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Given that the garbage is still being posted here MONTHS after it started and the moderators/owners of this site have made NO EFFORT to fix it, maybe they should be saying to themselves, “I am wee Todd did. I am sofa king wee Todd did!” or maybe “I Emma fa king ess whole!”

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If that was not sarcasm and I am indeed a site moderator, I fail to see how. This site has gone from entertaining to downright awful. Is it so hard to put on a captcha generator so that some asshole in Russia (among others) finds it harder to post their crap? If the offer is there to  have members be site admins, then follow up on it and either let members know if their offer has been accepted or declined. There are now forum topics that haven’t been touched in days because we all know what’s there. Get your act together, YANAP!!

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There’s always attaching a GoPro for video and pulling out the frames you like. Less weight for the dog to lug around, too.

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Bill, your browser let you down in your post! 🙂 All kidding aside, you make some good points and I don’t see you as a smart ass. Almost 100% of photos that are deemed acceptable and ultimately part of the package that the client pays for are post-processed in some form or another. The client must have confidence that the one behind the camera and the one in front of the screen know what they are doing. We all know there is a multitude of wannabe “professionals” out there offering their services for less than optimal results. This site is certainly proof of that!

To answer your question, if the photographer and the retoucher are one and the same, they will certainly select the best in-camera settings so that retouching is kept to a minimum and they can serve other clients or have a decent life outside of their business.

If they are not the same, camera settings still matter for pretty much the same reasons. If the photographer and retoucher are totally independent of each other, the client can ask the retoucher if they work with any other photographers where the combination of the two will simply blow the client away. However, this extra overhead likely means a higher price structure that the client will need to decide if the results are worth the extra money as opposed to the client’s brother and sister-in-law who can shoot their wedding and provide less-than-stellar photos for substantially less.

Of course, we all know this. What really gets me is the photographer that produces images that are worthy of being on the cover of Vogue but doesn’t take the time (either themselves or someone who might have an expert command of the language) to ensure their online presence is worthy of the calibre as the images they may have on the same page! Therein lies the danger—this to me is the epitome of the photographer who’s simply in it for the money and not for the love of their craft. This is applicable to ANY profession, not just photography.

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Picstop, you think a lot like I do! For the photographer with the one spelling mistake, I would mention it politely to them and hope they don’t get bent all out of shape over it. I’m glad I’m not the only extreme stickler out there! 🙂

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EyeDocPhotog:

I’m not all that surprised that recent threads I’ve started here have been responded to first by you and every one has been a smart ass comment. It’s not hard to extrapolate from those comments that your website (if it exists, please post a link if it does) likely suffers from the same flaws but you simply don’t care. For all I know, you’re the one who’s been posting all the spam just to get your rocks off (or something else if you’re of the fair sex). If you want to further display your immaturity, arrogance and be more of a disgrace to your profession, you can certainly respond to this, but as far as I’m concerned, this ends here.

CameraClicker:

Your response is more like what I was expecting and I appreciate that. I was just curious to see if anyone else thought an online presence beyond a portfolio meant anything. Your response is insightful and makes perfect sense. Yes, this is a photography bashing site and I agree with almost everyone’s comments on the images and links that appears on here. But you are one of the few posters here I have any respect for when you take the time to post (sometimes lengthy!) comments on things like white balance and lighting for those that ask for it. I never knew what keystoning was until I saw it in one of your posts and looked it up, but I doubt very few on here would admit to learning something on here because they’re all experts behind the lens. So for that I thank you and it doesn’t hurt that you’re also Canadian, eh? 🙂

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Recently, a friend of mine pointed out some technical issues with a photographer’s website based 3 hours away because she posted an ad for a D800 on a local classified site and posted a link to her site to show samples of her work from the camera. He was polite in saying some of her shots were slightly overexposed, which she took offence to, although I’m sure he was biting his tongue wanting to say more. I took a look as well, but refrained from offering my thoughts because of how she reacted to my friend. So I thought I’d let YANAP have a look and offer opinions. Thoughts?

http://www.schaephotography.com/

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VT,

So as not to detract from the purpose of this thread being a critique on the work of a young, aspiring photographer, I just want to clarify that I am well versed in the technical aspects of photography and seeing what makes a good photo most of the time. I am also well aware that post-processing is a fundamental part of the digital era. But there is such a thing as too much PP and I wonder sometimes if what I’ve shot needs more than what I’ve already said and how much to go before overdoing it. Since my photos are for my personal collection only, I suppose it doesn’t really matter, but I’m still learning about what can make a good photo great and thankfully there are a lot of printed and online resources that help in that regard. Now, on to more more critiquing is anyone else so chooses…

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Overall, I like the majority of the shots, but I do agree with others about what appears to be over-processing on some of them. It would be nice to see the original shot and the history of steps that got you to the end. I’d like to think I take some nice shots now and then, but I’s far from being a pro and I will never proclaim to be one. What I do know I that I suck at post-processing and I’m thinking “What the ^&$# do I do with this one to make it better?” and it usually amounts to adjustments to exposure and WB, but that’s about it when I’m sure the photo could stand to have a few more edits. I wonder where I would be if I had access to a DSLR, Photoshop and Lightroom back when I was 16! 🙂

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I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve posted a comment to ANYTHING on these forums, but I just couldn’t let this one go. This is a classic case of a critique from someone who knows what they’re talking about and someone who doesn’t. I’ll let the OP and those who have already commented or anyone else who might contribute to this thread decide which is which, no disrespect intended.

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I’m not on much here anymore either, in fact, today has been the first time in several weeks. I look at a couple pages of home page postings, read the first page of titles from each of the forum sections and click on any that grab my attention. Yours just happened to be on top and mentioned railroad, so I thought I’d take a look. You know what happened after that. 🙂

The “mile in both directions” track shot was back when I shot film and digital was still very much in its infancy for the general public. It amounted to the rails coming exactly out of the corners and I was still naive about composition that I put the horizon line dead centre with a few shrubs and trees on either side. Looking back on it now, it is a rather boring shot, but at the time I thought it was kind of cool. It was a “jump on the tracks, align the corners, and click” shot, with little planning. There’s also a black metal bridge over a small ravine that I might consider just for the stark, almost silhouette symmetry against a bright blue sky. But there’s no way you’d catch me in the middle of that bridge with no means of escape except trying to outrun a train!

As for photography groups, I haven’t really sought them out. There’s a storm photography page on FB that I peruse every so often and the odd Flickr page now and then. Beyond family, I’d have to say landscapes are my favourites. Having mentioned symmetry, I rarely pass up reflected scenery on a still lake, especially at dusk or dawn. If there are any groups you think are worth looking into, don’t hesitate to pass them along. I know a Google search for “landscape photography groups” brings back close to 8.8 million results (just tried it!) and I’m sure some of them are really good, but I’m happy to take a look at any recommendations, not just in landscapes.

Being a site that mocks photography, this probably isn’t the best source of a thread recommending groups. For all I know there may have been such a thread months ago that I’ve simply forgotten about or more recently on a discussion page I’ll never see anyway. If you’re up to it, don’t hesitate to start such a thread! 🙂 I know that I, for one, would take a look.

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Fstopper89, as a PROFESSIONAL software developer, I know EXACTLY how forums work, so you don’t need to tell me that changing your name affects ALL posts, because EVERY forum post is tied to a database of some type or another where the content is associated with a user id and that id is, in turn, associated with a login name. Thus, changing the login name will affect ALL your forum posts because of the relationship login name <-> user id <-> content. Almost everything online operates that way, otherwise sites like eBay and Amazon would be unacceptably slow and they would never be able to keep track of your past and present activity in a manner that would be acceptably responsive to their clients.

That aside, you are free to change your login to whatever you choose. It does give the impression, however, that maybe you had said something someone or a small group found offensive in the past and you wanted to distance yourself from that and perhaps you thought a name change might hide you from previous comments. I’m not saying that’s what happened and I’m happy you understand that the name change means nothing other than satisfying your own whims. I’m just expressing an opinion, nothing more.

I NEVER said anything about you calling yourself a professional in terms of providing a service for money, no matter how much of a percentage that service contributes to your yearly income that you report to Scott Walker or Barack Obama. There are many people who work multiple jobs, whether it be out of enjoyment or necessity. The word “professional” can be defined as

“engaging in an activity for gain or as a means of livelihood”

Your means of livelihood is obviously your M-F job, so the photography aspect of your income is the GAIN that you enjoy and can provide a service that your clients are willing to pay for. I have no problem with that—all the more power to you if you can do that. With my own M-F job providing software for the betterment of clients running their own businesses and family commitments with organized sports, etc., I would love to have more time to put into my own photographic efforts and be able to profit from it. But I’m perfectly content to preserve family memories.

The issue I have here is you seem to have missed the word “decorum” in my previous post, which is defined as

“dignified propriety of behaviour, speech, dress, etc.”

When you start a thread about trying to “educate not only her, but anyone else viewing the page/photos”, and continue to argue with her, you are not displaying that quality AS A PROFESSIONAL SHOULD. Publishing her photo only makes it worse for you as your credibility comes into question. If the subject was photographing on railroad track, then why post the photo of the girl for all the world on YANAP to see? She is NOT the subject, only the instrument of your frustration. It should have been enough to have the attitude “OK, I told her it was illegal any why, so it’s not my problem if they get caught and fined.” If that happened, you likely wouldn’t have heard about it anyway unless it was relatively close to you or it became regional, national, or international news because of a serious breech of the railroad company’s interests or assets. Is shooting on tracks illegal? Yes. Is it cliché? Sure. But I have a couple shots of my own on tracks because I liked the leading lines and vanishing point. I most certainly would have kept my distance if any type of train had been on the tracks moving at any speed. If any railroad personnel had been present and asked me to leave, complying would not have been an issue. Pleading innocence might help in my favour, too. I’m sure you’ve seen shots of rail yards at shipping ports or within cities, maybe even within your own. Are those illegal? Not if they’re sanctioned by the owners of the property. But with all that said, if I’m scorned by you and others here for being anywhere NEAR tracks or for anything I say here, then so be it—I am certainly not going to lose sleep over it.

The bottom line is that I’m to EDUCATE YOU on proper photographic and PROFESSIONAL etiquette. IF “89” is the year you were born, then being 24 or 25 is being at the tail end of complete brain development. Please don’t think I’m challenging your intellect because that is NOT what I’m doing. It is well known and documented that people in their teens and early twenties are responsible for a lot of rash behaviour, be it out of control fraternity or sorority partie, criminal behaviour, or something completely different. And, no, I’m NOT saying everyone in that age category is part of that, nor am I saying you are part of that group. But I will say you are on the cusp of it and you certainly have room to grow. If you want to call me a bitch for saying any of this, you are certainly entitled to your opinion. I’ve certainly been called worse, but I move on and I try to help those whenever I can. If you can’t accept that or choose to ignore it outright, there’s not much more I can do except take the attitude that I tried to tell what I felt was wrong and it really doesn’t matter beyond that what you choose to do with it. I can only hope my advice makes you a better person.

Anyway, I feel I’ve written a small book here. I could have simply responded with “Nevermind. LOL” and let you have a taste of your own medicine, but I thought trying to reason with you might be a better approach. I’m not saying I’m the Ann Landers of advice, because I know I’m FAR from perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I’m not going to let this become a back-and-forth argument/discussion between us and with anyone else who chooses to comment. If you want the last word, you’re welcome to have it, but as far as I’m concerned, this stops here. If you choose to respond, please consider your words carefully and try to preserve your credibility before voicing your thoughts.

‘Nuff said.

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From another thread on defining a professional: “I don’t make a large portion of my yearly income on photography (I have a full-time job besides) but I am also a professional photographer.”

Ah, yes…this from someone who started the longest “bullying” thread on YANAP and who isn’t content being browneyedgirl89 anymore because fstopper89 sounds more photographically professional? A large part of being professional involves decorum but when I see you posting a pic of someone out of spite just because she wouldn’t listen to you about railroad tracks, all I see is insecurity. No, she won’t be on the cover of Vogue, but neither will 99.999999% of the general population, both you and me included. Words like “not trying to cause an argument” will do exactly that as evidenced by your description of what happened afterwards and I would bet my house that you were just chomping at the bit to “bring up how bad the photos were.” Thank God you had the decency to leave well enough alone.

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I’m happy to see the majority of it has been deleted. I’m also hoping whomever is doing it will soon get bored with it and move on, but in the meantime, a quick glance at similar names with one post and one voice makes great use of the scroll wheel on my mouse. 🙂

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Don’t have to worry about it with ad blockers, which are usually pretty good.

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