What has happened?

So no point in posting any photographs until the photographer has reached a Professional Standard. In my case I doubt very much that will happen but as I've paid my Pentax User Plus fee for the next 12 months I'll stick around and ignore the snobbery which seems to be creeping into the Forum

This is a straw-man argument.

It simply does not follow logically that because it is desirable to put some thought into what gets posted, it is also desirable to be at a professional standard before you can post anything.

It's a nonsense, and no one is suggesting it or even implying it.

Of course, as I hinted to Smegs above, it's entirely possible that one person may post some images they think are great, having put a great deal of thought in, and others, viewing them, think that they are a pile of crap posted at random.

However, it's usually possible to spot the beginners, and people (even me ) are usually fairly gentle with them.

There's no snobbery, just insecurity.

The percentage of professional photographers on this forum is tiny, lets say 1% which is about the same percentage as professionals using a Pentax as their main camera worldwide.

So with that in mind I think we could close down the your photos section of this forum and start a new one called, What I dislike about you and your photos, now I am guessing that could become quite active

You got to love this forum

We have to make sure that all levels of photography are catered for, so demanding certain standards for posting pictures doesn't really seem to fit in with that aim.

Pity the poor beginner, who puts a lot of effort and thought into their hobby, but they may still benefit from friendly guidance.

Let's see some more pictures from everybody?

Nobody has demanded any standards.

Beat me to it

A beginner that puts a lot of effort and thought into their hobby will be very obvious from the thoughtfulness of what they ask about.

They won't need pity.

You know what it means in this context, surely? I don't literally mean pity them, I mean "have a thought for them".

And yes, I think the mood has been that self-editing and therefore the application of standards should be applied. Hence the reference about snobbery above. However, that's my opinion and you might have another one.

No one is suggesting that any objective standards should be applied before people post pictures. So any notion of snobbery is just silly. You're arguing against a position that no one is taking.

It's not in anyone's interest to post a load of poor pictures, without any apparent thought for the sort of responses that may be desired, and then go away dejected when the task of critique is virtually impossible, and nothing much is forthcoming. Obviously they might like a bit of random 'nice shot' style affirmation, but they are clearly not the ones that I've lost count of the number of threads over the years where my reaction to a substantial number of posted images is just 'huh?', and I simply can't find the energy to comment truthfully on them. Clearly I'm not alone in that.

Whereas the people that clearly do put some thought in have somehow given something themselves, so it makes it easier to be motivated to give something back.

Of course, arbitrarily increasing the number of posts and posted images will of course increase the advertising revenue from the site. So it's not entirely true that no one benefits from the mediocre.

What Chris said.


It's nothing to do with snobbery or expecting a professional standard, both ridiculous assertions btw, but rather a case of putting some thought into one's pics and quality control before posting them.

I'm going to pick on Nigel now, as I know he won't be offended. Nigel sometimes ( but not always ) posts pics which I personally find incredibly mediocre, for example his recent countryside pics. But it's clear Nigel puts a lot of thought into his photography and probably gets turned on by many technically aspects which are irrelevant to me as I like to see the subjective art in an image. For this reason I make an effort to contribute to his threads.

If there are a group (not organised) of users who are willing and prone to comment and critique and appraise, I think it the height of consideration that the poster has a little inward moment before posting something mundane, lacking, boring, colourless, drab, dull etc etc ....

I think that mental quid pro quo is needed.

If there more capable photographers whose view are being sought by throwing an image out there then a little self reflection before posting seems fair.

The reason some photos get no comments might be to do with the merit of the image as well as people having busy lives.

I don't think war and peace is being asked for. A single line "I liked the light" or "I was trying to get the lines acrosss the image" or "I liked the scene" or "this drab field looked fantastic 10 seconds ago and I tried to wind the clock back spending 23 hours in photoshop", or "look at this bird I waited 6 hours to get this". etc etc.

But if folks want comments and critique why should the more proficient bother when the most basic self reflection would strike the image out as being deadly dull.

I write this as one who deleted 600 images on a project about bikes as when I came to try and get a final set and analyse the images, they were the dullest set of photos of bikes I have ever seen.

Why inflict this on others?

ah finally, something new and original on here ...



yeah, but you've never found the slightest speck of yellow colour noise on any of them ... so there ya go !!

How can you tell if someone has put the amount of thought into something that you think they should?

Maybe they haven't, but maybe they have and it hasn't been successful. Guidance might be helpful.

Showing people our pictures is not inflicting them on others, it's sharing something we wanted to share. If people don't want to look, or don't want to comment, nobody can or should try to force them.

All pictures are welcome on PU, it's a place for sharing images and ideas. I have a feeling that I saw a forum somewhere that specified that anyone posting images must comment on other images. My feeling was that many people would simply not bother having read that stipulation.

Any thought is fine. Anything at all.

Folks don't have to think and write anything, images can speak for themselves. Good images speak volumes, some are worth a thousand words, apparently.

But I'm sure a comment might encourage more interaction and a more healthy forum.

But if one doesn't think/write anything then one shouldn't carp about not getting any feedback, good or bad.

Yes, by the measure of dougf8's post above, then maybe I shouldn't have posted some of my countryside pics .... on the basis that some (thats a tiny minority right, just a few people here and there, not even significant statistically, not even an amount that would fall into the usual survey's margin of error) might find them a teeny weeny bit, that's just a very little amount boring dull & mediocre ... (not many at all) .... But then we'd all have missed out on so much fun, excellent all-round quality photo-taking expertise and general good advice ... not to mention learned nothing of the scenic delights on offer near to the Croydon-Surrey borders.