This posting will likely rub a lot of readers the wrong way, but so be it because it deals with the essence of the "C&C welcome" titles in many postings.
1. First of all anyone who takes photos not for profit does so to please oneself. Others' comments are irrelevant, unless one is fishing for compliments. So why bother asking for C&C? The argument "in order to improve one's photography" goes only so far; where does it say that art (of which photography is one medium of expressing it) has to abide by this or that rule? Who cares what the high priests of photography think, and who appointed them to that position anyway?
2. If I take a photo of a loved one (a baby, a spouse, a parent), I really could care less what others think of it because the photo has evocative significance for me. Many decades from now, when I look at that baby, now 50 years old, or a photo of a parent, now deceased, I could care less about depth of field or lighting or what-not. I would care even less about others' opinions about such technicalities.
3. A photograph is not a blender not a microwave oven where objective comments would have made sense. A photograph is a personal aesthetic expression, a capture of a fleeting moment, a snapshot in time that cannot be dissociated from the circumstances around that photo. These circumstances can be a love affair (hopefully with a person and not with a camera), a person who has since passed away, an event with emotional significance to the photographer. These circumstances mean a lot to the photographer but nothing to anyone else. So, why bother to ask for "C&C" from people who don't know the circumstances?
4. Then there are the posters who are hungry for approval by strangers and who, not surprisingly, get annoyed if they get criticism instead. Again, why bother? Same goes for photographs of people where the photograph is technically OK but the person photographed is ugly. What kind of response do you want when posting such photos?
5. Then there also the majority of the photos that should have been posted in Facebook and not DPreview. Again, who cares about such photos, so why bother to post them?
6. Then, too, are the mediocre photos that are weird or shocking and consider themselves to be "art". Again, art is the mind of the beholder. Some of Picasso's "masterpieces" are, realistically, weird and would have been dismissed out of hand had they been painted by some random Joe Bloke. Instead, individuals who see the Picasso signature on them feel obligated to make sounds of admiration just so that they won't be perceived as lacking in culture and "art appreciation".
In summary, unless you are taking photos for profit and the "C&C" comments you are asking are to find what would sell better and how you can make more money, then post. I for one, won't bother to look at them for the many reasons stated above.
If you are taking photos for your own edification, then enjoy them in good health and don't ask for others' comments as they don't matter unless you are asking some technical question such as "how to I light the face..." or "how do I ...", in which case post them.
The photos that I do enjoy looking at are ones that are pleasant to look at in their own right. No C&C needed or wanted.
1. First of all anyone who takes photos not for profit does so to please oneself. Others' comments are irrelevant, unless one is fishing for compliments. So why bother asking for C&C? The argument "in order to improve one's photography" goes only so far; where does it say that art (of which photography is one medium of expressing it) has to abide by this or that rule? Who cares what the high priests of photography think, and who appointed them to that position anyway?
2. If I take a photo of a loved one (a baby, a spouse, a parent), I really could care less what others think of it because the photo has evocative significance for me. Many decades from now, when I look at that baby, now 50 years old, or a photo of a parent, now deceased, I could care less about depth of field or lighting or what-not. I would care even less about others' opinions about such technicalities.
3. A photograph is not a blender not a microwave oven where objective comments would have made sense. A photograph is a personal aesthetic expression, a capture of a fleeting moment, a snapshot in time that cannot be dissociated from the circumstances around that photo. These circumstances can be a love affair (hopefully with a person and not with a camera), a person who has since passed away, an event with emotional significance to the photographer. These circumstances mean a lot to the photographer but nothing to anyone else. So, why bother to ask for "C&C" from people who don't know the circumstances?
4. Then there are the posters who are hungry for approval by strangers and who, not surprisingly, get annoyed if they get criticism instead. Again, why bother? Same goes for photographs of people where the photograph is technically OK but the person photographed is ugly. What kind of response do you want when posting such photos?
5. Then there also the majority of the photos that should have been posted in Facebook and not DPreview. Again, who cares about such photos, so why bother to post them?
6. Then, too, are the mediocre photos that are weird or shocking and consider themselves to be "art". Again, art is the mind of the beholder. Some of Picasso's "masterpieces" are, realistically, weird and would have been dismissed out of hand had they been painted by some random Joe Bloke. Instead, individuals who see the Picasso signature on them feel obligated to make sounds of admiration just so that they won't be perceived as lacking in culture and "art appreciation".
In summary, unless you are taking photos for profit and the "C&C" comments you are asking are to find what would sell better and how you can make more money, then post. I for one, won't bother to look at them for the many reasons stated above.
If you are taking photos for your own edification, then enjoy them in good health and don't ask for others' comments as they don't matter unless you are asking some technical question such as "how to I light the face..." or "how do I ...", in which case post them.
The photos that I do enjoy looking at are ones that are pleasant to look at in their own right. No C&C needed or wanted.
