Your Canon Photos Suggestions For Improvement (everyone encouraged to respond)

Hi all,

David has asked me to host the Your Canon Photos weekly thread. I am thinking about some changes but I wanted to get your input first in the next day or so. I'm planning to start the thread on Monday about 6 pm Pacific Standard Time, so it is after the weekend when people may have been taking pictures.

I'm thinking of removing the word Canon from the title of the thread so that this is a Show Your Photos thread instead. It appears to me the membership is not large enough to support showing photos by brand. Even though we invited all brands on the "Your Canon Photos" thread, I think we should completely be open about this, that this is for all brands. But the problem is, is that there is already a show-your-pictures thread called "This Week Through Your Eyes". We do not want to compete with that, so I was thinking about creating something unique. How about showing photos in a series thread? I got started doing that many years ago when Roel Hendricks on Dpreview (and now on Dprevived) introduced to me that idea. So often my photos that I show are done that way. What suggestions do you have to continue to encourage people to show their pictures and help increase participation? We always wanted this to be for all levels, from beginners to advanced photographers. All are important to help each other grow and learn from each other.

Thanks everyone. 😀

Dig,

First and foremost, members should be instructed that they may not alter another member's pictures without asking for permission first, no matter how much they "think" it makes the picture better.

Secondly, you often read that photographers are trying to tell a story through their photographs. Whether it's through your "Themes", or Alan's "Series",try to encourage that in the people who post. Whether it's a flower or a documentary, somebody who takes a photograph is trying to say something.

Thirdly, you ought to post this at the top every week:

Listen to your Mother. If You Can't Say Anything Nice, Don't Say Anything At All

Steve Thomas

Just leave it as it is😜 Or ditch the Canon phrase. I did like the thread as it is, Right now I do miss the new one already 😁

Thank you Alan, Steve and Photobygms for your comments. I know one day is not a lot of time for everyone to respond but I wanted to start our Show Your Photos thread tomorrow. I wanted to get your input so that this is a group decision, to be the best that we can be for the forum. I did separately hear from David and I appreciated his comments also.

Photobygms, I especially appreciated your comments since you have a been a regular on our Canon Photos thread. So based on all of that, I'll keep everything the same except to remove the word "Canon" from the title of the weekly thread since we were open for all brands anyway. I'll incorporate Steve's suggestion in the instructions too. As we continue on our journey of taking and sharing photos, we can modify the thread in the future as we feel is appropriate.

Photobygms, the reason I start the thread right after the weekend (as I had done on Dpreview), was so that everyone has a chance to take their photos on the weekend and then show them the next day. But there's no time frame for when we have to take the pictures; it's just the way I would do it for those that follow that type of schedule. So I hope you were able to take pictures yesterday and are able to take photos today and be ready for tomorrow. I was at a tulip farm a week ago and have lots of tulips to share (where I saw Big Foot). 😀 Our weekend (including today) in the Portland, Oregon area was steady rain. But I did get out last Friday just as the rains began.

I have some photos waiting 😁(a bike ride and a short stroll)

Dig,

I'd also encourage people to share their Tips and Techniques.

This is how I took my picture and why that way.

Above all. Sharing your photos should be fun.

Steve Thomas

Are you intending this thread to serve a similar purpose as the Retouching Forum on DPR.

There, members can ask for help to fix or improve photos and is the only forum on dpr where it is allowed to post edited versions without permission.

The forum moderator posted some time ago that the nature of the forum is such that anyone asking for help in that forum is effectively giving permission to members attempting to help to post edited versions.

If members asking for help do not want edited versions posted, they need to state that in their op.

The same concept could work in this thread if that is your intention.

David,

I think our photos that we showed were different in that they did not necessarily have to be technically correct or well-composed. They could have been, but it was not expected or a requirement. The important thing was to show your pictures. In other words, it was more of a general let's see your photos kind of thread. In the past I would not give a critique (unless asked) because I learned a long time ago that what is thought of a photo is subjective. We all have different likes and dislikes. I was on a challenge thread once on Dpreview. That was interesting and I learned a lot about that too. But it's not that either. I enjoy showing pictures in a series. What I mean by that term "series" are photos that are connected somehow to each other. For example, when a person goes on a hike where they document everything from one end to the other with pictures. But it's not all about that either, but people can show them like that too.

Now, to your good question.... 😀 I don't know what the title should be and maybe my perception of how our photos are different than other show-your-photos threads may be wrong too. So, that's why I asked for some help and recognized that what we propose may evolve. But in the meantime to get "the show on the road" I thought we would continue tomorrow without Canon in the title, since that was never really correct too. That was because we opened our thread to all brands and we did welcome many non-Canon images on there too.

What's also different than other show-your-pictures threads, is that I reply to each person's photos. I don't know if everyone does that. Indicating a like does not say a lot (but it's nice to see). When I respond it's not necessarily about the photo merits, but sometimes it's just acknowledgement of their contribution. Other times the photos may provoke my (our) interest more to do an on-line search about a particular thing or location. That can lead to discussions.

Should we call the thread "Show Your Photos With Discussions"? I don't know. I'm winging it here (an American English slang expression). 😀 On Dpreview I called it "Show Your Snaps". It was expressed that way, to make beginners comfortable but also allow more advanced users to participate too. But I heard from some more advanced users that they did not like that term "snaps". I didn't mind it I suppose because I don't take myself that serious. I try to show great photos, but if they are not...well...that's OK too. 😀 Thanks David for your comments.

Dan,

Thank you for joining in with this discussion. It is appreciated. We did see a few photos from you....thank you.

I'm not familiar with the Retouching Forum. The original purpose of our thread this past year was to just show photos. Now if a person asked for help to improve a photo or photos, then we could do that also. Our approach to showing photos was more relaxed. We called it the "Your Canon Photos" thread but in reality it was not. So I thought I would improve on that by removing Canon from the title. I do not believe the membership on Dprevived is large enough to support show-your-picture threads by brand.

Secondly, I think we need to clarify that in the general instructions, to not edit a person's picture unless asked. So there should not be an issue when anybody does that, as long as permission is granted. That's a subjective "rule" too. But if it makes at least one more person more comfortable, then I'm all for it. That's just my opinion.

No problem. I can see now I misunderstood the title of this thread.

I took it to mean you were considering starting a thread where members can ask for help to fix/improve images.

Oops. 😀 I see I missed replying to some of you. I'll do that in a few minutes. It's Sunday and it was raining outside, so I have some time. 😀

Photobygms,

I just saw your second reply. Yes, I can't wait to see your photos from a bike ride and short stroll. I may start the thread earlier than 6 pm as long as I have time. See...we just modified things already. 😀

Alan,

Thank you. We are looking forward to seeing your images.

Steve,

Yes you are correct. It should be encouraged to show or describe tips and techniques. For example, I've changed my approach to taking pictures during cloudy or rainy weather by not using the AWB (automatic white balance) selection. That was because of you...thank you letting me know about that so I could change things for the better. If for any reason, I miss any of these things that you or others suggest in the general instructions, please remind me.

Just a clarification for anyone who might not be aware.

Getting WB right in camera is really only a concern when shooting sooc jpegs because the camera's WB setting is baked into the camera's internal raw conversion to jpeg.

If shooting raw the camera's WB setting is stored in the raw file's exif data and not applied to the raw data. The raw converter app reads the WB setting from the exif and applies it during the converter's conversion of the raw data to rgb data on the initial rendering of the raw data. The user can then adjust the WB sliders in the raw converter app to whatever they like. This gives much more control of the final WB for the image than the fixed WB settings in camera.