Hi Folks

[jandtaa]

Hi Folks

Just stumbled across this forum the other day (don't usually venture that far down the index !!). What a great little forum. Kan Win and the rest of you have obviously put in a great deal of hard work  keep it up guys and gals !

Personally I'm just a bit of a dabbler but keen to learn and there's a great deal of helpful advice and tips amongst these pages which is sure to help me improve.

OK now for the negative . Photography as are most art forms is a highly subjective (beauty is in the eye of the beholder blah blah blah ) and often emotive medium and can be a very personal creative process. I can't help but notice that in the "evaluate my photo" thread some posters are letting their emotions get in the way of posting constructive criticism which should be just that. We all learn from our mistakes and I doubt that many of us achieve a "perfect" shot everytime. Personally I find there is so much to concentrate on at once, focus, framing, exposure etc... and I seldom if ever get them to get them to all come together at once  . Indeed often when I do it is because I have faffed around with the camera for so long adjusting settings and then miss the "moment" and the essence of the image I was trying to capture has disappeared !! Therefore I am usually happy to get it nearly right and just capture the shot.

I feel that if posters were to post their images in this thread along with acknowledged flaws this may help with people giving more useful advice on how to correct the image rather than just simply rubbishing it (some of the comments could well be perceived as flaming and I'm sure you are all aware of forum rules ). In a similar vein some posters such as "Yumidesign" have a unique artistic style which relies heavily on the use of techniques such as under/over exposing shots, out of focus shots and unusual compositions (sometimes somehow managing to combine all three). If you use such techniques it might help to comment on the artistic reason they were employed to prevent them being mistaken for technical errors. 

Back to a positive . The "post what I want" challenge is a great idea and a great place to post your "keepers" however I wonder if it would help to give two scores out of ten, one for artistic merit and one for technical ability ( i.e. A10 T5 ). The reason being as this thread could act as a great barometer of personal development. If you were to constantly achieve high marks for artistic merit but score low on technique you would know that you needed to work on this area if however the reverse was happening you would become aware that you might need to read up on composition etc. There is a potential problem with this due to the fact that some people are able to download an image and view it through software that displays histograms, blown highlights etc whilst others are viewing through their browser on a netbook so I think if you are unhappy on commenting on a technical level just mark your score with an "A". At the moment I am adding the 2 scores together and then dividing by 2 to arrive at my posted score.

Unfortunately I am currently in the UK for 6 months so cannot enter the challenges but will do so as soon as I return. There does seem to be some lively debate as to what the subject matter should be. Obviously we can't all post challenges simultaneously as it would create too much work setting up polls etc.. I think it's a good idea to have the winner set the challenge. How about having 2 monthly challenges running concurrently ? One purely subject based with minimal post production (clouds etc) and another based on technique; macro, black and white, forced perspective, motion shots, delayed exposure and so on that can easily achieved with most cameras and minimal software. You could also have a seperate challenge for computer generated images such as HDR, Composites, vexel art and other more graphical disciplines. 

As Kan Win chose clouds, because of the time of year, personally I feel a good technical challenge during rainy season would be macro as you don't even have to venture outdoors to find your subject matter !! It would also be good if the challenge setter could provide a link to a website showing examples such as this macro photography . But hey I haven't even entered one so I best shut up !

Anyway thats enough blather from me for one day I shall quietly retire back beneath my rock and leave you to digest what as I have already stated is just my two-penneth

cheers for now J

PS The Vulcan we need you !!   

[Tywais]

Hi jandtaa,

Good post. Regarding the Evaluate My Photo there are these guidelines in answer to your "negatives".

5. Only post your comments here if you feel you can make a constructive and polite contribution in response to what is, for some, a leap of faith in exposing their work to your critical comment. Comments like “I love” or “its crap” are not what is wanted. A better approach would be “why or why not does this shot work for you”?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Photos-Evalu...rs-t160673.html

Perhaps this is a good "reminder" to members to be more constructive in critiquing photos.

[lordsux]

Good post!

'Just stumbled across this forum the other day' It is too far down the list. It deserves a promotion for sure.

I don't usually comment on the 'Evaluate your photo' thread. I see myself as a beginner and not really qualified to give a good evaluation. Maybe in future I will give a 'like' or 'don't like' comment

I was also thinking a but about the 'Post What You Want' challenge, it finally seems to be chugging along OK. I was thinking of creating a gallery (like this) where I would add each submission as they appear on the challenge thread, this would at least allow some discussion on the individual images that are posted. Any questions could be asked and answered on the gallery. The gallery link could be added in the 1st post of the challenge.

I did think about a 2 vote system when thinking up the challenge but dismissed the idea mainly to keep it as simple as possible for anyone to enter or vote.

Maybe Rule#1 of the Photo Challenges should be revised? This would allow members that are not in Thailand that often to still be able to enter the challenges.

I think a 'macro' challenge is an excellent idea for the next technical challenge. You could maybe start it?

PS. Yes, we need Vulcan