| Author | Thread |
|
|
02/01/2006 12:37:20 AM · #1 |
I didn't expect to get the blue ribbon, or even make the top 100...but 776 is downright insulting.
|
|
|
|
02/01/2006 12:40:16 AM · #2 |
That's just the way the cookie crumbles around here....you have to take what you get and move on.
What if the 150 people that placed lower than you did made threads like this? That would make DPC a very sad and un-inviting place.
|
|
|
|
02/01/2006 12:47:17 AM · #3 |
Originally posted by stare_at_the_sun:
That's just the way the cookie crumbles around here....you have to take what you get and move on.
What if the 150 people that placed lower than you did made threads like this? That would make DPC a very sad and un-inviting place. |
And being patronizing and condescending is even worse. So I guess that makes up my mind to not rejoin in august when my membership comes due. I see the same people win over and over and while their work is good, great even, it's the same tried and true method. Figure out the method, please the masses, get a blue ribbon. I'm tired of it. I'm not looking for everyone to fall over themselves with praise over my work. But if you dislike something enought to rate it 1-4, at least tell me why. I get 10 comments with 6 of them being positive, glowing even, and I get rated 4.6 average. Doesn't makes sense to me.
Sorry I can't be that person where every post is the sun is shining the birds are singing and is that a rainbow over there?
I'm on this site to get honest critism of my work. Apparently, I'm on the wrong site for that.
|
|
|
|
02/01/2006 12:52:09 AM · #4 |
first of all... calm down..
secondly.. you cant please everyone everytime.. (one thing I have learnt VERY quickly) if everyone liked the same things it would be a very boring world.
I hate to tell you but it really isnt that good. I couldnt tell what it was. There were alot of entries so I am sure there will be alot of people who are not happy. At least you werent last :) |
|
|
|
02/01/2006 12:54:47 AM · #5 |
| I think that people were looking for more "wow" than a flower macro. Our expectations were higher because this is "Best Of 2005" and it's difficult to comprehend someone's best photo of the year being a static shot of the innards of a flower. I didn't vote on yours but in voting I would have given it a 5. It's nice, it's colorful, but it's just sort of sitting there and not compelling me to feel or think anything. I'm not trying to be rude...just offering my thoughts. :) |
|
|
|
02/01/2006 12:55:07 AM · #6 |
Originally posted by atsxus:
I'm on this site to get honest critism of my work. Apparently, I'm on the wrong site for that. |
Just out of curiosity, what sort of criteria do you use for marking comments as helpful. I checked your photo and it seemed like you had a number of comments that fit what you were asking for...honest criticism...but you didn't mark them as helpful. Just wondering why... |
|
|
|
02/01/2006 12:59:29 AM · #7 |
Originally posted by atsxus:
Originally posted by stare_at_the_sun:
That's just the way the cookie crumbles around here....you have to take what you get and move on.
What if the 150 people that placed lower than you did made threads like this? That would make DPC a very sad and un-inviting place. |
And being patronizing and condescending is even worse. So I guess that makes up my mind to not rejoin in august when my membership comes due. I see the same people win over and over and while their work is good, great even, it's the same tried and true method. Figure out the method, please the masses, get a blue ribbon. I'm tired of it. I'm not looking for everyone to fall over themselves with praise over my work. But if you dislike something enought to rate it 1-4, at least tell me why. I get 10 comments with 6 of them being positive, glowing even, and I get rated 4.6 average. Doesn't makes sense to me.
Sorry I can't be that person where every post is the sun is shining the birds are singing and is that a rainbow over there?
I'm on this site to get honest critism of my work. Apparently, I'm on the wrong site for that. |
I'm not being condescending at all...heck, I just got a 4.6 last week. It happens to everyone...
But what I am trying to say is you have to take what people think with a grain of salt, the only thing that truly matters is what your photographs mean to YOU, and no one else can change that.
I view this site as a learning tool with some challenges on the side for fun....
Anyways, I will let this thread be in peace.
|
|
|
|
02/01/2006 01:09:20 AM · #8 |
just think that you were up against more than 800 pictures, all of them ones the photographers considered to be the best photos they'd taken all year. it sounds very intimidating to me!
i noticed you got 15th place on another photo (which, i might add, was a much nicer photo than the one you submitted for this challenge), and that's really good. i don't think you should leave the site because of this! |
|
|
|
02/01/2006 01:13:16 AM · #9 |
Originally posted by mk:
Originally posted by atsxus:
I'm on this site to get honest critism of my work. Apparently, I'm on the wrong site for that. |
Just out of curiosity, what sort of criteria do you use for marking comments as helpful. I checked your photo and it seemed like you had a number of comments that fit what you were asking for...honest criticism...but you didn't mark them as helpful. Just wondering why... |
I mark something as helpful if it isn't a suggestion that's a matter of opinion. Saturation was a comment, and as it stands on the 3 computers I've seen it, the colors are vibrant and stand out. Depth of Field and the varience therein is a personal choice. I chose to have the shot tight and focused on the center of the flower. That was my choice. Telling me that it's too tight, isn't helpful to me. It's an opinion and one I didn't agree with. Why would I check it off as helpful if I achieved the effect I wanted and someone just doesn't like it?
|
|
|
|
02/01/2006 01:26:10 AM · #10 |
Originally posted by atsxus:
[
I'm on this site to get honest critism of my work. |
Opinion is honest criticism. Either you want it or you don't. Seems to me you just want people to agree with you and like your work as is.
So.. which is it?
Message edited by author 2006-02-01 01:26:39. |
|
|
|
02/01/2006 01:28:14 AM · #11 |
Originally posted by atsxus:
Originally posted by mk:
Originally posted by atsxus:
I'm on this site to get honest critism of my work. Apparently, I'm on the wrong site for that. |
Just out of curiosity, what sort of criteria do you use for marking comments as helpful. I checked your photo and it seemed like you had a number of comments that fit what you were asking for...honest criticism...but you didn't mark them as helpful. Just wondering why... |
I mark something as helpful if it isn't a suggestion that's a matter of opinion. Saturation was a comment, and as it stands on the 3 computers I've seen it, the colors are vibrant and stand out. Depth of Field and the varience therein is a personal choice. I chose to have the shot tight and focused on the center of the flower. That was my choice. Telling me that it's too tight, isn't helpful to me. It's an opinion and one I didn't agree with. Why would I check it off as helpful if I achieved the effect I wanted and someone just doesn't like it? |
Because you're posting to complain about your score, and these people have explained why they didn't score it higher. If you want to score better, you need to listen to your audience. When people take the trouble to set down how they feel about your image, and the comment has "content", you should mark it as helpful even if you don't agree with the conclusion drawn. IMO, anyway...
R. |
|
|
|
02/01/2006 01:29:02 AM · #12 |
| Would you rather have Simon Cowel critique your pics? The people that get top ratings here get them the same way you get yours. Nuf sed. |
|
|
|
02/01/2006 01:29:05 AM · #13 |
I suspect most people vote their opinion, which makes it difficult to say that you don't feel that because it's different to yours, it shouldn't enter into your thought process. And then start a thread complaining about score. Those comments which you mark as non-helpful will tell you why the image scored lower than what you anticipated. Maybe they could be helpful after all in a round-about way.
Like Stare_at_the_Sun, I view DPC as a valuable learning tool, not to mention answer finding place. If you yake the good with the bad, and keep plugging away, you will learn not what the DPC masses want, but how to make a more generally appealing picture.
That said, the reason I make pictures is for my own memories and entertainment. The reason I display them is for other people to enjoy. (At least that's my goal, sometimes I'm well short of it). I feel that if I want other people to get the full value of my images, I should make them in a way that is acceptable to the masses, and this is a good place to work on that skill set.
|
|
|
|
02/01/2006 01:30:19 AM · #14 |
I find it fascinating to hear what other people think of my work.....honest opinions. Because I'm not there to explain what I was trying to achieve, my work has to stand/or fall on it's own. From the comments I know whether or not I achieved my goal.....to make the image speak for itself.
I mark them mostly all helpful as they tell me what the viewers thought.
|
|
|
|
02/01/2006 01:30:49 AM · #15 |
DPC is a very specific audience, and you have to learn how and what does well here. My 'Best of' has won Photographic Honours in National and Regional competitions, but here it got 171st place. I knew that it didn't really fit as a DPC image when I entered it, but I still consider it one of my best.
When you are up against the quality of image in this particular challenge then a flower shot is not going to do well here. It would have to be the best flower shot ever to get into the top 100, and to be honest yours doesn't reach that criteria.
Spend some time with this set of images, you will learn a lot by working out the styles and content of those which have done well. Use it as a learning experience. Come back and get the blue next time.
|
|
|
|
02/01/2006 01:35:58 AM · #16 |
Originally posted by atsxus:
I didn't expect to get the blue ribbon, or even make the top 100...but 776 is downright insulting. |
I gave it a 4, so you'll want to hear from me. I have little interest in macros generally, and even less than that in this one. The reason is simple; it has no apparent purpose. It's technical shortcomings prevent it from attaining even any botanical interest. But the killer blow its fundamental pointlessness.
Sorry to be so harsh, but the tone of your posts in this thread suggests you want brutal honesty. |
|
|
|
02/01/2006 02:39:05 AM · #17 |
Originally posted by atsxus:
I mark something as helpful if it isn't a suggestion that's a matter of opinion. |
Looking at which comments you marked helpful or not, I personally found some of the comments that you didn't mark helpful as more helpful than those that you did mark as helpful.
I downloaded your pic and played with some of the suggestions (specifically contrast and saturation, as suggested by Konador and Artyste), and was frankly surprised by the improvement. It's an interesting shot, but could be better. You may not have found their comments helpful, but I did.
If you want people to like your photographs and give them high scores, then you need to listen to what they say, whether you agree with them or not. A vote from a person you don't agree with is worth just as much as a vote from a person you do agree with.
The best constructive criticism I can suggest is to try to distance yourself emotionally from your photographs and view them more objectively. If your photo happened to be taken by somebody else, how would you rate it? What comment would you leave them with?
Nordlys
[edited for grammar]
Message edited by author 2006-02-01 02:40:50.
|
|
|
|
02/01/2006 02:43:50 AM · #18 |
It's an iris...not a tiger lily ;)
|
|
|
|
02/01/2006 03:04:14 AM · #19 |
[ So I came in at 781 watcha moaning for.Mine was one of my favorites as well. but I also got quite a few good comments as why it was such a stinker .. 
Message edited by author 2006-02-01 03:14:40.
|
|
|
|
02/01/2006 04:08:47 AM · #20 |
Originally posted by atsxus:
Telling me that it's too tight, isn't helpful to me. It's an opinion and one I didn't agree with. Why would I check it off as helpful if I achieved the effect I wanted and someone just doesn't like it? |
If some one tells me why they dislike something about a shot of mine, then it is going to help me. I may decide they are wrong, or that I failed to show them what my point was. It is anoying when you get the basic "this bites" comment, but if they can put their finger on a specific thing that they felt could make your shot work better for them, then they have offered to help you, what you do with that help is your decision.
By the way even the brown ribbon winner topped my score, I was too chicken to even enter. |
|
|
|
02/01/2006 04:24:46 AM · #21 |
Originally posted by atsxus:
Originally posted by stare_at_the_sun:
That's just the way the cookie crumbles around here....you have to take what you get and move on.
What if the 150 people that placed lower than you did made threads like this? That would make DPC a very sad and un-inviting place. |
And being patronizing and condescending is even worse. So I guess that makes up my mind to not rejoin in august when my membership comes due. I see the same people win over and over and while their work is good, great even, it's the same tried and true method. Figure out the method, please the masses, get a blue ribbon. I'm tired of it. I'm not looking for everyone to fall over themselves with praise over my work. But if you dislike something enought to rate it 1-4, at least tell me why. I get 10 comments with 6 of them being positive, glowing even, and I get rated 4.6 average. Doesn't makes sense to me.
Sorry I can't be that person where every post is the sun is shining the birds are singing and is that a rainbow over there?
I'm on this site to get honest critism of my work. Apparently, I'm on the wrong site for that. |
Then why even enter the competition? People post threads all the time about specific photographs and receive a lot of feedback. I would say that your commenters gave you their two cents on what they feel you should change.
Don't take it personally. No one was trying to patronize you, you just seemed to take it too personally. I know exactly what it feels like to get a low score on a photograph I thought was my best, but it's just a contest. If you want more feedback, ask for more feedback and it will be given. I honestly haven't read any of the responses in this thread apart from the first few, but I'm sure there will be some suggestions.
Your commenters' average vote is fairly close to your total average vote, so I would assume that their thoughts, whether good, bad, or in the middle, are a somewhat accurate depiction of the thoughts of all your viewers.
My first impression on viewing your picture? I didn't know what it was for a second, but then I figured it out, and thought, "okay. It's nice. It's done pretty well. It's not offensively out of focus or oversaturated, etc., but had I scored it, what would I have scored it?"
Probably a 5. Why? Because it's boring to me. That's it. There's nothing I would change about the photo because I simply wouldn't take this photo at all. That sounds harsh, but then, I realize that I have shots other people find boring, but the shots still fascinate me, see? But had I typed that in the comment field (judging by your obvious tendency to overreact), I'm sure your response would not have been exactly peachy.
My point is, don't take it so personally. It's primarily a contest, as the website name explicitly indicates, and there are plenty of people who will give you advice if you really want it. But if that's all you wanted, you probably would have started off by asking for opinions on why you did poorly, rather than intiating a public pity party. |
|
|
|
02/01/2006 04:34:23 AM · #22 |
Gave it a 4. Heed the suggestions of many people who have posted before me. Yes, the site has a formula to adhere to if you expect to do well. It's been like that since I can remember. In general, and I mean in 99%+ of the cases, scores photos receive represent exactly what they should have received when compared to the group submitted for challenge.
Message edited by author 2006-02-01 04:59:57. |
|
|
|
02/01/2006 04:55:00 AM · #23 |
Don't be too distraught - everyone who has been on DPC for a while and doesn't take formula "ribbon" pictures ends up getting some dreadfully low scores. I do it all the time - I've gotten 4 ribbons and still manage to end up with some really crappy scores on a pretty regular basis.
If you enter pictures that you like, that don't meet the formula, you will sometimes not hit a chord with anyone else. I admire this type of photographer more than the formula ribbon winners - someone who enters pictures they like and if they don't score well can roll with the punches and not get hurt and upset.
For instance, the picture I took for Romance just sings to me - I just love it. It's only getting in the mid 5's for a score. I think it's one of the best pictures I've ever taken - obviously other people don't see it as I do.
Please don't be upset with your score. If you really like your picture that is all that matters. |
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 09/20/2025 06:23:28 PM EDT.
