What I'd like for picture threads 2018.

[tankbuster]

For me, as both an airshow and photography enthusiast, I see each airshow photo thread as a mini review. That poster's perspective on the event. This is UK Airshow Review first and foremost. For that reason I like to see that some thought has gone into the narrative, or at the very least the presentation order of the shots. They can tell their own little story. Even better if there are some words to give shots some context, and that there is some photography included that gives a sense of the venue, and the event in general.

If it takes 30 shots to do that for some events so be it.

Above all I appreciate the effort it takes to sit and sort, to edit and present, and it is appreciated. I really don't think we should over regulate. The more posts we have to browse, the better.

I agree that we don't want to overregulate. If you want to post 50 pictures in a thread that's fine by me. However my OP was in some way a response to those threads about "no one looks at my pictures". If people want the mass of readers to view and comment then it is probably a good idea to appeal to the masses. From the comments I'm not alone and you will lose my attention if you post a lot of pictures and if I see a watermark in the middle of the shot across the airframe I don't get past picture 1.

[Ian G]

One question I do have is, for those of us that know we aren’t great at photography, but would like to improve; is there a forum/site where you can post photos looking for constructive criticism without lowering the standard and spoiling it for the majority? I ask partly because I know my level and I’d never dream of posting on here, but at the same time pretty much nobody other than me ever sees my photos and I guess that does mean that I’m losing out on a potential source of criticism/advice both in respect of photography and processing.

I used to post on Talk Photography forums some time ago but must admit I haven't been on for some time. I found that people didn't comment as much as they used to and if they did, it wasn't much use, more the 'good shots mate' kind of comment. I keep saying I'll go back and start posting again but there are a plethora of threads on there and it'll take so much time to go through and have a look. Plus there are some interesting characters on there too . . . . this chap for starters!.

There was a time on here when C+C would come thick and fast on many threads, whether it was asked for or not. I think it's a sign of the times when people are either afraid of upsetting someone when offering advice or when people get offended by the so-called elite club. Something that grinds my gears on places like Facebook is when people argue and then some sunbeam comments with "my mother told me if you've not got anything nice to say, say nothing at all"

[zigzag]

The photo sections are a vital and very enjoyable part of UKAR, but overall I think the photo quality (and quantity of threads) has declined to a noticeable degree on UKAR over the past year or two. Many posters who I looked out for (as they invariably produced decent shots) are now not posting. Once a decline sets in its hard to reverse, perhaps we all need to encourage people to post, and if we see ways that a shot can be improved to be polite and constructive.

For 2018, please don’t introduce more rules, that will only have a detrimental effect, far better if people look at the higher quality posts and try to emulate them, improving technique is long and painful process but I know I have learnt much from looking at what others have done, be that location, composition, etc. For example for many years I tried my hardest to exclude people from my ground shots, now I try to include them if possible to give a more operational/live feel (though I don’t post any military ones with clear faces on them). It’s not everybody’s cup of tea but it’s an example of how I’ve changed my compositional stance by studying images that I admire.

Number of images in a thread isn’t important to me, if they are good enough, and I judge if I want to view a thread by the first 3 images. So start off with images that grab my attention and make me want to look at the rest, if the first shot is dull, uninspiring, badly composed etc. I rarely continue. Don’t be in a rush to post pics the day you get home (threads like RIAT arrivals excepted), take your time, think about the images, select your best and don’t be in a rush to get a thread up before many of us have even got home, I’ll quickly discard those threads as I know there hasn’t been much care or work put into them (by the same token don’t be as tardy as I can be in getting stuff processed, yet again my new years resolution is to get stuff processed more quickly).

Venues - I really should practice what I preach here, let’s see some shots from less popular venues, often the quality of shot can be much better at a smaller event. Quite often you also see rarer types at these places too, even a bad photo of a rare type is worth showing those of us who only go to the larger events.

As mentioned by others, endless similar shots may do it for the number crunchers and details guys, fine, but they don’t do it for me, show variety, and if there wasn’t much variety show less.

Watermarks - sorry not for me either, if there is an intrusive watermark then I won’t be getting to the end of the thread.

Comments (and I’m guilty here) - very few threads get more than a handful of comments, most much less than that, and quite a few get no comments. I would like to see more comments to encourage people, yes even 'good shots' comments, if the comment can be expanded a bit then even better.

Commentary - I do like a nice sentence or two to tell a story and set the scene for a photo thread.

Criticism/help/encouragement - We can all learn from each other. If you are brave enough then don’t be afraid to ask for criticism and help, for those who are brave enough to offer such help do it in a positive polite manner.

I think what I’m trying to say is I want to see threads where people have thought about their photography, how its executed, where its executed, and how its presented. To do this look for posts that you think are good, work out why they are good, and try to emulate that - I like threads which are less 'spotter with a camera' more 'photographer who is shooting aircraft'.

One question I do have is, for those of us that know we aren’t great at photography, but would like to improve; is there a forum/site where you can post photos looking for constructive criticism without lowering the standard and spoiling it for the majority?

In the dim and distant past I remember a forum which had a section for photo critique, you could post images there and get evaluation and critique of the shot, I think it was limited to a single shot per thread so as to aid detailed constructive thoughts. This had advantages in that people put up shots that they weren’t too happy with and sought ways to improve that shot and as a result their overall technique, rather than a whole post where constructive criticism might not apply to all shots. It was also an area where constructive criticism was wanted and so was expected by the OP.

Would such a sub-forum help on UKAR?

[harkins]

One question I do have is, for those of us that know we aren’t great at photography, but would like to improve; is there a forum/site where you can post photos looking for constructive criticism without lowering the standard and spoiling it for the majority?

In the dim and distant past I remember a forum which had a section for photo critique, you could post images there and get evaluation and critique of the shot, I think it was limited to a single shot per thread so as to aid detailed constructive thoughts. This had advantages in that people put up shots that they weren’t too happy with and sought ways to improve that shot and as a result their overall technique, rather than a whole post where constructive criticism might not apply to all shots. It was also an area where constructive criticism was wanted and so was expected by the OP.

Would such a sub-forum help on UKAR?

I quite like that idea. A sub-section of 'Photography Hints, Tips & Questions' might be suitable. That way the photo threads don't get tarnished and specific help can be sought. It would be good to get help within here as other photography sites are very broad and military aircraft photography is quite a niche. And thus the posters here have the specific experience of often having little choice but to photograph fast moving grey things against a grey sky that are very far away. Post processing is something in particular that I'd think can be well advised on these boards.

[Tommy]

Could do. What would probably be best is if someone who had such a photographic query to post in there and we see how it pans out. If there's a necessary sub-division, it could be looked into.

One thing I've been mooting for a while is posting a sort of "started there / now I'm here" type of thread in the themed photo section. Each post contains, idk, two photos, one from someone's really early days of photography (let's be honest, we've all had a period when we had not the foggiest about what we were doing! I'm still there! ), and one of perhaps your favourite photos from nowadays.

I think it would be really interesting to see how far people have come, and maybe flesh it out with a bit of stuff learned on the way, or maybe "if only I had known not to chop off wheels" or "if only I had realised I didn't need ISO 400 on a sunny day!" or whatever.

In my eyes it would be done not with arrogance, but to show how far people have come and where they might want to go. I'll bet it would be really encouraging to see some of the pros show how they started out not knowing that much just like the rest of us.

I was worried that it would come across as chest-beating, though, so never really got around to it. But I'm more than happy making such a thread if people think it would be worth it?