Gallery Image Quality

Well, I agree that the pictures on the earlier page don't exactly bowl one over. But there are a couple of reasons for that.

First, they were of course all shot on film and then scanned on poor scanners (by today's standards), which hasn't helped them at all. Colours are distorted and sharpness is lost.

Furthermore, we are used nowadays to seeing highly saturated images, which makes the film pictures look dull. Scanning on cheap scanners is particularly damaging to transparencies, which tend to look as though the life has been drained out of them.

Second, it does tend to confirm my view that the advent of digital has improved people's photography. More people are doing it, and they are spending more time on it, and trying to learn from mistakes.

But I also take your point that some of the pictures being posted currently are pretty good.

G

My understanding was that the right place to solicit criticism was the Your Photos section, in the part of the forum which for some reason is called Gallery, although it isn't "the" Gallery.

However, I notice the section is sub-titled "Post pictures taken using Pentax related equipment to show its capabilities here", which is not a true reflection of how it is actually used.

The real gallery, as JR pointed out earlier, is a place to display one's better pictures.

Maybe a bit of re-wording would be useful.

And David, the problem with flooding the gallery with poor pictures is that very few people look at them (other than the cheesy shots of semi-naked ladies). Those who do look at them are a small intrepid band who are given to making statements like this: "Sheer brilliance!!" and "Nice one XXXX!".

Comments like these are not especially helpful, and sadly this type do form the vast majority of gallery comments.

The Pentax User Group in the States has a system whereby members submit one photo a month to their gallery, and the standard is usually quite high. It's not a competition, simply a monthly gallery.

http://pug.komkon.org/

G

ETA: It's sad that most gallery comments tend to be brief squeals of delight IF your reason for posting is to get constructive criticism. If you just want the approbation of your peers, then they no doubt do the job.

Thanks Chris for the suggestion on the browser, which was indeed the problem. I have investigated how to change the display settings to optimise photo viewings and the uploads look as I would expect now.

The text on this site does look rather small compared to other sites and I need to zoom in to read the content comfortably. However, I have discovered that I can enlarge text only without also enlarging images and that I can set up different display settings for different websites.

I only intended this thread to find out why pictures looked soft to me, not as a general discussion on the quality of those pictures. However, regarding the photos here, all of us are at different stages in our photo journeys. I recall some of my first uploads here, they were pretty bad. I've still got a very long way to go, wherever that may be. I'm just pleased now that I know my photos look as I intended them to look, whether that be a good or a bad thing. Looking at the gallery there is lots to like in there.

I'm glad you have found the solution, by complimenting your excellent portrait I seem to have stirred a hornets nest!

So, instead of posting photos on the pu gallery we should email them to a certain member first and if they reach their standard of photography they will be given approval to be posted on the pu gallery or if I dare say it the PP Gallery otherwise just delete them so as not to offend anyone

Stan,

It seems that some people are posting images to the gallery in order to get constructive feedback rather than because they consider the images to be worthy of "hanging on the gallery wall".

As a consequence, the gallery contains a lot of images that belong properly in the "Your Photos" section, and as a consequence of that, the gallery doesn't attract a lot of visitors.

The most popular image in the gallery at the moment, excluding "glamour" pictures" (most of which are quite appallingly bad), has only attracted 442 views. That's the MOST popular. The average viewing number is 36. Yes, 36!

I would suggest that a massive cull would make the gallery worth visiting. At the moment it would appear to serve little purpose.

G

Just now I came upon a photograph in the gallery that was not taken on a pentax..jeff..

I agree George. As long as people can differentiate when a photo is posted in "Your Photos" as to whether it is inviting C&C's (marked as such) or just a general interest photograph of something out the ordinary. Unless of course it's "Open Season" on any image posted in "Your Photos".
On the other hand perhaps the general interest photos should just be linked to in a separate thread altogether.
I shall begin culling my "gallery" immediately

Maybe they are posting as they want to add to their own portfolio. As we're all at different levels of competence it isn't for one person to say what someone should and shouldn't post as being either representative of their work, or work that they are personally proud of.

If you let me know which image that is, I'll remove it.

The Gallery clearly means different things to different people. In the UK PU Gallery there is no limit on the number of uploads allowed for fully paid up members, so we cannot compare it to the Gallery in the States. If a different system was introduced to the UK Gallery, e.g. one upload per month this probably would increase the quality, but I also think it may cause the UK PU to lose some members.

With regard to the comments on images, there is a wide variety. Some are as George has stated a little brief and non-descriptive, but I for one do try to put meaningful comments on images I view and so do lots of other members. I wonder also if the George's observations could sometimes be applied to the Forum? There are quite a number of meaningless and irrelevant comments posted on here too and one could argue that it suffers from the same symptoms as the Gallery, i.e. too few people posting too many empty comments.

I echo the comments earlier in this thread of many, including Pentaxophile, Blythman, and Coker in that it is up to the members how many and which images they post and it is also up to the members to interpret the Gallery as they will. There are still a lot of excellent images posted on the Gallery and also a lot that are not in the same league but that represent important milestones for people learning the art of photography. Both types are equally valid.

Regards
David

I think the purpose of the Gallery is suggested in its name. Otherwise it might have been called the Surgery, or the Workshop, or something similar.

I am not advocating any particular course of action, such as a limit, but why would a limit make the PU lose members? If people want to post lots of images in order to get feedback, then the place to do so is the Your Photos section, as stated earlier. The quality of feedback there is generally rather higher than in the Gallery, so I am surprised that you, given your stated reason for posting, seldom avail yourself of this valuable resource.

My suspicion is that your real reason for posting in the Gallery is a hunger for the often uncritical praise that you can count on from the Gallery regulars.

But having said that, some of your recent shots are not at all bad. I enjoyed the Cotehele kitchen and the Polperro portrait, to mention just two.

Just remember the old rule about quality and quantity.

G

George, if gallery suggests "Gallery then surely My Portfolio suggests "My Portfolio". Different strokes for different folks

LOL - touché

George, I am not going to be drawn into your grubby little world of personal insults. I have asked you once before (privately) to refrain from this idiocy but you seem unable to do so.

You have no idea of why I post on the Gallery and why I don't often post images in the Forum, so please don't indulge in pointless inaccurate speculation. Some of the members on here do actually know me personally and I would imagine they are currently howling with laughter at your feeble attempts at character assasination.

Thank you for your almost warm comments on two of my images.

Regards
David