Critiques

[Craig E Hood]

Being brand new to this hobby It would be fun to get unbiased (non-family)opinions of pictures. What looks good to me may look completely wrong to someone else. I find myself wondering just that of every picture I take, does it REALLY look good. It would also be interesting to get opinions on something that I know doesn't look right, but not sure why it turned out that way.

Craig

 

[allie5]

Being brand new to this hobby It would be fun to get unbiased (non-family)opinions of pictures. What looks good to me may look completely wrong to someone else. I find myself wondering just that of every picture I take, does it REALLY look good. It would also be interesting to get opinions on something that I know doesn't look right, but not sure why it turned out that way.

Craig

I think you have summed up perfectly what the critique thread should champion - those people that want to take better pictures and are looking for useful, non-biased advice on how to achieve that.

 

[MontanaZoo]

My thoughts is that the simpler the thread is the more hits the thread will get. Would it be a bad thing to have each photographer post a thread with a similar title like Critique - Mountain Vista (Constructive Criticism Welcome) and people can critique as they would like? Then we wouldn't be confused having commentary on different pictures in the same thread.

 

[jann1033]

I think it should be moderated and be one picture per day or two or threeish - depending on how busy the thread and the moderator are. That means that people won't be able to post as many pictures, but there will be more attention paid to those pictures that do get posted.

I like the anonymous posting idea, but it exponentially increases the moderators work.

I'm pretty opposed to this idea, but it's sort of the way it worked in one photo club I was involved with.

Don't look at me...I'm just suggesting the thread. Someone better organized and nicer should probably do the actual moderating.

I have no idea how you'd enforce it, but I think we should have posted guidelines. Stuff like - Comments should provide suggestions on how the picture could be improved rather than simply pointing out it's shortcomings. No personal attacks or criticism of the photographer - just the photograph.

Because of this, I wonder whether posters offering photos for critique should ask specific questions which might spark comments from others - such as "have I over saturated this?" or "does this crop work" for example. Posting an amazing picture simply to bask in the glory (and we've all done it ) doesnt work so well on proper critique threads as this is when the OP can get narky that their best work is being ripped to shreds LOL!!

so it doesn't look like mark is talking to himself..
1 i think one a week per victim i mean photographer, don't care about the moderation, i figure if it gets to blood letting the mods will probably step in anyway. that way over a weeks time we could get a bunch covered and time to think about the photo before we comment
2anonymous is fine but don't think it's really necessary..if the comments are sincere but not mean don't see why anyone should be afraid to post even if it's to oblio
3 grading imo would lessen the usefulness of the comments. i'd rather hear something i can use like "use auto focus next time" rather than a "-1000"
4see number 1 although it would be nice to have a special little area so they don't get lost, like how much work is it for the mods to make it a sticky or something like that?
5 ok i forget quickly but what are the rules for the forum? seems like that would help and best disney behavoir...oh wait what if someone is one of those wdw visitors that save 1/2 the street before a parade and bite the leg of anyone who dares walk by...ok pretend it's your grandma you are talking to

agree about the questions, it would make it way easier to constructively help if you know what the poster feels is not quite right or was trying to do so as much background as possible with the photo. ie exif in case someone can't pull it up, maybe time of day, what they used "special" ie filter, tripod etc,what they wanted to do, what they think worked and didn't, what they want help on, maybe even the type of camera, ie a p &s could give different results than a flagship dslr etc etc etc etc
just read montana's post and i think it would almost have to be separate threads but somehow lumped together if possible and stuck somewhere so they don't end up on page 25.

 

[MontanaZoo]

Oh and maybe have an established format for the posting, such as listing out information such as camera and the settings etc.

 

[MontanaZoo]

Ok here's my example

Critique - Photo Title (Constructive Criticism Welcome)

[insert photo here]

Camera - Canon Digital Rebel xTi
Lens -
ISO - 200
Aperature - 4.5
White Balance - AWB
Etc whatever settings you want to list

Intent of photo - What you wanted the photo to look like when you took it

Questions - where you would ask things like what settings do you think would have worked better, time of day, color, etc

 

[jann1033]

Ok here's my example

Critique - Photo Title (Constructive Criticism Welcome)

[insert photo here]

Camera - Canon Digital Rebel xTi
Lens -
ISO - 200
Aperature - 4.5
White Balance - AWB
Etc whatever settings you want to list

Intent of photo - What you wanted the photo to look like when you took it

Questions - where you would ask things like what settings do you think would have worked better, time of day, color, etc

looks good to me

 

[Alztybrn]

OK...I am not afraid to be the example/test dummy. I took this last night. It is right out of the camera. The lower part is underexposed, while the sky is over exposed. The sky was blue when the pic was shot. It was also around 7:30 pm.

Tear it apart, but how can I get a better exposure?

Here is the basic EXIF:
Canon 30D
ISO 250
1/60 sec
f 14

Overall...I would put something like Lynchburg Veteran Memorial C&C in the title of the thread, and then the body of the post would be what you see above, then all you could have at it?

Sound like what everybody is thinking?

OH...and BTW....I would really like suggestions on how to get this exposure right....Thanks!

 

[MontanaZoo]

That's what I'm thinking, I say go for it...

I would mention that it's a critique thread so we can easily see them.

Like Photo Critique - Lynchberg Veteran Memorial C&C

 

[Steve's Girl]

OK...I am not afraid to be the example/test dummy. I took this last night. It is right out of the camera. The lower part is underexposed, while the sky is over exposed. The sky was blue when the pic was shot. It was also around 7:30 pm.

Tear it apart, but how can I get a better exposure?

Here is the basic EXIF:
Canon 30D
ISO 250
1/60 sec
f 14

Overall...I would put something like Lynchburg Veteran Memorial C&C in the title of the thread, and then the body of the post would be what you see above, then all you could have at it?

Sound like what everybody is thinking?

OH...and BTW....I would really like suggestions on how to get this exposure right....Thanks!

OK - I'll be the first brave one to comment. (although, probably like most others, I don't feel qualified). But, my opinion is that you needed to take this photo later in the evening. I think the sky was too bright to get a proper exposure of the building without blowing out the sky. A good time to take this type of photo is right after sunset with a tripod. You can get some beautiful dark blue skies that time of day. Now, please feel free to offer critique on my comments.

 

[DueyDooDah]

I like the format suggested so far. One thing I'd really like not to see is a quoted reply with photo. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let's not follow the OP with the same photo in the thread. There's not much that is more annoying than wading through the same photo ten times in the same thread. The OP should contain the ONLY photo in the thread.

 

[MontanaZoo]

Ok, here's what I was envisioning....does the separate thread thing make it harder or easier? Feel free to critique away....maybe we could use this thread as a master thread indicating that we added a new critique and linking to it.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1889317

 

[DVC Eric]

Sounds good i would be in, and on that photo the sky is very blown out.

 

[Disneyfreak92]

Well, first of all, I love this idea! I would love to get some constructive criticism in a place where I feel comfortable posting, and this would definitely qualify.

So what should the rules be:

1) Should we open it so that people can just post picks whenever they want in any number that they want? Should we restrict it to one picture per person per time period (day, week, month)? Should we moderate it and only post one picture per time period?

I think one picture per person per week (or something like that) is a good idea. I don't care about moderation so much, but I don't mind it either.

2) Should we allow people to post their own pics, or should we have them PM links to the moderator who then posts them anonymously? That would depersonalize things which might cut down on favoritism but the anonymity might also make people more brazen in their criticism.

Either way is fine with me, but I do like the idea of the poster being able ask questions about their photo.

3) Should their be any kind of grading (I score 2 for composition, 2 for lighting, and 1 for technique)?

I don't think it's necessary. I do like the freedom of being able to make and receive comments applicable to the individual photo. I know I would find comments about those categories more useful than a score.

4) Who wants to moderate it?

Do we need a moderator? If so, I don't think I'm the person to do it considering that if it were up to me, I'd be posting on here every day, and I go months without posting here sometimes because I get so busy.

5) Should their be rules on what can be said in a critique?

I would think something similar to what you said yourself would be appropriate.

 

[MontanaZoo]

Ok, here's what I was envisioning....does the separate thread thing make it harder or easier? Feel free to critique away....maybe we could use this thread as a master thread indicating that we added a new critique and linking to it.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1889317

This format is working well for me, anyone else want to try?

 

[KrazyPete]

I would be interested in participating.

I think it would be great if the DIS would give us a sub-forum under this one just for critiques. That makes them easier to follow and keeps them from cluttering up the main forum. I would prefer a more laissez-faire approach to moderation. Just make it one photo per post and encourage people to provide as much information as they can about the shot. Sometimes keeping things simple encourages participation. I can see how anonymizing the posts through the moderator might get us more honest critiques. But, I really want to know who I'm critiquing. I may want to give a different type of advice to someone I know is just beginning as opposed to someone who is more experienced.

 

[future_imagineer819]

I'm new to this side of the board, but I would be interested.

 

[lindseywb]

i'm pretty new to the boards, but i just got a dslr and i'd love to get feedback on the shots i've taken...like others have said some other photography boards are pretty intimadating and/or don't offer great constructive criticism.

 

[crazydadguy]

I like the format suggested so far. One thing I'd really like not to see is a quoted reply with photo. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let's not follow the OP with the same photo in the thread. There's not much that is more annoying than wading through the same photo ten times in the same thread. The OP should contain the ONLY photo in the thread.

Amen Brother!!! I hate scrolling through the same set of pictures over and over again!!

 

[Disnewbie_N_MO]

So, is this the official critique thread or is there going to be another one? I have a couple I'd like critiqued.