Almost-rant/an observation from a newbie...

Sammie_Lou · Jul 9, 2011

I'm probably way out of line here, being brand new to the forum and all, but I've noticed that some people (newbies like myself) come in and post a couple pics for C&C. The images will be bad and they'll get all upset because they think that they're the BEST.IMAGES.EVER. and everyone is obviously out to get them. So then I'll click on their link to their Flikr or Facebook (or sometimes I'll search them on Facebook if they have a watermark and I suspect that they have a Facebook photography page, too), and they have images that are actually decent on there. If I'm as much of a noob as I am (and trust me, I'm a noob) and I can still pick out that they're not showing off their best work, how can they not see it?? I get posting ones that aren't as good if you're aware that they're not as good and you honestly want to know how to make them better in post or what you could have done to make them better SOOC...and I get how some people are upset at the criticism that they receive because it's sometimes not presented in a constructive way (I've been there)...but it's people who are honestly shocked that everyone isn't saying "OMG! Great job!" when they're showing off the worst of their images that are really confusing me, ya know?? Has anyone else noticed this trend, as well??

BNHPhotography · Jul 9, 2011

I noticed it as well, and i think i know who you're talking about. I viewed their Facebook page, and some of their pictures are really good, but unfortunately, their posted images were deleted.

Sammie_Lou · Jul 9, 2011

It isn't just one person...it's quite a few, actually. =) I guess it just frustrates me when I see someone who can and is doing better and they don't share the good images. I don't have any good images yet. lol Everything of mine is bad...I can either get the composition right or the exposure right...I can't get to a place yet where I get EVERYTHING right. haha

Malone · Jul 9, 2011

IMO, it sort of makes sense that they would post their photos that aren't so great. Doing that, they can see what they did wrong and how it can be improved. I don't think the purpose of this forum to for everyone to show off their best work to inflate their egos. If they have some nice photos they want to share, great! But, we are here to learn, and we do learn from our own mistakes as well as others.

Sammie_Lou · Jul 9, 2011

I get that...and I would agree. But I'm talking about the people who post photos that aren't their best and then are totally shocked when people have critiques for them.

adversus · Jul 10, 2011

Welcome to the Internets.

Tkot · Jul 10, 2011

Maybe they just like the attention.

Kerbouchard · Jul 10, 2011

Sammie_Lou said:
I get that...and I would agree. But I'm talking about the people who post photos that aren't their best and then are totally shocked when people have critiques for them.

I'm thinking about posting some of my crap photos. Anytime I post my good photos, I have to beg for replies or comments. Maybe, I'll just start a thread saying that these are the best photos ever, post crap photos...oh, nevermind, we already have a guy who does that.

In the mean time, comment on my thread...http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...49679-havent-posted-images-here-while-so.html

subscuck · Jul 10, 2011

Sammie_Lou said:
But I'm talking about the people who post photos that aren't their best and then are totally shocked when people have critiques for them.

You're dealing with very subjective subject matter. Maybe to them what they post here are their best photos, and what you see on their flickr or FB accounts are their throw aways?

mrpink · Jul 10, 2011

Ohh yea. This thread. Again.

p!nK

vtf · Jul 10, 2011

Most of these individuals have an emotional attachment to the image for whatever reason and they have not yet learned about the delete button.

LaFoto · Jul 10, 2011

Never forget that there IS such a thing like an active forum troll. They PLAN on showing their worse work, they PLAN on playing drama queen over critisism, and they PLAN to thus disrupt the forums!

Overread · Jul 10, 2011

subscuck said:
Sammie_Lou said:

But I'm talking about the people who post photos that aren't their best and then are totally shocked when people have critiques for them.

Click to expand...

You're dealing with very subjective subject matter. Maybe to them what they post here are their best photos, and what you see on their flickr or FB accounts are their throw aways?

This is going to be a big part of it - perception of what is and is not good is always going to be very freeform, especially in a subject so strongly rooted in art as photography is. What they consider good or bad might well not be what you consider good or bad and further neither might be what I consider good or bad.

In addition remember that people viewing on the net only ever see resized versions (for the most part) whilst the photographer that takes them nearly always sees the fullsized version - thus you can oft get cases where they've some good shots that look good only because they've cropped and processed them for the net and that their "weaker" shots are actually (fullsize) technically better than those that appear better because of the small size.

Further whilst one should always aim to improve upon ones best, one should also aim to always understand what "went wrong" with shots that are of a lesser standard.

Another point is one of subject matter - for example I can take a pretty good shot of a bug, if given time to work with the subject I can manipulate the light and edit the final result to get a good result that I am pleased with and that is not too bad to look at

- however present me with a person, a regular person portrait and my skill level drops massively (I don't even know how to correctly approach even processing such photos) - as such you could see great photos of one kind from a photographer and rubbishy ones of another kind (esp so if you've a vested interest in any one field of interest).

As a final point remember that producing one really great photo does not mean that the photographer can necessarily repeat that capture or rather repeat the standard that the capture presents. As such they might have a few really great gems, but are unable to get their average work to that same standard (thus you see the larger number of their "poorer" shots that they aim to continue improving upon).

Finally remember that this is a photographic community and whilst the pursuit of photographic improvement is a key part of the sites structure, there is also a big element of exchange of experiences, events, sights that is outside of the world of technical/artistic perfection.

Overread · Jul 10, 2011

LaFoto said:
Never forget that there IS such a thing like an active forum troll. They PLAN on showing their worse work, they PLAN on playing drama queen over critisism, and they PLAN to thus disrupt the forums!

Oh yeah and we get those types too of course