Photo Critique

PROS, PROS, PROS ???

Your issue with PROS aside, I have no desire to be a 'pro' whatsoever. I take pics for fun and fun only.

I think it's a shame to take pics and just store them out of sight on your hard drive so I like to share them with anyone who fancies a look.

I believe that if you put yourself or your work on a public stage then you give permission for comment whether that's "Lovely photo!" or a detailed constructive appraisal.

I'm equally happy for people to say lovely/crappy photo or them give detail on why they think it's lovely or crappy.

I'm also equally happy for people just to look at them and say nothing. And hopefully they got some enjoyment out of them.

I disagree with comments like "Stunning", Lovely" etc 'doing no good'.

If you post a set of say, 6 pics and a few replies all say "Lovely, My favourites are #2 and #4, then it's upto you to think for yourself and work out why pics #2 and #6 are the most popular. if you can't work out why yourself then ask.

I regularly look through people's photos here. Sometimes I just want a relaxed browse the enjoy the pics and I'll say something like 'lovely pics' as a recognition I've looked and thanks to the person posting them. Other times I'll say which one's are my favourites.

Other times I will offer some detailed appraisal if I'm feeling upto it and I think a pic has [potential to be improved with different cropping or post pro, etc.

Whatever, it's all good.

What you cannot do is demand or expect that people respond to your pics in a certain way

Lovely stunning post- I particularly like the use of capital letters in line four and you've absolutlely nailed it spelling wise.

I do like the colour of the text too- of course that could just be my monitor.

Best post yet! Amazing! Stunning! Love it!

I wasn't going to read this thread after the OP, but I'm very glad I did. There are quite a few views here, and I generally am not keen on people saying "Wow" to a shot of mine, as I can see the faults in it myself. But if I feel my shot gets a good crack of the whip, then I'm delighted.

The reason I did read this thread, eventually, is that I will be critiquing my first comp, the fortnightly that finishes tomorrow evening. Does this fill me with dread? Not really, because this post, below, by John, describes exactly what I'll be doing.

Cheers, DS

When I have studied art classes one of the items we where taught is how to defend your work, if someone doesn't like something in your work, then explain why its there. then the person criticizing may come up round to your way of thinking. Art is very subjective.

when I comment on photos i always say what I do & what I don't like & why I don't or do like.

Sometimes I see an image that can only be tagged as amazing...

If an image does not impress me at all then I would rather not comment at all, everything in balance for me...

Many years ago, I was on one of the activity type management courses, did not get a lot out of it, but one comment stuck with me.

That is, “you get far more out of a person by encouragement, than you do from instruction”.

I think this holds true with photography, and constructive criticism.

Take care.

Chris R.

ROFL

yes I feel like that. Although that doesn't mean all Images I don't comment on don't impress me at all.

I like to give constructive criticism if I feel an image has potential for impreovement.

but then it's all subjective.

Off topic posts removed.

I have no problems with any criticism on any of my pictures. Main reason for joining the forum was a desire to improve. Without a bit of critique theres a danger of becoming a bit stagnant. At the end of the day I'm probably more critical of my stuff than anyone else. However, I suspect I'm the same as most others who are relative newcomers to the hobby, in that I would feel a bit of an upstart (is that the right word) if I was to start offering critique to someone who has been doing this for years. There are a number of people on here whose work I think is tremendous and on most occasions I think is super, smashing or great. But sometimes I look at a picture and think " I would maybe have moved the tree over a bit" or "jings, but thats a halo and a half" but I just don't feel comfortable saying it.

If a picture gets no comments then enough said.

This thread has occurred before!

Its not what you do, but how you do it.

Example.
1.
a) The composition is dire and unbalanced.
b) Have you tried cropping a little off the top? It might make the focal point sit more comfortably in the frame?

2.
a) Its out of focus.
b) Do you think the image would have been better if you had focused on the eyes rather than the tip of his nose?

3.
a) Your exposure is wrong.
b) Shame the highlights were a little blown. Did you shoot RAW? You might be able to recover them in software.

You get the idea...

Sometimes you just have to decide that your favourite image is your favourite and not get too worried about what the rest of the world thinks. My favourite from Venice failed to get into the PPG twice and doesn't get many views on Flickr. It is still my favourite image and one day I'll get a nice big print made and stick it on my wall.

Sometimes images get stale with over-exposure. One of my images has actually sold a few copies and was made into our Christmas card last year. Now I think, "oh, that one again... Zzzzz..."

Best wishes, Kris.

PS.

I ought to say that I have always assumed the gallery is for people to place the shots they like and "Your images" is for C&C. I tend to limit myself to bland 'nice shot' type comments in the gallery (for those that I think are nice shots of course) and keep C&C for here. I don't especially check my shots in the gallery for comments, just the ones I post here.

K.

You can comment all you like in the Gallery or in the Forum. It's easier to post in the Gallery and it was provided for the same purpose as the Forum.

You should check your images as there are lots of comments posted throughout the Gallery. The more the better!

That's what I have always assumed too. If I post an image in this section then I assume that it will be open to C&C (which I welcome) whether I specifically ask for it or not.