Whats the screening process like?

[bjelder]

Hey jetphotos crew

I've always been curious as to how you guys screen photos. Do you copy and paste into photoshop to see if the pics are level, equalize to see dust spots, etc? About how long does the average process take for one picture/how many do you do in one sitting?

Also, do you judge sharpness and contrast etc by eye?

Thanks for the info I'm just curious!

[brianw999]

I tend to screen in batches of 50 with a break in between to rest the eyes. 50 screens will generally take around 30 -40 minutes with some taking no more than 10-20 seconds to decide upon and some taking a couple of minutes. I'll screen a minimum of 50 per day, sometimes going up to 300 - 400 per day. That's around four hours work ...... and I do have a job and a life as well. I'm fortunate in that I have a decent computer and screen at work now ( although no access to PS3 ) and if I'm on station in between calls I'll do a bit of screening there as well.

I personally have PS CS3 running while I'm screening. I'll copy a pic into CS3 if I think there's something that needs fixing AND I'm on the edge of yes/no. If a quick fix of no more than 20 seconds work makes a good visual difference then I'll reject and leave a note to the photog on where to go. If the 20 second fix doesn't do much then I'll accept on the basis of the JP ethos of "Seek to accept, not to reject".

Sharpness is judged by eye. Just about everything else has a tool attached to the screeners page to give a really robust screening input. Horizon, contrast and exposure, equalisation for dust, manipulation and overprocessing judgements, the ability to see previous rejects, similars in the database already, are all available to help with the decision process.

Sometimes some photogs unfortunately try to "bend" !! the system by reuploading previous rejections with date/place changes or without reprocessing at all. We can tell when that's being done as well and have the means to make a note visible to other screeners concerning serial offenders.

I don't know how other sites screen their photos but I firmly believe that the JP system is fair, and has a quick turnaround, because of the tools available to screeners.

[pdeboer]

In addition to what Brian already wrote, I can say for myself that I can screen about 60-70 in half hour. I hardly do much more in one session, but mostly have several sessions a day. Unless I have other things to do of cours

We have a special screening program running on internet, with a lot a tools. Only in difficult cases I tend to look at a pic in Photoshot. The screening program has several tools. For instance to equalize, which I use to double check the dust bunnies when I think I see one, or a halo when I think an image is overprocessed. We also have the possiblity to check a histogram and horizon.
But I must say that mostly the pics are checked by the eye first, when in doubt I use the tools or, eventually, photoshop. Also I check a lot about the a/c types, regi's and c/n's on several internetdatabases. There are a lot of images of new regi's which have to be double checked before accepting.

I have asked the administrators if it is allowed to place a screen shot of the program, if I get a yes, I'll post what we see here.

cheers, Pamela

[pdeboer]

Ok this is a sreenshot of the screening programme we use, I removed some info about the photografer, date etc.



So you see, a lot of boxes.

cheers, Pamela

[wrxflyer]

Brian and Pamela,

Thank you very much for this excellent and clear explanation.
This answers a lot of my personal questions about the screening system.

Nice screen-shot Pam.!
Didn't know that you have special screening programs like this at hand.

After screening some pics; do you read the pre-screen and other recjetion-help topics on the forum as well, or isn't that part of the proces?

Keep up your hard work.

Freek

[pdeboer]

Hi Freek, glad you like it
Of course, all credits go to the ones that developed this programme, not sure who did it, but it must have been CK and Gabe amongst others that made it. It makes screening a lot better

I read the forums during screening, before or after, and try to save some time to read and answer on the pre-screen topic. We also have a forum for the screeners which are used to discuss the way we screen.

Pamela

[ollieholmes]

A very usefull thread and its good to see the screening screen.

[Powercube]

That is such a fascinating little web app. I love these little insights into the world behind a screening monitor. Thank you for posting.

[E-Diddy!]

Additionally, when viewing the large version of the photo, screeners have the ability to equalize the photo, view a histogram (combined and color-separated), check centering, horizon, and magnify the image. Very nifty tools for photo screening.

[Jose Luis Silva]

Thank you very much, Pamela and Brian, for an interesting post concerning the things work in here.

Great job!

[yash777]

Very nice explanation Pamela and Brian! Btw how do you guys get selected as screeners? what are the requirements?

[Alex - Spot-This !]

Very nice explanation Pamela and Brian! Btw how do you guys get selected as screeners? what are the requirements?

http://forums.jetphotos.net/showthread.php?t=44816

[yash777]

http://forums.jetphotos.net/showthread.php?t=44816

Oh thanks Omar!

[Alberto U.]

Great thread and thanks to Brian and Pamela for your replies! I really like that screenshot .. awesome system you guys have

And Brian, I like the "Seek to accept, not to reject" approach, that's the true "friendly way to fly"

oh, and thanx for all you hard work, and hopefully some day I'll have the skills to apply to be able to use that system too

best regards

Alberto

[Alberto U.]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I have no idea how you managed, but you have been able to make the queue shorter by around 3000 shots in a couple of days with the uploads being steady at over 1000+ per day! Awseome work! Thanxs again