Abo

That's wise.

I joined the Bacchus Marsh Photography club; which had a monthly
competition.

I came second one month. First prize went to one
of the committee members for an image that I thought
was poor... At the risk of sounding conceited; my photo
was magnitudes better.

So, without saying which was which, I asked, "Which is the better image"

Mine won in a massive landslide.

Which leads one to believe that it pays to be on the committee.

If you want to check the pictures.

Here's a link to the thread: https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-300023-1.html

Just so your not confused: my site name was "Shutter B#gger". I changed to
Abo as I was told "B#gger" is in bad taste.

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

Sometimes when people ask for a comment on their photograph, they are really asking for validation of the subject matter in the picture, perhaps an image of a grandchild and not for a tutorial on how to make a better photograph. I can see at least two poor responses to personal photographs that are submitted. One is "that sure is a crummy photograph of your beautiful grandchild" and the other which is worse is "that is a perfectly executed photograph of a homely child". Thankfully on this site, we are kind to people when commenting on these sort of photographs. However in other discussions, we can get rather snarky with each other. If you ask for help, then expect criticism, but most of us I suspect want helpful comments about the work itself as opposed to a evaluation of our intellectual shortcomings.

User ID

On a technique and IQ basis I can agree that
Dpreview Challenges is a step up from UHH.
But I cannot take seriously any site that fails
to toadally ban any and all cat pictures.

Abo

(Download)

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

Thank you! I actually liked the shot myself!

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

Funny statement since you POSTED a cat picture! Great shot BTW...seriously...

whoops..."quote reply" didn't work. This is in response to Abo's response to User ID by deliberately posting a cat picture!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Yup, everyone like different stuff.

In England maybe. (bugger bad)
I grew up ( in PA, USA ) referring to something small and likeable as a "cute little bugger".
It did not have a bad or derogatory connotation then. I still say it sometimes.
A shame, I would have known what you meant.

I guess if we don't want to take the slightest chance of offending someone, we shouldn't speak.
(I hate PC.)

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

Well said. Some people may think helpful comments ARE criticism. One should expect some criticism and learn from it.

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

The bottom picture shows leading lines as requested for the competition and should have won. It's somewhat abstract, so more may go for the landscape.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Perhaps your definition of composition is different than mine.

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

Original post: I’ve always been a good photographer. It just took a while for others to recognize it! 🙂



Glad I brought a smile.

There is actually a more serious messege behind the humor however. When I first started experimenting with photography I believed I had the “potential” to be a pretty good photographer. I had painted for decades and had a decent knowledge of art history. I had a working sense of composition and color sense. My first efforts were fair at best, but not terrible. When I compared my photos to others I thought were very good I came to recognize areas of limitation that could be improved, primarily technical knowledge specific to photography. I took a few community college courses. As my knowledge grew so did my perception of my success, which in turn increased my motivation to continue to improve my skills. I got to a point where the whole creative package of photography became the important thing, not just the images themselves.That was the point where I changed from thinking I had the potential to be good, to i am a good photographer. This is also the point where others consistently gave me feedback that my image were worthwhile. From there on, it became a journey to discover where I could continue to improve further.

Here’s the thing. I believe that in any creative endeavor, it is possible for us to think of ourselves as being “good“, artistically, relative to our knowledge of what our artistic discipline demands. In early stages our standard for being good is a lot lower than it will be later on in the journey, and it may be much lower than others who see our efforts along the way. As we learn more, hopefully, we raise our own standard of “goodness” and we become more focused on the process rather than just the images themselves.

“Good photographers“ are those who see themselves as progressing through a creative process. As they progress, others around them will recognize their point along that journey. “Bad photographers” are those who are focused solely on producing images. They don’t see what they do as part of an evolving process. They are doomed to stagnate.

Glenn Harve

Some pics are worth a thousand words.
Some not so much.
The best ones leave one speechless.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.

Abo

Just so there is no ambiguity (on my part).

Composition: Position of elements within the frame.

God knows what your definition must be.

MauiMoto Loc: Hawaii

Because Marxists, communists, atheists, whatever you want to call them, have hijacked our reward circuits, training us to be the opposite of humble. My father always said, "The more you know, the more you know how little you know.", just the opposite of the attitude today. If someone takes the time to criticize someone else, they should be thankful and try to benefit from the criticism,but this requires humility.