If someone posts a "How can I make this better" it's far easier for me to
rework the pic, than to give a in depth lesson on how to get there.
dave.
I agree. And sometimes the answer is "Like this (insert picture here)."
If someone asks how can I make it better, they are opening up the discussion, and I think that if they have a specific problem with people re-working their image, they should say so.
On another couple of forums there's a member who can be depended upon to re-work your photo uninvited.
It's beyond sad because he ALWAYS makes it much worse.
Well. I've been quiet long enough. Some people are good with words. Some
people can demonstrate far better than typing something out.
If someone posts a "How can I make this better" it's far easier for me to
rework the pic, than to give a in depth lesson on how to get there.
I teach welding for pipefitter apprentices. I can show things far better than
than I can preach about them. I realize that a brief explanation needs to
come with the pic, but as the old saying goes, a picture is worth a
thousand words.
For that matter, with a post like the one mentioned above, I would take it as
an invite to download it and repost. I've done it in the past. I will not in the
future. (here at least)
If I reworked anyone's photo when I wasn't supposed to. Sorry.
If I reworked anyone's photo and that person thought that I made it worse,
I wish you would have told me. Maybe I could have learned something on
that day.
If I see any more posts asking "how can I..." I will simply avoid them.
Which will leave me with "nice pic" and "Thanks" for most of my posts.
dave.
Good points Dave
I never realized so many people would be offended by others trying their best to help As I mentioned before, I have done this in the past. I even went so far as to add a disclaimer when I modded someone else's work basically saying "I apologize if my re-edit of your shot offends you". To the best of my lousy recollection, 90% of the people in those threads responded with "thanks, no problems". I've dropped the disclaimer lately and maybe I shouldn't have. I now understand that I shouldn't re-edit other's work, so I won't
As you suggest, maybe a "nice pic and thanks for sharing" comment is adequate. At least you won't be running the risk of offending anyone Unfortunately, as you also mention, not only do we not get to share our knowledge, by responding with a bland polite comment, we also lose a chance to increase our own knowledge.
I never realized so many people would be offended by others trying their best to help As I mentioned before, I have done this in the past. I even went so far as to add a disclaimer when I modded someone else's work basically saying "I apologize if my re-edit of your shot offends you". To the best of my lousy recollection, 90% of the people in those threads responded with "thanks, no problems". I've dropped the disclaimer lately and maybe I shouldn't have. I now understand that I shouldn't re-edit other's work, so I won't
As you suggest, maybe a "nice pic and thanks for sharing" comment is adequate. At least you won't be running the risk of offending anyone Unfortunately, as you also mention, not only do we not get to share our knowledge, by responding with a bland polite comment, we also lose a chance to increase our own knowledge.
Oh well
Steve
I'm dipping my toe into this thread. Steve, if all I got from critiques was nice pic, not bad, etc I would still be taking cr*p pics. Because of the excellent advice and help on this forum I can get half decent results from my camera. If someone sees me making a mistake in post processing and puts up a better version with an explanation I am delighted. How else can I learn. While I know this thread was specifically about reworking pics the knowledge base on this forum and the friendly advice that is available is astounding. If I post a pic and anyone has suggestions on how to make it better please do so. If you can see a mistake in my post processing and you can improve it do so.
Yourself, along with all of the regulars here have taught me about composition, exposure, post processing, etc. If you don't believe me:
The improvements in my photos aren't down to sunlight as I said in the second thread, they are down to the very constructive and helpful advice I have got from yourself and everyone else on this forum. If you are bored search for my threads and watch the modest progress I have made.
So, if you want you can just put "nice pic" on everyone elses posts but please continue to help and educate me.
Of course you're both right and I guess I just had a momentary bout of self pity....lol I've always had trouble with this part of forum ettiquette. I surely don't want to offend anyone, yet I really want to try to help them get to a place where they are very happy with the results they get. Both, from the camera and after post processing. It's a fine line, I guess I'll try to walk it without falling into the abyss :lol4
You guys know me too well to think I'd let you off with just a "nice pic" comment....lol :lol That's wayyyyyy tooo easy
My thoughts...
This is a live fire exercise. If you don't want your picture played with - don't make inviting suggestions. Sid recently was very specific about it - hence no attempts were made, at least publicly. Sometimes pic is so out of everything (subject, composition, color, oof, etc) that it simply goes fubar.
However, in many cases it is far more easier (and way more useful for the author, I think) to express what *you* think could be done by simply doing it.
We had a joke in USSR's army about the difference between "comandirs" (leaders) and "comissars" (political advisors). The first were "do as I do", the latter: "do as I say". You can figure out the attitude difference they recieved...
I personally think providing the results of your work (maybe with the description) is far more responsible thing than just saying "do this/do that", because, guess what, you may be wrong, especially if you're dealing with a more complex case. I would do it more often, but it's kinda hassle to post, even though S*E and its "send to" feature helps alot:-) (Note to self: add "one click-upload-post" feature to S*E asap)
Yet again, I usually don't do it uninvited to the people I don't know. And if I ever do it wrong - I would sincere apologize, remember that person's name and never "touch" her/his files again. However, in any case I would do this modification with the best intentions, and only in case I think I can actually do some good.
I have found that photos often look different based on the type of monitor and lighting. Therefore someones comments may be way off. Even so, I welcome the comments and re-works as it is my opinion that the members on this site have integrity and the best of intentions.
I agree with Nik and Sandy. If you post photos here and ask for advice, what is the harm of someone taking a stab at it in photoshop. This is a great group of people here. We are all well intentioned. There is no malicious photoshopping going on. I don't believe people are stealing copyrighted photos.
A picture is worth a thousand words. If someone describes an effect which would help a posted pic, the point is better made with a graphic example. Don't want your photos messed with? I suggest you state so in your post (as was recently done). Otherwise, I would assume that these pics are fair game for well meaning digital grinners.
If I offended anyone with my vigorous photoshopping, I apologize. It is just plain fun to play with some of these great photos. The majority of the changes are subtle (a crop here, a little blur there). If you don't like the suggestions, lets talk about it. That's how we all learn.
Thanks to those that agreed with me, and to those that didn't.
I guess I'd like to make one or two suggestions, or maybe a way that this
could be simplified.
If the photographer doesn't want their pic reworked, say so in the post or
the signature message. Asking if I (we) can try to help someone in a post in a
thread just seems like a bad idea. Not everyone lives in the same time zone,
state, country, or hemisphere. It may take 2 or 3 days to find out that it's
OK to try to help, and by then the thread could be long forgotten on page
3 or 4 and that person would miss out on perhaps a way of really making
their photos stand out.
Or in the first line put something like " In words, how could I make this better." or "Could you show me how ..."
If a photographer doesn't mind someone playing with the photo, type that in
and maybe put their name somewhere on the photo, Or maybe their web photo page.
So no matter where it ends up, it's known who's pic it is.
As Forrest Gump would say, "And that's all I have to say about that."
Comments
Nah, no need to feel that way. A simple post asking if it's OK will settle the deal very quickly. This place isn't that tough.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
I agree. And sometimes the answer is "Like this (insert picture here)."
If someone asks how can I make it better, they are opening up the discussion, and I think that if they have a specific problem with people re-working their image, they should say so.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
I never realized so many people would be offended by others trying their best to help
As you suggest, maybe a "nice pic and thanks for sharing" comment is adequate. At least you won't be running the risk of offending anyone
Oh well
Steve
and agree with Steve about little disclaimer that's all it takes
No need to be bland I always need to learn more.
My Galleries
Flicker
G+
Yourself, along with all of the regulars here have taught me about composition, exposure, post processing, etc. If you don't believe me:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=5622
a thread I posted at the start of the year. Lynnma and yourself gave me some very good advice. I listened and :
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=10548
The improvements in my photos aren't down to sunlight as I said in the second thread, they are down to the very constructive and helpful advice I have got from yourself and everyone else on this forum. If you are bored search for my threads and watch the modest progress I have made.
So, if you want you can just put "nice pic" on everyone elses posts but please continue to help and educate me.
Shay
Of course you're both right and I guess I just had a momentary bout of self pity....lol I've always had trouble with this part of forum ettiquette. I surely don't want to offend anyone, yet I really want to try to help them get to a place where they are very happy with the results they get. Both, from the camera and after post processing. It's a fine line, I guess
You guys know me too well to think I'd let you off with just a "nice pic" comment....lol :lol That's wayyyyyy tooo easy
Thanks again,
Steve
This is a live fire exercise. If you don't want your picture played with - don't make inviting suggestions. Sid recently was very specific about it - hence no attempts were made, at least publicly. Sometimes pic is so out of everything (subject, composition, color, oof, etc) that it simply goes fubar.
However, in many cases it is far more easier (and way more useful for the author, I think) to express what *you* think could be done by simply doing it.
We had a joke in USSR's army about the difference between "comandirs" (leaders) and "comissars" (political advisors). The first were "do as I do", the latter: "do as I say". You can figure out the attitude difference they recieved...
I personally think providing the results of your work (maybe with the description) is far more responsible thing than just saying "do this/do that", because, guess what, you may be wrong, especially if you're dealing with a more complex case. I would do it more often, but it's kinda hassle to post, even though S*E and its "send to" feature helps alot:-) (Note to self: add "one click-upload-post" feature to S*E asap)
Yet again, I usually don't do it uninvited to the people I don't know. And if I ever do it wrong - I would sincere apologize, remember that person's name and never "touch" her/his files again. However, in any case I would do this modification with the best intentions, and only in case I think I can actually do some good.
Cheers!
A picture is worth a thousand words. If someone describes an effect which would help a posted pic, the point is better made with a graphic example. Don't want your photos messed with? I suggest you state so in your post (as was recently done). Otherwise, I would assume that these pics are fair game for well meaning digital grinners.
If I offended anyone with my vigorous photoshopping, I apologize. It is just plain fun to play with some of these great photos. The majority of the changes are subtle (a crop here, a little blur there). If you don't like the suggestions, lets talk about it. That's how we all learn.
mitch
http://clearwaterphotography.smugmug.com/
I guess I'd like to make one or two suggestions, or maybe a way that this
could be simplified.
If the photographer doesn't want their pic reworked, say so in the post or
the signature message. Asking if I (we) can try to help someone in a post in a
thread just seems like a bad idea. Not everyone lives in the same time zone,
state, country, or hemisphere. It may take 2 or 3 days to find out that it's
OK to try to help, and by then the thread could be long forgotten on page
3 or 4 and that person would miss out on perhaps a way of really making
their photos stand out.
Or in the first line put something like " In words, how could I make this better." or "Could you show me how ..."
If a photographer doesn't mind someone playing with the photo, type that in
and maybe put their name somewhere on the photo, Or maybe their web photo page.
So no matter where it ends up, it's known who's pic it is.
As Forrest Gump would say, "And that's all I have to say about that."
dave.
Basking in the shadows of yesterday's triumphs'.