10 things I hate about Flickr (and its users)
Flickr has changed the way I share photos online, and has made building my blog and the community around it that much easier. But there are some things about Flickr, and the people that use it, that really get on my nerves. I want to get these off my chest, but don’t be to offended if I pick on your way of doing things, it’s not personal :)
Poetry in photo descriptions
If I like your photo, I want to know more about it. I don’t want to read death metal lyrics or emo goth poetry. It’s pretentious, it’s lazy, and it’s unfortunately become cliche. Please do us a favour and tell us your thoughts about your photo. They’ll be more personal and more relevant.
One or two word comments
On the flip side, a little more thought about comments on others’ photos would really be appreciated as well. Frankly, I don’t care if you think my photo’s “Awesome!”, I care even less if you think it’s a “Cool photo”. I’ve put a lot of work into it, I’d genuinely like to know what you think of it and why. If you’re going to comment, why not take the extra 30 seconds, engage your brain, and say something insightful.
Space separated tags
As far as I know, the standard way of delineating keywords (what your parents called “tags”) in all metadata is with commas. So why did Flickr have to use spaces, and quotes around tag strings? Now whenever I want to transfer keywords from one app to another, I have to strip out the commas and add quotes. And I’ve lost count how many times I’ve had to re-enter Flickr tags when I forget not to use commas.
Overdone HDR
Yes, it’s amazing what you can do with processing software these days. Yes, it’s cool to see detail in the sky and in the shade. Yes, HDR has a place in artistic photography. But for goodness sake, please stop with the over-saturated, flat, dirty, haloed, massively compressed dynamic range novelty photos you can’t seem to get enough of. Very rarely is the HDR “effect” a successful artistic statement in itself. Good HDR is usually invisible. Subtlety is your friend.
Disrespectful comments on artistic nudes
The human body is the most beautiful thing in this world, and a truly skillful photographer can capture that in a photo. It takes talent, technical mastery and an understanding of beauty to make an artistic nude photo. It also takes courage, patience and great communication for a model to make it work, in partnership with the photographer. So please! Show some damn respect! No one wants to know what you want to do to the model. And what on Earth do you think sharing your lustful thoughts will get you anyway? It’s not like the model’s going to call you because you demeaned and degraded her with your filthy fantasies. For goodness sake, grow up!
Gaudy large banners and “awards”
How wonderful, fifteen users loved my photo so much they awarded it the “Most Awesometastic Flickr Masterpiece Photo Award”, complete with a giant sparkling, shiny, flashing banner. And yet they didn’t say anything about the photo? Really, I don’t give a damn about your invented ‘awards’, and I really hate the comments on my photo getting clogged up with huge icons that look like they were stolen from a circa 1998 web site. Martin Gommel, a friend and much respected photographer says it best: “Please do not add any badges, banners or awards. I know that finding the right words isn’t easy, just try it, I believe in you ;)”
Comments that are only group invites
I have a little more patience with group invites on my photos, IF they are: relevant, subtle and accompanied by a personal, considered comment on the photo. But if you want to spam your group by copy/pasting an ad, especially one with a banner, without adding anything thoughtful to the comments, then you can be sure I’ll ignore the invite, and probably avoid your group in the future. The same goes if you pollute the comments on others’ photos. You’re only advertising your group as something I want to avoid.
Vignette
Almost as bad as overdone HDR, this cliche post-processing trick is a fad that needs to die. I hope you realise that vignette was originally a defect in cameras, and we can be grateful we don’t have to suffer it willingly now. Like HDR, it can be done well. Skillfully applied, vignette can evoke a certain mood, closeness, or age, and can direct the eye into the composition. Unfortunately it’s rarely done skillfully. I swear some people run ALL their photos through a Photoshop vignette action before uploading. By the way, if your photos have vignette because you’re experimenting with older cameras that generate their own vignette – Awesome! You rock :)
Culling? What’s that?
Just because you can take hundreds of photos of the same thing, doesn’t mean you have to share it with the world. That gorgeous photo of a bowl of strawberries, doesn’t look so gorgeous after the tenth nearly identical photo. I take as many photos as anyone, maybe more, but the idea behind that is to cull all but the very best. It’s one of the secrets to looking like a good photographer. If you upload them all, you’re letting the secret out, and everyone will know you just got lucky with one of the shots. That is, if they’re not bored to tears and leave before they get to that one great shot in twenty.
No reply notification on comments or discussion
This is without a doubt, my biggest Flickr peeve. The thing that makes Flickr so attractive, and so successful, is the incredible community that has built up around it. Flickr have done a lot of great things to encourage the free exchange of ideas and images, like groups, maps, discussion boards, photo pools etc. But when it comes to communicating between users, they’ve really dropped the ball.
When I make a comment on someones photo, sometimes I’ll ask a question, or I’d like to see what others have to say. But what if I forget to check it later? Well tough luck, I’ll never know. This is a problem with one photo, but I comment on hundreds! There’s no way I’ll ever be able to follow up on all the comments I’ve made. Yes, I’m aware of the “Comments you’ve made” feature, but it’s clunky at best. This problem is even worse in group discussions. With no reply notification, no one knows when a thread has been updated, and very quickly, a discussion group can end up looking like a ghost town.
There’s a critical mass for a community (for example a Flickr group) to be successful. That critical mass can be achieved a LOT sooner if the community members are able to easily and quickly respond to new discussion amongst members. Forum software developers know this, and subscriptions and notifications are essential included features even on the most basic software packages. There’s even a comment notification plugin for wordpress.
Flickr would do well to encourage the development of communities by enabling reply notification. If they did, you would surely see a rapid snowball effect as people spend more time replying to comments and discussions, which in turn would bring more people online to reply to those, and while they’re there, reply to others that they have yet to participate in. This positive feedback loop would result in a rapid growth of traffic, and a greater “pull” for new people to sign up, so they can participate. Surely Flickr wants more members and more active members?
From a purely selfish perspective, I want to know when people reply to my comments, and as the admin of the group Learning Photography with Neil Creek, I want to reach critical mass sooner rather than later.
Come on Flickr, pull your finger out.
It’s not all bad of course. You can read my post about the “10 things I love about Flickr (and its users)“.
I think the same things could be said about any photo hosting site! Your article made me laugh and feel frustrated at the same time, not to you, lol.
I totally agree with you, but I’m almost certain they will not solve all their problems soon! They have the video feature now, to keep them entertained!
As for the comments and badges and stuff, that’s the price you have to pay when you have such a huge community and let the people go wild! :P
Cool! Awesome!
Just kidding. I am with you on most of your points. I think many things, especially the commenting snafus you talk about are part of the evolution of most users, though some get stuck at certain stages. I used to feel complimented by certain awards, now I realize the popularity contests quickly grow tired. Though I enjoy most comments, I relish those that are well thought out and even the critical ones with some meat and merit.
Awesome!
I love this article. I am a very novice photographer and am just getting into Flickr, but I completely agree with you. Especially about the flashing comment awards.
Unfortunately, I am one of the vignette offenders….so sorry! I will definitely work on this! Thanks for the tip!
@Chica That’s definately true, but several points are pretty flickr specific. I’m glad I made you laugh :)
@c3l5o If people don’t make some noise about things they’re not happy with, they certainly won’t have motivation to change :) As for the people gone wild – there’s not much that you can do about that, but it feels good to vent sometimes!
@Jeremy I love getting sincere criticism. It helps me look more closely at my work and see if I can improve it. Hopefully we can lead by example and only offer insightful comments.
@Arne Very cheeky >:/
@Irene There’s no need to apologise, and I hope you weren’t offended, as that wasn’t my intent. If you have learned that you should think about the reason for every processing step you do to an image, then you will improve the quality of your work, and this article will have been worthwhile!
Actually, reading these, and other comments on this post elsewhere, I think I might write another post “How to be an insightful commenter”.
Maybe a little help is all some people need to get in the right frame of mind for leaving comments photographers will be happy to receive?
I’ve just added a discussion thread in the blog’s Flickr group. Please help me research a “guide to photo commenting” post by sharing your thought there!
Sweet I did HDR right! :) but I have a feeling I might be one of those vignette offenders…. :|
Neil, this is a great article. It should be required reading for people that sign-up with Flickr! ;)
@Kennymatic, great job on your HDR image, it doesn’t look like a “typical” HDR image which is a good thing!
I got a kick out of the first comment on it BTW, 2 of the 10 things Neil hates about Flickr right there!
Heh, I’m glad I read all the comments here before leaving my own – I was going to suggest an article on how to leave good comments, as it’s something I struggle with myself. I *want* to do it, but a few tips would make it easier.
I was expecting to come over here and see a list where one or two would be on the same avelength as me, only to find all ten are. Neil, you’re spot on sir, however I would rather someone take the 0.1 seconds to say awesome, than to just be another increement in a silent viewership.
Neil,
regarding comments: On the hand hand you’re certainly right – I should ask myself why I like this und that photo. But sometimes I am just overwhelmed by the simple beauty of some photo. My reaction is on the level of “feeling”, and not so much on the level of “reflecting”. Is this not okay for you? No harm intended,
Ulla
I really agree with this post, and I just wanted to thank you for including my photo (the jump). However, just to set the record straight–it’s funny you should mention excessive use of digital vignetting, because almost all of my other photos have vignetting added in post processing. I find that it adds a lot to an otherwise boring photo when done right and used with deliberation.
[...] 10 things I hate about Flickr (and its users) Neil Creek Neil posted a very interesting article about Flickr, Flickr comments, and Flickr users in general. Though he mentions the things that he “hates”, the article is intended to point out some of the flaws in the system and the way people use that system. [...]
Neil, I completely agree with your frustrations but my fear is that nothing will get solved or even advanced at Flickr because of all of the people leaving Yahoo. Fixing Flickr (not broken as far as Yahoo is a concern) is the last thing on their minds.
Is it time to explore other photo sharing sites?
Right now, none of the “alternatives” have the community that photo-bloggers need to enhance their websites.
That’s the worst part of all.
Neil,
A brilliant post. Let’s see if we can get a Yahoo person to respond. I look at your post and change the title to “10 things flickr can do better to make it a nicer place”. (of course a much less audacious title :).
Thomas Hawk had an interesting post about Flickr and Yahoo and WEB2.0 in general. It shows the understanding (or lack of it) from yahoo execs.
Yeah you’ve got a point about the comments I’ve been looking for a way to easily see replies to comments. Flickr is definitely lacking there which is surprising for a site promoting communities! Lets hope they get it together soon…
Agreed – up and down through your list. I don’t use Flickr precisely because of most of the points you’ve highlighted here. It’s hard to appear professional in a pool of mostly unprofessional photographers, but that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with using Flickr as a straight sharing site. The service has done wonders for people with a desire to get their pictures out there for their friends, family and world to see…but so much about the way people communicate within the environment is questionable, at best. Thanks for busting out the cajones to say things how they really are…
Pretty much my feelings in a nutshell. A few of those points are big pet peeves of mine.
So many people are only worried about trying to get their photos into Explore, that they forget about anything else.
I want to leave helpful comments, and I think I know how to do it. I’m just afraid that the person I comment on will take it the wrong way :( so I leave the “thats awesome” comments on something that really blows my mind. lol I love the little evil looking flickr guy, that thing is hilarious!
neil, you’ve got some good replies here.
thought i should mention that they do send email comment notifications to the email address that you signed up with. forgot to mention it when you made that twitter observation.
cheers mate!
@stringy Thanks for reading the comments before posting. Many people don’t! I’m glad you like the idea of a “how to comment post”. I’m actually writing that right now as my next post for the Digital Photography School Blog, so keep an eye open for that!
@Phill Price I’m very happy to read that you found a lot to agree with in my post. It seems also, that you’re not alone in welcoming any comment, no matter how short. I can certainly understand that, but I hope it’s not simply wanting to hear *any* positive words. We should be confident in our work, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want to know more about what people thought of our photos. But, a positive short comment is better than none at all :)
@Ulla It’s great that you can be moved beyond words at a photo. If that’s the case though, don’t you think a one word comment doesn’t do such a feeling justice? The photographer won’t understand how deeply you moved them from that kind of comment, which is a shame considering that they made the photo you love. Maybe using http://thesaurus.reference.com/ would be helpful?
@Scogle I have to confess, I didn’t look past the photo I used when I was looking for a good example of vignette. I was so happy when I found it :) If you are using vignette consciously and with deliberation, then you’re supporting my argument really. I dislike people using vignette without thought, just because it’s the trend. I had a look through your flickr stream, and in the majority of cases, I think you use vignette well. It looks particularly good in your sepia shots.
@Your Photo Tips @Udi I was not aware of the trouble at Yahoo. That’s a fascinating post by Thomas Hawk. It’s disheartening to see the situation, and I hope it’s not as bad as supposed, but it would explain a lot. It seems to me that Flickr hasn’t been as enthusiastically developed as it could be. I suppose that it’s only through people expressing their frustration, like we are here, that the message might start to get through. Spread the word about this post (Digging it would really help!) and write postsof your own, and somone might hear us!
@Cody It’s a real shame that Flickr isn’t sufficient to meet your needs, although I can certainly see why. The community (something completely independent of the Flickr management and in existence despite the problems) really can be incredibly wonderful for the most part. Your presence would enrich it considerably. I only hope that Flickr can improve to the point that you would give it another look some day.
@jerry I don’t even know how to get a photo in explore. I care more about the features of Flickr that help me share my photos. I don’t really care to promote my photos through Flickr. I think that the photos are too detached from who I am as a photographer, so when someone sees my work, there’s s little context about me as a photographer. That’s why I try more to promote my photography through my blog, where everything there is built around me as a photographer. That may sound self-centred, but as a photographer, my name is my brand, and I have to promote that.
@Sierra Don’t be afraid. Just about any photographer would rather you try than not. And if a misunderstanding happens, you can always explain further in another comment! I’m glad you like the post thumbnail, I’m pretty chuffed with it too :) It’s an idea I got when looking at some of my fave japanese anime pictures. In fact, the mouth is adapted from one particular picture of an angry anime chick :)
@Susheel Yeah, I love the comment notification email. It’s very handy and always exciting to get those emails. Flickr got that right. My main concern though, is with reply notification. The comments email only lets you know of comments on your own photos, not notifications of replies to comments on other photos, or in discussion threads.
I don’t agree with every point on your list. I think things like HDR and vignette are a matter of taste. I do agree however that it’s done a lot for the effect and not to improve a good picture.
The one thing that I miss in your list is the map. I know we all have been spoiled by using google earth (only google product I use), but the Yahoo map is absolutely useless. The level of detail is by far not enough. Often it will also simply refuse to let me add a picture to the map.
I find that subscribing to the RSS feed of the “Comments you’ve made” page is a reasonably good way to keep track of later comments on images you’ve commented. That, allied with subscribing to the feed of the “Comments on your photos and/or sets” lets me keep a handle on photo commenting. Sadly RSS feeds are not a good way of keeping track of discussion thread comments, as there is just too much volume in many groups.
I may be a contributor to the proliferation of shockingly overdone HDR images. When I first started playing with HDR I found that I could use the techniques to rescue shots I might want to keep except for exposure problems. I started the HDR from a single RAW group and quickly found that it was impossible to moderate submissions based on quality, so I let the pool become something of a free-for-all, moderating only the discussion threads. Today I find it too painful to even look at the pool and on more than one occasion have thought of pulling the plug and deleting the group.
Hate is an awfully strong word, isn’t it? :-)
I agree with some of these, others I think are a matter of personal taste.
I use vignetting (sometimes, when it feels right). I’ve used it heavily (trying to achieve a Holga feel) or lightly, just to add contrast. It’s fun and I like using it.
I use quotes as the commentary for my photographs. If the quotes are read, the audience will understand what I’m trying to say about my photography. And make no mistake, these are not just quotes that I pick out of thin air and post with the photograph. I can spend HOURS looking for the right one. The quote itself often takes longer than the processing of the photograph. I also include the place it was taken and my EXIF in flickr (which I make public) gives all of the other information.
This post made me chuckle. You’re a relative late-comer to flickr and may have missed all of these conversations over the years. There are so many debates that have happened in that community (and I think community can be pushing it because there are *so* many microcosms that occur in flickr), that you’re reiterating things that have been said many times by many people (and have been argued on the other side by others).
This is my question: are we in flickr to appease an audience or are we there to share a passion? I’m there to share a passion. If someone doesn’t get it or doesn’t like what I’m doing, they are free to move on.
At last a real live grown up mature (age doesn’t count)thinking
photographer ~~ so happy to read your thoughts and feelings even the ones I may not totally agree with ~~ still a thinking brain~~
Makes me happy and at this age that takes some doing~~I didn’t know if it was laziness ~~the WOWS/AWESOMES/ and others like~~~are~~if nonthinking light brained type~~Now seeing so many agreeing with you gives me hope ~~There’s life out there after all
Thanks Much “E”
[...] 10 things I hate about Flickr (and its users): [...]
[...] flickr上让我不爽的十点 [...]
I already replied to the thread through flickr but thought I would extend on it here.
I generally comment on other peoples photos the same way I would probably like to recieve comments. Definately dont like the gawdy animated stickers or the like. I don’t use them and it irritated me when I see a good photo (mine or anyone elses) with all those things all over the page. To me it shows they have’nt bothered to put any thought into the comment which makes me wonder if they really bothered to have a good look at it at all. I know I do and if I really like it I’ll always view the largest available size to further study the photo.
When I looking at photos I pretty much react right away without analising the technical stuff first. I comment on how the photo makes me feel and express that or what comes to mind when I first looked at it. After that I like to give good constructive critisism if any is needed and I have the knowledge. If I have a question or two .. I will ask and often pop back a day or so later to see if an answer has been left and I will always endeavour to answer any questions others leave on my photos.
Being a curious soul I also like to see more information about the photo than nothing or just a few words, I like to know it all .. where .. what .. how .. when and with whom :) I like to give as much info about the capture as I can. It only adds to the feel of the capture. Usually if a photo is aesthetically pleasing to my eye .. chances are it’s quite good on a technical level too.
Personally I take constructive critisism very well and welcome it. How else am I going to learn properly? Any imput one gives me I will usually take on board. For example: I recently had a comment where someone said they didn’t like boarders and It was suggested that my boarders took away from my photos, so I thought about it for a day or two and decided to go without and realise they were right. The good thing was they also gave me positive feedback within the comment as well.
Culling .. yes I agree and have been slowly but surely culling away at my collections. I didn’t realise I had so many repeats of the same subject. I was initially using flickr as just an online storage centre before photography became a serious hobby. All I need now is my Canon EOS 400 Digital Kit which I will recieve in October.
I hate some interface usability on Flickr… using Firefox and Greasymonkey is a must.
Try this Greasemonkey script: “Flickr Follow Comments”, you can track replies to comments you’ve made.
About HDR, I’m doing it on most of my photos… tonemapping the RAW actually, very subtle, just to recover some shadow/highlight. You can’t tell I tonemapped a photo or not. But sometimes I like the totally artifical HDR effect.
@Chaval: I tried that Greasemonkey script to follow comments and found that it brings Firefox to its knees, almost to the point of crashing (probably because of the sheer number of comments that it needs to filter through) whenever I tried to go into the “Comments you’ve made” screen. After waiting for everything to load it almost like I can find my comments faster manually.
I know you don’t like short comments but…
wah, wah, wah
[...] photographer (and photography educator) Neil Creek posted a list a couple of days ago of the 10 things about Flickr and its users that rub him the wrong [...]
“@Ulla It’s great that you can be moved beyond words at a photo. If that’s the case though, don’t you think a one word comment doesn’t do such a feeling justice? The photographer won’t understand how deeply you moved them from that kind of comment, which is a shame considering that they made the photo you love. Maybe using http://thesaurus.reference.com/ would be helpful?”
Unfortunately, this can lead to an opposite problem, which is commenters leaving “analysis” comments where it comes off more as someone trying to sound impressive, rather than saying anything really insightful.
Certainly, there are many aspects worth commenting about, and we often think about these when photographing or do post work. But I bet most photographers have also taken some photographs for immediate, emotional reasons… and that’s ok. Thinking likewise, if someone wishes to leave a short, emotional reaction, that’s ok with me, too.
Regardless, well-thought out article.
Flickr is a group run by totally dishonest people. First they tell us we are not to post photos from the web yet there are numerous photostreams made up only of web photos and they flourish while flickr deletes others for doing the same thing.
Flickr asks us to pay $25 for a pro account and then they delete us without warning or stated reasons and of course they keep our money. No pro rated refund. This seems illegal somehow.
When you complain they give you a condesending response that basically says fuck you and go on their merry way.
Flickr is the web nazis
[...] este artículo el fotógrafo australiano Neil Creek comenta 10 cosas que odia sobre Flickr y sus usuarios, pero se [...]
I’ll take a “wow” or an “awesome” any day over no comment at all.
I think one thing people need to keep in mind is that people are on Flickr for different reasons. Some people just want to share their images with their family and friends. Some people are on there solely for the social aspect of Flickr. Some are on there to improve their photography, but not everyone. In that context the unasked for constructive criticism can come across as arrogant. I think people need to pay attention to what group they found the photo in before they comment. Those seeking out criticism and to improve their photography will hopefully seek out groups and contacts that will help them do so. Others that just want the social aspect will seek out what they need and there is nothing wrong with that approach either. Flickr is what you make of it.
I’ll agree with you on everything but the culling point (and I’ll get to that in a minute). I really like it when someone who thinks they have no business commenting on my photos leaves a comment. They tend to see it without a lot of technical training (or ingraining as the case may be). Don’t get me wrong, technical comments and stuff are great too. But I want to know what the average person thinks.
Now, about the culling…
This is where it gets tricky. Some people (and I would assume that you’re included here) seem to use Flickr as an online portfolio. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
That is, until they start telling other people how to use their Flickr accounts. I use mine as an online backup. I don’t expect you to go look through all of my photos. I know that I have 10 consecutive pictures of the same jump shot. And I know that a vast majority of my pictures won’t get views from people. But I didn’t post them so they’d get views, so that’s OK with me.
Nobody is forcing you to look at my photos. If you don’t like what I have, then don’t look. Take me off of your contacts list if you feel the need. But don’t tell me how to use my account.
You say you hate “Prose in photo descriptions” – perhaps you meant “Verse” ?
Because “Prose” is exactly what you later say you prefer to see in descriptions.
Otherwise I thought it was a very good list
I totally agree with all the points made here, although I’ve to confess that I’m one of the “don’t know what to say/how to say it” commenters.
Regarding the culling issue, I understand that someone would want to use flickr as an online backup system for their pictures, why not? But then why not marking all these ‘duplicates’ as private and only make public the best one from a serie?
That way, they would both have their pictures backed up and visitors would only see the pictures which they think are worth being showned.
Thanks for sharing your thoughs.
You made some very good points. Although I agree with some that HDR and vignetting is a personal decision, and that I would take an “awesome” over no comment at all, it makes more sense writing one profound comment than 10 times “brilliant”. I have to admit that I tend to fall into the “awesome”-group, but today might be a good day for a change.
[...] 10 Things I hate about Flickr (and its users) [...]
Neil,
I have just read your commentaire on your blog page “10 things I hate about Flickr (and its users)”… I agree on the most part of the ideas you expressed but on FlickR there a tremendous number of photographers (as I am) and user who are not very fluent in english. For these people english speaking is just a simple quick way for basic communication with others. So they have tendancy to used some fast tracts. And the “reward” photo system is on of these fast tracts.
I am a french speaking photographer but every time I put something on FlickR, I try to get people to used their mother tongue when the put commentary on my pics. It is any easy job to anybody to use common translation tools to see the subtility of what people are thinking of you photos.
I don’t consider myself as a flickr’r (or whatever), but more of a deviantARTer (again, whatever). I am way more into the deviantART community, although deviantART has all those flaws too. Well almost all those flaws. Not the reply notification, we have those. And no banner awards from users, just the daily deviation (which is kind of an award) handed out to extraordinary pieces, which is a huge thing to get. And no group invites either. And I rarely see any disrespectful comments on nude photos.
My point here is – in my opinion – that deviantART is the greater community. If one were to compare, that is.
Very understandable article for a non English reader. The last deception explained is a real problem for me too. I hope this will be corrected one day.
So why didn’t you leave any thoughtful comments on my photostream? I mean, from your comments it seemed clear to me that you had been somehow FORCED to view all these photostreams you hate. Surely if it was as easy as just not looking then you wouldn’t have to hate those things. So when whenever it was that you were made to gaze on my pics, a thoughtful comment would have been nice.
So, just for you: Enjoy “My Last Breath” by Evanescence
…
hold on to me love
you know i can’t stay long
all i wanted to say was i love you and i’m not afraid
can you hear me?
can you feel me in your arms?
holding my last breath
safe inside myself
are all my thoughts of you
sweet raptured light it ends here tonight
i’ll miss the winter
a world of fragile things
look for me in the white forest
hiding in a hollow tree (come find me)
i know you hear me
i can taste it in your tears
holding my last breath
safe inside myself
are all my thoughts of you
sweet raptured light it ends here tonight
closing your eyes to disappear
you pray your dreams will leave you here
but still you wake and know the truth
no one’s there
say goodnight
don’t be afraid
calling me calling me as you fade to black
holding my last breath
safe inside myself
are all my thoughts of you
sweet raptured light it ends here tonight
[...] of the ten things I hate about Flickr is people who don’t know how to comment on photos. In a recent post to my blog, I lamented the [...]
I totally, completely agree with you about those irritating circle-jerk “Gold Star” and “Blue Ribbon” and “Most Megatastic Photo Evarr” groups. I don’t get any on my photos because they aren’t anything special, but when I view the comments on a truly good photo I want to see people’s opinions, not an endless succession of sparkly banners and “Congratulations- your photo has been nominated for a COMPLETELY ARBITRARY AWARD!”.
I posted a tutorial on subtle, lighting enhancing HDR somewhere and people complained that it wasn’t producing overblown, flat Photomatix-style weirdness. What can you do?
[...] Rutger Blom: 10 things I hate about flickr (via Digg) pay per click advertising pay per click advertising pay per click advertising Rutger Blom dugg a story on Digg 10 things I hate about flickr [...]
Wow, the benefits of dropping in late on a conversation… I’m shocked at the sheer volume of sycophantic responses to this post, and the number of people apologising for their photos and promising to do better in the future… because of course if Neil say vignetting is bad, then obviously it’s a irrefutable fact, and everyone should stop adding digital vignettes right this second. After all, Neil has a blog, and only people who know everything have those. Hurry, let’s go cull our photos and show Neil what good girls and boys we are!
Jesus christ people, if you’re really that easy to push over… one random photographer on the internet says, “do this; don’t do that,” and you’re all tripping over each other to comply. Think about what that says in terms of the strength of your own photographic style. Grow some balls! I’m all for improvement and development of skill, but blindly following everything you read on a blog is just silly. Neil Creek is not the God of All Things Photographic. I know that’s hard to imagine.
Most of the photos I mark as favourites, Creek would probably say aren’t done “right,” and that’s just fine by me. I don’t want a community full of slick wanky photos that “everyone” agrees are well constructed. Let’s have all the sheep turn to page six of the Good Photography Manual so we can all agree what’s correct and make look-how-intellectual-I-am comments that bog down the beauty with words… no thanks. I want a variety, from clean-and-shiny to dirty-and-sloppy, and I don’t want to say or read paragraph after paragraph of commentary. I want to exchange photographs, and perhaps short (short!) comments here and there. For me, someone popping in and saying “fantastic shot” is enough for me to know I reached them. I don’t need them to write an essay about their feelings and let’s have a group hug; too much description ruins the magic of a photographic exchange. That’s why they’re photos and not written works.
@ Terra Kaneko .. only people with balls leave a reply email or link to their name as far as I’m concerned.
@Chrissy I did leave my e-mail… I don’t have a web site, hence no link. I supposed took less effort to take the baseless cheap shot instead of constructing a real response. But I guess since you have a blog you can link to, that makes your comments so much more valid than mine. Well done for getting through that blogspot signup page on your own, now you’re hanging with the big boys, eh?
@Terra – Neil is entitled to his opinion just as much as you are. Unlike you though, he has taken the time to develop a platform to voice his opinion. And he leaves these open to discussion. Some people agree, some don’t.
People come here to exchange ideas, learn from each other and “converse” about photography related subjects.
And as far as the link goes, you could very easily have linked to your Flickr account. I am assuming you have one since you mentioned getting comments and favoriting photos.
Now, can we get past the discussion of balls (or lack of) and actually have some civility? :)
Sorry Jerry .. Being civil now (all balls aside).. can’t imagine what overcame me. Guess when somebody has voiced an opinion on a subject that I don’t agree with .. I get a little frustrated not being able to reach them without going on a witch hunt for their email addy when I know it can quite easily linked to their name within the post.
Terra .. I had already constructed a response earlier to your reply, but finding that you could not be reached without going on that witch hunt I mentioned I decided not to extend on my reply.
After re-reading through the replies to this post, I feel nobody commenting was being sycophantic as you have suggested and probably much like myself were just agreeing with Neil’s opinion and extending on it with their own imput.
The tone of your reply did not sit easy with with me and I totally agree with Jerry in that .. yes .. Neil has a good platform here to voice and share his knowledge, experience and opinions through his blog.
He is entitled to get them ‘out there’ (as we all are in our blogs) for anyone who will listen and if others grasp his concepts, understand, agree and are comfortable with it .. then let it be I reckon. I feel that it doesn’t necessarily mean that one is being sycophantic, which according to the dictionary is a servile self-seeker who attempts to win favor by flattering influential people.
Personally I have learned a lot through Neil Creek’s articles on his blog and as us Aussies say “when your’e on a good thing, stick to it!” As for the comment about Neil saying “vignetting is bad” .. I don’t see where he said that. He merely pointed out that too much was bad …. a bit like too much chocolate can give you pimples! .. however used in moderation can be very effective.
Personally .. I can’t wait for the day when I can take the perfect photo using my photography skills and knowledge with out having to pop it through a graphics program.
Don’t get me wrong .. I do enjoy my graphic arts too, but don’t get as much satisfaction knowing I have had to tweek my pics to make them appealing to the eye, hence I speak for myself in that I know where he’s coming from there.
As for your take on commenting .. fewer words are better, I beg to differ ….. ‘fantastic shot’ for example … it may be good for most .. but what about someone such as myself who is still learning the ropes and seeks guidance, constructive critisism and positive feedback? What does that give us? .. nothing .. how can one learn from two words?
Ok I’ve had my say now .. I’m off to play with the big boys now. ☺
Just a drive-by criticism – “prose” means “not poetry.”
You’ve hit the nail on the head with the comments about HDR. The thing which disturbs me even more is the attention they seek to attract? It’s ridiculous.
@libeco I love the map’s potential, but at the moment i think it’s a bit of a gimmick. It works pretty well for some things, like scouting a location, but I agree that it’s WAY too low detail (my city isn’t even covered by the map, just satellite imagery). I also think it’s a joke that only a dozen photos can be show on it at once. I want to see ALL photos in a region displayed. Flickr can figure out a way to reduce the load if that’s too much to handle.
@Steve Those are good suggestions, but they’re not ideal solutions, only workarounds really. Group discussion notification is essential and it’s disastrous to community building that the feature doesn’t exist. Re the HDR, you tried to do your best to encourage effective HDR. I hardly think it’s your fault that things got out of control.
@dawn Hate IS a strong word. I chose it specifically to inflame people and elicit comments. I hope I made it clear enough that everything is a personal opinion, and I don’t profess to be some kind of ultimate opinion that must be respected. Quite the opposite, I’ll probably always consider myself a learner. I think that for almost every argument I made against the 10 points, I could accept most of them if done well or for carefully considered reasons. But if I wrote a post like that (“10 things about Flickr that mildly annoy me when taken too far”), I don’t think it would have been as interesting, fun to read, or have elicited such discussion. In answer to your question: I think there are as many reasons for using Flickr as there are people using Flickr. You are absolutely right that people are free to move on. My post was simply to say what I personally don’t like. Many folks seem to agree with me, many others don’t. I’m glad that’s the way things are!
@Chrissy Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the topic! :)
@Chaval I use some Greasemonkey scripts for Flickr. I’ll look into the one you mentioned.
@Just me Thanks for your contribution. Would you like to elaborate?
@Andy Agreed, there has to be a reason to comment, or it’s just so much hot air.
@George I like Flickr. It has its shortcomings, and like any large company some of those are at the expense of the users. However I don’t think such a hostile comment will result in the changes you would like to see. Certainly nothing will happen if you don’t take your concerns to Flickr yourself.
@groovehouse As will I.
@Iaanba Flickr is by its nature a social site. Every photo you post has a comment field – in essence an invitation to comment. I think the default position is that photos are open for comment. If you would like it to be otherwise, then perhaps a note in the description would be a good idea, or you can disable comments if there is such a feature (I’m not aware of one).
@Chris If you’re using Flickr as an online storage medium, wouldn’t it make sens to hide those photos from the public? As I say above, every uploaded photo has a comment field available, so unless you tell someone otherwise, you’re inviting them to comment. I would never tell you how to use your comment, I only said that I don’t like it when there are many similar photos shared in an account. I’d rather see one good one. If you never intended for others to see them, then perhaps making them private would be better.
@Nish Thank you for the correction. Verse is indeed what I meant.
@Pierre I understand your point. I want to commend you for your excellent English skills, you obviously have no problem in that regard. I wouldn’t mind someone commenting on my photo in another language, although it would probably frustrate me that I couldn’t understand it. Perhaps non-native English speakers could leave a comment in their own language, followed by a simpler one using what English they do understand? Hopefully in the near future machine translation will render this a moot point.
@Mattias I’m actually a former DA user. I find Flickr better suits my purposes as it is focused on photography. I always felt as a photographer on DA that we were viewed by the majority as not being “real” artists. Photography is somehow a shortcut. The real art is made by pen or brush. Needless to say, I disagree. Flickr welcomes photos, so I prefer it here.
@Mick If you would like comments, please give us a link. I will ignore your straw man argument and blow a loud raspberry at you for posting lyrics in an obvious attempt to annoy me.
@Terra I am tempted to reply to you with the same rude and hostile tone of your comment, but I’ll be better than that. In fact, your comment is so full of straw men and puts more words into my mouth than will fit. There’s nothing worth replying to, except for warning you to show some respect for the other readers here, or you won’t be welcome. I’d rather you keep you references to reproductive organs to yourself
[...] Bővebben [...]
The post was great, but greater still is that the blogger will actually reply to the comments. This is something I see very rarely!
As much as I agree with the post, I would like to take a minute to defend the flashy awards a bit. As tacky as they can be, they are still a small ‘receipt’ proving that someone has had a look at your work and nodded in appreciation. It caught their eye! Out of 2-5 mandatory photos in the group they have to paste the code on, yours was one that got their attention. To me, this actually means something. Even the least bit of appreciation and attention is welcome.
Besides, posting to award groups (and perhaps making it to the ‘Best Of Group’ discussion thread, where you can find truly wonderful images) has helped me make new contacts, sell photos and even participate in an international exhibition (one of my images was ‘discovered’ by the director in an award group).
So for me, even the tiny feedback value of a flashy award is of value; it is far better than the ‘Hmmm… No activity in the last 2 days’ screen. :)
[...] Creek did write a good post on 10 things he hates about Flickr (at its users). Go read it. Now. And please come back [...]
[...] guilty of the two-word-comment myself, so this is good advice for me, personally.) One of the ten things I hate about Flickr is people who don’t know how to comment on photos. In a recent post to my blog, I lamented the [...]
While I agree to most of the comments, I would say I use Flickr to back up my family photos and share them with my friends and family, this means that some of the photos my 5 year old daughter takes end up on there so you do get 20 copies of a nearly identical picture. I am sorry you don’t like them, but my parents and my wifes parents do! I guess by its very nature it ain’t gonna please all the users all the time!
Other than that I mostly agree ;)
[...] mert, hogy ilyen is van. Múltkori ajánlónk ihlette bejegyzés picit pesszimista módon mutatta be a fotómegosztó siteok felhasználóit. Most viszont az [...]
[...] Flickr, and the people that use it, that really get on my nerves. I want to get these off my chhttp://neil.creek.name/blog/2008/06/28/10-things-i-hate-about-flickr-and-its-users/MapQuest Maps – Driving Directions – Map … nearby businesses and restaurants, plus explore street [...]
Really great piece and discussion.
Agree w/ most of what you’re saying. Random thoughts on some areas of difference…
RE: “If I like your photo, I want to know more about it…Please do us a favour and tell us your thoughts about your photo. They’ll be more personal and more relevant.”
I think that depends on the image maker’s aesthetic and/or what he or she is trying to do with a given image. If you’re trying to provoke a psychological reaction in the mind of the viewer on some images, IMHO saying too much can be like explaining how a magic trick works.
I’m definitely guilty of leaving short comments. Why? I think the biggest reason and the most honest reason is that I don’t want to appear stupid. I think it comes down to that more than laziness for most people. Being a beginner, I don’t feel like I know enough to offer that much in the way of constructive criticism or whether or not I’d even be right. And on the flipside, if I do see something I really like, I always am afraid in the end I’ll come off sounding like Patrick Bateman in American Psycho when he launches into his incredibly absurd (but darkly funny) discourse on Genesis and Phil Collins.
HDR – Never tried it myself, but agree that some stuff is horrible. But while the photo you choose is very nice, to me it simply looks like a very nice photo – possibly even amazing. (see, I told you I’m no expert). I guess I’m attracted to HDR images that have that “otherworldly”/”unseen world” quality to them. To each his own.
Vignetting? I do it on some types of images simply because I think it pushes the image a little further toward the direction I think it wants to go (the images always tell me where they want to go…which may sound crazy, but I guess that’s part of whatever aesthetic I have…also probably why my photostream looks so haphazard). Yes, maybe folks should be a little more selective, but as overused fads go, I can think of worse.
[...] 10 things I hate about Flickr (and its users) Neil Creek Flickr has a lot of merits, but also a lot of vices. Neil gives a detailed analysis of how Flickr can become a better place. His comments can be used by Flickr programmers and Flickr users alike. Make sure you browse through the comments, there is a great discussion and opinions voiced there. [...]
haha.. i moderate a group of 7000 members on flickr and this post made me laugh so, so hard. i hate the poetry posts! they make my moderation queue take so much longer! my other pet peeve is group whoring… “Just submit it to EVERY group and let the moderators sort them out!”
i had actually popped in to see if someone posted a greasemonkey solution or something like it to the last problem you posted about. it’s so hard to keep up on the responses in groups, especially if you don’t subscribe to it via RSS.
i’m off to keep looking! thanks for the laugh!
Hei
I read all your artcle and I really do agree with must of what you said. Mostly with the 1 or two words comments. I created a webzine where I publish everyday some of the best pictures on flickr but most importantly I do every week an interview with a photographer. I think it’s really important and interesting to find out how each one works, think and appreciate photography. I think flickr is a good site to share and see other people works but maybe to get into deeper though on photography , blogs and websites, like yours, are more appropriate. flickr can be used as a tool to discover new photographers and new way of work. And if you ever want to get more information on other people work just have a look on http://www.visualcandies.net and read some of the interviews. And if you can leave some comments..longer than 2 words;)
best wishes
frankie
As a flicker user, I just want to share my opinion.
First, I guess I use flicker for different purposes than to get a comment. I mostly use it to share photos with clients. I like the feature where a person can use a guest pass to view photos. I use dA and myspace to showcase my galleries. I don’t really go comment hunting, don’t like giving comments to get comments, just not into the oohs and ahhs really. Having said that, if I see something I really like I will say so. I hate critique that has no constructive basis. If a person doesn’t like it because they hate it, then tell me why, not pick it to peaces as to only what’s wrong with it.
Anyways, my thoughts on vignette. I think it all depends on where a person is at in their photography, personal taste. I use it a little and I use it a lot. I create my photos to my mood, what a person wants and to try and keep my style different to the next person. I remember when I was learning to use vignette, EVERY photo got the treatment. I never used an action, I wanted to learn how to get the effect using my own hand and judgement. When I mastered it I moved forward to something different. I do CD covers and posters for artists and they dictate to me what they want….vignette is requested quite often.
I know where you are coming from with hating certain styles etc…I feel that way about sunsets…they just start to look the same. So really I think we just have to live with the style of the day and try and keep one step ahead.
Haha, I stopped using FlickR and other photo sharing sites years ago for many of these reasons.
PS I am currently trying to fix my vignetting issues with my medium format film camera Fuji GX-617 with 90mm lens when double stacking the center filter and polariser! It’s driving me nuts…
Cheers,
Mark Gray
http://www.markgray.com.au
I am debating whether or not I want to renew my Flickr account. I miss my stats page the most but I feel that looking at such information becomes an unhealthy obsession. I keep wanting more views but I can’t really compete with all the crap that reaches Explore. Eh, who knows I may just give in when I start missing my older photos.
Your post inspired me to make a blog about how ridiculous Flickr is getting… I couldn’t have said it any better. It’s not meant to be taken serious but I hope it gives some members a good laugh.
I have to agree with most of your points. In particular the one on poetry on the photos. The only thing I’m hesitant about is, I can go on and on and write stories (once I start). I’m worried that people get bored with me.. haha!
As for one or two words comments.. I’m guilty of it as well :( sometimes I’m not good with putting my thoughts into words, but I really do like the photo. It’s just a combination of everything, I guess.
being a figure model (and having taken several classes for figure drawing), I also have some strong feelings on the artistic nudes. I noticed that there’s too many photos out there, which people claim to be artistic nudes. But seriously.. I don’t always agree all the time.
I agree with parts of what you said… but a lot of what you said sounds appealing to other users (awards for example)… HDR it might be boring to you but other beginners find it some good achievement.
anyway I believe flickr has to improve tracking features they have…
still its the best photo community there
I was looking for this kind of article and , cool , I found it . But you forgot one important thing , and that is the ridiculous whimsical titles that people give their photos , photos should stand alone without bullshit titles , like those pathetic self motivational posters , and borders , my god stop with the borders , like they are trying to make it look like its in a real gallery , hanging on a wall.
¡Cool! ;-) I agree with you into the ten points. ;-)
Like Steve, I find RSS makes keeping up with Flickr comments dead easy :)
(Also makes it too easy to spend way too much time there!)
Lea
Great post. Its my first time here. I agree with all of your points. I also hate the awards, i can´t believe that people still uses those horrible animated gif.
You forgot people who write “Nice DOF” instead of “depth of field,” esepcially on photos that have little or no depth of field! (Add the word “bokeh” to the list also….arrrrrgh, that one makes me very, very angry!)
Great post Neil,
Snap! I am one of those folks that used to upload all the photos in my camera. I am setting up a Gallery 2 installation on my site to display my photos and will take your good advice. I had never thought about culling. I read and admire manys blogs and photos and always take the time to give good pertinent comments but never realized the impact it could have. Being a novice it’s nice to have online mentors like yourself to teach me better ways to improve my techniques and abilities.
Thank you,
Ted Hussey
I have been using Flickr since Sept ’08 and have just recently gotten caught up in the comments game. I have to admit that I am guilty of the “one or two word comments” problem – but am realizing that they do little, if anything, for the community.
The “Gaudy large banners and “awards”” and “Comments that are only group invites” are very annoying, but other than asking people not to post them on each photo, I’m not sure how to avoid it.
Thanks for your article and for your efforts to make Flickr a better community.
I agree with your list. especially the poetry thing. and it’s something I’m TOTALLY guilty of. haha hopefully I’ll grow out of it.
I really wish they’d come with with some sort of notification about replies, like other social networking sites do. I know I don’t have time to go back to all of my comments to see if there is any sort of reply.
great list.
thanks
I couldn’t agree so much with this!!!! As I see in this mountain of comments there are a lot of people who does too!That HDR!!!! uf!!! and the group awards!!! uf, uf, uf!!! I’d like too to be able to follow my comments in a easier way (I do lots of them too!!! and as you said it’s impossible!) I have to congrat you to have been able to put this things in words. They were thoughts I had since I’ve being through the (WONDERFULL) flickr community but I coul not have writen them better!! Now I’m going to read the 10 favourite things and I’m sure this will enjoy me!!!
Thanks!
(sorry for my terrible english… I’m spanish speaker!!)
I just found your blog via flickr! I agree especially on the awards & culling. Both of those drive me crazy and usually lead me to leave the person’s photostream (which is sad on the awards side of things, since it’s not their fault!)
I would also like to have the feature “Reply notification on comments or discussion”. This would have been such an useful addition. Not sure why Flickr hasn’t taken this up.
I totally agree with your comments…especially about the awards and comment banners. I’m not joining a group that is fave-1, comment-4, post-6…no thanks!
And I was really struggling with their “Explore” feature last year. Apparently the only way to make it on Explore is to be an attractive young woman who takes somewhat revealing self-portraits. This apparently has changed for 2009 and it seems overall to feature some decent photos.
All this said…Flickr seems to be the best tool out there for building community among photographers. I’ve posted other places and the feedback is rare and the interaction is virtually non-existent. The interesting thing will be to see if Flickr can figure out a way to bring even greater community into place…maybe learn a few things from FB.
Jack
[...] interesting is this article about irritating things on Flickr. It was a good [...]
What a brilliant article. I never, ever, thought that people wanted long comments, let alone preferred them. Most of the time I am too speechless to say anything when I like a photo, but you are right, it only takes a few seconds to think on it and come up with something meaningful to say.
That said, as I review my own recent uploads I am disgusted with how I seemed to have become obsessed with editing my photos. I used to shoot by the mantra that a good photo should come out of the camera that way, THAT takes skill, not editing.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
The worst about flickr is their complete autocratic rule and their audacity with which they trample upon you and delet accounts…just like that, D@#ned F@#$!
Hi Neil. I came here from DPS. I share your thoughts on the need for culling of photos.
Most of this article makes you sound like a pretentious jerk.
Cool!
[...] This was a very interesting article some annoying Flickr tendencies. I especially agree with the flashing “award” images. I’m sure I’m guilty of some of this stuff, tho [...]
Totally agree on the HDR comments, and what is with those awards and banners!!
I too have avoided posting any artistic nudes as they are sure to draw crass comments that disrespect the photographer and model.
Cheers
Sam
I only found your blog today through DPS, and I totally agree with you, but not in regard to Flickr, but to DeviantArt. I don’t know if you use it, but the comments above could have been written about DeviantArt just as well. I think what bothers me most is the totally overdone HDR effect. Especially when it looks completely over-exposed and artificial. I myself am only now trying it out, but I think seeing so many badly done HDR’s, I am planning to be a bit more cautious before exposing the world to my attempts. :)
The other thing you mentioned about the need to cull and not to post every photo ever taken, definitely annoys me too. I’ve seen some people who post absolutely everything, even if it’s not even in focus. That irritates me so much, because it takes up my time and is not worth it in the end.
Thank you for speaking your mind. It’s good to know that other people feel this way too.
[...] 10 things I hate about Flickr and its users – Neil Creek [...]
Just like @Anne I found this post through DPS, and I must say You sure hit the spot.
I always found the award fad a pain for the eyes. Seriously, who cares for another “I’m pasting this junk” award? please…
Just as annoying is the “comment 10.000 post 1″ fad in group rules. I think that encouraging people to comment is really good practice, but forcing to comment just so that you can post a photo just brings up the “empty comment spam effect”. And it gets worse when rules forces you to include the group badge, logo or yet another blinking image in comments.
From time to time there are glimpses of honesty and sincerity that make things a bit easier to bare.
Thank you for your post! ;)
I agree also.. keep up the wonderful work!
Neil,
I am an amateur photographer and just purchased a Canon 50D and I am upgrading from an OlympusSP570z. It was good camera, but I have outgrown it. I am also on FlickR and find it fun, but I do know what you mean about some of the awards. I would welcome comments about my photos and what their likes or dislikes are. Or how to improve my shot etc. I am also “self teaching,” myself with Adobe photo shop. Then of course I have a full time job…
Thank you for sharing and by the way great photos, I see I hav alot too learn…Cuddo-s
Neil, I couldn’t agree more with your assessment of Flickr, especially about gaudy awards and HDR: “Good HDR is usually invisible. Subtlety is your friend.”
my personal issues with flickr was point no.2, very few meaningly comments.
i am trying to address that on our photography platform, CREYA, at http://creya.com
we’re trying to create a way to gather useful feedback from others, than just “awesome photo!”. please have a look. comments are welcome
Great post, I’m pretty new to HDR never realized it’s potential before and i tryed to use it in a particular scene when I toured the new Yankee stadium. I was standing in the dugout and it was cold and overly bright day. Not only was the sky blown out in one of my shots, the seating was too. I decided this minght be a good time to test the capability of shooting HDR. I don’t think it was a well composed shot, but i was wondering if you thought it was a decent HDR or is it over saturated?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tscibilia/4231153527/
Thanks for your comment. My thoughts on your image are only my subjective opinion, please feel free to ignore :) You have done a good job with the tone mapping. I don’t see any halos, and the contrast is still reasonable, though perhaps a little bit flat. I personally find the colours over-saturated, but you may like it that way. You’re off to a great start with HDR! Keep shooting and practicing and you’ll refine your technique.
Flickr is on a destructie rampage.They are deleting accounts left and right without ever telling anyone they delete why they were ousted. We send emails to Yahoo asking for explanations and never get a response. And of course Flickr doesn’t mind deleting an pro account where someone has paid $25 a year for unlimited postings.
If any other business ran the way Flickr is run they would be out of business by now. My advice, never, ever get a pro account with these bastards.
It’s not actually my practice to post comments, but I thought I would say that this was outstanding.
-G
Free Energy for Your Home
The comment box, like favorites let’s me know who’s looking and who’s taken the time to look. I don’t need the feedback in order to continue making pictures and I’m not looking for someone to tell me how great I am. I simply post a picture I like to give people an opportunity to see my work. If you want critiques, ask. If you don’t want banners, then tell people so. Don’t like HDR. Don’t look. What I’m looking for on Flickr is to be challenged and encouraged. You want to talk to someone about their work or delve deeper, send them an e-mail.Look at some of the comments above mine. “Outstanding”, “keep up the good work”, etc.
Make some real friends on Flickr. Take a trip and meet a Flickr contact in another city and spend the day shooting with them. There are hundreds if not thousands of Flickr photographers to learn from. Each with a unique vision. And many who share and give beyond politeness.
My question to you. What do you like about Flickr. How does your stream make Flickr a better place to be.
Hi, great article. HDR when done right you do not notice at all but what I have seen on Flickr are mostly over saturated, look unnatural, the contract levels are way over the top, HDR’s which look more like paintings that photo’s. What this means is that you are essentially removing the photo and replacing with a hand crafted painting.
very nice blog !!