Gallery Critique

[markgozz]

Do you think it's OK to leave critique on images in the general photo section of the gallery , I've left comments on images that I like but I feel a bit uneasy leaving critique on an image that hasn't been posted in one of the forum sections .
Do you think that if someone hasn't posted in the forum itself then their not really asking for critique or do you think that just uploading images to the gallery is an invitation for people to look and pass critique .

Any thoughts ?

Mark

[cosmicma]

bit of a tricky one that
they obviously are proud enough to put there images on display in the gallery and might not take kindly to critique but if people don't offer critique they will never know if there photo's are good or bad

personally where the gallery is concerned i would give credit where credit is due and thats about it

[Reinardina]

Originally Posted by markgozz

Do you think it's OK to leave critique on images in the general photo section of the gallery , I've left comments on images that I like but I feel a bit uneasy leaving critique on an image that hasn't been posted in one of the forum sections .
Do you think that if someone hasn't posted in the forum itself then their not really asking for critique or do you think that just uploading images to the gallery is an invitation for people to look and pass critique .

Any thoughts ?

Mark

Originally Posted by cosmicma

bit of a tricky one that
they obviously are proud enough to put there images on display in the gallery and might not take kindly to critique but if people don't offer critique they will never know if there photo's are good or bad

personally where the gallery is concerned i would give credit where credit is due and thats about it

Mark G,

I'm with cosmicma in this. I would not offer a public critique to an unknown person; it will be visible to all, and it may really hurt the photographer.

If however, you know a bit about the photographer in question, and know he/she is keen to learn, or experiment (like me) then I think you can do it. But always, always be gentle and be careful to phrase it in a non confrontational way. ("I just wonder, what it would look like if you did this or that ... ")

I think the galleries can do with a proper upgrade, so maybe it would be possible to insert a button where people can say whether or not they want critiques. (I'll suggest this on the appropriate forum.)

[markgozz]

I’m in two minds about this , on one hand I agree with Reinardina and cosmicma that it might be that not everyone is after constructive critique on images they post into the gallery because they might just like to have somewhere to store their images on line and it's always nice to have someone leave a nice comment about your work .

On the other hand if someone goes to the trouble of setting up an account and uploading their images onto a site for photographers surely they are either proud and confident enough in their work to welcome feedback and aspire others or they are looking for constructive critique so that they can learn from other like minded people and grow in skill and confidence .

To only leave flattering comments seems a bit counter productive because anyone that looks back on their work and finds no comments at all could well think that the reason for this is because no one likes their work but will not have the foggiest idea why this is or even how they can improve their work through camera settings or just good camera technique .

Reinardina you are absolutely right in saying that you have to be careful in how you give critique , no one likes or wants to listen to someone who is so far up themselves that they talk down to you in a condescending way that is even less helpful than leaving no comment at all .

Personally I have seen a few images that I really like and would like to ask more about them but because there is a part of that image that I feel isn't quite right or not to my taste I haven't left any comments because I didn't want to leave unsolicited critique and that sits a bit uncomfortably with me .

Mark

PS
Thankyou Reinardina and Cathus for sorting out that spam .

[karenoliver]

Originally Posted by markgozz

I’m in two minds about this , on one hand I agree with Reinardina and cosmicma that it might be that not everyone is after constructive critique on images they post into the gallery because they might just like to have somewhere to store their images on line and it's always nice to have someone leave a nice comment about your work .

On the other hand if someone goes to the trouble of setting up an account and uploading their images onto a site for photographers surely they are either proud and confident enough in their work to welcome feedback and aspire others or they are looking for constructive critique so that they can learn from other like minded people and grow in skill and confidence .

To only leave flattering comments seems a bit counter productive because anyone that looks back on their work and finds no comments at all could well think that the reason for this is because no one likes their work but will not have the foggiest idea why this is or even how they can improve their work through camera settings or just good camera technique .

Reinardina you are absolutely right in saying that you have to be careful in how you give critique , no one likes or wants to listen to someone who is so far up themselves that they talk down to you in a condescending way that is even less helpful than leaving no comment at all .

Personally I have seen a few images that I really like and would like to ask more about them but because there is a part of that image that I feel isn't quite right or not to my taste I haven't left any comments because I didn't want to leave unsolicited critique and that sits a bit uncomfortably with me .

Mark

PS
Thankyou Reinardina and Cathus for sorting out that spam .

Do what you personally feel is right, Mark. I sort of agree with you that as soon as someone uploads an image they want it to be seen and honest feedback is always best. The worst thing for me is when someone uploads a shot to the forums for feedback but then never bothers to acknowledge the feedback they are given! I think most people would rather honest feedback, I know I would because how else do you learn?

Karen

[Reinardina]

Mark, you can always send a carefully worded PM. Then it stays between you and the photographer, and you'll find out soon enough if the other person is prepared to accept advice/criticism.

Or maybe even that he/she has done, whatever you don't like too much, on purpose, because he/she thinks, it should be just like that!

Everyone looks in a different way at photographs. I had, for instance, a picture in one of the weekly competitions a couple of months ago, that was criricised by one and praised by someone else for exactly the same thing.

I might even dig out the picture and both critiques as an example if anyone is interested.

[Lurkalot]

Shouldn't be too hard for them to code a custom field into the upload page etc. I did this on our site a couple of years back. you just answer a simple question on upload

Critique Welcome
Yes / No

[karenoliver]

I don't know about anyone else but I look at the gallery a lot less now than I did when the older version was up on Photoradar. I hardly upload here anymore either, preferring to link from my flick account instead. I much preferred the older site.

Karen

[markgozz]

Reinardina a PM is one way to give critique or ask a question but it just doesn't seem as open or natural as leaving a message on their replies section of their image and I think you would probably get even less people leaving replies than you do now . I can understand what you say about upsetting someone with an open message about their image but I still can't quite work out the purpose of uploading an image that you don't want constructive critique on and constructive is the key word here .

The other point you make about different people seeing different things in the same image is in my opinion what makes for a good discussion , I often find it much more interesting to hear opposing opinions on the same matter because the more people with different views and ideas that join in the more in-depth the analyses .
I for one would be very interested in your experience and would love to see the image and posts in question .


Lurkalot I know almost nothing about wed site design but a simple yes or no check box sound perfect .


Karen I was rather hoping that the revamped site would be a lot more user friendly and encourage people to ask questions and leave comments in an open and nurturing environment but it still feels a bit daunting to be honest . As for viewing the gallery I find myself checking it more now than before but that might be down to the relatively small number of images uploaded each day and it might be different once the image count goes up because of the time it will take to go through them all , I have started to upload my images to the gallery but if I had a flicker account I don't know if I would bother having two sets of the same image because it seems quite straight forward to post direct from flicker .

As always these are just my opinions .

Mark

[wavemachine]

I like Lurkalot's suggestion, I would assume if people wanted crit then they would post it in one of the threads for critique.

I personally treat the gallery as a place to view peoples efforts and if I really like an image I will comment on it (not that I have on the new site yet due to time), I think it is unclear to anyone uploading images whether they will receive constructive criticism or not so think it is probably best not to.

I feel if someone really wants to say something then a PM as suggested is the way to go for now.

Well that's my thoughts.