| Author | Thread |
|
|
05/29/2002 07:26:23 AM · #26 |
Originally posted by magnetic9999:
am i the only person who has the experience of deeply liking an artist or a musician that is not appreciated by the masses?
you can create something that is wonderful to some, but not all. the non-universal appeal does not detract from it''s wonderfulness. not imo anyway.
I''m gonna wait and see how everyone else scores here, but I must admit to being incredibly surprised and a bit disappointed in my current vote average. My photo is not the straight-ahead, obvious way of interpreting the subject matter, and that CLEARLY has harmed my average. That''s really frustrating.
On the other hand, in spite of the fact that the photo is EXACTLY like I wanted it, I have learned some things from the comments that I could have applied to that photo session, and certainly to other photos in the future.
* This message has been edited by the author on 5/29/2002 7:27:08 AM. |
|
|
|
05/29/2002 10:35:11 AM · #27 |
I'm new to this site, (I'm on my third week and my third challenge now) but I saw right away how the ratings can make photographers feel disappointed.
I'm trying to stay optimistic and tell myself that this site helps me to take pictures that I might not have taken before. It is definitely a challenge to try to meet the topic each week and it has helped me to look at things a bit differently. Comments are also great, too, but I'm such a novice to photography that I'm not sure how to execute some of the advice yet. But, I'm learning!
So, anyway, try not to take the scores too much to heart. Just have fun and try your best and I'm sure we'll all learn some great stuff along the way. :)
Laurie |
|
|
|
05/29/2002 10:58:10 AM · #28 |
Originally posted by lecalan:
[Comments are also great, too, but I'm such a novice to photography that I'm not sure how to execute some of the advice yet. But, I'm learning!
Look at some of the challenges in the past. Read the comments. You will quickly see that many are exact oppisites. One may say you cropped to tight the next too loose. One that the photo is too dark the next too bright. On the stop motion challenge I got comments about how it did not show stop motion and others on how hard it must have been to get the stop motion. Remember those who make the comments have their own bias and run the range from grizzled old photo pro to novice just like you. If you get several comments that say the same thing and none that counter that then take that to heart and learn from it. For the most part the comments just give opinions.
Case in point I have had comments on this subject that my "people" are nowhere near the center of the photo. I follow the rule of thirds a long standing phototechnique. Those folks who made the comment have no clue what that means let alone it's importance.
Bryan |
|
|
|
05/29/2002 01:02:04 PM · #29 |
Exactly heritcon;
For one thing you are never gonna get people who are convinced or their rightness to change. That means there will photographers and voters alike who are very happy with their biases and will justify them to the ends of time.
Sometimes these biases will be based on past technical or aesthetic lessons and sometimes on just a gut feeling drawing on unrelated experience (like mathmaticians trying to apply formulas to artistic endeavor).
Photographers here are feeling the same effects that artists of any medium have experienced for known history.
I say that you should not worry about aesthetics and popularity as much as technique and your style. Make sure that when you overexpose, leave elements in or remove elements Whatever..you know WHY you are doing it.
You must learn CONTROL over your medium young Jedi..( I had an art teacher in 3rd year graphic design in college that said that crap OVER and OVER) :-)
If you are purposeful in your photography who is to say just how GOOD it is ...Popular yes ....GOOD? Probably only a select few (including yourself at your utmost level of honesty to yourself) can say how good it is.
|
|
|
|
05/29/2002 01:27:13 PM · #30 |
Originally posted by hokie:
Originally posted by magnetic9999:
[i]am i the only person who has the experience of deeply liking an artist or a musician that is not appreciated by the masses?
you can create something that is wonderful to some, but not all. the non-universal appeal does not detract from it's wonderfulness. not imo anyway.
Art is not a science. There aren't clear answers. We can vote based on technical skill to a degree but even then what appear to be technical "flaws" to some may be done on purpose...like oversaturation or grain or overexposure, etc. It's difficult to tell sometimes.
[/i]
This exact thing is costing me dearly in the scoring this week.. I specifically did TWO things to my photograph this week. Each of those items are being commented on as problems in the photo...
|
|
|
|
05/29/2002 01:32:49 PM · #31 |
Rule number 1: NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER try to use soft focus in a challenge here. Ye shall be cast out amongst the weak and the weary....
Soft focus is an EASY critique for the not technical voter. It's easy to say "It's not in sharp focus" or "this is out of focus" or "its too blurry". I believe that most DO NOT understand this concept.. lol..
I will definitely remember this in the future.. lol...
|
|
|
|
05/29/2002 02:30:53 PM · #32 |
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
Rule number 1: NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER try to use soft focus in a challenge here. Ye shall be cast out amongst the weak and the weary....
Preacher! Preacher! In your last sermon, you taught us to take photos that *we* like, not photos that the voters like. Now you call upon us to use sharp focus to please the voters. Which is it? ;)
|
|
|
|
05/29/2002 02:47:35 PM · #33 |
SUGGESTION: put a link on the front page of this site called 'what do i look for when critiquing photography?'
digitalphotocritique.com has such a guide. check it out. it's pretty useful and i bet would be welcomed!
|
|
|
|
05/29/2002 03:02:05 PM · #34 |
:)
My comment was tongue in cheek for sure.. I will continue to take the photos that I like regardless of what people say about them...
My comment is more of a warning than anything else.. lol.. Soft focus is not regarded highly. I also probably did not to the best job possible with my soft focus either... :)
Originally posted by Reuben:
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
[i]Rule number 1: NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER try to use soft focus in a challenge here. Ye shall be cast out amongst the weak and the weary....
Preacher! Preacher! In your last sermon, you taught us to take photos that *we* like, not photos that the voters like. Now you call upon us to use sharp focus to please the voters. Which is it? ;)
[/i]
|
|
|
|
05/29/2002 04:24:10 PM · #35 |
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
:)
My comment was tongue in cheek for sure.. I will continue to take the photos that I like regardless of what people say about them...
My comment is more of a warning than anything else.. lol.. Soft focus is not regarded highly. I also probably did not to the best job possible with my soft focus either... :)
I just took a photo for the black and white challenge that I like a lot. It's noisy, only uses about half of the range of grey tones, and has way too much empty space. It's really a technical nightmare. Am I asking for it or what?
|
|
|
|
05/29/2002 05:14:24 PM · #36 |
Depends on whether or not it makes up for technical flaws with creativity. If you like it, submit it. Remember, even the best photos get 1's and 2's with some negative comments. I'm not saying that as one who has submitted the best photos cause I don't fall in that category at all. I loved my photo of my dog in the ground up challenge. I didn't expect to get any awards for it but I got a few laughs from other users over it so it was well worth the submission.
|
|
|
|
05/29/2002 05:44:39 PM · #37 |
Also, what is with all the comments about people PARTS!
Hello, are we gonna start judging based on how many parts of a person is in a people shot or do we get bonus points if we have parts left over?
OMG!!
I mean...guy''s...please..I am begging you.
The challenge was simple and implied nothing but this. "Capture anything you want, so long as your photo has a live person in it".
It does not say, WHOLE live person. There are some photos here that are so good I could sell them to Photographer magazine. I showed 5 to my high school students as EXAMPLES of what you can do and I believe 4 out of those 5 had parts of people, not WHOLE BODIES.
I could go on and on. Portrait photography by some if not ALL of the greatest photographers ever to have walked the EARTH have shot PARTS of people.
Sorry to rant, but this just freaked me out. I know some folks that vote don''t have technical expertise and that is totally understandable but I saw several commetns like this and I needed to vent..for a second
>:-O
* This message has been edited by the author on 5/29/2002 5:45:47 PM. |
|
|
|
05/29/2002 07:33:42 PM · #38 |
Originally posted by hokie:
Also, what is with all the comments about people PARTS!
Amen, Hokie. I got a comment about this as well. Sometimes these things just baffle me. Who are these people? heh.
- Mike
|
|
|
|
12/04/2002 12:00:00 AM · #39 |
Originally posted by Kimbly:
It's noisy, only uses about half of the range of grey tones, and has way too much empty space.
$5 says mine breaks more 'rules' of b/w photography = 0 |
|
|
|
05/29/2002 07:54:13 PM · #40 |
also: i have a 3.42 right now, and ignoring the whole people vs. parts of people thing about the contest, i can step outside of myself on this one and say my photo kicks some (not sure how much) fucking ass - because i took a goddamn tip and photoshopped it this time.
why? look at the 'howd they do that' shit. they're pretty much all tweaked in ways that aren't obviously photoshoppery.. that's gotta score extra points, right? guess not. |
|
|
|
05/29/2002 09:08:33 PM · #41 |
Jonathans, I think I know which photo was yours (could be completely wrong)... if you got a comment that used the word "pretentious" somewhere, it was me... but that was about the idea behind it, the photo is awesome and I gave it a high score. It doesn't deserve anything that low.
Hokie, you've mentioned overexposure a couple of times. That's what seems to be the biggest problem people have with my photo. Bits of it are completely burned out. Stupid me, I kept turning the contrast up and playing with the levels in the gimp, and it looked better that way to me. I like everything about my photo, I would actually never change it, but no one seems to agree with me. I didn't plan all the things that look "wrong" in it, it all happened by some magical accident, and I thought it was so beautiful I fell in love with it :). And then someone was inspired enough to ask me in a comment if the pixelated look, which they checked was not due to jpeg compression, was something to do with my ISO setting... riiiiiight. Don't people stop to think that the camera might be 1.3 Megapixels, point and shoot?
I have a good laugh every morning, since in my time zone most of the activity here happens while I'm asleep. I think it's doing me a lot of good :) |
|
|
|
05/29/2002 09:23:54 PM · #42 |
I agree. Jonathans - you have a very good picture, definitely deserves a higher vote than that. I guess nobody gets it or something...
|
|
|
|
05/29/2002 09:48:02 PM · #43 |
| OK, I had my best comment ever and this will probably let one person know which photo is mine, but ... oh well ... they stated that if my photo was missing certain elements(which are in it) it would be rather blah ... isn't that kinda like saying a sunset wouldnt be pretty without the clouds, sun, and light? I guess God needs to work on those sunsets ... |
|
|
|
05/29/2002 09:57:24 PM · #44 |
I mention overexposure a lot because it seems to be something so easy for folks to pick on a photo.
Fair enough but lets also try and remember..this is not a find Waldo contest that whoever find the most things wrong with a phot gets some kind of prize.
I will argue that every photo I have seen from a professional has some little thing I could question them on. Exposure, flatness, conflicting elements.
What we need to do is look at the photo and see beyond minor errors. Mention them, even let them have some influence in grading. I just hope voters aren't feeling like "aHA!! I found a hot pixel!!" or "His pupil in his left eye is just a tad to blurry!! Learn how to focus!!".
We are gonna miss a lot of great stuff if we all let stupid crap dominate what we look for in a photo.
Maybe what we need to do is have a section where we critique professional photos...just so we all remember this is not a perfect science.
Here is a link to a Victor Srebneski portrait that I dare say would be lucky to get a 4 here :-)
Victor Srebneski portrait
BTW..I mention in my notes this is posted for educational purposes with all the proper notation to the artist. |
|
|
|
05/29/2002 10:10:28 PM · #45 |
Once again hokie you hit the nail on the head.
...i have my share of hott pixels I've been dying to get fixed. I hope no one sees them :) |
|
|
|
05/30/2002 06:09:30 AM · #46 |
i tend to point those little things out in a comment, if the photo is otherwise amazing - mostly because i like seeing a response of 'this is why i did this and this is why i didnt care about that' from the photographer, after the challenge.
that doesnt mean i score it low. unfortunately, that second step is the one that most people seem to miss.
and thank-you lisae and maverick, and ill explain my picture when the voting is over as i have before.. and to think i was going to use an even more obfuscate title. some of the interpretations were absolutely horrible. im dying to share the stupidity. |
|
|
|
05/30/2002 06:27:53 AM · #47 |
| not sure if the one i think is yours is, but if so, i think that people are scared by it and therefore voting it low. |
|
|
|
05/30/2002 06:28:07 AM · #48 |
Originally posted by AnAUTiger:
OK, I had my best comment ever and this will probably let one person know which photo is mine, but ... oh well ... they stated that if my photo was missing certain elements(which are in it) it would be rather blah ... isn''t that kinda like saying a sunset wouldnt be pretty without the clouds, sun, and light? I guess God needs to work on those sunsets ...
I think this may have been me. I added a bunch to my comment to try to explain what I was saying a little better. I wasn''t trying to be snide, I thought the picture was a really good idea...if I''m wrong and it wasn''t me then someone else got a really long comment that they didn''t ask for :-)
* This message has been edited by the author on 5/30/2002 6:32:02 AM. |
|
|
|
05/30/2002 06:41:04 AM · #49 |
SUGGESTION: put a link on the front page of this site called 'what do i look for when critiquing photography?'
www.digitalphotocontest.com has such a guide. check it out. it's pretty useful and i bet would be welcomed!
|
|
|
|
05/30/2002 07:43:49 AM · #50 |
Originally posted by magnetic9999:
not sure if the one i think is yours is, but if so, i think that people are scared by it and therefore voting it low.
haha, yeah. thats mine. you're probably right. they could at least admit it with a comment, though. |
|
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: 08/23/2025 03:14:58 AM EDT.
