Reading between the lines around here

[kellylindseyphotography]

I'm trying to figure it out.

Do you, if you open a picture in a gallery, and find that it is lacking something or is just so-so, tend to just close it? (I know there's always the looky-loos, or time contstraints etc...)
Are you more likely to reply to photos that are awesome?

I'm trying to place it.. I think for me personally... If ther is something *obvious* that I can be helpful with, such as a focus issue or a comp issue or something, I"ll say it. But otherwise, if I open *another* flower picture, or *another* cute baby picture that otherwise just is so-so, I just move on.

Sadly, most of my stuff only gets like 1 or 2 replies each time! And I"m sitting here like oh.. sh*t. I'm one of those people that has solidly average work.
In some ways, it is making me try THAT much harder each time I post to TPF though to try to get someone to be like wow, great work! But then, when someone does, I have to look through their posts to see if they reply that to everybody or how good their own work is to really judge their reply as truly honest or just something they say to every other picture.

So ok. How do YOU interpret how many views vs. how many replies you receive?

 

[Sarah23]

I think I basically think the same way you do. If I see a picture, and I can help in some way (and it hasnt already been said a million times in that thread) I will give some advice. If I really do like the pictures, I will try to leave some form of a compliment at least, because I know I like it when I get them! And yeah...when I get someone saying "Good Job" or something, and I am not familiar with them or their work, I have to investigate to see their work and what they tend to say about all the other photos on here.

I too feel like I am in the middle ground...not bad but not great...lol

 

[Overread16 4]

I think its just a sign of the volume of photos you get on such a large site. The extremes at each end tend to get noticed and commented on more than the "average"
That is not saying that average is bad or poor in quality (the average for this site in the quality of work, I would say, is high.)
As for me I have only been shooting since christmas and I don't like saying that something is (to my eyes) bad unless I can clearly say why and how it might be improved - so sometimes I don't comment on a poor shot because I can't say how to improve it.

Also I would say have a confidance in yourself and your own shots - its hard and we all like to get good comments (and good advice) on our works, but there are times when that won't happen. Just got to take the good with the bad and keep at it - if you stop you never will get those comments

 

[dEARlEADER]

I find people here to be very generous on C&C.... I find most of it to be comment ("awesome job")... rather constructive critisism for improvement of technique. Personally I like the picture count for C&C to be no more than 3.
It allows better for better focus rather than bombing 10 images at once. That is too many for proper critique.

Sometimes I see someone throw up 8 relatively crap photo's that get 20 replies of "Nice".... I don't comment on them because I don't want to be the ***** that spoils the party... plus I'm a relative Noob so it's not really my place...

my two cents

 

[Alex_B]

I find people here to be very generous on C&C.... I find most of it to be comment ("awesome job")... rather constructive critisism for improvement of technique. Personally I like the picture count for C&C to be no more than 3.
It allows better for better focus rather than bombing 10 images at once. That is too many for proper critique.

Sometimes I see someone throw up 8 relatively crap photo's that get 20 replies of "Nice".... I don't comment on them because I don't want to be the ***** that spoils the party... plus I'm a relative Noob so it's not really my place...

my two cents

But if you do not like a picture, just say so, phrase it nicely, but for heavens sake say so And adjust your comments to the experience/noob-ness of the person posting the images. If it is people like myself, trash me! If it is newbies, be more careful

and try to explain why you do not like it.

this is the only way people can learn about what others think.

 

[dEARlEADER]

But if you do not like a picture, just say so, phrase it nicely, but for heavens sake say so And adjust your comments to the experience/noob-ness of the person posting the images. If it is people like myself, trash me! If it is newbies, be more careful

and try to explain why you do not like it.

this is the only way people can learn about what others think.

Well said...

 

[Stranger]

If i like an image, i try to comment only if i know why i like it.
I find comments like "nice" or "good photo" kind of pointless to someone who is trying to learn, and i find it kind of annoying when i get comments like that myself because i am trying to learn. The best way to do this is to be told what it is about the photo the person likes so i can try to keep doing it.
(though i admit, i do not look through the galleries here often... mostly just this informational parts_

if i dont like it i will definitely give my reasoning why... If i can not come up with a reason why, i do not find it necessary to say i do not like it because once again, it does no good.

 

[lockwood81]

But if you do not like a picture, just say so, phrase it nicely, but for heavens sake say so And adjust your comments to the experience/noob-ness of the person posting the images. If it is people like myself, trash me! If it is newbies, be more careful

and try to explain why you do not like it.

this is the only way people can learn about what others think.

I think your comment is crappy!!

Kidding.

I agree Alex and Stranger.

 

[JustAnEngineer]

I hadn't considered some of the viewpoints posted in this thread.

I know that I'm a noob, so I frequently feel underqualified to comment on the excellent work that I see posted here. I am inspired by much of it to capture similar photos of my own. On the other hand, I have thick skin, so it wouldn't bother me a bit if someone seriously criticized something that I posted.

 

[djrichie28]

I generally comment when something (either good or bad) jumps out at me. I will comment accordingly. What I don't like, and why I tend to not always comment, is when people fight back defending something I may have commented negatively on.

For example, there was a huge shadow blocking part of the main subject and I thought it was a slight distraction. After giving the photographer their desired C/C by commenting mostly positive about the composition, but there was this shadow that I found as a distraction. The photographer replies back in their thread that they like the shadow.

This isn't always the case, but it happens way too often, and it puts me off leaving comments that may be negative. I do like it when I see that there are some people out there that really value other's opinions and can handle constructive criticism, but some really cannot. Not sure why they even ask C/C.

My experience anyway.

 

[Overread16 4]

Djruchie28 - I think you just have to accept that everyone views art and photography differently. Sometime I take a shot and its not perfect and others will say they don't like things, but that does not mean that I have to always follow thier comments.
By all means have a view and post your view - sometimes people will like your suggestions and other times they won't, that is just life.

 

[mrodgers]

Quite frankly, there are so many photos that are put up on the site here, you can't possibly look at them all.

I usually open some of the threads. Then I see, "Please critique my photos..." or something. Then I sit scrolling for 10 minutes because that person who wants critique posted 15 freaking photos! I end up just closing the thread.

And, it seems that if it is not 15 photos posted in one post wanting critique, then it's a flower. Of course, I expect people to be shooting a lot of flowers this time of year, but.... well..... it's a flower.... What is there to critique? If you want critique on the technical aspect of the shot (focus, DOF, camera settings in other words), then it isn't hard to look at the photo yourself and see the flaws or the outstanding sharpness of the photo.

If you are looking for a critique of the artisticness of the flower shot, well, again, it's just a flower. Same as the other 1254 flowers that were posted today.

Is everyone that insecure about their photography that every picture they post needs to be critiqued? Can't we just post our photos to share with others? Cant' we refrain from posting 15-25 photos in one thread and asking for critique? If you want to post photos and keep it interesting for another forum member to view, then keep it down to a handful of photos, 3 or 4, and make them mean something as a group. Scrolling through a list of photos that are a building, horse, flower, country road, bridge, sunset, etc etc for 15 photos draws my mouse to the back button or the little X that closes the tab in my browser.

 

[dEARlEADER]

Quite frankly, there are so many photos that are put up on the site here, you can't possibly look at them all.

I usually open some of the threads. Then I see, "Please critique my photos..." or something. Then I sit scrolling for 10 minutes because that person who wants critique posted 15 freaking photos! I end up just closing the thread.

And, it seems that if it is not 15 photos posted in one post wanting critique, then it's a flower. Of course, I expect people to be shooting a lot of flowers this time of year, but.... well..... it's a flower.... What is there to critique? If you want critique on the technical aspect of the shot (focus, DOF, camera settings in other words), then it isn't hard to look at the photo yourself and see the flaws or the outstanding sharpness of the photo.

If you are looking for a critique of the artisticness of the flower shot, well, again, it's just a flower. Same as the other 1254 flowers that were posted today.

Is everyone that insecure about their photography that every picture they post needs to be critiqued? Can't we just post our photos to share with others? Cant' we refrain from posting 15-25 photos in one thread and asking for critique? If you want to post photos and keep it interesting for another forum member to view, then keep it down to a handful of photos, 3 or 4, and make them mean something as a group. Scrolling through a list of photos that are a building, horse, flower, country road, bridge, sunset, etc etc for 15 photos draws my mouse to the back button or the little X that closes the tab in my browser.

dude... you forgot the wooden spoke wheel thing...

 

[djrichie28]

Djruchie28 - I think you just have to accept that everyone views art and photography differently. Sometime I take a shot and its not perfect and others will say they don't like things, but that does not mean that I have to always follow thier comments.
By all means have a view and post your view - sometimes people will like your suggestions and other times they won't, that is just life.

I totally understand. That is why I would continue to post my views. There are many great photos posted here and I will always tell people why I like them. There still are a few that deserve a pointer or two. It's just discouraging when someone asks what people think, but then are not receptive to constructive criticism. So I tend to 'move on' more often when I see something that someone could touch up on, unless the user has since responded openly after someone else pointed out something that could be improved.

On a completely different subject. Overread, would you mind if I pm'd you? I noticed you are from the UK and had some questions.

 

[DadeCountyAnthony]

As a noob on here, I think that honesty is the experienced individual's best bet. Not only it will help an amateur with less eye skills but will help his/her motivation to see further ahead from the mentallity that begginers have. Since I have been reading posts on here, I have learned many things that I find to be very valuable information for begginers like me. Just keep in mind that there are ways to express yourself when giving your oppinion. Explaining a better way of improving one's lack of skills doesn't have to be a stressful confrontation.