Photo.net for beginning photographers?

[charedan]

I?ve been a member of photo.net for nearly nine months now. Yet pretty much all I?ve learned, I?ve

learned by myself since I hardly ever got any real critiques on my photographs. I became a member for the

opportunity I thought it would give me to learn about being an artistic photographer. Yet, most of what I

get are ratings that tell me very little about what I do right, and even less about what I do wrong.

 

I do very little editing on my photos, cropping, resizing for photo.net and a little sharpness because the

resizing softens my pictures. So this should be a perfect setup for good photographers to tell me what I

do right or wrong, yet only a few regulars will comment, and it is generally only words of encouragement.

Which by the way, is pretty much all I can offer, since I myself am a beginner of sorts. I only rate pictures

that I like, almost always very favourably, since I would not know where to begin explaining why I like

them. Are all of photo.net members just like me?

 

So now I?m thinking, will my account on photo.net be only for web storage to share my photos with

friends and family? If this is it, then I could simply use some other web site like www.treknature.com (free)

or my .mac account (since I already pay for that anyway) where I could setup a photo blog and save $25 on

photo.net membership renewal.

 

Of course, I like very much reading the forums on photo.net. I myself commented on things I thought I

knew. Was sometimes told otherwise, some other times not even replied to. That?s all right I guess. May

be I?ll renew anyway for my contribution to keeping the forums alive, since I do enjoy these very much. But

I guess I have to put a cross on learning through critiques on my photographs.

 

And you, what have you learned?

 

Cheers, Dan.

[papasan]

Salut Daniel, we're from the same hometown. I looked at your portfolio and i noticed that you seem to concentrate on a very specialized type of photos: wildlife/birds. This is very ambitious for a "beginner" as you call yourself, but i see that you already have some very impressive captures there. My point is that it may not be easy for most people on photonet to give you solid advise on wildlife/bird photography as it is a very specialized field and most people who do not specialize in this field may not be able to offer you much guidance. There are some excellent wildlife photographers on PN but getting them to comment on your pictures may be a hit and miss type of thing. You can learn a lot though by just studying these expert's portfolios and photos and by asking them questions directly on some of the technique they use. Some of them will be very receptive and helpful, others may be more secretive about their craft but it's worth a try. Good luck

[James G. Dainis]

Fair enough. I looked at some of your photos and left a few comments. Most of your photos are either framed too tight or too loose. Loose framing may be a result of the limits of the telephoto lens you are using and the distance. But, the photos can be cropped to better framing later. Initially, there should not be a lot of empty area on one side of the animal and little on the other. Here is how I would have cropped that deer photo:<P>

<center><img src=http://www.geocities.com/dainisjg/deer1.jpg></center>

[jennifer_durand]

Daniel, I symapthise with you and all the other members who had expectations. To put

your mind at rest and put some perspective on this I'll tell you my story.

 

I have been a student at university and college for three years. Most of what I have learned

about photography I found out myself by researching and speaking to people in the field.

We have to take control of every situation and have to be pro-active. University and

college give you the tools and just steer you. You have to drive the rest of the journey on

your own.

 

Photo.net and other computer and photography sites have been a resource for me. What I

sugges to you and anyone else who has not had critiques is to read the critiques that have

been written about other peoples work. From doing this you will soon start to learn what is

good, what is not and how to critique and assess your own work.

 

Write comments on critiques and ask the writer why they have made a comment if you

don't understand. Most of us who critique will be pleased to explain. Finding out who

writes proper critiques is a matter of just plain looking about. Keep tabs on these

members in My Workspace under Your Friends, Interesting People. This will make finding

them and their comments a breeze. Keep reading.

[Norma Desmond]

Jennifer, yours is one of the most helpful and clear responses I've so far read on PN. What a

pleasure to see such good advice. It's exactly how I began and how I learn as well. --Fred

[sandysocks]

Why do you do very little editing? Editing is the real key to making raw images come to life. On my monitor, quite a few of your images look unfinished. Not sure if this is monitor differences or taste. Try kicking up the saturation and blacks once in a while and see what happens. You have some images that will be gorgeous when you get all of this figured out.

[jennifer_durand]

Fred, thanks for your kind remarks.

[charedan]

Michel, James, Jennifer, RL,

 

Thanks for taking the time to respond to this. I will read carefully all your answers as well

as the comments some of you left on my photographs.

 

Will come back for personnal replies later.

 

Thanks again

 

Cheers, Dan.

[dangoldman]

Dan, i too have left some critiques on your photos. I second the suggestion to read others' critiques on photos and to evaluate them yourself. Also, feel free to ask about photos and critique other people's photos. You learn a lot by trying to teach. It seems that photo.net has been waning lately though with the amount of critiques that are issued.