The results are in! You took the time to provide your input on the 50 photos I was considering for the Lenspiration 2025 Calendar, and now it’s time to look at the results!

One fun fact is that there were considerably more participants this year than last year. 36% more, to be exact! Instead of 53 people voting, there were 83! In general, I think this lessened the weight of each individual vote while increasing the disparity between high-rated and low-rated candidates, which is a good thing in the bigger scheme of things.

To determine a grade for each individual photo, I used the same method as I used last year. In a nutshell, all of your responses came into one big spreadsheet, I tallied the number of 1-5 star ratings each photo received, and then used a formula to factor in all the star ratings each photo received to create a precise score for each photo. I then set up color-scale conditional formatting to highlight highest-rated photos in bright green, lowest-rated photos in bright red, and all the ratings in between in a shade of color in between. I then created a new row that would translate the score as a “True Star” rating of each photo, which would be the equivalent of the the score on a scale of 0 to 5 stars.

Here’s wht it looks like in the spreadsheet:

With this information, I could then see which photos were the best and the worst photos from the survey!

I know I’m the one who is ultimately going to make the final decision as to which photos go into the calendar, but getting feedback like this is really helpful. It’s like getting critique on my own photos! Some of the photos I liked didn’t receive as high ratings I was expecting, and some of the photos I didn’t like as much received higher ratings than I expected.

For example. Candidate #20 is a very nice photo that I included in the survey because it truly is a calendar contender. I remember taking my time to create it. I walked the beach to find a good foreground to begin with. I gathered up a few larger shells to add to the already-existing swath of smaller shells placed there by the waves. I set up my camera as close to the sand as possible. I positioned and repositioned the camera a hundred times to get just the perfect placement of elements. I risked getting my equipment covered in saltwater as I lay there in the sand engaged in endless tweaking. I was really enjoying myself. 🙂 But the experience behind taking a photo is different than the actual photo itself. Looking at it now, there are little issues with it. Like one participant commented, there is “Too much sand before the [surf].” And another participant nailed in when she said, “Not enough color in the sky and . . . a little one-note in color.” Before looking at the survey results, there were just enough elements in the photo that made me feel like it was a lower-rated photo in my mind compared to the others in the survey.

But then I looked at the survey data. The Ture Star rating of 4.4 makes it tie for 2nd place with two other photos! I guess I communicated well to the viewer what the actual experience of taking the photo was like. 🙂

On the other hand, Candidate #35 was one that I thought would score very high. I have loved this photo from it’s very conception, from the very minute I previsualized it. We were returning from photographing the waterfall at The Punch Bowel in Turkey Run State Park, IN, and some students had stopped here to photograph the creek snaking through the gorge. The idea of including the trail and a hiker on the other side hit me all at once, and so I proceeded to create it as soon as the coast was clear. But just because it’s a fantastic photo doesn’t mean it would work well in a calendar, as the survey data revealed.

Only two other photos scored lower than this one. But the factors that contributed to this particular photo’s low score for a calendar are reasonable, as revealed in the comments. “Muddy and slimy.” It has “a rather zen feel.” So, yes, it’s a neat photo, but probably not the best for a calendar.

Another surprise came when I saw the survey data for Candidates #5, #6, and #7, the epic panorama at Grandview Overlook in the United State’s newest National Park, New River Gorge National Park right here in wild, wonderful West Virginia (can you tell I’m really proud of this fact? 🙂 )  Here are the stats:

I like each of these Candidates. That’s why they were all in the survey! But without my opinion being altered by popular opinion, I would have said the middle one, #6, was my favorite of the three. In the words of one participant, “I love the dimension in this one as compared to 7 and 5.” Exactly. And also being able to see the sun glowing over the horizon.

But Candidate #5 is the one that took the cake! Here are some of the reasons why. “I like how you can see the beginning and end, not just a segment [of the river].” “I love the shape of the river.” “Such a unique view, out of the ordinary!” “The best sky coloring [of the three].”

In fact, if you noticed, this photo has a True Star rating of 5.0. That’s the highest rating a photo can have! And this photo shares 1st place with none other. It’s the only one of the 50 candidates with a 5.0 rating. So there you have it! The best photo of the bunch.

I’m tellin’ ya! See, this is proof that West Virginia is the bestest place! Y’all should come and visit. 🙂

Very close behind, tied for 2nd place, was Candidate #20 (the shell photo above), Candidate #29 below (also taken in West Virginia, ahem, by the way) . . .

. . .  and Candidate #36, an old photo from the past when traveling through the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. How could you not like photos coming out of that drop-dead location!

And now, are you ready for the worst photo?!

While none of the candidates are actually bad, there were just some that scored lower than others, and the following photo happens to be the one that scored lowest. With a rating of 0.0 comes the bat cave photo of Clifty Falls State Park, Indiana!

I won’t embarrass my self by saying I actually really like this photo, but I will admit that there is truth to the comments. “I don’t think I would look at this for a month.” “Not enough color.” “Can’t figure this one out.” “If the subject is the person, the leading lines do not point towards them.” “Interesting place.”

Yes, a very interesting place indeed! You should go visit it. But maybe not the best photo for a calendar.

Thanks again, everyone, for participating in the survey! Your ratings and comments are very helpful. And it was encouraging to see that participation grew from last year. Not only is it enjoyable to see everyone’s input, but the feedback is instrumental in helping me know which 12 photos to use in next year’s calendar. Looking forward to revealing to you next week the 12 photos which are chosen for the Lenspiration 2025 Calendar!