What do you think of when you hear the word "wet?" Maybe it's a rain storm. Perhaps it's a seascape. Others might be reminded of a rainy wedding you had to shoot. In the next Critique the Community, we are asking you to submit your most powerful images that represent the word "wet."
Submit up to two of your best photographs that capture the essence of the word wet for a chance to win a free tutorial from the Fstoppers Store. We hope to have a special guest in our next episode and with a theme this abstract, it's sure to be an interesting critique.
The deadline to submit your images is October 23th by noon eastern time. Good luck and we hope to see some amazing image of these rather ambiguous theme.
Thank you for the self-promotion...
Who knows, Thane. Maybe it's the novices that are rating your photo 4 or higher...
Please remember that a 5 is an epic photo that is timeless and you will be talking about a shoot years from now, and be like, "Oh yeah, I saw this photo on fstoppers critique and I was blown away." I can honestly say there are a couple photos in this set that I may remember, but mainly due to a unique technique they used that I would like to learn more about. A 4 would be one of the best images in a "professional" portfolio - maybe not yours, specifically.
Did you want some critique on the photo you posted?
I don't mind a critique, especially if I can relate it to images created by those offering to understand and evaluate their skill level, and I have been critiqued by some with amazing shots, I certainly appreciate them taking the time.
Then it would be flooded with snapshots trying to get low scores...
I think Thane was having a little fun and being sarcastic.
At the same time, while his comment may be interpreted as condescending, don't think that was the point - correct me if I'm wrong, Thane.
Just gets a little old seeing the same complaints critique after critique. I for one, just enjoy the process and am inspired by some of the work on here.
Having said this, just as taste is subjective, so is inspiration based what where each feels they are as photographers.
That was the point, some of the bird pics for instance don’t interest me... however understanding the technical ability it takes to get certain shots impresses me, and others are impressive for composition or editing... still others that convey feeling and/or emotion, despite technical perfection have way more impact to me as an artist.
There are so many criteria that can be weighed before rating, and considering the system it's very likely to get a 2 even with a near perfect photo so don't take it personal. Try to view it as interesting to see how others may view your photograph.
For instance, with the WET theme... I first look to see what is actually wet in the photo, is it clear and interesting? A clearly wet, interesting subject weighs a tad heavier to me. I'm sorry, but shooting a subject thru water droplets on glass does not weigh heavily for me, much like some of the excellent landscapes with water in the foreground don't really scream wet to me so I may weigh it a bit lower. Sorry, don't take it personally. I would kill to have that good of a photo in my (imaginary) portfolio but if it's not really nailing the theme it may get docked.
Sometimes it may be a technically excellent photo but I can't imagine what kind of portfolio it might fit into so I'm torn and may rate one star lower.
And sometimes people just don't 'get' a certain genre of photography and so it doesn't move them personally to rate it as high as it could be considered by others.
Ego much? Your portfolio images aren't anywhere near fours, your processing is very heavy handed. Yeah people rate tough in these contests but there's also some truth to the ratings. The community rates all images higher, its not like yours are the only ones. Get off your high horse. Also don't be so hard on novices, since you are one.
Yes compared to some of the photogs here I am novice no doubt, mostly I was just calling out the profiles and commenters hiding behind profiles with no content or pictures to try and aspire to ethical standards. 😊
Ha, this is a throwaway account because I wanted to respond to your comment the way it should be responded to. You were calling them out by saying your photos are 4's or better? Get a grip dude. All the photos in the contest are getting rated tough so stop whining that yours deserve better. Its tough to get 4s in any of the contests, not just this one. Yeah take the ratings with a grain of salt but also think about why they're getting rated low and trust me there are always reasons. Being able to critique your own work is essential which you clearly need to work on.