VERY DISCOURAGING

dphotography · Apr 10, 2012

Theirs allot of beginners on here that ask questions or need some c&c from a supposed pro and all they get is sarcastic idiotic comments. We are asking for the constructive criticism . So please be more compassionate and help if you can or just keep your sarcastic unnecessary comments to your self. let me make sure i clarify I am ok with negative comments ,cause obviously if the pic is not great or good i want to know so i could fix it and learn from it . Thanks for your time

jwbryson1 · Apr 10, 2012

DiskoJoe · Apr 10, 2012

dphotography said:
Theirs allot of beginners on here that ask questions or need some c&c from a supposed pro and all they get is sarcastic idiotic comments. We are asking for the constructive criticism . So please be more compassionate and help if you can or just keep your sarcastic unnecessary comments to your self. let me make sure i clarify I am ok with negative comments ,cause obviously if the pic is not great or good i want to know so i could fix it and learn from it . Thanks for your time

Everyone gets hazed a bit but you will start to find out who you can get good advice from after a while. Theyre are many great photogs on here. If all else fails just ask Darrel or Big Mike. They always give solid info.

OrionsByte · Apr 10, 2012

A word of advise:

You can try to change everyone else, or you can try to change yourself.

I'm well aware that comments on this site can tend to seem hurtful or sarcastic, but quite frankly it's been that way ever since I joined. The funny thing is, the people that tend to be the most common "offenders" of that vein also tend to be the most helpful.

All I'm saying is that you can either choose to be offended by how someone offers you critique or advise, or you can choose to mine their knowledge for everything it's worth and learn from it. It's far more likely that you can adapt to the attitudes on this forum than it is for this forum to suddenly change the way it's always been.

As a postscript, there's a reason that the most helpful members on here also tend to be the most sarcastic. When they take time to give detailed, thoughtful critiques, it's often rebuffed by the original poster in a way that makes it obvious that they're not really paying attention. In other words, the original poster takes offense to those measured, carefully worded critiques as much as they do to the harsh, tactless ones. They respond to the positive comments with, "Thanks!" but refuse to acknowledge the wealth of information provided to them by some other person simply because they didn't like what they said.

Simply put, in coming here, it is your responsibility to learn from whatever responses you get; it is not the responsibility of the other members of the forum to hold your hand and lead you through the learning process, though if you stick around, I think you'll find that in their own way, that's what many of them are doing.

jaomul · Apr 10, 2012

dphotography said:
Theirs allot of beginners on here that ask questions or need some c&c from a supposed pro and all they get is sarcastic idiotic comments. We are asking for the constructive criticism . So please be more compassionate and help if you can or just keep your sarcastic unnecessary comments to your self. let me make sure i clarify I am ok with negative comments ,cause obviously if the pic is not great or good i want to know so i could fix it and learn from it . Thanks for your time

I know sometimes smart answers are given but mostly these are given due the same questions being asked over and over. There is a search forum that many don't seem to use. Most here that take the time to comment will more than likely give helpful advise. Having said this if you posted last week that you are not sure how to take your new $3000 camera out of the box, but this week want advise on how to charge $3000 to successfully do a wedding with one lens and the auto setting you are lining yourself up for smart comments. Also just as in day to day life there are nice people and people that are not so nice

jwbryson1 · Apr 10, 2012

It's better to get "sarcastic" advice on this forum then to get no advice at all. I post photos on here routinely and never get comments. That's much more frustrating. Trust me.

nmoody · Apr 10, 2012

Most of the time that I see negative comments on newbies posts its due the the newbie being lazy and not searching/researching or they need to be brought off their high horse.

That being said I still don't support such tactics but I do understand when the are being used.

We have a lot of professionals on this forum, well seasoned and very punchy bunch they are. Personally I love the playfully banter they bring to the table but sadly it sometimes gets directed at the newbies.

There are plenty of other forums out there that will coddle newbies and tell them their work is great, but nothing beats some hard love kickstart the learning process.

Overread · Apr 10, 2012

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...e-your-posts-get-critiques-your-work-c-c.html

^^ Read that thread for help
Any reply I can give would be just repeating myself in that thread

Graystar · Apr 10, 2012

dphotography said:
Theirs allot of beginners on here that ask questions or need some c&c from a supposed pro and all they get is sarcastic idiotic comments. We are asking for the constructive criticism . So please be more compassionate and help if you can or just keep your sarcastic unnecessary comments to your self. let me make sure i clarify I am ok with negative comments ,cause obviously if the pic is not great or good i want to know so i could fix it and learn from it . Thanks for your time

Are you saying that you see sarcastic indiotic remarks as direct responses to the beginner? Or that the beginner's thread gets cluttered with people making such remarks at each other. Maybe I'm not reading enough of other's responses, but I usually only see that type of response to beginners who say they're going to shoot a wedding this weekend and are asking how to do it. That's like saying you just killed three puppies and enjoyed it. I also see angry remarks to beginners who asks a question that asserts something negative, and wrong, as part of the question. Such as a question that starts "Why does Nikon's Auto-ISO suck so much?"

Otherwise, I think people are generally considerate of a beginner's lack of knowledge, and try to help.

paigew · Apr 10, 2012

dphotography said:
Theirs allot of beginners on here that ask questions or need some c&c from a supposed pro and all they get is sarcastic idiotic comments. We are asking for the constructive criticism . So please be more compassionate and help if you can or just keep your sarcastic unnecessary comments to your self. let me make sure i clarify I am ok with negative comments ,cause obviously if the pic is not great or good i want to know so i could fix it and learn from it . Thanks for your time

I think if you take the time to correctly structure your posts you may get responses that are more thought out and genuine. For example, when someone posts a new thread totally ridden with spelling and grammar errors people may not take them as 'serious'.

jowensphoto · Apr 10, 2012

Take advice with a grain of salt. Or go to other "rainbows and roses" forums.

Also, what Paige said. If I can't read a post without my eyes bleeding (get that salt ready), I don't read it.

rexbobcat · Apr 10, 2012

I don't really feel like doing the work that the beginner should have done in the first place.

"lol just got my camera today! shot these in auto. whats wrong with thm?"

I don't know. Maybe you should STUDY. Have a little respect for the craft.

I went for two years just reading and learning before I started promoting anything that I did. I didn't waltz into internet forums yelling "TEACH MEEEEEEEEE!!"

This is not specifically directed at the OP, just newbs in general.

fotomumma09 · Apr 10, 2012

Overread said:
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum/164578-how-structure-your-posts-get-critiques-your-work-c-c.html

^^ Read that thread for help
Any reply I can give would be just repeating myself in that thread

Thanks for sharing!

LuckySe7en · Apr 10, 2012

I totally agree. I'm not a pro by any means but I try to at least give my opinion on photos and point out things that will help. If a photo is bad, I'm not going to lie and say it's great, you'll never get anywhere that way.

On the other hand, your C&C thread is up to 3 pages. That's like incredible lol. I post a pic and I'm lucky to get 3 replies!

Oh, one other thing. What I've also learned is that people take time out of their busy schedules to critique a photo. And to be honest, some of the photos posted are just bad. It's almost an embarrassment and it's very condescending to those of us who take this seriously.

TCampbell · Apr 10, 2012

Everyone should actually read the owners manual. Yes I know it doesn't sound like an exciting way to spend the afternoon, but KNOWING what your camera does and how to control it can have a very positive impact on ... well EVERY PHOTO you'll ever take with it for as long as you own the camera. Is that worth one afternoon of your time to you?

Apart from that, Rex, in all fairness... if someone is completely new, they won't necessarily even know where to start.

When I see someone asking a lot of questions about how to use the camera or what gear they need, I realize that before they need gear, they probably need a book. Nobody should be prioritizing the purchase of more gear if they don't actually know why they need that gear. As for books... I have a few favorites that I usually suggest. There's a lot of bad books -- written by people who aren't good teachers and possibly giving poor examples or analogies, using terminology that those who are new to photography won't necessarily understand (resulting in frustration), and including information from well-meaning and seasoned photographers... who also happen to be wrong. And then of course there are some great books that are spot on, use great analogies, and provide good examples.

A lot of people are completely capable of helping themselves, but would like to be nudged in the right direction. If that "right direction" is into a good book that covers the basics... so be it.