If someone asks for critique...

[cphoniball]

For the record, this has not happened to me (that I can recall). Also, this is not directed towards any one person in particular, as I've seen many people do it over the past several months.

But for the love of god. Just about every time I hop over to the critique or techniques forum I see a post by someone that follows all the rules - they have a picture or a problem, they've asked specific questions about how to improve, and they even included the EXIF!

And then there's one response, where someone has taken their picture, dropped it in photoshop, worked some *magic* and then reposted it, with a matter-of-fact reply: "Oh, you just needed to run a levels-correction, make a few curve adjustments, run a hue-correction layer and then sharpen it up a bit."

Like it's oh-so-obvious to this person what all that means, when they just said they're new to photography, don't know much about post-processing, and asked a specific question, which was ignored in the response. To me, if you're going to post on a critique/techniques section post, you should be able to address whatever issue the person is having.

It's nice to see that you can post-process, Mr. Forum Member. But why don't you take the time that you spent post-processing the image to write out a response that would actually help the original poster?

Am I overreacting, or does this bug anyone else?

[dakwegmo]

Yeah, I agree it is pretty annoying. I just saw this in another thread, where someone left a comment that in no way answered the OP's question. I'm not sure I understand the point of taking the time to "fix" someone else's shot in photoshop, when the fix applied doesn't even address how to correct the issues the OP was asking about.

[Gonzo13]

I have seen it a bunch of times and I completely agree with you. Answer questions before doing PP on someone else's photo.

[milosh]

Good point definitely! It's like people reply to those threads just to write something back and not to help others.

[Felixor]

That's why this forum needs to add a "Do NOT edit my photos" tag. The other photography forum I am member of has the option to toggle it on or off. If I'm asking on how to post-process, fine. But if I'm asking for a critique on my actual photography, which is what I'm new to, I don't want somebody doing something for me which I could have easily done myself.

[jiminyClickit]

We suggest adding the line (Yes you may edit or Do not edit my photos) to your signature line, so that others know who might welcome the work. And yes, it can be more like self-promotion than help, to add an edit without answering the original request(s). Sometimes enthusiasm overrides good sense.

[Aegea]

There's a useful little acronym for these types of responses - COIK.

(Clear Only If Known).

[BobC]

I don't mind so much the photo edit, but please, please give me a step by step (baby steps) of what you did and WHY you decided it needed that. I'm trying to learn and want the help and vision on where to take a photo. But I need to know how to get there not just "I did a levels adjustment", adjusted it to what?

[JennyQuinn]

Well it hasn't happened to me, but I think its rude to take someone else photo and edit it like your own, unless they ask you to. I mean really, your so much better than me you can fix my picture? That makes me feel great.

[waffles]

That's why I try not to edit photos in a critique thread. Just doing the work doesn't help.