* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #781 / Revived #002 on 2023 04 12 *

Welcome to the Wednesday Comments and Critique (No Theme) thread!

We are dedicated to continuing the great tradition of this C&C thread because we are convinced that looking at, and talking about images is vital for better photography. Our tried and tested concept (15 years and running) is a weekly "peer-to-peer" photo comments & critique encounter, in which you GIVE and RECEIVE.

The idea is simple: you post an image and get critique on it, and in return give other people your opinion of their images, or vice versa.

Any Theme, Any Camera, Any Style, Any Subject.

We are still figuring out how to create the convenience of threaded view on this new forum. For now, let us agree that you post an image with a title and short explanation, and that all comments include the image as a quote. Replies to comments may or may not include quotes.

THREAD GUIDELINES – THE SHORT & SWEET VERSION
• This thread does not care about brands. It’s not about the tool, but the image.
• Post one image that you would like to get comments on (exceptions: see below).
• Change the title of your post to reflect the image’s title. (IS THIS POSSIBLE??)
• Look at the other images and give your comments on at least one of those.
• For comments, try to go beyond a simple pat on the back or a short dismissal.
• Do you like an image (or essay) ? Try to explain WHY it appeals to you.
• Negative feedback is OK (we all want to learn), but be polite and constructive. Try to explain why the image (or essay) does not appeal to you and how it might be improved.

We will start with single images.
Re-establishing our C&C for essays will be a next step.

The critique you give is vital.
What was your first impression? What catches your eye about an image? Why? What do you like, and what distracts you? What would you change?
Fiddle with the image in your head - composition, perspective, color balance, exposure.

It is understood that unless the original poster specifically states that they do not want an altered image posted that you are free to alter the posted image and repost it in a reply for C&C purposes (no use for other purposes!). That reposted image may remain permanently or you may remove it after a short period of time if you prefer. No copyright disputes here!

More general feedback is also welcome.
Do you know something about taking the same sort of image that would make matters easier - share your own as an example in your reply.
Encourage - it is a scary business putting your work up for other people to judge!

And finally, here are some useful hints for navigating and familiarizing yourself with the forum mechanics of DPRevived:
• Unfortunately, there is no threaded view (yet). We can’t simply keep images and their related comments together like we used to. So please make clear about which image you are commenting.
• To do that, you may make good use of the “quote” feature. This allows you to keep the image in your reply. Excess content can be deleted. The “preview” button allows you to look at what you are going to post.
• There is a difference between the “reply” button that sits at the top of the forum, and the reply buttons under every post.
• A few threads in this new forum with useful navigation information:
dprevived.com/t/how-to-use-this-site/387/
and
dprevived.com/t/how-to-embed-photos-into-your-post-directly-from-flickr/456/
(this applies also, with modifications, to other photo hosting websites)
and
dprevived.com/t/how-to-quote/1014/

Have fun and let’s stick together!

My entry for this week is (again) an older animal portrait: "Let Me Carry You There"

Great thread and 15 years is quite an impressive history - thanks for carrying that over and sharing your experience. I remember reading about a thread which started in a brand- or format-specific part of the forum but got opened to everyone over the years... if that's the history of this one, thumbs up for being open minded - I always appreciate that!

I have to mention that I don't know anything about animal-portraits, but I like the image - I feel like it works well in the square format (was it shot that way?), has nice diagonal lines and shows an interesting expression on the face.It reminds me of countless situations with one of my children on my back or arms, when I'm trying to make them aware of something potentially dangerous (like a busy crossing etc.) but get the feeling they feel safe enough to not pay any real attention to what I'm trying to tell them. 😂

I got a kind of portrait as well (not really, but I love having a bit fun with my titles...) It's called: Bread Bit portrait

Bread Bit portrait by simple.joy, on Flickr

It is a focus-stacked shot made with a lens that was used in a film-scanner originally. It's processed of course but there is no Photoshop involved in the hovering effect. The bread square was probably around 1x1 cm in size. While the stacking is far from perfect, I'd still encourage you to look at the full resolution image on flickr, if you're interested to get a good look at the texture, which is often a main driver for me to get a closer and more detailed look).

Sunset - Photographed from the passenger seat

Dear Simplejoy,

1) Thank you for the kind words on our history and legacy.
Yes, we are a welcoming and very open-minded gathering.

2) Thank you for the comments on my gorillas.

3) And finally, thank you for contributing your own image. I will comment on it later.
If I may make a suggestion, though, it is more convenient if you keep comments to other people's images separate from entering your own image.
Just use "REPLY" or "QUOTE" at the bottom of an image post, for comments on somebody's image. Quote allows you to include the image commented.
And use "REPLY" at the top or at the far bottom of the forum, for starting a "fresh" post with your own image.
That helps us to keep things a bit organized and the conversations focused.
We hope to be able to use "threaded view" (in which every image contribution gets its own mini-subthread) in the future.

Cheers, Roel

[quote="@simplejoy"]
Great thread and 15 years is quite an impressive history - thanks for carrying that over and sharing your experience. I remember reading about a thread which started in a brand- or format-specific part of the forum but got opened to everyone over the years... if that's the history of this one, thumbs up for being open minded - I always appreciate that!

Those whispy clouds, lit from below make for a compelling sunset in and of themselves.
The trees below create a strong base on which the sunset can sit.
And the road that snakes itself a way through the dark part of the image, creates a connection with the viewer.
The headlights of two approaching cars are little accents that draw our attention down.
These artificial, man-made lights are no match for the spectacle that unfolds itself above them.
Those drivers seem oblivious to the beauty that surrounds and envelops them.
(There must be a metaphor lurking there...)

The BREAD BIT portrait

Like you invited, I took a closer look by zooming in on the image.
But let me first tell you my general impression: it is one of admiration for the creativity to take a simple cube of stale bread and make it into a compelling, tight and suspenseful macro composition, by making it balance/hover on one tip and showing us an angle not afforded by nature.
It feels like a Houdini or Copperfield act in bread.
Zooming in closer, we get drawn into the minuscule openings and crevices.
And then micro quickly becomes macro: it feels like the surface of an asteroid, with holes that must be explored by our space ship.
I like it a lot.

I am totally confused about this thread. It seems to work really well to make an individual thread for each image or related series of images.

Posting a bunch of unrelated images from different members in the same thread makes it difficult to have any sort of coherent discussion. I certainly don't want to wade through a long thread with endless and disorganized reposts of the same images.

Dear Camperjimk,

We are sorry you feel that way.
It is our personal experience (of over 15 years) that a thread with images from multiple members who each also comment on a few images, is a very useful expericence that can result in great discussions. Working that way, can result in a sense of community that can surpass the individual C&C. I personally have made really good friends with people on that weekly forum adventure of peer-to-peer review.

Obviously, this would (and hopefully will) work even better once we have a semblance of threaded view, allowing for neat sub-threads for images.
For the time being, it just requires a bit of discipline in replying to the right message, using the "quote" function wisely to link comments with images, etc.

But hey: this is a democracy and each can have his own opinion, and his own preference of organisation.
All opinions are valued. But we want to keep our sense of community.

Roel

Sure, I would agree, you can do it your way but I am totally confused about your response. Specifically, I do not see how discussions are improved when multiple images and subconversations are within the same thread. Nor do I see where the need to constantly quote and repost helps with a C&C.

As to internet friendships, that would be the case with an organized presentation or a jumble of presentations in the same thread. Nor do I understand waiting for a "semblance of threaded view, allowing for neat sub-threads for images". That is exactly what the forum admins gave us, as opposed to the lack of this format in the DPR forums.

I can only invite you to go and take a look in our 15 year history.
It is all there. The links to all 780 editions are active.
www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66999488

If you do that, you will notice that much light can come from a comparison of images by multiple posters in the same thread. Although the thread was always "non theme", it did happen that (by coincidence or by choice) different members posted images of comparable subjects, or in comparable styles. That allowed for really focused C&C, zooming in on creative choices, differences etc.

Furthermore, the back and forth on specific suggestions for image improvement, were a constant source of inspiration.

There is a difference.
A weekly gathering in which every member knows that he will receive C&C if he is willing to also give C&C (and trust me: you learn from both) will create a sense of community much more easily than a forum in which every photographer will post an image, and hope for replies.
It is the "peer-to-peer" and "give and receive" aspect that is unique and valuable.

I do agree that DPR forums did not have a good dedicated forum for C&C.
And I am glad we have got one here.
And by all means : I hope many people use it and will be happy with it.

But that does not form an obstacle to creating, within that space, a weekly gathering with a slightly different purpose.

But let me get back to my first invitation in this response: please go and check out some of our history for yourself.
You might walk away amazed at the depth that a community-driven C&C gathering may produce.

But whatever you do : happy shooting!

Thank you so much for your kind words and your creative interpretation of my image - I'm glad you find it interesting.

Many thanks for making me aware of that - while I'm familiar with threads like that (I mainly participated in the 'This Month through your Adapted lens" one on dpreview) and I'm looking forward to the implementation of 'threaded view', I wasn't considering that it would be best to use the available functions already in a way that would it make applicable to use in a threaded future. I'll try to keep that in mind!

Lunch

Something a bit different …...

Noting some movement away from reality in recent posts to C&C I offer this idea … I ran across this in my files while looking for something else and it had been shown in a different Thread on DPR last year. ..

The picture is not an accident!!.. This is Version 6 according to the title I have but I am not sure I have many of the other versions ...Since this has been moved to a backup file I no longer have the PP layer files that would tell me how I did it (but I think I could give reasonable try.) …. This was just an idea that I thought I would like for certain interiors and night pictures but I didn't see much future for it during the COVID pandemic so it went no further … but let me know if you think this interpretation has a future ….

WhyNot

BTW .. A little confused by this new sub forum .. I think you're still encouraging using this thread for displaying this week's entries. But it appears some posters are creating singles entries.... Do the rules here apply to those entries???? Or are they treated like DPR entries that included C&C in the title??? The “Weekly ....” has moved to a sub-forum which is treated as the original Thread it seems to work a bit more awkwardly than DPR but so far so good .. That community seems to be gathering there ... You're a bit more ambitions and I am interested in how it all turns out .. then again maybe the threaded view will show up!!!

I like these sunset pictures …. I often want to see a bit of foreground or hints of detail in the tree .. Here I think I like the cars on the road and yet it confuses the story, IMHO. The cars attract me and tell the story of going home after a long day but the dominance of the sunset bounces me up into the sky and makes me think the story is that sunset and then the cars distract! .. I'll have to think about that .. Overall I though this well executed and a good picture .. and maybe the bounce is part of the story, ….

WhyNot

Ancestors!!! I think the square format is a good choice as it emphases your use of both diagonals in this portrait … Not sure what the story is yet .. Ill have to think about it …. as I often do with picture posted here ...

I notice that pictures loaded from a second site have better detail in the post but cannot show an enlarged view (that also shows more detail) that pictures uploaded directly can ....

This is an interesting observation that we will have to take into account.
On the old DPR, images embedded from another site (in my case: my Zenfolio pages) allowed for an enlarged view if that was supported by the third-party hosting site. I don't think that anything has changed over at Zenfolio, so this phenomenon must be a result of this site's software.

A little fun with camera motion.

Spear Street.