Photo critique ideas wanted

[DougAxford]

As posted a week ago, Noel & I have volunteered to moderate a critique forum. Drew responded very quickly to our idea and I've sent an email to Noel outlining some suggestions that I have and just waiting his reply now (I think he is off shooting in the swamp again)

This is what I sent to Noel:
My suggestions are fairly obvious that all posts should be positive/constructive in nature and that photos should have as much info as possible to allow others to understand how the image was created. I guess we should also establish that images should not contain nude images of children (or anything else illegal) - not sure whether you want to keep out all nudes. That may be best at the outset. There are lots of forums for nude related critiques and I sense that Drew would prefer to avoid anything in that range. Also we need to remind people that this is a public forum and that all images can be viewed by anyone who registers. Not sure if they even need to register to view.

Do you want to allow posts from people who have photos that are in need of PS work and ask for suggestions? It's something that can become a whole area onto itself, but we could offer it and see what happens.

As you can see, I'm trying to be pretty open. As we have seen for the last year, this forum is built on great input from members. My number one concern is getting the critique section moving and
not bogged down in discussion of philosophy. I would like to set some ground rules to start with though. Drew says that we should be able to accept files up to 7 meg and raw files as attachments.

If you have ideas or simply want to get started posted - LET'S GET GOING !!

DougA

PS, just noticed that Randy is also a mod, sorry I missed that.

[Jerry Skrocki]

The photos should not exceed 800 pixels on either side to allow for proper viewing in the forum.

I would suggest that critiques be constructive, not just "I don't like the lighting, angle etc." but also include methods to improve the original image.

Jerry

[Noel_Carboni]

I propose that everyone who posts an image in this forum be prepared to see edits and reposts of the image. I want to encourage editing. It is sometimes very difficult to express a suggestion verbally, while trivially easy to express an example visually.

We should encourage image editing questions as well as overall critique.

I suggest 1024 pixels width, but I suppose I could live with 800 pixels if necessary. For those wishing to show a higher resolution image (as in "is this properly sharpened?" or similar), the poster can provide a link if he/she so chooses to a higher resolution version.

A general format that works well is the "oreo cookie" approach to critique, and perhaps we can suggest it:

Start with pointing out something about the image that you like and/or that first jumped out at you, then describe the elements you feel could be better, then end with a summary of the positive elements.

-Noel

[DougAxford]

Originally Posted by Noel_Carboni

A general format that works well is the "oreo cookie" approach to critique, and perhaps we can suggest it: -Noel

In Canada it's called 'hamburger critique' - fancy toppings, meat, more fancy toppings

So, let's get posting!!! I'm just so anxious to mod someone

DougA

PS: also keep in mind that many people view the internet on their laptops (me) that are not color corrected and tend to blow-out highlights. So, be careful of making comments on these things unless you are viewing the image on a calibrated monitor.