Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/01/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Deadman sez: >The first three of those at least are (potentially) perfectly valid >criticism. >1. If a picture is compositionally weak it is compositionally weak, >never mind the excuses. It's no use saying "I couldn't move the tree". >If you can't move the tree, move on and find another picture. Or if you >take it, don't expect high praise. Have you ever seen a photo book with >notes by the photographer about why the pictures aren't better? "Oh, >this would have been a fantastic picture but the light went". I agree with this, but the point I was attempting is that a simple "too bad you weren't shooting that picture from one step forward," (which might have been one step over a cliff.) is not constructive when they don't say why they think that. Just offered as a suggestion. >2. Some sunsets do look better in mono. In any case it's only a >suggestion and thanks to Photoshop it's easy to find out. May be. But the one I referred to was clearly quite colorful and in mono it changes from calm to ominous. Not that it is bad, just different, and didn't have the feel I wanted. (See this: http://www.sonc.com/sunset_compare.htm ) "That would be a good picture, if the kid was not smiling." >3. If a picture is ruined by a stilted cheesy grin, that would be true. Isn't truth in these matters someone who agrees with you? To some, the cheesy grin might make the picture, to some the grin might not be cheesy at all . . . Extremely subjective, and IMHO not a valid criticism. >Most people who have a problem with criticism do so because they assume >that any criticism of a picture is a criticism of them personally. "My >picture right or wrong". There's something we agree on for sure, But in the case of "That's the worst picture I've ever seen," the criticism was clearly meant to be brutal, not brutally frank, especially when that was the extent of the criticism. That's when I understand that great phrase, (was it you or Slobadon posted,) "draw the veil of charity." Sonny http://www.sonc.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html