In-depth critique/discussion "club".

[homerhomer]

I wonder how many of you would be interested in an in-depth critique or discussion “clubâ€

[uese]

hi peter - I see where you're heading to and me too, I appreciate honest and constructive comments on my work. but I don't think this will work here on pbase - there're simply too many photos here so most just pick the one or the other they like and leave (mostly) a nice remark/comment. If you want to get some critique you can learn and profit from then there are better sites out there where your work will also be rated. Try http://www.photoblink.com for example. I'm there as well. I use pbase to publish my work and make it available to my friends and fellow photographers but if I want to get some real opinions I'll post on photoblink.

[bobt54]

Peter, I think that is an excellent idea. I looked at your work, tho and putting the Anti BSL gallery aside, you have little to critique. What little you have is excellent. It is obvious you have posted only your very best work. If I boiled my galleries down to 20 pictures, they would be a lot tougher to critique then they are now.

So PM me when you post a bunch of "good" pictures and not a few select great ones.

Also, unless someone explicity invites a critique of their work, I generally only offer complements. Not everyone wants to know that their pictures can be better. Some are happy with them as they are.

[homerhomer]

Uese, it may not work here, you are right, but hey I can try and thought that by posting it here I would simply see if there is anyone interested in participating. I had a quick peak at the link you provided and to be honest of 3 or so photos I looked I didn't really see any critiques that exceeded 1 sentence or would give me any indication that a person writing them put much thought or effort into doing it, I am sure there are images with great discussions going on, but from a quick peak I don't think it's much different from most forums.

Bob, my suggestion isn't just about finding something wrong with the image, it's more about pointing out how you feel about it, what you like, dislike, ask what went into the thought process when making an image, suggest, offer alternatives, ...... simply discuss it and not just point the perceived weaknesses.

To illustrate what I had in mind let me provide links:

have a look at the discussion I had with Filip on one of my images
http://www.pbase.com/homerhomer/image/35500679

here is a link to the discussion I had with Filip regarding one of his images:
http://www.pbase.com/filipdabrowski/image/37280138

here is a sample discussion on one of the Phil Douglis' images:
http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/37157876

So you see what I meant wasn't just pointing out the bad and ugly...

The discussions don't have do be limited just to particular image, you see you mentioned that I posted just few select images, that can lead to the discussion on approach to presentation, why I did it, etc etc.....

I would imagine that if you see someone writing lengthy comments, you could assume that they would be open to receiveing the same type of treatment on their own images, hence if I see a group of poeple who are interested, perhaps something like my idea may actually work.

Peter
PS. The anti BSL folder is actually posted not for reasons related to photography and I know that from the photography point of view they are all very poor, but I had something else in mind when I decided to upload it for poeple to see.

[filipdabrowski]

Hey Peter!

You know that I think this is a great idea...but it's not for everyone. I know there are sites just for feedback purposes, but here we can actually build a community around those photographers who like to be critiqued and will do so in turn. No points involved which is nice (well...just the little vote for best gallery, but it's nothing like the races that are present on some of the critique only sites). So you know I'm in...just now don't have much time (leaving for Europe tomorrow), but I will be back after Christmas for a look at your other shots and hope you post some more as well.

So if there is any other person out there who wants their work critiqued (even if PBase is not a critique oriented site), drop me a line and I'll have a look at your shots. Be warned...I tell it like it is...if I don't like something you'll know about it. If, on the other hand, you want praise, join PhotoPoints (http://www.photopoints.com/).

Cheers and Merry Christmas!

[slowglue]

guys please go to town and dont spare any pleasantries. I m pretty thick skinned.

http://www.pbase.com/slowglue

I warn you...I am dangerous

[jcboyd]

An honest critique session is a good idea Peter. So often when looking at my images I try to distance myself from the personal feelings attached to it. Images I took while on a certain trip may evoke an emotion that others will not experience with this image.

On pbase it seems that viewers choose images that they like and post friendly comments. Here the “If you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at allâ€

[bobt54]

Peter, I understand where you are coming from. I tend to view photography and other photographs from a more technical level as I am still learning how to master a variety of techniques. I generally look at a photograph in stages. The first is what I call the eye candy stage - does it have visual impact? I tend not to spend a lot of time analyzing each photograph for it's hidden (or not so hidden) meaning. If invited to do so, I will look at the photo from a technical perspective and try to suggest something that I think would help their picture. Only rarely and usually with people I have had prior experience with on Pbase, will I look a their photos on a metaphysical level. Usually, my eye candy addiction takes over and takes me on to the next photograph in search of that ooh, ahh, wow feeling that a great photograph always evokes.

But I am willing to "expand" my horizons and try to think of photography in a different way. I guess the next step is to work out is a forum in which we will communicate. You could simply do as many others have done and invite criticism by posting a new topic in the Show and Tell Forum. Then PM the club members. I take it from the fact that you want to form a "club" that you would like to limit the discussion to the club members. I am not sure if that is technically possible using this forum. Perhaps we could hijack the Religion, Law & Politics forum as it gets little traffic.

Another idea is to invite the club members by way of a PM to a particular photograph or gallery and then commenting would commence in much the same way as your illustrated discussions with Filip and Phil have in the past.

But do be careful critiquing SlowGlue's galleries. He's a Hitman, you know.

[czsz]

Photo.net is generally superior for that sort of discussion, but one must be prepared to be brutalised by some of the remarks...

[homerhomer]

Hey Peter!

You know that I think this is a great idea...but it's not for everyone. I know there are sites just for feedback purposes, but here we can actually build a community around those photographers who like to be critiqued and will do so in turn.

That's the whole idea Filip, to build the community within a community. I understand that poeple suggest other websites, but from what I have seen they all tend to be similar in one way or another, and indepth analysys are usually not the norm.

Have a fantastic holidays in Europe, hope you bring some shots for me to analyze lol.

[homerhomer]

An honest critique session is a good idea Peter. So often when looking at my images I try to distance myself from the personal feelings attached to it. Images I took while on a certain trip may evoke an emotion that others will not experience with this image.

That is a real dillema, for you as a phographer that was actually part of the scenery is easy to have all the emotions attached because you have seen the action, smell the arome, heard the sounds..... it's somites easy to associates images with memories and other people maybe be more objective and point out if you were succesfull in conveing your memories and emotions or not.
Peter

[homerhomer]

[quote="jcboyd"]

When viewing critiques posted on some other sites that will remain nameless I sometimes want to throw up. The image is so bad but gets the comment “This is a beautiful imageâ€

[annayu]

What a wonderful idea! Perhaps a new metagallery for Critique might be an idea?? I would also like more constructive feedback, sometimes I think the lack of comments says it all....

Pls include me in your list and I will return the favor.

[homerhomer]

[quote="bobt54"]

But I am willing to "expand" my horizons and try to think of photography in a different way. I guess the next step is to work out is a forum in which we will communicate. You could simply do as many others have done and invite criticism by posting a new topic in the Show and Tell Forum. Then PM the club members. I take it from the fact that you want to form a "club" that you would like to limit the discussion to the club members. I am not sure if that is technically possible using this forum. Perhaps we could hijack the Religion, Law & Politics forum as it gets little traffic.

[quote]

Religion and politics forum, ok I meant "club" not "cult"
Not sure if that would be fair to the pbase gods, since they have set up something like this with something else in mind.

Well there sure are way to organize, that's why I came here to see if there would be any interest, offer and exchange ideas and suggestions. I am not sure that you can limit it to just certain poeple and not allow the others who may have the same goals. How to do it? probably just with this thread we will have a ten or so poeple who are interested, each one of us will at one point of another came across someone else that will also want to participate, then you can either send to this person with link to the galleries of others..... If you want particular shot critiqued perhaps sending pm or even we could have something like yahoo groups set up just for that purpose? dunno.
I am open to any suggestions.
Peter
PS, I also believe that from critiquing and reading critiques one can learn a whole lot, or even expand the horizons if you will.

[saskia]

Hi,

Although I sometimes find it very hard to say anything about a photo beyond 'great DOF' and 'fantastic lighting', I do like the idea of at least *trying* to get into a photo more than casual, on occasion.

Why not ask the owner of this Forum to add a new 'discuss photos' section? I agree that the 'show and tell' is maybe not the right place. I have just posted a photo there, although I don't expect too much discussion coming from it.