Hello my lovelies! It is time for the first round of Scenic Cycle 4 – ENTM’s anonymously judged photography style screenshot cycle.
Each week, our photographers will share their photo on the theme, and then our judges will sort and rank them and provide critiques. We also have community voting just for funsies during this round, but the final winner of Scenic Cycle is done purely by the judges votes since everything is anonymous!
Last week you met the judges and the photographers – so this week let us see their beautiful works! The theme for Round 1 was “New Horizons” inspired by the song lyrics of the Dawntrail teaser cinematic. This round was free style, no restrictions – anywhere in Etherys that the photographer felt inspired by the phrase!
To view each image in a larger size, click on the center of the image. It should open in a new tab in your browser.
After looking at each image, please vote using the embedded Google poll below. Sign in is required to prevent ballot stuffing, but I do not collect email addresses.
Forbidden Candy MountainsUnseelie StormVerdant WorldWe have Scree At HomeInto the EmptyNew Horizons – HeavenswardLe New Horizon PictureNhaama’s BlessingBridge to Adventure
If you are having trouble using the embedded poll above, you can instead vote using this link. It should open in a new tab.
We have nine photographers competing in Scenic Cycle 4. Our Scenic cycles are unique in that they are anonymously judges – only Katarh Mest knows which photographer submits each shot each week, and the judges will be judging and ranking each screenshot solely on what is presented.
Community judging will be scored completely separately and will be just for fun.
But we still want to know who decided to throw themselves into the chaotic fire of an ENTM cycle, so here they are!
We have three permanent judges and three rotating judges this cycle, with a mix of new faces and ENTM veterans! The permanent judges will be judging and scoring each week, while the rotating judges will be popping in and out, for a maximum of two weeks during each of the six week cycle.
Your Three Permanent Judges
Resident Judge Odharnait “Ona” Greene: “Ever walked down a street and had the sun sparkle through the trees. Dappling on your face with twinkles of warmth and hope? Yeah, that’s not Ona. Ona is a hyperactive, chaotic goblin bard who eats too many cheese sticks and drinks Monster like it’s her job.
Hailing from Goblin, Ona is a regular on the ENTM scene. She has never won a cycle, but just like a celebrity was given this honorary title of S-Rank.
She enjoys teaching others how to Gpose and will judge you (obviously referencing cookies while she does it). A song or a poem is Ona’s usual critique style, but occasionally she drinks too much or smokes too much and you get the most unhinged critique.
Irl Ona is a Regional Manager for disability services, a soccer coach, a mom, and exhausted. She is taking her motorcycle test in September and enjoys taking photos for friends and family in her spare time. Ona loves you all!”
(Katarh’s note: Ona forgets she was crowned Monthly Challenge Winner one year, which netted her an S-Rank title.)
Judge Ona
Judge PennySnowflake: Penny is new to judging, but not new to ENTM. She agreed to help out with judging so some of our other veteran judges can hang back as participants for this cycle. She most recently participated in Classic Cycle 13 and she is from Light server.
“Hey Penny, long-time player of FF14! Play time just passed 10,107 hours. I mostly do Gposes for the last 3 years. My last big achievement was getting both Beata and Saint of the Firmament. I look forward to seeing how everyone does in this competition and seeing different skills, ideas, and hearts in the photo.”
Judge Penny
Judge JuzelleApohrae: Juzelle is new to ENTM entirely and will give us a fresh perspective (because we do tend to be very naval-gazey here in ENTM.) She attended art school for industrial design and has a keen eye for both fashion and decoration. Juzelle is from Lamia server.
Judge Juzelle
Your Three Rotating Judges
Two more veteran S-rank participants joined us, and one new face for the judging staff!
Judge MalkovichMalkovich: Malkovichis a previous S-rank winner of our Doubles Cycle along with Neisha Rayne, and 1st runner up of our All Stars Cycle a few years ago. He has been a judge for us many times before, and has graciously agreed to be a rotating judge for Scenic Cycle 4. Malkovich is from Faerie server.
Judge Malkovich
Judge Rymmrael Bhaldraelwyn: In her own words: “1st Runner Up Classic Cycle 10, 1st Runner Up Classic Cycle 12, Winner Runway Cycle 2, The Ghost That Haunts ENTM Discord.” Rymm has been with ENTM for many years, and has also agreed to step in as a rotating judge during this cycle. Rymm is from Lamia server.
Judge Rymm
Judge ChatonGrincheux: Chat is joining us for the first time as a rotating judge! She’s an avid Gposer and loves photography. (She is also the nicest scholar any warrior could ever want in their raid static.) Chaton is from Lamia server, where she co-leads the Silk free company.
Judge Chaton
Your Hostess
Webmaster Katarh Mest: Katarh returns for another fun cycle of serious photography using a video game engine! Competing since Forum (Classic) Cycle 5, Winner of Runway Cycle 1, and either judging or hosting for nearly every cycle in between, Katarh took over ENTM along with Kai Ulric in 2018 after our beloved founder Rongi Pongi had to step aside to focus on his real life fashion career. (We totally understand and we still miss you Rongi!) Katarh is from Lamia server and is the FC leader of Spin the Ascian.
Hello again everyone! It never fails that as soon as I think I’ve got the capacity to run a cycle, all hell breaks loose and I’m working until 7PM at night. Now that it’s Friday and I’ve got a chance to catch my breath, here’s some updates!
I have dyscalculia and somehow completely forgot that we were on Scenic Cycle 4 already. WHOOPS! Kai fixed it.
We have enough competitors to launch the cycle! YAY!
I’ll be contacting those who have submitted applications shortly and getting you snug and cozy in the Photographer’s green room.
I do still have just a couple more slots open, so get those applications in fast!APPLICATIONS WILL CLOSE BY SUNDAY AUGUST 25th or when we reach capacity, whichever comes first.
I have ZERO applications to be a judge…
Why you should be a judge for ENTM Scenic Cycle
You get to share your opinions with the world!
Since it’s an anonymous cycle, nobody can accuse you of being biased!
It’s a good way to learn how to describe what you like and don’t like in any given piece of art!
There is no wrong way to provide critiques! (Just ask Ona.) You get to wax poetic about screenshots however you want.
You can learn a lot of neat techniques from the contestants for your own shots in the future! I’ve learned SO MUCH just watching what other people do.
If you are passionate about photography, you can help coach up a new generation of younger photographers who could use mentoring to make their shots even more outstanding than they already are.
All volunteer judges who make it through a full cycle also come with personal reference from Katarh IRL if you need one. (Hey, if I get to leverage my efforts on ENTM for career related purposes, then everyone else who volunteers for me ought to be able to as well!)
Hello everyone! Katarh Mest here. It’s been a hot minute since we ran a cycle in ENTM, thanks to life eating our host’s faces and us waiting with bated breath for our long promised graphics update.
Well, now we can exhale and start taking screenshots like crazy again. I tried to give everyone a good solid six weeks to work through Dawntrail MSQ but I understand that everyone plays at a different pace, and with different priorities, so after some consideration I’ve opted to not make Dawntrail zones required for this cycle.
Key Dates: ENTM Scenic Cycle III
August 18th: Cycle Auditions open and call for judges open
September 1st: Cycle Contestants Announced
September 5th: First Scenic Cycle III entry due
Weekly due dates after that
October 11th Final entries posted
Wait, who are you guys again?
ENTM, Eorzea’s Neo Talent Management, aka the screenshot contest formerly known as Eorzea’s Next Top Model, is FFXIV’s longest running screenshot contest! We’ve been running multi-week contests since 2013 on the official forums, Tumblr, and now on our permanent website. There are other, bigger, and of course more officialler screenshot contests (including those run by Square Enix themselves, but also our good friends at Gposers and Eorzea Photography and everywhere else) but our particular niche is long form contests with judges providing critiques and feedback for each submitted shot.
(Feel free to go check out our archives! Admin Katarh is in the process of uploading some of the newer contests from the last few years since they’re in the blogs but not organized into archives.)
How do ENTM contests work?
Each week, our contestants provide us a shot on the theme, and the shot is displayed on this website and on our Discord channel for public viewing, commentary, and community voting. For our Classic Cycle, Fresh Faces Cycle, Copycat Cycle, and Fashion Cycle, a single named character is the main focus on the shot. (We’ve also done some crazy Renovation Cycles, YouTube Cycles, and Instagram Cycles in the past as experiments!)
Judges rank each shot, and provide critiques back to the contestants. Shots are ranked based on theme, composition, and manipulation of the in-game engine.
So what is Scenic Cycle?
Scenic Cycle is our still life, landscape, and non-fashion photography challenge. Unlike other cycles, where a contestant is named and voted on by that name every week, the photos submitted for Scenic Cycle are anonymous and don’t contain any characters. Scenic Cycle is all about the environments of Etherys. You know, the scenery. Judges will provide votes and critiques based on the name of the shot.
Who can enter Scenic Cycle III?
Anyone can enter! ENTM contest are open to anyone that plays FFXIV and loves taking screenshots! You can play on PS4, PS5, PC, Mac, or even XBox now, as long as you can scrape a high quality screenshot and send it to us weekly.
ENTM is a “vanilla” contest – no mods or Reshade are allowed. This puts everyone on an even playing field. (With the graphics update, it’s not even really necessary any more.) Internal Gpose filters and your own photographic skill are plenty enough to capture the world of FFXIV at its most beautiful.
To apply to be a contestant please fill out this Google Form: Applications for Scenic Cycle III Contestants Katarh Mest will be in touch via Discord to verify your entry and to request a single vanilla scenic screenshot as proof that your system is capable of handling unaltered images.
Warning: There are limited slots! ENTM Scenic Cycles are limited to a maximum of 12 contestants. Only the first 12 confirmed contestants will be accepted! We also must have a minimum of six contestants for the contest to launch, so don’t be shy about entering! I will make a separate announcement if we hit the cap before entries are closed.
Who are the judges?
Judges will be chosen from previous ENTM winners and community volunteers. Anyone with some basic knowledge of art or photography who is willing to provide honest but kind feedback to our photographers (whether that’s in the form of walls o’text, drunken poetry, or bullet points) is welcome to apply to be a judge.
Judges are tasked with ranking each shot from strongest to weakest every week and then giving each shot some appropriate feedback about what was done well, and what might have made the shot stand out a little bit more.
Well the cycle has come to a close! We saw some amazing screenies again this cycle and I love how the models rose to meet each challenge. Some were super hard, some absolutely hilarious.
I haven’t done this in previous cycles but really wanted to show off, one more time, each model’s images for the cycle and then announce the overall winner. I guess there is a first time for everything…
Alastor
Amalie
Damien
Hilda
Kimiko
Netizyn
These models look amazing in their screenshots! It has been an amazing cycle!
But now to announce our winners:
OVERALL COMMUNITY WINNER… Amalie!
And
Now
Without
Further
Delays
Or
Hesitations…
Your CopyCat Cycle 2 Winner:
Damien Montclair!!
Your images were top notch each week, and the win was well deserved! To all my beautiful models, I am so thankful for your patience and kindness and beauty this cycle! With so many things happening IRL and IG, it goes without saying how amazing our community is! I look forward to seeing you compete in the future!
This was a hilarious round for me. I asked my models to become me, and they gave me some awesome shots. I could not have asked for a better showing to be honest. They really embodied my personality and provided you with images of me being loud and crazy, but I am a little disappointed with the marked lack of whiskey…
also there wasn’t any cheese sticks or appie juice… sigh.
Commission by Dorothy Perez
But only one model came out on top being the best Ona they could be! And to that model I say…
Our OnaCopyCat is
HILDA!
Congratulations to you my darling! You look marvelous! <3
Stay tuned for our final results and overall winner of CopyCat Cycle 2!
Wow. The Cycle is over after this week??!?! I am not ok with this! I want to see the manager! There is no manager only Katarh…
For real for real.
The final week. When I was planning the weeks, I said I want this to be light hearted, push some boundaries, force the models to really think about what they were copying and give me images that are fun, funny, and impressive. For the last five weeks we have seen these amazing shots and the models stepping up to themes that are a little strange…
So I figured, lets make the final week something everyone enjoys, a theme that no one can pretend isn’t amazing and awesome and probably would be drunk at 10:45 in the morning if there weren’t obligations and a mountain of clothes to fold and put away….
That’s right… this week’s theme was
ODHARNAIT “ONA” GREENE THE BARD
I gave the models some images of myself, some commissions some IG. Provided them with things Ona likes, characteristics of her personality, and told them to become me. Some models found embodying me to be a strange situation and they laughed as they sent me their images, while others, nah they all thought it was hilarious…
First, here is a gallery of the images I provided to the models:
Commission by Stray AffelionCommission done through Tumblr… I no longer have artist’s information 🙁Commission by Stray Affelion
Now… here are the models as Ona…
Amalie Greene – SkålDamien – ShenanigansHilda – Le Dancing Ona is the Dancing QueenKimiko – (Ona) Ceruleum Processing Plant!Netizyn – Ona
Now comes the fun part — which model best captures Ona, in all of her Loud, Loyal, Supportive, Cheese stick-appy juice-chicky nugg loving glory? Which Bard, outbarded the Bard of all Bards?
Drop your little votey votes and we will have an answer for you next Wednesday!
I asked the models to share with me their best Zodiac image. They were given the choice of Western Zodiac or Chinese Zodiac…
if they would have asked they could have done any other Zodiac there is but that’s all that was asked of me…
As a Scorpio (Scorpio Sun, Taurus Moon, and Capricorn Rising) I am a cranky stubborn secretive grudge holding passionate human who will gladly take someone out for a friend (just say the word).
But I didn’t have to take a shot. My models did, however. From their amazing entries, we had an incredibly close contest this round. Places 2 and 3 tied, but there was a clear winner, and that was …
Netizyn!
Gemini Horses
The use of both the Chinese Zodiac (Horse) and the Western Zodiac (Gemini) you encorporated dualing ideas and created a beautiful image, which earned you a well deserved win!
Next week is our last week, but probably my favorite week 🙂 As Yoshi P would say…
When most people consider Zodiac, we immediately think of the typical 12 month calendar based on the stars, however one of my models noted that we also have the Chinese Zodiac, and those a pretty awesome ideas as well! So I was asked if they could also be included…
Um…
So they were given the chance to create an image that embodies their own zodiac signs. This round is the only round that isn’t based specifically on an image, but instead on the characteristics or feelings associated with the Zodiacs. So without further delay… Your models…
Alastor – Gemini
Amalie – Aries
Damien – Rabbit
Hilda – La Capricorn
Kimiko – Taurus
Netizyn – Gemini (and Horse)
Voting closes on Wednesday and the post will go up shortly after!
