[Members] Orillia Camera Club - new Fllickr group to share photos and obtain feedback

[David Kennedy]

Hi all

Arni Stinnissen has created a group on Flickr to share our photos and get feedback.  This is a long-term forum for sharing images and providing constructive critiques for the benefit of fellow club members.   Flickr is one of the Internet's largest photo-sharing platforms and is operated by Yahoo.	

Think of this group as a workshop, where you can display your work to other photographers of all levels of experience and skill, for discussion of its strengths and weaknesses, suggestions for improvement and hints for overcoming shortcomings.

Please feel free to post whatever you wish, however, keep in mind the main purpose of this group is critique, or constructive criticism. 

Constructive comments encouraged. Rude comments will not be tolerated in the forums. Individuals can handle comments like that on their own photos, but please report offenders.

Since this is a private group you will need to be invited.  Then, please contact Arni at astinnissen at sympatico.ca.  He will send invitation to you to join the group.  Please indicate whether or not you are already a Flickr member and you can be invited by your screen name, email or real name.  If you do not have a Flickr account, you will receive an email inviting you to create an account.  

Once you have a Flickr account, you are able to show your images to the world or just friends and family, you will have a choice after you upload your images. 

We have established the following rules and procedures for members to join, which of course can be edited as well:

To have your photo critiqued:

-To have a photo critiqued, start a new discussion topic with a Medium-sized image.
- Post one image only per discussion topic. If you want feedback on another image, start a new topic with that image.
- If your image might be considered offensive to some viewers, please indicate this in the title of the thread, i.e. "Warning- May be Offensive"; Remember that some viewers may have a child sitting in their lap, also looking at these images. Pornography will not be tolerated.
- You are invited to describe your photo, camera equipment, restrictions and any other information that may help viewers understand why the image is as it is.
- You are welcome to request critique on a specific aspect of an image, i.e. lighting, composition, focus etc.

How to Post a Medium-sized Image

   1. Click on the photo in your photostream.
   2. Click [Share This]
   3. Select [Grab HTML/BBCode]. The default is Medium size.
   4. Place your cursor in the box and click to copy the HTML code (it's default is Medium size)
   5. Paste the HTML in a new discussion thread in Critique 2.

Critiques

- Comment on any of the discussion topic images, point out strengths and weaknesses, suggestions and advice.
- Your critique must be constructive, not abusive or demeaning.
- If you do post a blunt critique that lacks constructive comment, i.e."that's just crap"; be warned that it will likely make you look like an ass. However, if you explain why you think it's just crap, we may all learn something that will improve our photography.
- Your image may get comments which are blunt, or even harsh. Don't take it personally; it's only the opinion of the person who made the comment.
- Feel free, in your comments, to post links to other images or websites that you feel will be helpful to the person whose image you are critiquing.

How to Post an Image to the Group Pool

In order to post to the group you have to first upload images to your Flickr account. Your images can be private or public while in your account which is determined after the upload process. 

There are a couple of considerations to help you make your decision especially in regards to the Orillia Camera Club.  If you wish to keep your images private and post them to the Orillia Camera Club, they become public to the group but still remain private to the rest of the Flickr community.

After your image is uploaded to your account, you choose that image to upload into the group pool.        
Thank you Arni for creating this new venue for club members.  This is an easy and safe way to obtain comments from club members.  Only club members will comment.

Arni will give a demonstration of this at our next club meeting on October 12th.  In the meantime, please send your email to Arni so he can invite you and you can get started.


David Kennedy