AMEN! Add me to your list.

I agree with there being so many "so-so" photos with tons of praise. People will never get better and progress in their photography. Instead of helping them with some constructive critism, I don't respond at all because I'm not sure they want to know where they could improve. I've seen someone post a lousy picture and get praise and the next day they post twice as many lousy photos.

In our camera club, we always try to be nice. We never criticize a photo, instead, we suggest that the maker could have done something differently, ie, overposed - would suggest that lowering the exposure would have helped with all the hotspots.

I get a lot out of this forum - the Main Photography Discussion and especially the True Macro Forum where I've gotten tons of suggestions on how to improve and thank them all for it.

If you go to Alaskan's profile, you will see that he has left UHH. I took the liberty of emailing him at the email he provides on his profile and asked him why he decided to leave.

I don't agree with everything he says, I love some of his work, but I am not impressed with everything he does. I will miss his honest feedback, and I think it is too bad for UHH that he has decided to leave.

He wrote me a long email, explaining why he left, I will pull a couple of things out of it that I think are important to all of us.
His biggest reason for leaving is this.



Now I do not agree with everything Alaskan has said here, but I do sympathize with him in this.

I feel that people are afraid to do honest critiquing. I often feel I get a "nice photo" Nightski, when the poster is actually thinking something else. I would like to hear the something else. I may decide it's something I can use, or I may not agree, but I will consider it and contemplate it. I think critique should be specific. It is also nice to receive a suggestion with a critcism, but not necessary.

I am afraid to give my honest opinion when viewing photos. I know there will be people that get mad at me. So now, if I think the photo is not praise worthy, I just skip over it. What a shame. It could be a learning opportunity for everyone.

I hope I never, no matter how long I do this, get to the point where I think I am so good that I cannot learn anything. I bet every once in a while, a photographer that has been doing this for 50 years, learns something from a novice. Just by accident. The novice in his ignorance of how something is supposed to be done, just might happen upon something that can be done in a non traditional way, and come up with something pretty cool.

I truly hope UHH can work towards a climate that is friendly to criticism. It's the only way we are going to get better people. If we can't accept critcism, then maybe Ivan is right. Maybe the majority of people that come here, have no interest in getting better. They are just interested in socializing with their photos. And you know what? That is fine with me. You people are valuable too. But I think that there are people here who are keenly interested in honing their skills.

Here is my proposition. If you want criticism. If you want to know what others really think of your work, do this.

Post on this thread today, saying that is what you are here for.
I will make a list of all the names, send a pm to admin, and ask them if we can have a special symbol by our names indicating that we are here to receive criticism, so that we can improve.