Kevin,
I tend not to give technical advice about photos because I don't feel like I'm in the position, experience wise, to do so. But I will tell you some things I have observed/learned while lurking in this forum.
People tend to find this forum through a google search (as I did) and get really excited about posting their pics from their brand new spiffy camera, or even sometimes from an older one and they want other people's opinions so they can improve. A lot of time they also want people to tell them their photos are good... or at the very least that they are improving. Usually, though, they are not very good. But that's OK. That's normal. We all start somewhere. The problem I think people run into is they rely on the feedback too much. As newbies, we tend to go out, take some shots for practice or because we find something interesting (although we don't know why we find it interesting) or because it looks "cool" in the camera and throw them on the forum and expect people to critique the photo bearing in mind our current experience level. Well, people tend not to critique that way. They call like they see it. I'm not saying people can't learn from it, because they can... people do. But I noticed when I stopped asking for people's critique on each new photo I got excited about, and started paying attention to other photos that I knew were good, I started to become a better photographer without other people telling me what to do. I naturally started to figure it out on my own.
We all have certain circumstances, but I think Bitter said it well when he said "Why take shots that you already know will fail because of your limitations, and post them for CC? You are not "making do"." People posts photos "just because", without any understanding about why they took the photo in the first place, other than practice. We all need to practice, but in general, don't post THOSE pics up for critique... you're just going to get ripped to shreds. And, as Bitter said, don't take a picture knowing there are flaws because of time of day, lack of equipment, or whatever other excuse... and then expect people to critique with those limitations in mind. People critique a photo based on if it's a good photo... not if it's a good photo under the circumstances.
This isn't directed at YOU, per se. I just wanted to share what I have observed. I really think if people spent more time taking photos (tons of them), reading books, and looking at other good photos rather then wondering what everyone thinks of their own photos, they will notice they will improve much faster.
To clarify, I'm not saying critique doesn't have it's place. This is a great place to learn. I just think some people need to advantage of it (critiques) less.
Just my 2 cents.
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