a player, then another player makes some sort of alteration to the image in any chosen image editor (matches are not exclusive to Adobe Photoshop). He or she then sends that altered image to the other player or players, usually via e-mail
or by posting the image to a Photoshop tennis forum, who then edits that image and sends it back to the first player. This process goes back and forth until a predetermined number of rounds have elapsed, or the players otherwise wish to end the game. When the final round is over, there may be an independent judge
who determines who has played the best shots, and declares that person the winner, or players may play without a clear winner. Sometimes extra rules can be enforced, such as sticking to one particular software package
, or keeping to a particular theme.
There are many variants of the game, as building a road or a tower instead of a train. Teams can be formed, each building their own train. By a lap of time or a certain number of cars build, voting for favorite team train can take place by forumers who didn't participate.
ONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
game, in which a website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
or user of an Internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
will post a starting image
Image
An image is an artifact, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person.-Characteristics:...
— usually a photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
— and ask others to manipulate the image using some kind of graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
editing software, such as Photoshop, Corel Photopaint, The GIMP
GIMP
GIMP is a free software raster graphics editor. It is primarily employed as an image retouching and editing tool and is freely available in versions tailored for most popular operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Linux.In addition to detailed image retouching and...
, Paint Shop Pro, Paint.NET
Paint.NET
Paint.NET is a proprietary freeware raster graphics editor program for Microsoft Windows, developed on the .NET Framework. Originally created by Rick Brewster as a Washington State University student project, Paint.NET has evolved from a simple replacement for the Microsoft Paint program, which is...
or Microsoft Paint
Microsoft Paint
Paint is a simple graphics painting program that has been included with all versions of Microsoft Windows. It is often referred to as MS Paint or Microsoft Paint...
.
While Photoshop is the industry standard image editing program, Adobe discourages use of "Photoshop" to refer to anything other than Adobe's photo editing software, to prevent its trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
from becoming a genericized trademark
Genericized trademark
A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...
.
Humor
A large part of the humor in many of these contests involves the use of internet memeInternet meme
The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...
s.
Such contests are nowadays finding increasing participations in many blogs.
A more "underground" variety of these image manipulation jokes involves the blending of celebrity faces with nude or pornographic
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
images, often combined with references to movies, music, magazines and other forms of related popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
.
Photoshop tennis
Photoshop tennis (also known as Photoshop Pong or Photoshop battle (similar in its function to a "DJ battle" in hip hop musicHip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
) is a game played through sequential alternating photoshopping of an image
Image
An image is an artifact, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person.-Characteristics:...
. Photoshop tennis originated in graphics-related internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
s in the late-1990s/early-2000s, and shares an earlier history with online image games such as SITO
SITO
SITO is an online artist collective which began in January 1993, making it one of the oldest Internet-based art organizations. It was started by Ed Stastny and has been maintained by Stastny and a group of volunteers and supporters...
's "PANIC" (started January, 1994). The game was made popular by art director Jim Coudal in 2001 as "Photoshop Tennis". The matches on coudal.com have since been renamed Layer Tennis, as they are no longer restricted to the use of Adobe Photoshop.
Each match of Photoshop tennis is generally played with two competing players. The players pick a starting image, or one is "served" by a player, then another player makes some sort of alteration to the image in any chosen image editor (matches are not exclusive to Adobe Photoshop). He or she then sends that altered image to the other player or players, usually via e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
or by posting the image to a Photoshop tennis forum, who then edits that image and sends it back to the first player. This process goes back and forth until a predetermined number of rounds have elapsed, or the players otherwise wish to end the game. When the final round is over, there may be an independent judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
who determines who has played the best shots, and declares that person the winner, or players may play without a clear winner. Sometimes extra rules can be enforced, such as sticking to one particular software package
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
, or keeping to a particular theme.
Build the Train
Build the Train is a game played by adding different photoshopped "cars", by taking a model from a blank template. Everyone can make their own "car", by adding background, photos, or texts to the original template car. There are no specific rules, but the cars must be a certain width or height to fit in the "train". Any graphism program can be used to build a car.There are many variants of the game, as building a road or a tower instead of a train. Teams can be formed, each building their own train. By a lap of time or a certain number of cars build, voting for favorite team train can take place by forumers who didn't participate.
See also
- Adobe PhotoshopAdobe PhotoshopAdobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...
- PhotomontagePhotomontagePhotomontage is the process and result of making a composite photograph by cutting and joining a number of other photographs. The composite picture was sometimes photographed so that the final image is converted back into a seamless photographic print. A similar method, although one that does not...
- E-mail artE-mail artEmail art is simply any kind of art sent by email. It includes computer graphics, animations, screensavers, digital scans of artwork in other media, or even ASCII art...
- Fark.comFark.comFark is a community website created by Drew Curtis that allows members to comment on a daily batch of news articles and other items from various websites. As of June 2009, the site boasts approximately four million unique visitors per month, which puts it among the top 100 English language websites...
- Photo editingPhoto editingPhoto editing can refer to:* Image editing techniques applied to photographs.* The cultural impact and ethical concerns of photo manipulation....
- Something AwfulSomething AwfulSomething Awful, often abbreviated to SA, is a comedy website housing a variety of content, including blog entries, forums, feature articles, digitally edited pictures, and humorous media reviews. It was created by Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka in 1999 as a largely personal website, but as it grew, so...
's "Photoshop Phriday" - Worth1000Worth1000Worth1000 is an image manipulation and contest website. Worth1000 opened on January 1, 2002 and hosts over 340,000 unique images made in theme contests such as "Rejected Transformers", "Invisible World", and "Stupid Protests". In mid-2003, Worth1000 began hosting similar competitions for...
- FreakingNewsFreakingNewsFreaking News is a news oriented Photoshop contest site, that came online August 2, 2002 and officially opened on October 23, 2003 as a sister site of Worth1000. According to Alexa Internet, Freaking News is one of the top 10,000 sites in the world...
External links
- StreetFire Photochops
- CarChops
- Something AwfulSomething AwfulSomething Awful, often abbreviated to SA, is a comedy website housing a variety of content, including blog entries, forums, feature articles, digitally edited pictures, and humorous media reviews. It was created by Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka in 1999 as a largely personal website, but as it grew, so...
's Photoshop Phriday feature - Photoshop contests