I joined 365 to challenge myself and keep myself behind the lens, trying new stuff and keeping the creative juices flowing. In those ways 365 has done everything I wanted it to do.
However, as artists we all want our art seen and appreciated and in that I feel some frustration. I am active in challenges and discussions (not the most chatty member, but I visit and comment) I follow, comment and fave...through browsing and challenges and I am currently sitting at 27 follows and most of my shots get very few views.
While I am not doing this project for attention, I feel like I have some pretty nice shots that never get seen. Any critiques or advice would be welcomed. Maybe I am just not as good a photog as I think I am! :)
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We have all felt that way from time to time. Small fish in a big pond. Looks like you get a lot of following and comments to me! I'm lucky to get two or three comments on a photo. Oh well.
Don't despair!! The amount of followers doesnt always mean a lot of comments. I have a decent number of followers, a few I suspect are no longer active, but usually get from non to 9 or so comments. Usually a few more views.Everyone has different tastes in what they like and don't like.
I started this project to see if I could get through a whole year of taking a photo a day. It was going to be a journal of my day to day, then I started to learn more about my camera, and started joining in challenges and themes. It's all good fun, and I still think its a buzz if I get a pic on the PP. Will I ever get in the Top20...don't think so, but that would never stop me from taking pictures.
Good luck with your continuing project
comment loads, and you get loadsa comments.
don't think its related to how good you are. Its not.
put hours into the community and you'll get followers, but get too many followers and you'll end up putting hours in to maintaining it. I scaled back from 200 to 40 friends so I could keep up with people whose work I like. Find about 40-50 in my view, and keep up with their work on a weekly basis, at least thats all I can afford to do,
@hopess13 lots of good feedback in this topic thread. Curious to know, how much of a critique do you want? For example, if I don't like the dof, angle, lighting, or post processing would you want me to state this? Also I think the advice needs to be relevant to the photo and the gear you're using at the time. If for example, your taking a food shot with an iPhone, there's no way it will come out right.
I've been thinking about how critiques are done since I started this 30 days ago. Perhaps in the text of the photo we should indicate " give a full critique" if that's what we're after.
@brianl Personally I wouldn't like to have someone pop on just to tell me they don't like something, unless they back it up with helpful information on how to do it better.
For example, on my June 2nd photo @agima wrote a detailed comment about how the shot could have been executed to get a better end result.
@hopess13 I'm with ya....totally agree. I would never toss out a suggestion without something to back it up with. Also I'm no pro so who's to say my feedback is accurate? I've been taught if you like the photo that's good enough. Btw, I find it very hard to get a nice picture daily given work, family, travel, etc.
@brianl I don't mind a non-pro opinion, some of my shots are random phone shots from work. Getting someone else's view could help the composition on my next shot.
Lots of good advice here but having lots or even a few followers does not guarantee comments. You need to follow those who you want to get to know better and are willing to interact with regularly. That doesn't mean commenting every day but as often as you can. It's about choosing to build online friendships over collecting followers who 'like' your photography. When you make comments, bring yourself into more of those comments. Saying simple things like .... beautiful, good work, etc, just doesn't mean much if that's all you ever see, does it? You will have a much richer experience when you feel like part of this site and it begins with you. And if you really want technical critiquing then say so on the pictures.
@bankmann .... "It's dangerous to get addicted to attention."
Oh so true. We cannot let our ego depend on what others think of our projects. They are personal on many different levels to each of us. The bottom line is if we cannot do our projects for ourselves first then we will find ourselves flailing through it, without direction or purpose.
@hopess13 Hi Rachel! I'm following you now and I often feel the same way! However, I have a few followers but tend to get views but sometimes not many comments or feedback. I'm trying to get better at commenting on others but my limited access to the internet means I've only got time to upload and then browse through a few photos! Such is the way it goes! I tend to Fav a lot and try to give a wee bit of feedback when I can but I'm realising my bombardment of photos doesn't encourage people to look at my work and probably puts them off!
I get totally sucked in by the whole PP and favs thing though and have often come away from this site disheartened and questioning my ability. I've still got so much to learn and sometimes because of lack of comments I feel like I'm making no progress at all. I'm nearly finished now and probably won't continue after this year as for me, the popularity has actually distracted me from what I wanted to do! @bankmann is so right about getting addicted to attention and for me, it really hinders my work!
365 is a great community but you've got to be willing to put in a lot of effort and time to build relationships with folk. :0)
@hopess13 I felt the same way for a long time. Then I realized that this is MY project. I am very well into my 2nd year. I have a few followers that I adore...but other than that my photos are rarely viewed. My project is more of a photo journal for me. It is so nice to reflect on the previous months and remember where I was and what I was doing that day. I agree that it would be nice to have a lot of admirers, but this needs to be done for you...not everyone else :) Enjoy your art! Your work is AMAZING :) (BTW...I am following you now too)
Well I think your photos are a shit (can I say that here) load better than mine. I feel that my photos are still so point and shoot like and I haven't grasp the concept of so many things. I find my photos don't have that same sharpness and colour to them or the great contrast that others have. And even though I thought I have somewhat of an eye, I realised after looking at everyone's else photos that I don't really have enough creativity in my shots. But like what you were saying, not sure of the best way to improve as you don't get a ton of feedback.
I know I am not as active as I should be about commenting and taking part in the discussions but it also takes time too. But then I think you know it's a learning curve. That's why I signed up to do this to begin with, to experiment, learn and hopefully something clicks and I start to have great photos
@tamle and others
What worked for me, I feel, was first of all not to take myself too seriously. I want to learn, I want to improve, but I know that I won't turn into a brilliant professional over night. Probably never. ;-)
Start small. Amongst my first 'rules' were:
1) Don't scoff at what catches your eye. (You can always trash it later.)
2) Take those extra seconds to 'frame' your picture; that is, move the camera around to see if you can improve the effect of what you see.
3) Go up close, and try strange angles. (The fun/the 'punch' can be in the details.)
4) Bring friends along. It's amazing what just another pair of eyes will see. (My friends and I sometimes go on 'stunt photo safaris'; meaning picking a place at random, and just going crazy when we get there.)
5) Play. Try new things. Get crazy! The results will surprise you.
6) Rules? What rules? There are no rules! (As Granny Weatherwax says, "When you brake the rules, break 'em good an' hard!" No, honestly, a few good rules you will pick up and should take to heart, just don't be afraid to break them. Good and hard. ;-)
After that, read books on photography, take courses, or both. What ever _you_ feel suits you. Above all else; have fun!
@bankmann my friends and I do something similar, we try to grab a new spot each weekend. We have some beautiful spots in So Idaho to get landscapes, what locations have been good for you...ones that really stretched your knowledge or taught you something new?
I'm also following you now! :-)
You've got some great pictures there, and yes, I really think they deserve it being seen. :-)
It's so easy to "miss" people and pictures here as there are so many! I'm sure there are hundreds (or even thousands) of really awesome photographers here that I have completely missed! :-O
@hopess13 Places I've never been to offer the most, I feel; new discoveries. A few weeks ago I went to a small island where everyone said there was nothing to see. I got some nice pictures there. The same day we drove to a town where I haven't been for years. That got me on PP for the first time; what a rush! ;-)
I learn the most by taking on places with challenges I know I'm weak at. Last year, I was a wedding photographer twice - talk about challenge! I need to get more comfortable at street photography, and Norwegian nature is actually quite the challenge for me; there's a lot of -green-on-green-on-green... I missed out on this year's Medieval Festival in Oslo, because I forgot about it. Still kicking myself over that.
The story about Esmeralda, The Bookshelf Pirate Princess, that I've embarked on, is a challenge, but very fun to do. Inspired by other such projects on 365.
A lot of members have made bucket lists over things they want to do; serves as a reminder, as well as a list of challenges. (Being an IT dork, I've implemented this as a FileMaker database complete with container fields for example pictures... ;-p )
A particular personal victory for me this summer was my moon picture. Figuring out how to do that in a way that worked out nicely was a kick. I've still got a sun picture to do...
I consider myself to be pretty OK on buildings, which is why I don't do a lot of that for 365.
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I started this project to see if I could get through a whole year of taking a photo a day. It was going to be a journal of my day to day, then I started to learn more about my camera, and started joining in challenges and themes. It's all good fun, and I still think its a buzz if I get a pic on the PP. Will I ever get in the Top20...don't think so, but that would never stop me from taking pictures.
Good luck with your continuing project
don't think its related to how good you are. Its not.
put hours into the community and you'll get followers, but get too many followers and you'll end up putting hours in to maintaining it. I scaled back from 200 to 40 friends so I could keep up with people whose work I like. Find about 40-50 in my view, and keep up with their work on a weekly basis, at least thats all I can afford to do,
I've been thinking about how critiques are done since I started this 30 days ago. Perhaps in the text of the photo we should indicate " give a full critique" if that's what we're after.
For example, on my June 2nd photo @agima wrote a detailed comment about how the shot could have been executed to get a better end result.
Oh so true. We cannot let our ego depend on what others think of our projects. They are personal on many different levels to each of us. The bottom line is if we cannot do our projects for ourselves first then we will find ourselves flailing through it, without direction or purpose.
I get totally sucked in by the whole PP and favs thing though and have often come away from this site disheartened and questioning my ability. I've still got so much to learn and sometimes because of lack of comments I feel like I'm making no progress at all. I'm nearly finished now and probably won't continue after this year as for me, the popularity has actually distracted me from what I wanted to do! @bankmann is so right about getting addicted to attention and for me, it really hinders my work!
365 is a great community but you've got to be willing to put in a lot of effort and time to build relationships with folk. :0)
xx
I know I am not as active as I should be about commenting and taking part in the discussions but it also takes time too. But then I think you know it's a learning curve. That's why I signed up to do this to begin with, to experiment, learn and hopefully something clicks and I start to have great photos
What worked for me, I feel, was first of all not to take myself too seriously. I want to learn, I want to improve, but I know that I won't turn into a brilliant professional over night. Probably never. ;-)
Start small. Amongst my first 'rules' were:
1) Don't scoff at what catches your eye. (You can always trash it later.)
2) Take those extra seconds to 'frame' your picture; that is, move the camera around to see if you can improve the effect of what you see.
3) Go up close, and try strange angles. (The fun/the 'punch' can be in the details.)
4) Bring friends along. It's amazing what just another pair of eyes will see. (My friends and I sometimes go on 'stunt photo safaris'; meaning picking a place at random, and just going crazy when we get there.)
5) Play. Try new things. Get crazy! The results will surprise you.
6) Rules? What rules? There are no rules! (As Granny Weatherwax says, "When you brake the rules, break 'em good an' hard!" No, honestly, a few good rules you will pick up and should take to heart, just don't be afraid to break them. Good and hard. ;-)
After that, read books on photography, take courses, or both. What ever _you_ feel suits you. Above all else; have fun!
You've got some great pictures there, and yes, I really think they deserve it being seen. :-)
It's so easy to "miss" people and pictures here as there are so many! I'm sure there are hundreds (or even thousands) of really awesome photographers here that I have completely missed! :-O
I learn the most by taking on places with challenges I know I'm weak at. Last year, I was a wedding photographer twice - talk about challenge! I need to get more comfortable at street photography, and Norwegian nature is actually quite the challenge for me; there's a lot of -green-on-green-on-green... I missed out on this year's Medieval Festival in Oslo, because I forgot about it. Still kicking myself over that.
The story about Esmeralda, The Bookshelf Pirate Princess, that I've embarked on, is a challenge, but very fun to do. Inspired by other such projects on 365.
A lot of members have made bucket lists over things they want to do; serves as a reminder, as well as a list of challenges. (Being an IT dork, I've implemented this as a FileMaker database complete with container fields for example pictures... ;-p )
A particular personal victory for me this summer was my moon picture. Figuring out how to do that in a way that worked out nicely was a kick. I've still got a sun picture to do...
I consider myself to be pretty OK on buildings, which is why I don't do a lot of that for 365.