Gurushots.com (2.6 of 5 points)

I noticed that too in fact as soon as voting started within minutes there were gurus with crappy shots with hundreds of votes steaming up the ranks it's total BS!

A lot of people boost the picture as soon as they load it up. You have to vote on other peoples pic to give your picture view play. The only problem I had was they stole peoples votes last weekend and I was never able to retrieve the votes back. Gurushots has helped me to become much more better as an artist I can also see flaws in others work that at first I didn't recognized you have to do some editing but I think some contest should be STRAIGHT OUT OF CAMERA and a person should not be allowed to continuously use same winning picture over and over in different contest this gives them an unfair advantage over others

Very I was in the one also & loss votes! I would have been in the top 30% if they did not have that mass up! The ones really to enter are the exhibit contest. That was the one that the votes were all out of whack. The other ones u do not really win anything! They should put a limit on how many times a photo can win. I emailed them a half a dozen times last week & got one form answer back.

You are correct in your observations Giovanni - I noticed this time and again ... now 6 moths on and there is no difference. Definately all the signs of a rigged system. Time and again I have been stopped short of the votes to move to the next level and unless you use many swaps then it fails. I am now at expert level but it is hard to get higher and looking back I got here quicker than I now seem to be moving!!!

Straight out of camera? Really? Need to study through old masters of film even they tweaked images in 5he darkroom.

Hi Giovanni, I am relatively new in Gurushots, let say 8 monthes, I saw what you describe but also some my pics has the lucky to get plenty votes at the beginning of the challenge. In one case I was in first posizion for 3 days, but after i fall down ... down... to arrive at the end more or less 90th. You must upload immediately when the challenge is open, immediately to vote, to rich the max visibility, and after to vote when the indicator of visibility start to fall down. Don' t miss the boost, when happen, and try some time to swap. In 8 months, participating to less than 40% of challenges, I rich Champion level. I am satisfied until now, even if I know that I will never rich the master level ;-)

It's not rigged, I got from newbie to expert in 5 days without spending much money...just fills here and there bc otherwise I was voting competitors above me. I'd vote and then be lower bc of my own vote.

I have entered early, midway, and late, and done well either way. My pictures are heavily comprised of advanced techniques (2 minute exposures in actual darkness other than a revolving lighthouse which gives the sensor enough light to look like blue hour, panning moving subjects, handheld macros of fast moving insects, pictures of barrel racing where the horse has no feet on the ground, a bear from a couple feet away, etc....) AND THEY ARE HEAVILY EDITED AS IS NECESSARY TO REACH PUBLISHING LEVEL PHOTOGRAPHY!!!

The famous pic of Lincoln is a composite... Not his body y'all bc it was "funny looking," said his campaign managers. Lol. Ansel Adams turned day to night. I have done that as well... Not a composite either, nothing added or removed, just altered in tone.

Without basic enhancements, like dodging and burning, you won't reach the top of a 20-70 THOUSAND ENTRANT CONTEST... IT'S NOT EASY. gurus really are gurus.... Most of them work professionally for magazines like nat Geo.

How I and others get points... It's not number of votes, it's quality...ok well still number but bc gurus have 9 votes and newbies 1. My winning pics have lots of 7,8, and 9's. They are very discerning and know the difference between a lucky shot and a good photographer. They spot bad editing or lack of editing when necessary.

Also, picks that are not like right on topic don't do as well. If you have a a diagonal cloud or tree limb, it won't do as well as a diagonal staircase bc the topic is diagonal and the staircase is a more defined example... But it would do better in "lines in nature"

Make sense?

Oh fyi everyone winning spends money on nice cameras and lenses and editing software. When looking at winning pics or pics you like, learn from the settings displayed on most pics if swipe up.

I really wonder how many people not making it to all Star are shooting with cell, or auto mode, wondering why you aren't passing professionals shooting manual on 2k cameras and 5 years shooting full time?

Also, make sure your horizons are straight, most people won't vote for a good pic with a tilted horizon...I see them constantly and I'm not giving 6 votes to anything that's not a 9 or 10

Just wait, it will slow down unless you keep paying. I had a similar experience when I started. Lots of all star levels and quickly moved up the ranks. I'm now very close to the rank below guru level. I haven't paid for any power ups, but I have paid to enter exhibition challenges. Once their algorithms decided I wasn't going to give them much money my votes started dwindling. Photos stop getting any votes once I approach all star level. I am highly skilled and experienced, with pro gear and nearly 20 years of experience, including a photography degree. So don't act like everyone thinks it's rigged just because they suck. I know it's rigged. And my work speaks for itself. Take a look at my portfolio and try telling me again that I'm not reaching all star level because my work isn't good enough. www.walsto.com
It's rigged, period. You'll see ;)

The same with me. I achieved Master status, I have enough guru pics to be a guru but never get to win a challenge because I don't buy swaps.
They invite me every day to swap, to engage in an exhibition and cool down my voting system near the end of the challenges. I have been several times first place in challenges but from the middle to the end of the challenge I get stuck without more votes even when a boost is still active.
I have other criticism such as people voting in challenges they are participating. This is wrong. If someone I am in second or third place I will never vote in the first one even though his photo is better than mine. Also most voting people knows nothing about photography and I have seen there very good photos but also I have seen photos winning challenges that I should through to the trash can

same thing happened to me MP still waiting for reply

I have also noticed that when you first join, it's relatively easy to move from level to level. My images nearly immediately were getting 500 votes, now the same quality of images I am using can barely surpass the skilled level. SOMETHING is not right...

in one challenge that i played, the guru picked 3 images from the same player, and two of those images were the same scene shot from slightly different angle - the definition of the similar - not only those two images should not be allowed in the game in the first place (according to rules), they are picked by the guru himself...

I joined Gurushots not too long ago and quickly rose up the ranks to where ever I am now. One day, while checking my ranking on a particular challenge I noticed the person two ranks up from mine had four photos in the challenge, but only two different photos. I decided to search through the challenge to see if others had also put up similar shots and was amazed by the number of similar shots I found. What I found more amazing was the amount of exactly the same photos people had entered in the challenge, some even had all four the same. I done the same for another challenge and had the same results. I spent hours and hours going through both these challenge and reported every single one I found. The next day I went through them again and most of them, if not all, were still there. And another thing I have found on some challenges is Gurus stating what they will regard as off topic and then picking those type of photos as their Guru picks (especially in a recent challenge called 'Flocks of birds'. The Guru on that challenge contradicted their selfs numerous times.

You might have been number 11 on one level, then moved up to the next level where you now are number 512 in that new level. Keep in mind that, in order to move to the next level, you will be near the top of the lower level. If you do not understand how their system works it does not mean they are cheating!