Folks - I raised this subject a few years back and thought I’d give it an encore. UHH has 2 sections for members to post pics - Photo Gallery and Photo Analysis and posting constructive criticism in the first is frowned upon. I think this rule does a disservice to photographers looking to up their game.

I often look at posts in the Gallery and too often see, sorry for the blunt language, just awful photos. I’m not talking about subjective matters. I’m talking about pics that are out of focus, poorly exposed, with wildly tilted horizons (not done intentionally for artistic purposes), badly post processed or overprocessed, poorly composed with telephone poles growing out of heads, etc. or any number of other technical (NOT subjective) flaws.

And most times, well meaning members post, “Great set”, or “Nicely done” or other “ attaboys” in an attempt to not hurt another member’s feelings. I see this as counterproductive and reinforcing bad technique by poster. I ask how is a member to develop better photography skills if, I again apologize upfront, technically terrible pics are displayed and followed by lots of gushing platitudes?

Last time I mentioned this, I was slapped down by numerous members who argue that unless a poster requests constructive criticism, nothing negative should be said. Ok - I’ll buy the “If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing” idea, but gushing over bad stuff does harm to the poster too. If the pics are bad, say nothing. Stop reinforcing bad work.

Just a suggestion to those posting to the Gallery in the future - think about soliciting criticisms so you can improve your work. Sure you will get many nasty, snarky and often incorrect replies from a certain subsection of members, but you will also get many great suggestions for improvement offered in a polite, constructive manner. I’ve been a photographer for 55 yrs and I welcome all well meaning and civil critiques. We are never too old to learn a new trick.

Anxious to see the replies to this rant.

Tempest in a teapot?

I avoid the gallery like the plague, simple as that.

When I post there, I do so to have a 'layman' point of view and ask for an open critic, not a 'ooooohhhh it's soooo goooood'. It is never 'so good', there is always room to improve. The feedback in the gallery is primal most of the time, but heck, it is often more on point than when folks are looking for 'fault'. As such, it is more honest.

I was errr... Criticized for posting there in the intent to have a generic feedback, that I should have used a different section such as the ones cited by Linda. These are elitist - in my opinion - and you can quickly run afoul of the small communities there.

I have been really critical of some images that are in the gallery... The reason is that these were posted in the main channel where they do not belong and later transferred by the admin. I just do not like folks that post by 'mistake' for click, thinking they will get the 'what-a-boy' feedback. Had they posted where they belong, they would not have heard a peep, as I would not even know of their existence.