Whats happening these days?

[Weetrees]

I have noticed, unless you are willing to randomly critique photos for the hell of it, other than your list of favs no one bothers to offer a comment or critique no matter how good or bad the photo is.

Is it just me or has the contributing usergroup all went on holiday?

Or is it something omore sinister?

Its becoming increasingly more like trek lens on here and that aint really a good thing

Ta

John

[Keitht]

John,

It is more necessary to make yourself known by commenting or critiquing than it was in the good old days when I joined TE. Back then, in the days of scanned images, you could be almost certain to receive feedback on your images even if you didn't feel confident, or competent, to critique other people.
The big difference was the number of images being posted and therefore the amount of time those images remained visible on the first page of the gallery. So many images are posted now that it's entirely possible for an image to be on the first page for as little as 20 minutes, so other strategies come into play to get yourself noticed. I don't agree with the idea of only giving or getting critiques from a small band of people and, although I am far less active as far as posting my own images is concerned, I still critique images that catch my eye.
If you critique the work of others your name becomes familiar not only to those members, but also to others viewing that image and its critiques. That in turn encourages them to look at your work. It can be a slow process and frustrating at times, but stick at it and things will hopefully improve.

[Weetrees]

Originally Posted by Keitht

John,

It is more necessary to make yourself known by commenting or critiquing than it was in the good old days when I joined TE. Back then, in the days of scanned images, you could be almost certain to receive feedback on your images even if you didn't feel confident, or competent, to critique other people.
The big difference was the number of images being posted and therefore the amount of time those images remained visible on the first page of the gallery. So many images are posted now that it's entirely possible for an image to be on the first page for as little as 20 minutes, so other strategies come into play to get yourself noticed. I don't agree with the idea of only giving or getting critiques from a small band of people and, although I am far less active as far as posting my own images is concerned, I still critique images that catch my eye.
If you critique the work of others your name becomes familiar not only to those members, but also to others viewing that image and its critiques. That in turn encourages them to look at your work. It can be a slow process and frustrating at times, but stick at it and things will hopefully improve.

Hi Keith,

I am sure you will have noticed i have done a fair splattering of critiquing over my time since joining last year.

I have noticed this in general browsing round the images.
some pretty superb pictures are dropping out under the radar and it may be putting new members off from diving in with the lead boots on

Its not about accruing points, it about learning from the knowledge of others who may just have a different perspective or are more technically sound than i may be.

I have picked up a fair bit since joining in especially about composition somewhere i felt i was not as good as i could have been.

As you say images dont spend long on the front page anymore, i have noticed just how much more have been getting posted even since i joined.

Cheers for the reply

John

[Keitht]

Originally Posted by weetrees

Hi Keith,


some pretty superb pictures are dropping out under the radar and it may be putting new members off from diving in with the lead boots on

Its not about accruing points, it about learning from the knowledge of others who may just have a different perspective or are more technically sound than i may be.

I have picked up a fair bit since joining in especially about composition somewhere i felt i was not as good as i could have been.

As you say images dont spend long on the front page anymore, i have noticed just how much more have been getting posted even since i joined.

John

From a purely personal point of view i.e. without my moderator hat on, I would love the site to have fewer images posted, and more discussion and critique of those that are posted, but how could that be achieved??

[Greg1949]

Originally Posted by Keitht

From a purely personal point of view i.e. without my moderator hat on, I would love the site to have fewer images posted, and more discussion and critique of those that are posted, but how could that be achieved??

Amen, oh to be able to get to the wheat without having to go through tons of chaff

[BennyV]

Amen! You can say that again.

Same feelings here!

BennyV

[Weetrees]

I hear you

Though i wish i could say all mine were wheat rather than chaff

[Keitht]

I think the wheat and chaff analogy is an unfortunate one. For me TE is as much about participation and learning as it is about the technical quality of an image. I certainly learned many lessons in the early days by having members explaining what they might have done differently or how the image might be improved. There seems to be much less willingness these days to put in the effort. Far too many instances of 'Good shot' which teach us nothing about photography, let alone the world.

[J_Burke]

I have to agree with Keitht. Surely the point of the site is not to amass a selections of great pictures only, but to be a place where people can share their experiences of different places and we can all learn a little about them and improve our photography.

The process is called critiquing afterall not just looking through the gallery for the best pictures and commenting why they are so great. We are all a little guilty of that, myself included but i like to think that i also try and give contructive criticism if i feel in a position to be able to do so and to help newer members. I think to subscribe to this "wheat and chaff" idea would be wrong, if it wasn't for some constructive criticism i received when i first joined and the odd 2 points for pictures that definately had lots of room for improvement I wouldn't have learned from my mistakes and been encouraged to continue to contribute to the community and develop.

[Weetrees]

I think the point i originally made ties in easily to the whet and chaff idea as the sheer volume of photographs being uploaded means a lot of good quality images are going un noticed and essentially lost to the greater community

Especially new members who might need some encouragement to keep posting.
I have learned lots from here but the first impression was the one that stuck.

If i had have posted my lovingly tended pictures and effectively had them ignored i may have not continued to post.

By ignored i mean not comented on or properly critiqued.

I have noticed the difference in my short tenure (under a year)

Though my picture taking technically has improved and the feedback played a big role in this without this you always think you are doing great