I simply enjoy the process of making images, evaluating them and the works of others, in the glorious freedom of a simple mind.
Jack --- William Robb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jack Davis" > Subject: Re: Comparing Photos > > > > "Good" is such a subjective term. I wouldn't have thought it > necessary > > to point out, but each image plays off of a variety of tastes. I > don't > > put up an image with the idea that it is one of my best nor do I > look > > at any ones offering in that way. We must always allow individual > style > > without a critical comment that does not carry the understanding > that > > it is my own narrow opinion. > > I've read critiques that actually cause me to chuckle at their lack > of > > artistic aptitude. Again, scored on my own scale. > > Identifying your photographer's of choice is a surprise. Omission > can > > be a harsh rebuff and should have been avoided. Present company not > > included, BTW. > > In this case, a cigar is just a cigar. The three people I mentioned > came to > mind simply because they are regular posters and their work is mostly > > dissimilar to each others' work. > No insult intended or entertained in this instance. > > Judging photographs is a subjective activity. There are no goal posts > to > tell if a point has been scored, no real way of objectifying the > quality of > the image. > If you like it, you like it, if you don't, you don't. > One may be able to say why they like or dislike an image, one may be > able to > apply the classic rules of composition and use that as a measuring > stick to > say whether the composition works or not, but this isn't necessarily > a > reliable measure. > What happens though, if an image breaks every compositional rule, and > still > works? Is the image wrong?, or are the rules wrong? > Or is the viewer wrong? > I've worked as a contest judge. I don't know if this makes me better > at > deciding if a picture is worthy or not, but it does give me some > practical > experience at doing it. Does it mean I know every rule there is to > know? > Hardly. > Does it make me a better photographer than the people whose work I > was > judging? > Maybe, maybe not, though I think not for the ones who 's work I > liked. > It just meant that a group of peers decided that I was qualified to > look at > a bunch of pictures and put ribbons on the ones I liked best. > > We saw an image from Tom C a few days ago, a picture which is as good > as > anything I have seen anywhere anytime, by anybody. > Did it obey the rules of composition? Frankly, I don't know or care. > All I > know was that I was gobsmacked when I saw it, and I didn't see any > point in > dismantling it to see if it followed the "rules". > > A while later, he posted another one which I thought wasn't as strong > an > image, but I thought it had some potential, so I took it and played > with it > a bit. In turn, this caused Tom to revisit it himself. > Personally, I didn't like either of his renderings as much as my own, > but > this is just one man's opinion. > > Does this mean I think he is getting worse, rather than better? Not > at all. > Growth happens over time, years, not days is the measure for this. > > Even the descriptives we use is subjective, and open to > interpretation. > I will use excellent as a descriptive, Jens will use brilliant. > Is one more descriptive than the other? It's hard to say, as it > depends on > the vocabulary of the reviewer as much as anything else. > One person will politely say the image leaves them cold, someone > cruder will > just say the picture sucks. > Ultimately, they are saying the same thing, and may be saying it with > the > same degree of conviction as well. > > Well, that was a bit of a ramble. > > William Robb > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > ____________________________________________________________________________________ 8:00? 8:25? 8:40? Find a flick in no time with the Yahoo! Search movie showtime shortcut. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#news -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
