Saying you like something

[pgriz]

What's changing is how we "consume" images. At one point, they were the equivalent of bringing out the fine china and silverware. Now it's a quick grab with a plastic spoon. And how much precision and care are you (or anyone) going to put on the latter?

 

[Rosy]

Pixelrabbit,

You're talking from the viewpoint of the person who isn't really wanting C/C.

My point from the very beginning that there are many people here who post and specifically ask for c/c and what they get is a very vague response that doesn't give any guidance or help.
This is a lost opportunity for two people, obviously the person asking for critique needs and wants more and doesn't get it, while the person who is viewing the picture has their own learning opportunity - to look at and try to understand what they see and what they like or dislike and why.

Learning to give critique isn't specifically easy but it is approachable and can be done in stages.
I gave what I thought was a reasonable schematic for approaching critique in the first post.

(What baffles me is what offended people and what caused the uproar. This seemed to me to be rather straightforward encouragement that those who want to get help should be prepared to give it.)

Lew I agree with you whole heartedly but there have been many times when an OP including myself will ask for CC and all I/we get is nice or like. I personally appreciate the likes but yearn for the strengths and weaknesses my images have. What then, do I PM the experts?
I will make it a point to give my point of view going forward
Thoughts?

 

[pgriz]

Rosy, ask what you want people to give/tell you. Trust me, it really works. What helps is when we know what the person's vision was, what they did to realize that vision, and what they're not happy with. Then it's quite simple to comment in a meaningful (and useful to you) way.

 

[pixmedic]

Just a minor revisiting of one premise, out of the multiple ones, found in the OP: do we really want to recreate the TPF we had "a year ago", or the "TPF we used to have two years ago?" I mean...why do we want to strive for something we used to have? Is it really necessary to replicate the same,exact type of poster/C&C giver ratio this site used to have? Because, a year ago, and two years ago, and five years ago, I recall a LOT of harsh words, hurt feelings, and bossy, passive-aggressive C&C that was basically...bashing.

I recall that, of the "dozen or so" frequent C&C givers that Lew mentioned that we used to have, there were some people who fairly predictably expressed what I would call "prejudice" toward certain techniques, or certain types of photography, and certain types of photographers, and certain types of image hosting sites; a lot of really, well, passive-aggressive put-downs of "Facebook Photographers" and so on.

My feeling about TPF and the "recruitment" that Lew mentioned in his OP is that photography as a business, as a pasttime, as a passion, is slowing down. Camera sales have reallllly slowed wayyyyyy down. I've seen some of the graphs; camera sales, both P&S, and digital SLR, and mirrorless, have dropped by the tens of millions of units per year, consistently, since about 2009. I think the whole photography craze is slowing down, both for new arrivals to the game, AND also, for long-time people who have...just gotten bored of taking pictures. And I think that might by why TPF is changing.

As we strive for things long past,
we forget why those things did not last.
We think them better, days gone by,
although we cant remember why.
We crave, we yearn, for yesteryear,
for simpler times, full of cheer.
While dark and bleary the future seems,
the past still shines, like a diamonds gleam.

 

[Rosy]

Rosy, ask what you want people to give/tell you. Trust me, it really works. What helps is when we know what the person's vision was, what they did to realize that vision, and what they're not happy with. Then it's quite simple to comment in a meaningful (and useful to you) way.

P....I have and I've gotten tremendous help. I do not want to come across as unappreciative. John; Derrel, Charlie, Lew have been incredible, but I do notice that some post just go without any comments, I personally have PMd john and Charlie (before he left)
Just playing the devil's advocate

 

[Derrel]

What's changing is how we "consume" images. At one point, they were the equivalent of bringing out the fine china and silverware. Now it's a quick grab with a plastic spoon. And how much precision and care are you (or anyone) going to put on the latter?

YES, it has taken me a good, long while to come to what I think is a solid understanding of the changing ways we consume/use/share/show images now, as we head toward the middle of the second decade of the 21str century. There have been some VERY important, really HUGELY fundamental shifts in how images are shot; processed;displayed;archived;shown;shared;thrown away or "filed".

The Online Photographer on Tuesday, May 27, 2014 published a piece entitled Is This 'A Great Time For Photography"?

I think people here should read it. The Online Photographer: Is This 'A Great Time for Photography'?

And, vis a vis the change in how we "consume" images; I think it's important to note that the "voices giving C&C" that we used to have here in TPF, well, a LOT of those voices had some pretty serious prejudice against Hipstamatic, Instagram, Facebook, and smart phone pictures. Not to name names, but there are people in this very thread that have shown a consistent dismissal of cell phone images, Instagram-type filtering, and so on. Really, pretty much bashing the whole new way, the whole new tools and mobile end of photographic consuming, because it's apparently deemed not worthy...it's not "what THEY like", and other spurious justifications to dismiss the new way of consuming images.

Again, you know, I don't want to make this into a big pi&& and moan session. I'll return to something I wrote in my first post in this thread: I think many people would do well to shoot cameras that shoot in a native square format. And short of an old Mamiya like gsgary and limr have, or minicoop's old Hassy 1600F, the cheapest and most readily available square-format camera is the one in the Instagram application. I dunno...I started with a 6x6 cm camera, then went to 135,then got a series of old TLR's, then went to Instamatic 126 square. I really think a LOT of people would honestly benefit by shooting SQUARES. I've recently gotten my old square-format Bronica and my Yashica 635 TLR out, and am starting to think about square composition more so than I have since the early 1990's when I retired the Bronica.

 

[bribrius]

Just a minor revisiting of one premise, out of the multiple ones, found in the OP: do we really want to recreate the TPF we had "a year ago", or the "TPF we used to have two years ago?" I mean...why do we want to strive for something we used to have? Is it really necessary to replicate the same,exact type of poster/C&C giver ratio this site used to have? Because, a year ago, and two years ago, and five years ago, I recall a LOT of harsh words, hurt feelings, and bossy, passive-aggressive C&C that was basically...bashing.

I recall that, of the "dozen or so" frequent C&C givers that Lew mentioned that we used to have, there were some people who fairly predictably expressed what I would call "prejudice" toward certain techniques, or certain types of photography, and certain types of photographers, and certain types of image hosting sites; a lot of really, well, passive-aggressive put-downs of "Facebook Photographers" and so on.

My feeling about TPF and the "recruitment" that Lew mentioned in his OP is that photography as a business, as a pasttime, as a passion, is slowing down. Camera sales have reallllly slowed wayyyyyy down. I've seen some of the graphs; camera sales, both P&S, and digital SLR, and mirrorless, have dropped by the tens of millions of units per year, consistently, since about 2009. I think the whole photography craze is slowing down, both for new arrivals to the game, AND also, for long-time people who have...just gotten bored of taking pictures. And I think that might by why TPF is changing.

B. B. King - The Thrill Is Gone (Live at Montreux 1993) - YouTube

 

[manaheim]

I have a very strong desire to post pictures of monkeys and bananas.

 

[Rosy]

I have a very strong desire to post pictures of monkeys and bananas.

Go for it...I'll CC it!

 

[manaheim]

I have a very strong desire to post pictures of monkeys and bananas.

Go for it...I'll CC it!

I wish I could but it's against forum rules... and being a moderator REALLY cramps my style in that respect.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Somebody should start some kind of "Pact" to get everybody to respond the way you want.

 

[pgriz]

The other day, my wife was invited by a work acquaintance for a coffee. It turned out she wanted my wife's perspective on a family situation that she was having difficulty with. It seems the lady has a teen-age daughter, very cute and attractive, who has a relationship with a web-based clothing marketer. The daughter gets weekly shipments of various clothing articles which she models and shoots (selfies) with an Apple camera phone and then posts these images on instagram, with an identifier code for the articles of clothes. Her "followers" (she's got at least 20,000) then order the article of clothing they like from the manufacturer/distributor, and get the item(s) delivered the next day. The mother's concern was the exposure of her daughter to unknown people, and the concern that some of these people may want much more than clothes. The daughter is resisting any parental control (she apparently loves the free clothes and the attention), so there's some significant friction happening. I bring this forward as an example of how things we used to do (shop for clothes in stores) is being dramatically changed. When iPhone photos are enough to drive sales to over 20,000 customers, with no overhead to be paid other than free clothes for the model and the shipping costs, we're in a new universe. Our consuming habits are truly changing everything. And no, I'm not posting a link to this teenager's instagram selfies.

 

[Derrel]

Somebody should start some kind of "Pact" to get everybody to respond the way you want.

Old-timer alert! Old-timer alert!

lol...

 

[snerd]

Somebody should start some kind of "Pact" to get everybody to respond the way you want.

I first saw that as "Pict". I have NO idea, and we probably don't want to go there. But it reminded me of a line from a song, I'll try to do it without Google............

"Several species of small furry animals gathered together in a cave and grooving with a pict."

I should go to bed.

 

[manaheim]

Somebody should start some kind of "Pact" to get everybody to respond the way you want.

Don't start with me, you... you... person!

Somebody should start some kind of "Pact" to get everybody to respond the way you want.

Old-timer alert! Old-timer alert!

lol...

No joke, right?