I wasn't referring to the PDML per se, but just the skills in general.
Being an engineer, I could spend a lot of time designing an online
photography critique community, but that is an exercise in mental
masturbation that I'll leave for another day.
Here is a disorganized brain dump of some of my thoughts on the
subjects. Maybe, at some point, I'll try and actually write a coherent
piece on the subject. Or at least put in enough effort to find one that
someone else has already written.
1) Opinions are neither right nor wrong. If someone doesn't like
something, there's nothing to argue about. Different people will like
different things. On several occasions two photos, or two versions, of
the same photo, posted to a group of skilled photographers, with the
question "which is better", and invariably the results are split. And it
can be for reasons as basic as "I prefer color" , "I prefer black and
white", or "I hate the shade of teal in the second shot".
2) I can learn from anybody. Even if I know far more than someone about
a particular topic, they can always see something that I missed.
3) I least enjoy hearing about what I did wrong, but that is usually
what I most need to hear to improve my craft. If I don't know what's
wrong, it is very hard to fix it.
4) It is just as important to tell someone what they did right, what
worked, as what didn't work.
5) It is very rarely as useful to ask for critique of a set, as it is of
a single photograph. The person reviewing them won't have time to devote
to each one, and there will almost always be exceptions to observations
like "it looks like your horizon is crooked", or "it looks like your
autofocus is in love with the microphone and hates the vocalist".
6) It is often more useful to ask for feedback about a particular aspect
of a photograph.
7) Don't just say that something is wrong, give suggestions on how to
fix it.
8) I can learn as much from reading critiques of other people's work, as
I can reading critiques of my own.
9) Someone looking at a photo on a wall generally won't care if it was
taken at ISO 640, f/8 or with an instamatic, Hasselblad, or 645D.
However, someone trying to help you improve your photography will need
to know details like ISO, shutter speed, aperture, maybe the lens, was
it on a tripod or hand held, what sort of lighting, did you shoot a grey
card frame to set the color balance, was it taken on auto or manual
focus, or any of the myriad of technical details that affect a shot.
--
Larry Colen l...@red4est.com (from dos4est)
--
PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
PDML@pdml.net
http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow
the directions.
