How about an alternative comp, itd be interesting to see the results of a one-off where a raw and/or hi-res jpg is posted, and everyone can have a go at post-processing it, from adjusting contrast etc, through to applying effects and filters. Id be interested to see the results given the mixed opinion on post processing, and just how much variation can be achieved using standard techniques.

Thoughts?

The image used would need to be rather generic and plain for it to work best, I think.

Complex is fine, I was meaning plain more in the sense of no editing being done at all, including exposure compensation on the camera etc.

The difficulty in finding photos on the net is I think we really need the raw file for most freedom to process, of course some people dont have raw editors and so a high-quality jpg would also be needed. One way to get around "who provides the image" could be to use the winning photo from the other competition, if shot in raw. I guess it doesnt matter if its just a jpg, can still do a little. Otherwise maybe the runner up could provide one or something? Just suggestions at this point.

Yeah can do. As I said, we need RAW + jpg as some people dont have raw editors, and I envisage a few people potentially winning and having a non-raw camera. No reason why you cant enter your version to see whether someone that didnt take the photo can produce a better end result than the person that took it.

Maybe a rule should be that processed images arent submitted till after a certain date, as I just thought that ordinarily multiple people will likely make the same changes but to different degrees. This is fine, but obviously some people might be "Ill edit the shadows...oh, xxx has already done that" and not bother, when they might edit the shadows in a better way?

Good point. Just had a play, for some reason I thought you were really limited in terms of what you could do with jpgs, but looking at it the only difference between the 2 in camera raw is the ability to change white balance for raw.

Rawtherapee can work on JPGs as well as RAWs, obviously youre a bit limited by the fact that its only an 8bit image rather than the 12 you get in RAW, but other than that anything you can do to RAW you can also do to JPG. Extreme white balance and exposure changes tend to be the ones which dont work well on JPG.

RawTherapee is free so anyone who wants to join in and get the full gamut of control only needs to download it.