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04/08/2005 08:29:54 AM · #1 |
Given the plethora of complaints about, or requests for, comments, has there been a thought to adding comment "radio buttons" that voters can very easily and quickly hit before they rate photos? The buttons can cover or point to problems in the photos, such as:
1. Crop problems
2. Exposure -- too dark
3. Exposure -- too light
4. Composition -- good
5. Composition -- bad
6. Post-processing -- too much
7. Post-processing -- could use some
8. Nice shot
9. I can't believe you thought this was good enough to enter into a challenge
10. I wish I'd thought of this
etc
This seems to me an easy enough mechanism to implement, and one that could add more value to the voting process. If we're here for the sake of learning and yearn for more informative opinions from other members, then something like this might be valuable. And those who don't want to bother can simply ignore it and vote as they do now. Any thought on this?
-Rob |
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04/08/2005 09:18:08 AM · #2 |
If something like this is to come then it should be possible to turn ot off and on in the user's preferences.
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04/08/2005 10:01:37 AM · #3 |
| I sometimes, keep a text document open that has my 'standard' comments and then I just copy and paste as I go. Not as clean having radio buttons, but helps. I'm sure some clever techies could write some code that would let you rate the (Exp/Comp/PP/On topic)'ness and generate a comment that you could cut and paste. |
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04/08/2005 10:13:33 AM · #4 |
I really like the idea of getting more comments, and of making it easier to make common comments.
My observation is that a photo with a considerable number of technical flaws will rate a 3. Most with none will rate a near a 5. The prizewinners are frequently 7.5. Easily half the photos rate higher than 5.0. In an ideal world, an instant comment system would be as much help to the half that had mastered the techniques as it would be to the ones who had not. My own shots seem to do poorly in competitions because there is an assumed idiom for each competition which I have not internalized; people expect a certain look. If the photo does not conform it does poorly. So cemeteries (generally) did well if they were dark, moody, and had lots of visible dodging and burning, but my shot did not fit the idiom and it did not do well. This means that any system that is to be helpful to all will have to give considerable thought to how to help photographers 'see better.' Not sure how to do this.
If we had a shortcut way to address technical issues: lighting, exposure, sharpness, contrast, and so on And a way to address compositional issues: crop, challenge connection, wrong idiom, 'don't like it don't know why,' strong mood, great lines, though provoking - and so on.
this might be helpful.
As for implementation. Radio buttons are most convenient, but they can take up much real estate. Drop down menus could present a neater interface with more options but would take longer to use and would allow only one choice per dropdown. Just thinking out loud.
Rambling on... Papaphrasing Tolstoy 'Happy families are happy in the same ways. Unhappy families have unique conditions for unhappiness.' I think that technically there is a short list of things that degrade the quality of a photo. But I think the list of things that lift a competent photo into greatness are many and complicated. And as much as I would love to see a shortcut to doing this, the more thought I give to the subject, the more daunting the task seems.
Finally. I think it would be really cool if each challenge description contained a link to a forum discussing the general expectations for the competition. I've found that reading and understanding such forums, when they exist, has lifted my scores by an average of almost a point. So the forums have been very helpful in my preparation and planning shots - much more helpful than comments.
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04/08/2005 10:16:51 AM · #5 |
Related thread ... would be a cool idea, but I don't think you're ever going to cover all the bases. Would still need to have a comment text area for comments that don't "fit" the pre-worded choices.
robgo's idea is fine also, but radio buttons wouldn't work if you want to make more than one selection - would need to be checkboxes.
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04/08/2005 02:48:14 PM · #6 |
Based on a thread from last year and some collaboration, a tool was produced - it is separate from this site and some find it useful. Some will spit fire at you for using it - but people do that for whatever reason they can come up with anyway. ;-)
It is available here:
<>
Use it if you find it helpful. I won't engage in the arguments any more. :) |
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