Discuss an Idea: Photo Feedback & Tips thread


Beemer B773ER

Tire Trailblazer
Hi Everyone,

Well after the positive discussion of this idea within the Automotive Photography thread, I decided to create a seperate thread so that we can discuss any rules, restrictions, extra ideas and anything else that comes to your mind that can help move this idea closer to fruition.

I could have just gone ahead and created a thread for the idea, but I thought it'd be best to try and establish some ground rules so that we all have a common understanding of what the idea (and the eventual thread) will be all about.

Firstly, for those who haven't read the brief discussion within the Automotive photography thread, the idea of a 'Photo Feedback & Tips' section revolves around the idea that any member who has taken a photo can post it up on here and gain the feedback of fellow members (in a polite manner) and also be given any tips/advice/suggestions to further improve the photo. The tips/suggestions should be said in an encouraging and positive manner because the driving force behind this idea is to better all of our photographic skills and abilities.

I feel we should at least create some ground rules. These rules are just my suggestions, so of course feel free state any rules you think would help, because that's the purpose of this Discuss an Idea thread.

My rule suggestions:
1. Each member should be limited to a mximum of 4 photos per week. You can choose to post one photo at a time, or all 5 at once, it's up to you. (There's no need to play sheriff and actively keep a keen eye on anyone who posts more than 5 photos, and also no need to keep a tally each week for each member, but rather, I know that the members who will participate in this thread are very understanding, enthusiastic and appreciative, so they will fully respect any rules created. We may just need to kindly remind newbies to the thread about the rules).

2. There shouldn't be any specific criteria in terms of the quality of the photos since we have varying degrees of talented photographers, BUT, each member should take a second thought before posting their photos, and to try and only post the photos which they feel are their best. This not only benefits other members because we won't need to sort through 'poorer' images, but it also benefits the member who is seeking any feedback because there's no real point in not posting your best photos because you won't truely be advancing your skills. I guess the only exception to this rule would be if you are trying a new style/genre/technique of photography and you can't quite grasp how to do it properly, then you can post a 'poor' or low-quality photo to gain advice on how to improve it. Eg: Learning the HDR technique can be tough, so anyone new to the idea will inevitably take some poor images first, and then a number of members here can help that member with tips to improve their HDR technique.

3. Put a restriction of the resolution of the image. So I guess we should adopt the same rule as that of the photo competitions.... but a little part of me feels that maybe we could increase the resolution to maybe 1280x960 since the purpose of this thread is to give ideas for improvements, and to do that, at times we may need to see greater details. On the other hand though, keeping the resolution size the same as the photo comps' means members can get advice, improve that same photo and post it up in the photo comp without having to worry about any resizing issues such as loss of image quality. What do you guys think?

I can't think of any other important rules because I don't want to overly restrict the creative nature of this idea....and the main reason why I feel we don't need a whole list of rules at the moment is because after being involved in discussion with the various members on GCF who are interested in photography, it's fairly clear to me that they are all really nice people, and therefore will respectful any basic rules, and also they won't abuse the purpose of this idea because they are all looking for ways to improve their photographic talents.
Of course if this idea really takes off and we get a lot of newbies to the forum who aren't familiar with the 'culture' and 'community' that we have here, then we may need to create a few more rules (similar to the Photo comps), but I feel in the meantime this idea should work very well.

As stated, feel free to suggest any other rules/restrictions you feel may be needed for this thread to work well, and as always, feel free to comment on what I have written above.

Again, this thread is purely a DISCUSSION of the idea of a thread dedicated to Member Photo Feedback & Tips. Please do not post any photos in this thread seeking tips. Once members have had a chance to participate in this discussion thread, we can then get this idea started with a proper thread where photo can be posted.

Let the discussions begin. The sooner we get this discussion out of the way, the sooner we can create a proper thread and get started on photo feedback and tips. I really look forward to getting this idea going with all of your help.

:t-cheers:
 
I agree with all the rules, it's basically what I also had in mind..

Regarding the size of the photo, I think 1024x768 is enough!

Thanks Dominic, I too think 1024x768 should be enough. :)


---

Also, what do you guys think of the following idea:

In the General photo comp thread a week or two ago, Ree posted a photo which I thought was good, but I felt some improvements could be made to really make the photo captivating. I provided a series of tips/advice for Ree which he was most appreciative of, but what I also did was actually take the photo he posted in the photo comp' and enhanced it in photoshop myself, that way he wasn't just reading my advice, he could also visually see how I had transformed his photo using each of the tips I had written down in the thread.
So my idea is that, if any member wants to (or has the time and skills), they can actually enhance a photo which a fellow member has posted so that they can visually showcase the suggested improvements. This is purely up to each member, because this definitely will be time consuming, but I guess if a member post a photo seeking feedback, and I feel that my written suggestions aren't very clear to understand, I can do the enhancements myself so that other member gets a better understanding of the suggestions I have given him/her. Another situation where this could happen is if a member has posted a photo and I instantly see some great potential in it and I feel compelled to enhance it (as I did with Ree's rose photo a few weeks back).

Also, another quick idea, when it comes to giving feedback, we should be allowed to post one of our own photos (which are similar in look, feel, subject, style, location, etc) and then point-out specific things in our own photo which the other member (who was seeking some feedback) can learn from. By actually being able to compare 2 photos of similar style/them side by side, we can learn a lot.
 
I agree with all the rules, it's basically what I also had in mind..

Regarding the size of the photo, I think 1024x768 is enough!


Yep, still a great idea, and absolutely aggree with the rules! Without self criticism this wouldn't work at all!

And in my opinion 1024x768 is more then enough!! :t-cheers: Bigger photos need longer to load etc…
 
Also, the level of technical info is purely up to each member... you don't have to include all the finer technical details like ISO, aperture (f-stop), shutter speed and whatever other technical photography jargon. Of course if you are knowledgable on these things, then by all means state them so that other knowledgable members can give suggestions.
It's mostly a personal judgement thing as to what level of feedback you give. You may notice that a member has posted a photo you think is a bit amateur (this will mostly be the case because they are new to photography) so in this case it's up to your personal judgement to realise that this member will gain no benefit from receiving feedback that is full of technical photography jargon...but rather that they are only able to comprehend fairly basic feedback. If a member has given overly technical feedback, then any other member is free to 'translate' that into words that everybody can understand.

:)
 
Also, the level of technical info is purely up to each member... you don't have to include all the finer technical details like ISO, aperture (f-stop), shutter speed and whatever other technical photography jargon. Of course if you are knowledgable on these things, then by all means state them so that other knowledgable members can give suggestions.
It's mostly a personal judgement thing as to what level of feedback you give. You may notice that a member has posted a photo you think is a bit amateur (this will mostly be the case because they are new to photography) so in this case it's up to your personal judgement to realise that this member will gain no benefit from receiving feedback that is full of technical photography jargon...but rather that they are only able to comprehend fairly basic feedback. If a member has given overly technical feedback, then any other member is free to 'translate' that into words that everybody can understand.

:)

Sounds great and in my opinion everyone should add to the photo, what he thinks personally could be done better or where he/she has problems or on which parts he/she doesn't know what could be done with the photo (in editing etc) etc. So everyone is also compelled to think about their own photo before adding it here… :usa7uh:
 
Any other suggestions on this topic? :)

I'll leave this thread open for a few more days for others to give their input, and if all is good, then I'll go ahead and create a proper thread on this topic.
 
Great idea, C&C is always welcome and a nice way to improve upon your photography skills.. and mine need to be improved. One of my other forums as one and it was great for a couple months but now almost everything that is posted in there gets ignored. Hopefully I can't always count on you guys for some C&C.
 

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