The 'Rules' for this Critique Forum

[Darren Rowse]

The point of this forum is that it is a space to help members to improve their photography. As a result I'd love for this section to be a place where users can post an image and get constructive feedback on how it could be improved.

Here are some guidelines:

For Those Wanting Critique:

1. Start a new thread for each photo
2. Post 1 image only per thread
3. If you put your picture directly in the post, please keep your longest side shorter then 800px
4. Only post if you're willing to be critiqued - this isn't a place for showing off, but a place for people to suggest how you can improve. If you don't think you need to improve then this might not be the section of our forums for you.
5. Be prepared to hear that image might not be perfect in everyones eyes. This doesnt mean that you need to defend yourself every other post. If you dont like Critique, do NOT post.
6. And for the love of Darren, Have fun!

For those Wanting to Critique Photos:

1. Your job isn't to pick out the problems with others images but to help them improve
2. Be encouraging with your comments
3. Do pick out problems with images but please also include suggestions on what could have been done to overcome them
4. Be friendly and helpful
5. Remember that everyone here is at different levels of experience and skill

[Amigone201]

I anticipate this will come up a lot in this thread, so I'll ask it here, if that's okay.

Darren: Will it be considered good etiquette to ask someone "May I Phoshop this and repost it?" before doing so? I understand that photos are their creator's property, but I also understand that to post something here makes it open to constructive criticism, and lots of people are going to want to offer visual suggestions about what to do with a photo.

I was wondering if we could make this an "open-borrowing" thread? So that perhaps people can borrow a pic, 'shop it, and repost without needing to ask permission? I understand there are benefits and drawbacks to both asking and not asking, so I thought I'd offer it up to you to decide.

Another suggestion might be, if a poster is amenable to it, you could put in your sig line "All photos open to borrowing unless otherwise noted" or something similar. Or maybe we could invent a term for it Borrow-shopping?

Again, just tossing out ideas to see what you and other posters might think.

[Darren Rowse]

Hmm - I see pros and cons either way.....

I personally wouldn't mind people doing it with my shots in this thread.... do others?

[Amigone201]

I'm going to volunteer to have my photos available for all to 'shop and repost. For now, it will only be in this thread.

[XpLoiT]

i dont see why not? It should be upto the poster though, if they want to see what others do to improve their shots then sure! otherwise specify that no i dont want it to be touched, but feel free to comment

[Morca007]

General recommendations to people wanting critiques-
1. Data. As much as you can. Either keep your Exif data intact, or post it separately. It can be a big help when critiquing.
2. Be open minded about suggestions.
3. Tell us about your post-processing, tell us all the major things you did. Sharpening, curves, saturation, levels, everything.