john_kanon

Well, I've been reading through the thread, and although there's much to be commented on, I'll just comment on the first post, which was the original question. Where is the balance, and what have we done to photo.net. Well, at least one reason why people don't low-quality rating is, as it is aptly named "revenge-rating". I too rated some photographs low in the beginning, and made a point of justifying my rates through the comment field. I *tried* to help the photographer see what was wrong with his photograph (even I'm not good myself, you just sometimes spot things that ruin a picture). The result of this was that those people started rating my pictures as bad, mostly without leaving any comment. So now I only rate pictures that I like, and that I can give high rating. If there's something that can be improved (all IMHO off course) I won't fail to mention it, but I keep back from rating low. Another factor, more then towards unbalanced pictures, which I started a thread on earlier, but which got deleted (!) is the snapshot factor. Digital cameras are getting cheaper, and more and more people have one. They just press the button, see a somewhat blurred picture of their desk, think it's artistic, and submit it. Or the 'parent' factor. Of course, parents always think their kid is the cutest of all, and any picture, even if it is technically bad, or just a snapshot, is promoted to a almost divine status because their oh-so-cute kid is on it. It's ridiculous. So in my believe, there are quite a lot of people on photo.net who don't even have the slightest interest in photography as we see it. And some (frustrated) people who don't even have a single photo uploaded, fill their days with thrashing other peoples work, because they fail at it themselves. Might be that my pictures aren't any good, but a lot of work goes in them. I take them in my parents living room, with rented equipment, so it's always a lot of work to set up, and I do the makeup myself. All I ask for, just like most people, is for an honest comment and rating. No good? Ok, tell me why, or even better, what to improve. Good? Ok, but please tell me why also.

So, to answer your questions Doug:

Where is the balance? I believe it's down the drain, washed away in a flood of people who don't care as much for the art as you do.

What have we done to Photo.net? I believe nothing, it's just happend. Cheap digicams and broadband connections have brought in a bunch of people who don't really belong on a serious website as this.

What to do about it? I don't know. Maybe there could be a feature to have your photos rated/commented on only by members? I'm not one myself, but would become one if I could filter out Photo.Net down to its core, where I know motivated (therefore not expert !) people are posting pictures and comments.

Best regards to all of you who are honest and sincere Photo.netters.

I started doing makeup myself, just for this. If you want, take a look on <a href="http://www.scherpenberg.be">www.scherpenberg.be</a> After the intro page there are three thumbnails of photographs of girls before makeup. When you move your mouse over them, you see them after makeup (ok, the middle one in styled towards the 20's, but you should get the idea). If you really want even skin tones, it's the best road to take (IMHO)

Good luck