Suggestion Photography - Critique Forum

[HowardE]

Hi.

I know some other forums (who shall remain nameless) have a critique section, where people can post their pictures, and get honest feedback and perhaps some pointers on how to improve their shots.

Most of the time - on SB when people post photos, it's mostly a praisefest. Not that there's anything wrong with that... but some people may want to hear what they can do better, etc. At the moment, there isn't really an appropriate place to post photos that people are wanting critique, and it's hard to ask for that under the UW Photography forum, where it's mostly just a place for people to SHARE photos (which is also fine)

I would expect that the rules for the sub-forum would include politeness as a key factor, since on some other forums, people just overly criticize, without being constructive.

So - in conclusion... a sub-forum for UW Photo Critique - constructive and polite critique or praise whatever the case may be...

What do you guys think?

 

[Darnold9999]

What I was responding to was the idea of a place where I could post my pics and hopefully get some constructive criticism as opposed to "nice pics" which is great, but as a rank beginner more would be helpful.

How it happens is not as important as the place. Either works for me. Defer to those who have seen this kind of thing work/not work.

The reality is that I learn a lot simply by looking at others work and seeing what I like/don't like. Try to emulate the things I like, avoid the things I don't. Not sure that I would get a lot from specific criticism, but who knows - sure worth a try.

 

[CLA]

I like the idea of a separate forum because it will be easier to access rather than having to search through old threads. Also, as a novice photographer, I would probably feel more comfortable posting pictures there for comments rather than next to all the stunning photos in the main UW photography forum. In this forum, it might also be helpful to post both the original and the cropped/enhanced version (if any) of our photos so the pros can teach us how to shoot it better - or how to fix it (in case we can't get another shot). In the main UW photo forum, it is sometimes difficult to critique a photo (or learn from it) if the photographer doesn't state how it was taken (settings and setup and under what conditions)or if it was already enhanced.

 

[alcina]

Great input here, everyone.

I'd also add that some shots you know you like certain things, but something just isn't working as well as it should...so I like to ask "what do you think about the lighting?" "what do you think about the dof?" - that way you can also get specific answers. Of course, many times you don't want to narrow it down at all and just want input - I think there are a lot of voices here that can provide great feedback!

Again, I agree with Darnold - I learn so much just looking and reading the comments to other people's images as well as my own. More dialogue is great! As long as the poster asks for input - netiquette dictates that if the poster doesn't ask for C&C then really any "advice" should be given privately.

I hope that in the meantime we all put these things to practice in the main area - if a need is seen for a new forum area, rather than simply discussion about how much it would be fabulous to have, then there may be more weight on that side of the scale.

 

[tee_jay]

Sounds good. I know that when I begin to take some photos I will appreciate nice comments, but I will definitely want tips on what I did wrong and how to improve.