Well I cannot complain about HDR because I’ve been taking lots of HDR lately, but it’s still mainly because of the novelty or else if I’m in a place that is hard to expose properly (e.g. inside a church).

I find that Flickr comments are similar to a large circle of people patting the back of the person to their right. Often it doesn’t do much to help other people’s photography, it just helps people get accepted in groups on the internet via yet another channel. Yes it’s nice to get praise for one’s snaps but I didn’t take the picture so the people in the landscape community would like me.

Watermarks can be useful if you’re trying to sell pictures on the internet. Once again I use them sometimes on my webspace, even though you supposedly cannot save pictures from it. You know, just in case.

Excessive photoshopping can be annoying especially if you know that the individual is just snapping away without thinking. Its not the editing itself. Knowing that a photo starts itself as a mindless snapshot of a potentially inyteresting subject and them moulded into something decent annoys me. starting this hobby made me really appreciate my surroundings so much more. Losing that to think about how one’s going to make things look better later is a bit soulless. The exception to that would be product or stock photography I guess, where you kind of have to think on those lines.

Finally I don’t like people who are patronizing about photography. I’m talking about the people who try to give the impression that they hold the key to the secret knowledge behind a great photo. The people who would only state exif data without saying why(or if it is the right exif data) and lying about any editing or post-processing, and the same people who would shoot down any attempt to “replicate their talent”.

Anyway, this is quickly turning into a rant so I’ll stop there. Glad I could get it out of my system though

ImageOfTheEye

What would have happened to Van Gogh’a paintings if he heeded advice from another artist on where the subject’s eyes should be??

True art really doesn’t have any specific “rules” to speak of and is (or should be) subective only. I consider photography an art. Sure, it helps to be educated on your equipment, post processing techniques, composition, etc., but in the end, our work comes from the heart and soul, born out of ideas of what looks pleasing to us. Fellow photographer’s should stop picking apart other people’s art and making suggestions on how to “fix” it. I proudly posted a photo on a forum that I really liked and the client really liked, just to have another photographer “borrow” it, “fix” it and repost as a better example of the shot. I thought it looked horrible. But the helpful fellow didn’t. lol