feedback

[geoff murray]

I am a new member of the forum and new to digital photography.I enjoy the forum very much and have had a lot of technical help from my fellow members for which I am very grateful.However I do have one gripe, you are all too nice................noone ever criticises the photographs. I would like to see some "constructive" criticism,"they are very nice" does not help those of us who are trying to improve.
Most of my photos are crap but I am trying to lift them to the standard I see on the forum.I understand that it is difficult but it is the only way I am going to improve.If I want someone to tell me my photos are "nice" I show them to my wife......................I hope this wont get me thrown out of the forum.

[Pekka]

Hi Geoff,

The problems I see in your photos are mainly in composition, and that you should get closer to subjects, zoom in more. The composition mostly suffers from very slanted horizons. There's also some blurryness, but that could be well because of apparent lack of post processing.

But they are not "crap" my any means.

What do YOU think your weaknesses are? What kind of photos would you like to achieve?

I'll never kick anyone out for asking for criticism, but I may start kicking people out for not writing comments :)

[slejhamer]

geoff murray wrote:
noone ever criticises the photographs. I would like to see some "constructive" criticism

I must disagree. I have received some very thoughtful and helpful constructive criticism on the critique forum. It has been a big help to me, though the general number of critiques (and photos) is indeed small.

You have not yet posted there... Perhaps you are looking primarily at the "share photos" section, in which people do not necessarily post with the intent of receiving criticism?

Cheers,

[Leighow]

GEOFF

Well, we all really are looking to improve our skills.

There are many ways to do that, from photo critiques to monthly member topic shoots. Maybe you can define an approach that might work best for you. Meanwhile, why not select one of your shots and following Mitch's advice, post it for critique ( I do not recall many of your posts)? May I also suggest that when you post, you define your photographic intent.

In my own case I am not so good at accepting criticism. I sort of rationalize that I am aware of which of my shots are not so hot! For example the shots that I posted yesterday under “Promene-toi dans la foret” are quite tame. They were easy to shoot, and a bit harder to perfectly expose. Perhaps any one of those shots only needed a deer to strut across the foreground to be great. Whatever, I posted what I had – knowing full well that they were marginal shots.

You own skills are certainly as strong as mine. Earlier this Fall Don Ellis reminded us that Kodak has a number of tips for photographers. I felt that your shots were great in that regard. Great colour. Good framing. Interesting angles. A tad more sharpening in PS would improve several -- although at these lower resolutions it is hard to be sure what you are looking at on your own monitor ..

Again, looking at your gallery, I see a diversity of topics and intent. In particular, your lead castle post is excellent -- better than any building shot that I have taken in Britain. On the other hand, a common (and easy to fix) blemish is a waterline that misses the horizontal. While there are occasions where this rule can be broken, those cases are special.

Regards, to all my ancestors.


HOWIE

[Conk]

I can understand your concerns Geoff. There are few that give their criticism but for myself, unless it is blatantly obvious that the picture is lacking I do not add too much negative critique. I don't feel that I have the experience that some of the other members do.
I have my wife look at my photo's after I load them to my computer to tell me which ones she finds attractive. I think she has a good eye for it. Those are the photo's that usually make it to my galleries and my posts here. Then I get the more experienced opinions from members. I'm my own worst critic but I'm improving.
Here is a link that Howie gave me to help improve.
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/pictureTaking/top10/10TipsMain.shtml

[geoff murray]

Thanks for your comments Pekka,this now gives me something to judge my photos by.You ask what kind of photos I am trying to achieve.My answer to that is I wish to achieve results similar to Don and Sheila( to mention just two members) who post absolutely stunning photographs on the forum.Having established my goal I now need to determine how to achieve it.I think possibly by subjecting myself to a regular dose of criticism from my fellow forum members could be a good start!!.
I also feel that possibly stepping up from my present A20 to something more sophisticated "might" help,what do you think?
I take your point re the critique forum Mitch and of course with hindsight this is where I should have started( a severe case of opening mouth before engaging brain). I realise that one of the most difficult things in the world is honest feedback and in particular in this "milieu" where people put up their surrogate babies only to have them torn to shreds does not engender a feeling of goodwill to ones fellow man. However I feel the only way up is via a healthy dose of thoughtful criticism . Reading the posts in the critique forum I find most are handled in thoughtful way although I agree with you Mitch that the number of critiques is indeed small.
Thank you Colin for the Kodak link I find that very helpful.
With regard to your comments Howie I wonder if I could ask you to elaborate a little on the "Waterline that misses the Horizontal " and I would be delighted to pass your regards to your ancestors but you didn't mention your origins(we are pretty cosmopolitan here now).Thanks again to everyone who took the trouble to respond to my ravings.