Okay, I've been sitting here monitoring my votes on my submission and watched two votes come in that were ones. How depressing that no comments were posted! Seeing as this is the RANT forum... Why can't you at least offer some input?? Granted, I am not expecting to compete (with the "big boys with the high dollar cameras") because I only have a PS camera at this time. I am only trying to improve my composition and learn tecniques for when I do have a good digital camera...if I don't just give up and go back to my Pentax 35mm...
Don't give up. I started out with a REALLY basic camera. Got some flack for it. But I learned a lot here. Actually, I learned so much, that I was able to put together a tutorial of things that I had learned. Check it out. It might be able to help. Cheap Enhancements for "low end" digital cameras. I also have left a Critique Club comment on your Secondary colors image with some suggestions on low lighting.
Like I said. Don't give up. You'll learn a lot, and when you get that new camera...you'll have to learn it ALL over again. LOL I know ALL about white balance and arpeture(spelling) and DOF. Just don't know how to actually control all those things now that I have a better camera. lol
Take care.
~Heather~
Check out the ribbon winners in each challenge...usually there are one or two ones even for the winners. Fuggedaboudit! It doesn't mean anything at all...
I don't know what your photo is but I am certain it probably really isn't a one in my book... I can sympathize with you about the validity of the low scores some DPCers hand out but I guess it is their prerogative. I have on several occasions looked at the composite scoring of challenge winners and asked myself how can anybody judge these to be 1s, 2s, or 3s. Hang in there. You will learn a lot by observing the work of others here on DPC and every now and then a helpful comment will come your way :-)
Thanks for the positives. I'm feeling better already. It does help to rant once in awhile. I promise (I'll try) not to make it a habit.
Bob, You're right about learning from observing. This is a great site and I have received some very helpful comments, already. The ones just frustrated me a bit.
Heather, I checked out the link. Great info. Can't wait to try the magnifying glass for the macro shots.
I'm pissed off at the 1s because I think they should be reserved for photos that are both bad (not just 'not very good', but outright bad) and don't meet the challenge in the slightest. I also think my third entry is significantly better than my first but it's scoring worse so far because it IS getting a lot of 1s and 2s -- a range I don't hand out myself except under extreme circumstances -- and I basically am about to just say 'bugger this' and stop entering photos because it's not worth the frustration of seeing really low scores but having almost no one tell me WHY.
I'm pissed off at the 1s because I think they should be reserved for photos that are both bad (not just 'not very good', but outright bad) and don't meet the challenge in the slightest. I also think my third entry is significantly better than my first but it's scoring worse so far because it IS getting a lot of 1s and 2s -- a range I don't hand out myself except under extreme circumstances -- and I basically am about to just say 'bugger this' and stop entering photos because it's not worth the frustration of seeing really low scores but having almost no one tell me WHY.
Make sure you click the link for a CC member to evaluate your photo. Usually they will tell you why it's bad. lol
Also, you can't really go on scores because some challenge score better than others as a whole.
I basically am about to just say 'bugger this' and stop entering photos because it's not worth the frustration of seeing really low scores but having almost no one tell me WHY.
The lack of constructive comments has always been a problem and probably always will now that we have, say, 250-300+ images to vote on each week. However, if you are interested in crits on your pictures there are a number of ways to get them.
You could post them into forum topic here AFTER the challenge and simply ask the question. But, better, there are any numbers of sites around where you can post your pics specifically for criticism. If you don't know any, PM me and I'll send you a list.
I don't mind not getting a terribly in-depth crit, but a few words explaining what prompted the score would be nice. It's not like it would take terribly long to type "nice angle but too dark" or "good idea but shot is blurry" or "focus should be tighter" or some other 5-10 word "what ran through my mind when I looked at this" type of comment, unless you type like 1 word a minute or something.
And what's more, I'd much rather concentrate on giving comments on the photos I vote on than concentrate on making it through the whole batch. There's a reason it's 20% required rather than 100%, combined with the randomization of order. Which is why I have yet to not leave some sort of comment when I vote on an image, even if occasionally it's a little terse (and in one case probably wholly uninformative).
Give it some time for comments. Lots of ppl will go back and give them later. Although, I don't know that the ppl giving out ones will routinely comment.
