Constructive Criticism Rule Discussion

[texkam]

it should be the responsibility of the photographer asking for feedback to state what exactly s/he wants to get from the posting

Yes, yes, yes.

[auddii]

What if there were three settings: NC, individual CC, and collection CC? Individual critique would be looking for detailed critique on photos and be limited to three photos. Collection critique would be for the entire set for things like does it tell a story, is the PP consistent across the set, which photos don't work, etc.

Maybe have a limit to collection CC posts of 25 or something. I don't know if anyone is going to post 50-75 images, but if they did, that post would make me cry.

[texkam]

Why must this be so hard? Remove the three image limitation on CC threads, list the # of photos in the thread title, ask for the type of feedback you desire, be patient, be understanding, be civil. : )

[lhdvies]

As I follow this thread, it comes my mind that the PJ folks & especially the Wedding shooters could benefit from a "series critique" as opposed to the individual photo critique.
Maybe just delete the restrictions on those 2 forums only & let them deal with it.

I can't really see a need for landscape, "artsy" or wildlife shooters to need more than 3 for a learning critique- whether it be the 3 best (in your opinion) or the 3 worst that you feel could be made better in someone elses opinion.
Unfortunately this thread seems to go on with nitpicking about some rules which are very easy to understand & comply with. That being said, everything in life can sometimes be "tweaked" to include the satisfaction of a wider spectrum of participants.

This has always been & will continue to be a really fine forum thks to people like Abel & the Mods who continue to work towards improvement & benefits for the good of the complete forum (all of them!)!

[texkam]

Unfortunately this thread seems to go on with nitpicking about some rules which are very easy to understand & comply with.

With all due respect, I choose not to look at this discussion as unfortunate. I also don't see it as nitpicking. I think we all are very fortunate to have a rich vibrant community that is engaged enough in this forum to offer feedback on something we feel affects the forum. Sure, the rules are easy to understand, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't having an adverse effect on the forum. The 55mph speed limit law was theoretically easy to understand and comply with. It's troubling when good people drift away from Pixtus because the feel like they can't properly share or dicuss their craft, no matter what section that may be. Yes, the easy thing to do is to is to just shut up and comply or move on, but it truely would be unfortunate if many of the talented people in this community did the later.

[BenE]

Please accept this in the spirit in which it is written.... humor and levity.

All right, try this, find a post with about 15 to 20 images (there are some), and take a look, then start scrolling. Keep scrolling, scrolling and finally you get to the end of about 20 images. Then just pretend you are going to give a critique by starting a message in the box.

Wait.. What was image #4? Let me scroll back and look at it. Oh, I remember. Now I think I will make a point about image #7, but heck, I can't remember exactly what it was, so I am going to scroll back up and take a look.

OK, I am back to the message box and am making a comment about image #7, but I do remember image #12 had something I wanted to mention, so let me take a minute to scroll back and then scroll back down....
.................................................. .........

I can appreciate people wanting feedback, but to be honest if a person has enough time to scroll back and forth, back and forth, to make comments even on 4 images out of 20, .....................


......edit.. I forgot, for those who like to post large images, we have to also scroll horizontally in order to see it all. I love scrolling.

[texkam]

Right. It's all about the time vs payoff. If you post a bunch of pics and don't get responses then wise up, your stuff wasn't worth someone's time. Look at the view count. You just got your feedback. Sometimes silence speaks louder than words.


I suppose it's like navigating web sites. If I have to work too hard, I'll move on.

[Steve Balderrama]

It's worth remembering that the photo limit was put in place precisely because people would not cull their own images ( or didn't know they needed culling ) and would post 30 images looking for critique. I have no issue with the 3 photo limit, if you really want critique, 3 photo's ought to be sufficient to get the feedback you are looking for.

The current system is probably ok as it is, the more I think about it; so long as NC posters that are looking for something general out of the comments specify what they'd like to hear about in their original message. So NC ends up meaning "No Critique, except for what I ask for specifically."

[jfoureyes]

Two other photo forums I visit regularly only let you post one image per post for critiques or sharing so this forum is very liberal as far a file size and quantity you can post.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by jfoureyes

Two other photo forums I visit regularly only let you post one image per post for critiques or sharing so this forum is very liberal as far a file size and quantity you can post.

I like this. I don't really think that there should be a limit on pics. But there should be a disclaimer that it is unlikely that you will get deep, beneficial feedback if you post more than 1 or 2 pics. If you really want to hear what you did right and what you did wrong and learn from it, pick one picture and post it up.

Seems like common sense.

I like to post an entire series, but am usually not looking for specific feedback, though all feedback is welcome, good and bad.

If you really want a good critique:
1. Post 1 pic
2. Artist's Statement:
a. why did you light it how you did (if applicable)
b. why did you compose it how you did
c. what did you intend the photo to say
3. What do you think the weakness of the photo is?

Post all that with one image. Now you have thought through the image and you have opened up some to people being able to see how you wanted it to be seen. I may think a picture of a man jumping in front of a fence is ridiculous, but it could have some meaning that I don't know about and it could be an impactful photo due to that meaning (but probably not if it is a man jumping in front of a fence.)

If you put some thought into an image, you are much more likely to get some thought put into it by others and the discussions would probably be really good.

That's my two cents. It is worth what you paid.

[smalltrees]

any image posted, shown or viewed... should be open for critique... as the viewers will always be the final judge of your images... to say "I" do not seek, want or need "your" opinion... is to me very arrogant, and your/my ego... needs to be put on ice... If you are happy with your results, another opinion should not really matter, or have any effect on you the image/art creator...

The most difficult thing about any form of creativity, is to be completely objective about your own work... as a photographer you should always be open to, and want as many opinions as possible, and more importantly be able to sift through those replies as being corrective or subjective...

Any critique will show the knowledge of the viewer, about that particular art form... if they "know" what they see, and explain it well... it is a good critique, whether what they say, is positive or negative... any comments without reasons/explanations are only comments and cannot be considered as a valid critique, and can/should be easily ignored...

opinions are opinions... just like a certain body part that everyone has... some are good, some are not so good... all opinions will be judged on the source... not by the source, but, by those who read/hear the opinions stated... an overly opinionated person will always be seen as such, and their opinions will have little to no value... easy to filter away...

If... I was King... wink/smile... critiques would be mandatory for all images... to be an educated photographer, you need to first be an educated viewer... and understand and know what you see...

[MicWayWal]

Abel,

Getting a critique on one picture is one thing, but it is a very, VERY limited evaluation. My thought is: sometimes the overall evaluation of a person's work from a session is more important than the individual images.

I think you should implement a way for a photographer to get a crit on a group of pictures from a session; engagement, bridal, PJ styled portrait session, a wedding or event. Organizations who judge like PPA and WPPI both do this. Why not Pixtus?

Maybe you need to dived official requests of critiques into two categories; individual image crits and session crits.

[MicWayWal]

Originally Posted by Abel

New Constructive Critiques Guidelines

3. Photo Quantity Limitations
Do not post more than 3 photos in a thread for critique. Choose your absolute best 3 shots of the series and post those. Posting more than 3 shots per thread will only hurt your chances of getting an honest critique since critiques do take time.

I see a need in Pixtus to get a crit from a set or group of images from the same event. Sometimes the overall evaluation of an assignment is more important than individual images within it. If you want to develop an official policy on this okay. But we need it. As an event and session photographer I am judged most often from my body of work for a client, not two images.

[texkam]

I see a need in Pixtus to get a crit from a set or group of images from the same event. Sometimes the overall evaluation of an assignment is more important than individual images within it. If you want to develop an official policy on this okay. But we need it. As an event and session photographer I am judged most often from my body of work for a client, not two images.

Amen! I just see no downside of asking for "this type" of critique.

Moving forward, some good stuff here. Other than the last one, did you use any lighting other than ambient?

[Abel]

im moving the Critique related comments to the Critique discussion thread as not to take away from this orginal thread Bryan posted.