Earlier in the week, we held a “featured chat” (side note: we gotta come up with a better name for our “official chats” than that) where we discussed what YOU would like to see around the Corner. I announced it last minute (though our amazing mods had planned it well in advance), but it was great to see 20-25 of you show up. This post (while long) will serve as a recap of what we discussed in the chat, in addition to discussing some of the potential changes we may implement based on your ideas. Also, be sure to leave your feedback in the comments! We would love to hear as many opinions as possible, even if you are unable to make it to the chats.

While we had numerous ideas/suggestions/changes that were on “the agenda,” the majority of the hour long+ conversation was dominated with one specific matter: the idea of merging the Critiques Corner with the Feedback Corner. Why, you may ask? Well, the general opinion is that, despite the different descriptions of the two forums, most people use the two forums interchangeably, both as posters and commenters. Basically, people who are looking for in-depth are getting “great shot” comments instead of critiques and newer photographers are nervous or reluctant to post their actual feedback/thoughts/critiques as they feel less-than-adequate in their photographic knowledge. So instead in-depth critiques ending up in the Critiques Corner, and general, laid-back feedback and “great shot” comments in the Feedback Corner, most people have noted that it’s all blended together.

So how do we fix this? By merging the Critiques Corner into the Feedback Corner, but making the new Critiques Corner/Feedback Corner (we’ll probably stick with the name “Critiques Corner”) a little more critique-oriented.

Now, the merging of the two forums alone won’t change anything, right? How are we going to motivate everyone to be more critique-oriented and less “great shot” oriented? There were several ideas presented:

• Make a 20-word minimum in the new Critiques Corner
• Create a thread-title prefix for the new Critiques Corner (basically what this would entail would be several options that you would have to choose when posting a photograph up for critique, asking for one of three levels of critiques: No Critique, Moderate Critique (feedback) and In-Depth Critique
• Implement a “guideline” that would ask everyone “for every photo that you post, you must also post a critique”

So, let’s have a look at those suggestions (and I’ll want your input in the comments as well!).

The first one is to add a 20-word minimum to all posts in the Critiques Corner. Some may argue that this will force people to come up with better critiques, as it’s hard to drag out “great shot” into 20 words (though not impossible!). Others will argue that this will have a negative impact on the number of replies over all: better to have 2 critiques and 8 “great shot” comments, than just a couple of replies. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

The second idea was to have a thread-title prefix at the beginning of each thread in the Critiques Corner. Our new, upgraded software (we’ve almost got all the bugs worked out now) allows for us to add this option in. Basically, when creating a thread in the Critiques Corner, you would have to select one of three options (No Critique, Moderate Critique, or In-Depth Critique). Then, when people reply to your thread, they’ll know what sort of comments you’re looking for. Of course, if you’re asking for anything other than “no critique,” we would expect you would be more specific as to what type of critique you’re looking for (color balance, composition, etc). What do you think of this idea? Let us know in the comments.

The third recommendation would be to implement, and make more visible, the “Corner Golden Rule.” Comment unto others as you would have them comment unto you. Really, it’s all about reciprocity. If you take the time to really look at and comment on other photos, don’t you think, in turn, you’ll also receive more comments? Or course you will. If you make a bunch of comments that all say “nice shot” (or make no comments at all), can you honestly expect great, in-depth feedback and critiques in return? Well, if you don’t know the answer to that, it’s categorically NO. This suggestion is really the meat of the difficulties people have with the current Critiques Corner/Feedback Corner arrangement. People want more, better comments. The solution? Give more, better comments. It’s as easy as that. Even those with less photographic knowledge can give constructive, useful feedback. Just because you don’t know what an f-stop is or the difference between ISO 400 and ISO 800, it doesn’t mean your feedback is any less valid than a pro that has been shooting for 40 years. What it boils down to, is people actually taking the TIME to articulate their thoughts about a photograph. Even if you’re a complete newbie, let people know in your comments - everyone will respect your opinion and point of view (as long as you actually articulate WHY you think ____ about a photograph!).

Ok, so those are the three suggestions to “fixing the problems with the Critiques Corner and Feedback Corner.” Leave you thoughts for the first two suggestions in the comments. As for the third recommendation, I think it’s obvious that we implement this. But how? Is it even possible to enforce the “Corner Golden Rule?” Not really… well, not without being too heavy-handed, at least. But we can try to nudge people, right? If we encourage good comments using reputation points and making an effort ourselves to leave good critiques, it’s bound to catch on. It starts with YOU!

Another way we can encourage good critiques is by explaining our photographs - what we were trying to do, capture and portray - to help those that are critiquing the photograph better understand what we were trying to achieve with that photograph. Providing information like your camera, lens, settings, lighting conditions and EXIF information will help provide those that are commenting on your photographs with more tools to help you grow as a photographer and take better photographs; and that’s what it’s all about!

Another idea that came up was to “make a bigger deal out of good critiques” by featuring great critiques on the Corner Blog. People could nominate great critiques and feedback, and a couple of times a month, we could look at the photograph and the critique itself and spotlight it on the blog. What do you think of this idea? Let us know in the comments!

I know this post is getting long, but we (seriously!) talked about all that, and in less than an hour! During the last 10 minutes or so, a couple of other issues came up. One was that the Corner Galleries are messy and not user friendly. We know. We were hoping the software we purchased for the galleries would have worked out better than it has, but alas, it’s messy and clunky. This is something we’re going to try to address closer to the end of the year.

The final thing we discussed was the possible creation of a Post-Processing forum at the Corner where anyone could ask questions about post-processing, and get comments and suggestions on post-processing (i.e. How could I have better processed this photograph?). I think this is a great idea, but we didn’t really have enough time to fully explore it.

So….

We’re going to do a sequel to our first chat to discuss it further. I realize that this is a global community, and that we all live in a variety of time zones. Our last chat was at 5pm EST (9pm GMT), which is not a great time for everyone. This time, however, we’ve decided to hold two chats on the same day, to better accommodate the global community. Both chats will be on Wednesday, August 20th at 2pm EST and 7pm EST (that’s 11am and 4pm in Los Angeles, 6pm and 11pm GMT, 7pm and midnight in London, UK and 4am and 9am (the next day) in Sydney Australia). Mark you calendar - I want as many of us that can make it to be at one of them.

Now, head over to the comments, and voice your opinion!