Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Excellent point. The Photo Critique Section has very narrow guidelines for both posting and offering feedback of your best effort. On the Section Rules page is mentioned, It is very helpful to post your settings as well. However, in the past year or more, none of the rules have been enforced.

In For Your Consideration, we talk about everything: from overall impact to processing, and from barely edited images to fanciful or even composites. And from what we might post as a "finished" work to ones where we ask for ideas or assistance.

Settings are only important to know in very specific instances - such as when someone is demonstrating, or asking about, long exposures for softening water or clouds; or aperture when depth of field is inappropriate for the message the OP is trying to convey, or if there appears to be unwanted motion blur - that sort of thing.

Another point about settings, especially when requested in a main forum topic as a starting point for (fill in the blank), is that many novices don't understand that there are equivalent exposures, let alone all the variables having to do with light:
A. f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO 200 =
B. f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO 400 =
C. f/8, 1/1000 sec, ISO 800

...Under what circumstances you should choose C over A?!

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

EXIF information is only important if someone is posting their image because they are having concerns about it and they want advice. In that scenario, have the shooting info is often a critical component when analyzing an image with problems and providing advice.

Mister H Loc: Michigan

Ditto to dpullum’s quote.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Notice exactly what the OP wrote, "I notice there is a habit of putting details of a shot in online forum etc. I had a shoot taken down because I did not put the camera settings." {Corrected in my mind to standard English syntax and grammar as "...in online forums, etc."} I don't think he meant the UHH. And that is how I read and understood it initially, meaning somewhere else.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

And as usual, Linda makes good points too. I would like to add that also

D. f/5.6, 1/1000 sec, ISO 400=
E. f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO 400 =
F. f/11, 1/250 sec, ISO 400

That sort of thing was one of the first we had to master in (film) photo classes back in the Seventies and Eighties. Especially if you were working with a view camera.

Nikon1201

If it’s a good shot it doesn’t matter . Your conditions you shot in that day will never be duplicated by you or anyone else.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thank you for doing examples with aperture; I was too lazy to double-check full stops

Don, the 2nd son Loc: Crowded Florida

I'm thinking the OP is referring to some groups who invite viewers to join but have rather taxing rules. I've encountered one or two that require the poster to include tech details (no prob) AND identify the subject. I like macro and do not score well in identifying the "bugs" I find. So I simply avoid these sites.

Bill_de Loc: US

That's how I understand it.

I don't think seeing settings are all that helpful and could be misleading. What shutter speed for wispy water? Depends on how fast the water is moving. There are always unknow variables. That might have been a good idea with film to give somebody a starting point. Today, go down to the water you want to shoot and take shots at various shutter speeds. Heck, most cameras will do that for you if you learn how to use the bracket feature. And you are more likely to learn more comparing the different shots than remembering a shutter speed you read on the internet.

Folks shoot raw and can adjust exposure, white balance, etc., etc.. What you see and want to emulate isn't what the camera saw.

Folks need to just learn the basics and shoot, shoot, shoot. Then posting their own pictures with the data, someone might be able to show them what they could do to improve.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
---

al13

Another great shot, thanks

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Great points. Bracket, come home and compare and study.

Bill, did you change your avatar? Something looks different. Maybe just a haircut?

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Four seasons with the bridge camera, one with an Oly mirrorless. Took this season off Thanks!

clickety

I find the info very informative since I mostly view on my phone not at my desk but possibly for slightly different reasons. They are useful not for copying to set my camera (as stated that's a constantly changing dynamic) but knowing the FOCAL LENGTH, APERTURE and SENSOR are what help me learn how to use them creatively. I feel that these (focal length and aperture) are the two most important basic elements and also the most difficult to master. To me the brand as well exposure settings are insignificant when analyzing composition. To those who post the info, thank you. To those that don't, please do. To those who constantly complain about too much info, either don't read it or develop a curiosity.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Gordo, I agree with you. The camera settings in and of themselves provide no useful information without the subsequent information regarding processing. Photography has been and probably will always be a two-stage series of procedures. The initial capture and the subsequent processing. For example, if I were to provide camera ISO, shutter speed, and f-stop that information would be useless without knowing the developer, mixing ration, processing temperature, and developing time. Similarly, without the steps taken from exposure to the processing of digital images it becomes useless information. For example.

So, I don't post settings for a photograph. I do however try to answer questions which address specific aspects of a photograph.
--Bob

From this - SOOC

(Download)

To this - Final Print

(Download)

Mister H Loc: Michigan

Holy cow! Being newer at this, I didn’t see that coming. You’ve given me hope for what I might delete. Thank you for the explanation and examples.