C-BRAT Calendar 2022 Submission Request

[jep27]

Speaking for myself, as a newer member/owner, we had a lot more photos that would have be interesting to consider.. but most all taken with our iPhone and not meeting the quality/pixel requirements.

Going forward, we'll be aware an be able to take a few more shots with our SLR for that higher density requirement.. but, in practice, we only have 1 SLR picture for every 20 iPhone pictures to select from.

I assume there's no way to deal with lower-res images.. so it maybe a matter of putting the requirements and ask out there early in the year.. so people are aware and try to get appropriate images during their season -- not just looking at what they have at the end of the season. Maybe even do a monthly/quarterly outreach .. and keep the visibility and engagement more top of mind during the season.

 

[ssobol]

Speaking for myself, as a newer member/owner, we had a lot more photos that would have be interesting to consider.. but most all taken with our iPhone and not meeting the quality/pixel requirements.
...
I assume there's no way to deal with lower-res images.. so it maybe a matter of putting the requirements and ask out there early in the year.. ...

There are programs that can "up-rez" an image. New AI and all that. Some are better than others. Some are even free.

Some experimentation is probably necessary.

Some choices:

https://hubgraphics.co.uk/7-best-tools-to-upscale-images/

http://a-sharper-scaling.com/

/https://www.supermonitoring.com/blog/tools-to-enlarge-images/

 

[hardee]

Speaking for myself, as a newer member/owner, we had a lot more photos that would have be interesting to consider.. but most all taken with our iPhone and not meeting the quality/pixel requirements.
...
I assume there's no way to deal with lower-res images.. so it maybe a matter of putting the requirements and ask out there early in the year.. ...

There are programs that can "up-rez" an image. New AI and all that. Some are better than others. Some are even free.

Some experimentation is probably necessary.

Some choices:

https://hubgraphics.co.uk/7-best-tools-to-upscale-images/

http://a-sharper-scaling.com/

/https://www.supermonitoring.com/blog/tools-to-enlarge-images/

Thanks for the info and those links. I am curious if you or anyone else here has any experience with any of those sites. I have a friend who uses Topaz Studio and has bumped up a few pix for me on that.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[hardee]

Speaking for myself, as a newer member/owner, we had a lot more photos that would have be interesting to consider.. but most all taken with our iPhone and not meeting the quality/pixel requirements.

Going forward, we'll be aware an be able to take a few more shots with our SLR for that higher density requirement.. but, in practice, we only have 1 SLR picture for every 20 iPhone pictures to select from.

I assume there's no way to deal with lower-res images.. so it maybe a matter of putting the requirements and ask out there early in the year.. so people are aware and try to get appropriate images during their season -- not just looking at what they have at the end of the season. Maybe even do a monthly/quarterly outreach .. and keep the visibility and engagement more top of mind during the season.

I have received a few comments on participation (and I emphasize FEW) but at least there are some. We had barely enough to put together a 2022 Calendar.

For this year "We had a fairly sparse submission, with 13 submitters, and 44 images sent in. . . . there were 32 usable images."

Again, this level of participation really surprises me. Maybe we need to be looking at another avenue to showcase our year or seasons boats places and water activities. Maybe everybody is already doing their own calendar or posting everything on facebook or YouTube and the C-BRAT calendar is too much bother. (I know some times life gets in the way of what we want or can do.) This is a busy season, so for many this may just be the wrong time.

Another issue addressed is that many of us are using our phones for pictures because that is the camera we have with us. Most phone cameras have capability of producing usable images somewhere above 3MB, and many are in the 8+MB range now. If your phone photos are showing somewhere close to 1MB it may be a setting adjustment on the phone that can be addressed. Photos for print require a higher resolution than what you need for web posting (facebook or twitcher or . . .just viewing on your tablet) so since you are carrying your phone all the time, that is the best camera to use when you see that perfect opportunity for a calendar pix.

As to the timing of the announcement, I apologize for that, but new calendars for next year generally come out at the end of the current year. I will try and change a habit and next year will try and get a monthly reminder to shot for the cover of the next calendar. (Unless of course the general consensus is that we don't want/need to continue this project.) AS an aside to the calendar use, NMI is planning on including one in each new C-Dory sold this coming year. That should bump up our numbers at Lulu some and help compensate for Julie's time on the project.

I haven't heard anything from her today but I know the Lulu uploading process is going to take time and effort on her part, adding the graphics and text for the photos, so giving her some time and patience right now. We will see the results and be ready to order soon ---> is the plan.

Harvey
SleepyC:moon

 

[colbysmith]

Hi Harvey,
Just some of my own thoughts. I enjoy the calendar, but know you've mentioned the hassles with Lulu in the past. I would think there are other companies out there that could do just as good of a job, that would be easier to work with.
I take my photos with my iPhone. This year I have the 13 Pro, which has a great camera. But the past year my photos were from an iPhone 7. I've started taking more photos with the phone's camera settings, but in the past I've also used a camera app where I could lower the resolution. The lower resolution still produced the photo quality I was satisfied with, but taking up a lot less file space! I think some photos at lower resolution could still produce a "winning" photo. It's only being blown up to 8x10, so may still be acceptable.
I upload many photos to my facebook albums. An easy process. There is now a C-Brats group page on Facebook, and many folks have taken to uploading some photos there. I've even uploaded a few there. Sometimes I'll upload some to our space here in C-Brats, but it's a slow and tedious process. (I love the site, and our admins do a wonderful job maintaining it. So I'm not ragging on them, it's just reality.)
The only other issue is time. Time to go through photos, picking out the best ones, and then getting the information requested for the calendar import. (Who owns the boat, who took the photo, and their handle on here...) I uploaded about a dozen photos this year. I had the time, the inclination and what I thought were appropriate photos. And I enjoyed doing it. But I also know there is no guarantee that any of my photos will be published. That's not a deterrent to me, but could be to others.
Anyway, JMHO. Colby

 

[DayBreak]

Hi Harvey,

Thank you so much for your selfless effort and the time it takes to coordinate the production of this annual C-Brats Calendar. I look at this Calendar as a Christmas gift from you to all of us C-Brats. As far as submitting photos, I think it is fun to enter with the hope that one of your submitted photos may make it into next years Calendar and to see where others have traveled with their C-Dorys.

As far as taking photos from an iPhone, it helps to zoom in a bit when taking the photo for quality of resolution. We are still using an iPhone 7.

Again, thank you Harvey for making the annual C-Dory Calendar a success along with those that submitting photos.

 

[hardee]

GM C-Brats. I just received this email from Julie yesterday evening in response to a query about the calendar project status.. Thought I should pass it along so you can know where we are at with the Calendar.

Hi Harvey,

You’re not being a pest, it’s just an overall busy time of year for me. We are in the middle of finishing up our Osprey brochure and we’ve been working on it since July. It has been all consuming for me for these past few days. I will be working on uploading the brochure tonight and tomorrow night and will hopefully be done after that. So I am still about a week and a half ahead of where I was with this last year.

I’ll give you an update tomorrow evening.

Thanks,

Julie

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[JohnnyD]

Harvey,
Thank you very much for your efforts on the calendar. I look at each weekday that I am in the office and love it!!!
Regards,
John

 

[hardee]

Harvey,
Thank you very much for your efforts on the calendar. I look at each weekday that I am in the office and love it!!!
Regards,
John

Thank you John, but it is not really all my effort. Right now we are waiting for the Pre-production to get done at NMI as Julie is the one putting the calendar together, meaning adding the text and graphics to each photo and then uploading that to Lulu Printing, where they will actually put the ink to paper so se can order. Still hoping to get them in time so we can order for Christmas. I know we are not to high on the Priority list there, but . . . . . still waiting. I had expected to hear something this week on Tues or Wed, and I am trying not to be too much of a pest there, But If nothing by tomorrow, I will make another Squeeeek. You know how the wheel and the grease work.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[Griswold]

Being the newbie to the c-brats, I haven't had my boat out enough to get photos. I wish I did but have been dealing with trailer problems since towing home. So if anyone has info on a tandem trailer for sale please PM me. New ones are 16-20 weeks out and 7-9K

 

[DayBreak]

Griswold,

Congratulations on the purchase of your C-Dory. Sorry to hear about your consideration on buying a new trailer. Might it be worth the cost to repair the trailer vs. buying a new one?

We will be having a annual C-Brats Get-Together at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island in May of 2022. Hopefully, you will be able to attend that gathering and during your stay, collect some nice photos to enter for the 2023 C-Brats Calendar. Look for details in a new post for this Get-Together in early January.

What size C-Dory did you purchase? This would be helpful to know in your request.

 

[hardee]

Howdy Brats. Sorry to say but I have not heard anything from Julie for over a week now. SORRY. I know it is a busy time of year, but . . . . .
The plan was to have the calendars ready to order for Christmas time. Not sure we can make that now, but I will keep trying.

Harvey
SleepyC:moon

 

[chieftele]

I submitted a photo, but it was from my I phone and I didn't even pay attention to pixels or resolution, so it may not qualify. Either way, I'm really looking forward to the calendar! I'm grateful to all who put effort into it...

 

[hardee]

I submitted a photo, but it was from my I phone and I didn't even pay attention to pixels or resolution, so it may not qualify. Either way, I'm really looking forward to the calendar! I'm grateful to all who put effort into it...

Thank you, and glad to do it. I did do part of it anyway, and for me it is always fun to look and sort. I know there were some photos that were submitted that did not met the definition requirements but I don't know who or how many. When the initial screening was done, we had 13 submitters that had qualifying photos. I believe there will be one photo from each. Tried to make it fair that way, although I do feel that we could have had some more higher quality photos. This next year we will be doing some things different. I will try and keep a reminder up at least monthly to keep an eye focused on calendar submissions.

For both phone and camera, there are settings that will allow you to vary the size of your photo (megapixels). Look for that setting and then adjust so you are using the higher def setting --> yields a higher or larger megapixel number, as in 5.7. or 9 in stead of ?KB or 1,2,or 3 MB. Yes, it will take more space in your memory, BUT, that is the price you pay for what you get.

Hope we have the calendar setup at Lulu soon, and as soon as I know that has happened I will post here.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[hardee]

WELL NOW, it's here. The new 2022 C-BRATS Calendar is available on Lulu to order right from you own little spot on the I-net world.

$10.99 for the Calendar.

Use the 15% Off Promo Code: SNOW15

Add a bit for shipping regular USPS trackable about $6 OR
Add a bit more for expedited USPS ( about $18) for faster and also trackable shipping.

Here is a link to the C-BRAT site thread for the Lulu link and Promo Code.
I'm not sure how long that code is good for, but maybe only a week.

http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?p=361558#361558

Thanks all for your participation, patience and support here.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon