I reckon they might be sneezy, sleepy, bashful or even dopey.

Regards,
Doc

Thanks for the suggestions. There's a lot out there.

John, you have mentioned ephotozine several times on this site, which is why I thought it valid to ask the question about other sites. I had no idea it was a sister site, so apologies if I have contravened any terms on discussing competitors.

There are mentions of other photo sites from time to time on other threads. I am a member of Pentaxforums, but I have done little with it save for posting a few gallery photos as I have found navigation a bit awkward difficult and I have preferred this place. I think I might give it another go now so as to not lose contact with some absent friends. I also joined ephotozine but I found that very sprawling, so I just enter the monthly competitions (and was lucky enough to win one). I have a few pictures on Photo Answers. Aside from that I was wondering which other sites people find useful and interesting, fora and more general sites.

Well I hope my photos are better looking than my kids. Otherwise, what's the point of Photoshop.

One caveat, however. Anyone dishing out some plaintalking feedback should I think be prepared to put their own images up for review and to maintain a reasonably sized gallery portfolio. Not essential (by way of analogy a good film critic does not have to be a good filmmaker), but useful to know the angle they are coming from.

5 and 7 for me.

Number 7 would be a cracker with some brooding clouds and special storm light.

Likewise number 5, shame the light was not with you (or your grads). The sky looks a bit too far gone, but an off the top crop (I suggest 2.1cm) and a digital ND grad could help.

The windy path shot just doesn't quite grab me as it should, not sure why. Maybe you could ask a mate to stand at the summit.

I'm colour blind, so my advice on colour is best ignored. However, the processing in 3 and 7 I find very odd.

Some do look a bit bright. The owls are good, but for me the trouble with owls is that you are competing with easy to take pictures at owl sanctuaries. For me therefore the standout picture by a country mile is the treecreeper, which is beautiful.

It's a good suggestion Axel.

The gallery section is I think more of a pat on the back place. There are so many images there (the unlimited upload feature hasn't really helped imo, I think less is more) that it isn't practical to comment on all of them. I normally just comment on the ones that catch my eye for one reason or another and I deliberately don't scroll to reveal the photographer before I view the picture. I do agree that comments often overpraise, often mind-bogglingly so. And for some of the pictures, I think that pointing out improvements would just knock the confidence of the photographer.

I like to see frank appraisal in the competitions and I think that is generally still the case.

The Your Photos Section is a mixed bag. People post for different reasons. Some for honest appraisal, some to show off, some to give a pictorial flavour of an event and some to show the performance of a lens. Unless there is a specific request for critique or unless you know the photographer then it isn't always easy to know what level to pitch at.

Personally I prefer brutal feedback too and I would have no qualms in putting my photos up for the slaughter. In fact I would enjoy it - a few fellow forum members know that I don't like the W word anywhere near my photos. I don't like the name though, reminds me of American corporate speak.

As for your photos, I haven't commented on as many as I used to. That doesn't mean I don't like them - it just means I know what to expect and you probably know what kind of comments to expect from me. And there will always be things about some of them that I will always dislike (processing halos for example).

Composition wise, using a gate to lead the eye in to the scene is a good idea. For me though there is nothing in particular of interest beyond. I would have been tempted to fit the left hand side fencepost in as the left hand side of the shot is empty. This shot might work better with a dramatic sky and a low viewpoint (thus minimising the amount of empty midground) and making more of a feature of the gate.



Edit: Crossed with Alan's post above.

I quite like the lighting and the subject choice is very photogenic. For me the composition doesn't work well. The flower looks out of the frame one way and the ex-flowers look out the other way, so attention is divided. If the anemone were looking the other way, into the space, it would work very well indeed.