robwilson

Just a small counter to this...

I generally use fairly saturated colours in my pictures. I normally slide to around +5 on the PS saturation bar. I like strong colours, simple as that - no other reason for doing it.

However, the series of photos that I've got some of the best feedback on (and I am one of the large group of average photographers on this site) was a set of Nepali sadhus where I had heavily desaturated the colours so that they almost looked washed out.

I think in the end it should just be whatever floats your boat. If you like a picture great, if you don't, oh well, look at the next one. Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.

I know the rating system is frustrating at times, especially when you get a 3/3 dangling in amongst the 5s 6s and maybe even 7s, but there is really is no other way to do it. I'm sure we all know that there are many trolls floating around cyberspace who get pleasure from pissing people off, but you have to hope that most people give marks because that's what they generally believe the picture is worth. I've certainly seen plenty of pictures on here that fall fully into Jeff's category of 'crap', and on a few occasions I've told people that (in a much more polite way of course).

As for what Lex says about personality cults... I certainly agree. Plenty of times I've seen some photographers, who generally publish impressive work, put something on here that is way below their normal levels, but still have praise heaped on them. It often seems apparent that some photographers will get high ratings whatever they put up. It would be an interesting experiment to swap some of their pictures with a member of the 'pack' and see how the marks come back!

Finally, this thread has, for me, brought into clarity one of the strengths of this website and one of digital photography. For the website, it has made me think again. Am I saturating my pictures too much? Am I going along with the pack when I should be trying to be original? My fiance (who is also a photo.net subscriber) keeps telling me off for putting too much store in the ratings I get, perhaps it's time I listened. For digital photography, I am now allowed to do this. I have a big store of all my original RAW files clogging up my hard disc just waiting for more messing around.

All the best,

Rob

Nick Danziger, who is a writer/photographer responsible for some excellent travelogues accompanied by some superb photography, now shoots with an E410! He took an excellent series of pictures of Tony Blair in his final days in office with it.

Blair commented to him that he never noticed he was taking his picture. Danziger felt that this is because the camera was so inobtrusive.

Cheers

Rob

Thanks again.

I bought the E3 a couple of days ago. I'll be picking up an HLD-4 grip tomorrow, and hopefully I'll be in a position to pick up the 12 to 60 lense next month. I've been quoted some excellent prices here in Seoul - around $750 - $990, depending on the camera store.

Cheers

Rob

Brilliant. Thanks guys. I'll have to start just using the lenses I got with my E510, but in a month or two I'll get the 12-60. I can get that for under a $1000 here, which is great.

Cheers

Rob

Hi all,

I've been using an E510 for the last year, but unfortunately it broke recently. Now because of various issues my

guarantee is not worth the paper it's written on (due to a lack of vigilence on my part, nothing done wrong by

Olympus). So, I think that this is an ideal time to 'step up' to a higher level camera. As I've already got a lot of E-

system kit, I thought I'd stick with Olympus and get an E3. I get the impression that it is an excellent camera.

I'm working in Korea and I reckon the price here is really good - about $1500 for both an E3 and an HLD-4 grip.

Any thoughts?

All the best,

Rob

I've been thinking more about this, and agree with Bernhardt. As much as the unexplained and 'surprise' 3/3 can be really annoying if you think you've got a really good picture (and you suspect that somebody is giving the low rating to be obnoxious), the prospect of vindictive return ratings, personal abuse, and threats are far worse.

Perhaps, in the end, we really should just critique rather than rate.

Yeah, right Fred.

Here's the pic I'm talking about.

http://www.photo.net/photo/6637466&size=lg

I'd love an explanation of how this shot is 3/3.

The 3/3 group drives me insane. I've seen one chap's picture that was, for me, an easy 7/7 that some fool had rated

3/3. I had 3 pictures rated 3/3 within the space of a minute once (no other rater scored below 5/5) - I emailed the

mods and was told that these ratings are almost always because people simply don't like the shot. Yeah right.

Anyway, rant over...

How do I rate....

I look for pictures that I like. If I don't like a picture I won't rate it. I don't really like upsetting people. So, I look for

pictures that I like and give them ratings between 5/5 and 7/7. To get a 7/7 the picture has to be absolutely superb.

If there is a picture that I don't like, but feel I can offer a constructive suggestion to, I'll post that; although I don't do

this that often because there are so many people on here who can offer much better advice than me.

Cheers

Rob

I use a Primefilm 1800. It was the best I could afford, unfortunately I find that I often lose quite a lot of quality.

This is a little frustrating to say in the least, especially when you have a really sharp slide with great colours, that are then lost on the scan.

Hi all!

I've noticed that many pictures posted on this site have 'mounts',

ie a border with a title and the photographers name. Can anyone

give me some advice on how to do this? I have photoshop 7 (but

can't work out if I can do it on there).

Thanks and regards for any help in this matter.

Cheers

Rob