Announcing the IceInSpace Calendar Competition!

[iceman]

Big news for the extended IceInSpace Community!

IceInSpace is teaming up with Astrovisuals to create the Astrovisuals and IceInSpace Astronomy Calendar for 2013.

And the best news of all; the calendar will be made up of images captured by and chosen by the IceInSpace community!

All of the images in the calendar will be submitted by IceInSpace members - and you get to choose the final images that appear in the calendar!

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/phpwcms_filestorage/2eeb888cbaa5db998537ca68c5728454.jp g (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/73-685-0-0-1-0.html)

For more information about how and when to submit your images, when voting will be open and more, please see the article at:

IceInSpace Calendar Competition (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.php?id=73,685,0,0,1,0)

I'm really looking forward to this! 2013 will be the best calendar yet! :)

[iceman]

Article uploaded!

If you have any questions about the competition or the rules, please use this thread to discuss them.

[jjjnettie]

Could the Sketchers on the forum submit too? Or is it purely photographic?

[Ausrock]

Damn, that's a good point. Maybe there should be two calendars......one photographic and one "artistic".

:)

[strongmanmike]

There isn't a Star Cluster category, that's a major bunch of objects, was this intentional?

Mike

[iceman]

Sketchers are welcome to submit images too!


hmm quite right - wasn't intentional.
Let me rejig the categories and I'll get back to you.

[iceman]

The list of categories has been updated, and 'Nebula and Star Cluster' are grouped together.

Image submissions opens at 9am tomorrow, 1st May. The link to the image submission form is on the info page (along with any guidelines, rules and the full list of categories):

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/73-685-0-0-1-0.html

I finished coding just in time to have the image submission form ready for tomorrow, and although I tested as many scenarios as I could, it's possible some bugs still remain. If you have any problems submitting images, please simply get in touch with me via PM or email.

Once you have submitted your images, they cannot be removed in order to upload any others. I didn't get time to code a 'delete image' function ;)

Good luck and have fun!

[iceman]

Image submission is now open!

There's a link on the info page:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/73-685-0-0-1-0.html

or, directly here:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/73-686-0-0-1-0.html

If you have any problems, let me know!

[iceman]

Great to see some images flowing in.

Just a note to mention that you don't have to upload all 5 images at once. You have the choice of uploading up to 5 images over the month of May.

You can upload 1 today, 1 tomorrow and 3 next week. Or whenever you choose.

The submission page will show you your currently uploaded images and allow you to continue to upload more until either:
a) You have uploaded 5 images
b) The date is after 5pm on May 31st

Just remember that once you have uploaded images, they cannot be deleted.

Cheers

[mill]

Something wrong here.
I am getting a "
Bad Request

Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand."

So i can't upload any images.
The image i wanted to upload is 1.8Mb and 1539X1142.

[iceman]

Hi Martin
What browser are you using?

[iceman]

Hi Martin

I can see a couple of your images there - has the problem gone away for you?

Cheers

[steve000]

Hi Mate,

I cant seem to upload images.

Tried firefox and IE. Any suggestions? I will try on another pc in the mean time.

Pics are over 1200px but under 2mb, one is 900k

Steve

[iceman]

Hi Steve
What happens when you try to upload?

Do you have your security settings set to very strict?

Let me know if you can try Chrome or another PC?

[steve000]

New pc didnt work. storing the images on the C: drive instead of network didnt work either.

im at a loss. how does it upload? any fancy Java or somthing?

I will try at home instead of work.

Steve

[iceman]

Hi Steve
No it uses standard PHP file uploading, no fancy java or flash applets.

Let me know after you try at home - it could be something on your work PC's but I'm not sure what it could be.

What actually happens after you browse for the file, choose a category/enter a name and click Upload?

If worse comes to worse after you try at home, send me an email and we'll work out another way to enter your images.

[steve000]

Hi Mike,

Still the same thing from home ( I remoted in)

it takes me to a blank page with this URL http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.php?id=73,686,0,0,1,0&type=multi&action=save&token=39afa17551d0330878c946f60788b e27

I browse for the file, select category and set a name then hit upload.

These are my images if you could submit them for me.
http://steve000.dyndns.org/images/calcompmoon.jpg Title "The Moon", cat moon.
http://steve000.dyndns.org/images/calcompland.jpg Title "Country Moonscape" cat landscape

If these dont work or arent right let me know what you want me to do.

Thanks heaps
Steve

[iceman]

I'm not sure why that's happening for you Steve, but I'll enter your images on your behalf. Once I've uploaded them for you, when you go back to the page you'll see them listed for your username.

[iceman]

Hi Steve
I think I've figured it out. I had the same problem uploading your original images. I think they're too big - not in mb but in pixels.
There shouldn't be any restriction but there might be a problem in the code I need to find.

In any case, if you reduce your images from 3500+ pixels to 1200px (or even 2000px) it should allow you to upload them.

Try that and let me know.

[mill]

Hi Mike.
I was using Firefox and couldn't upload any pictures.
Then i used Exploder and could only upload two pictures.
This morning when i wanted to reply to you, i couldn't even connect to IIS.
Server actively refused my connection :( (hateful little server it is :P ).

I will try again in a moment :thumbsup:

Martin.

[mill]

Firefox still didn't work but Exploder works as long as the image is 2000 pixels :question:

[iceman]

Under 2000px? or exactly 2000px?

Have you tried Chrome?

Anyway I'm glad you were able to upload your images.

[iceman]

Oh and for everyone, it's worth mentioning that for this competition, images don't have to be NEW.

That is, in some competitions, they stipulate that the image must be taken within the last 12 months, or two years, or not be entered into anything else etc.

We don't have any of those rules with this one. Any image is welcome, as long as it's yours!

[mill]

Mike the last image was exactly 2000px and uploaded with explorer.

Martin.

[Ryderscope]

Has this problem been fixed? I have been trying to upload images for a few days but have been unsuccessful. Have sent an note to the support email address but no response.

Rgds,
Rodney

[iceman]

Hi Rodney
I hadn't received any email from you so I looked in the spam folder and there it was.
Will get back to you shortly.

[Ryderscope]

Following advice from Mike I have downsized the images to 1200px wide and they now upload ok.

[steve000]

Keeping them under 2000px worked

[h0ughy]

YEAH I SENT MINE IN THEN READ THE DETAILS lol oh well i am sure someone will supply a venus tranist:lol:

[iceman]

There's no Venus Transit next year so don't need a Venus Transit image ;)

[Phil Hart]

Are images that are instantly recognisable as being from overseas welcome, or is there a preference for Australian scenes in the Landscape Astrophotography and Star Trails categories?

Phil

[iceman]

It doesn't have to be Australian scenes. Any images are welcome.

[vk2him]

Mike,

I signed up today and I would like to submit and image, however I get the following error when I click the link to submit. Did I do something wrong?




Thanks in advance, Ian

______________________________

http://wx.theshackbythebeach.com/wx/wxgraphic.php?type=banner_big

[iceman]

Hi Ian

Make sure you are logged in at the time, with 'remember me' ticked when you log in.

Then go to the submit page and let me know if you still get the error.

Cheers

[vk2him]

Hi Mike,

Yes I am logged in with remember me ticked - I can see I'm logged in via the left hand panel however I still get this error.

I was also wondering if there was a page that showed the photos from others that had been loaded - I'm not sure if mine are good enough lol :)

[iceman]

Other photos aren't shown until voting stage. All images are welcome, please don't think they won't be good enough :)

What browser are you using?

Can you try a different browser?

[vk2him]

I tried Chrome, Safari and Firefox on my Mac and Safari on my iPad - all gave the same error :(

This is the url http://www.iceinspace.com.au/73-686-0-0-1-0.html

Cheers

[iceman]

Ok i'll have to try resetting your password to something I can use to login as you, and try it on my computer so I can determine if it's something specific to your computer/login, or a bug in the code.

It'll mean you won't be able to login for a short while. Will get back to you.

[iceman]

Ok I got the same error when logged in as you. Leave it with me - I'll try and find the bug and get back to you.
Will email you with the password I set.

[iceman]

Ok the bug is fixed. I was re-using some code from a few years ago when we had xmas quiz competitions and I had a check that made sure you were in the 'buysell' user group which indicated that you had over 5 posts and been a member for 1 month.

Now, I simply check that you're part of the 'registered members' usergroup.

You should be able to submit images now.

Thanks for your patience!

[vk2him]

Thanks Mike - all good now :)

[colinmlegg]

Are circular fish eye images worth submitting?

[iceman]

Not sure Colin, maybe not to everyone's taste but depends what it's of.

It'll have to fit the landscape format for the calendar too.

[colinmlegg]

It's a fulldome landscape + night sky shot. Square format, rather than landscape.

[iceman]

Great to see more images being submitted.

David (from Astrovisuals) and I are enjoying seeing them come through.

With only 10 days left in the image submission part of the competition, there's lesser representation in a few categories, so we're putting the call out for more submissions in the following categories:

- Milky Way or Constellation Widefield
- Aurora
- Comet
- Planet or Solar (close up or montage)
- Star Trails
- Solar Eclipse

Please don't worry that your images aren't good enough, and of course submission in other categories is still welcome!

Keep them coming!

[popkrab]

Hi Mike,

This is my first time which I would like to join this competition. Can you let me know what best category for a Lunar Eclipse? It mean big Moon.

Thanks
POP

[jjjnettie]

I finally got my entries in today. :)
Good luck everyone.

[iceman]

Hi Pop

Post it under "Moon". Good luck!

Cheers

[sheeny]

Bit of a problem Mike... after submitting an image the page hangs at this:
I am using Firefox 12.0 under W7 (64 bit). No sign of any network activity. I've tried a couple of times.

Al.

[sheeny]

Hmmm same with IE9...

Al.

[iceman]

Hi Al

Reduce your image to 2000px wide (or lower) and let me know if that helps.

[sheeny]

That's it Mike!

Thanks,

Al.

[iceman]

Hi all

Only a couple of days left to submit your images in the calendar competition.

We're specifically interested in some more submissions for:

- Moon/Jupiter conjunction/occultation (if anyone has any)
- Solar Eclipse / Annular Solar Eclipse
- Comet Lovejoy (landscape format)

Get those entries in!

[Adelastro1]

You're wish is my command!:D

[alpal]

I posted 3 entries today.
Is there anywhere we can see all the entries?

[iceman]

Not yet :)

[iceman]

As of 5pm this afternoon, image submission for the calendar competition has closed.

We had a great response, with over 215 images submitted across the various categories.

Over the next few days, David (Astrovisuals) and I will narrow down the images to a shortlist in each category.
After that, a voting form will go online where the extended IceInSpace community will be able to vote for their favourite images in each category. I'm expecting this to be ready on Monday or Tuesday, and voting will be open for a month or so.

Stay tuned early next week!

[iceman]

Hi all

David and I have chosen our shortlist of images in each category - most categories we've narrowed down to 5, some categories 3 or 4 (if there were only a few images in that category).

Wow, we're both blown away by the quality and range of images and can't wait to showcase ANY of these in the 2013 calendar.

Next up, it's your turn - you get to vote for your favourites, for the images you want to see in the calendar.

I'm just tidying up the voting form and it'll be ready for you tomorrow!

[iceman]

Voting is now open!

See here for more: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=91789

[iceman]

Hi all

Just an update on this - the winners of the calendar competition will be announced on Sunday or Monday.

The calendar is coming together really well! We're so excited with what we've produced and we're sure you'll love it too.

The final proofs will be done in the coming weeks, and the calendar is expected to be ready for sale in early August, available from the IceInSpace Shop (http://shop.iceinspace.com.au).

The calendar will be even better this year, not only because the images were chosen by you, but because David has gone above and beyond and included more detail and more resources for night sky enthusiasts.

There's 2 additional pull-out pages in the centre, including a Moon Map, Star Chart, Planet visibility charts and 2 posters containing all of the short-listed images.

More information coming soon!