Reply To: Fauxtogs who should end up on the main page…

[fstopper89]

I had a drawn-out “argument” if you will via messages with one of the people mentioned here. It started out with me trying to give some advice (first, advising him to take down the “examples” he posted that he took from other photographers’ sites without their permission and re-uploaded to his) but when he saw this thread he said we all have no lives and were being arrogant, etc. I told him a large majority of his images were out of focus and underexposed and he came back at me saying that I picked apart all his work and just because I found one in 100 like that it was an unfair judgement. Well, it was not 1 in 100, it was nearly all. Though he had a handful that are completely overexposed. When we got talking he said he basically refused to change his ISO from 100. He usually shoots at 1/60 second. I said that is probably why they are ending up dark and blurry. He said he hates noise with a passion and that is why it’s unacceptable to shoot over ISO 100-200. It was frustrating reasoning with him, telling him to experiment more and expose for the available light, not for a predetermined setting he “likes.” Then, he picked a photo off my Flickr and told me that based on my settings, 1/125, ƒ/3.2, ISO 640, 91 mm and said that is opening the lens up to too much light thus overexposing the image. For one, the image wasn’t overexposed at all, for two, I exposed for the light- late evening in the woods. I don’t understand why he thinks that certain settings will over or underespose an image. Oh well, I tried to explain that. And he asked how I liked his HDR work. I stated in complete honesty that it didn’t look like true HDR, rather increasing saturation in post. I said HDR is where multiple exposures are carefully merged into one single image.  He said that my advice was not nice because that was “my slant” on how HDR is supposed to be done. Nooooo dude! That’s not my opinion, that’s a fact! He later said he didn’t expect a detailed explanation about why I didn’t like his HDR but expected a simple yes or no. Seriously? What photographer is going to say “No don’t like your photo.” and not expect the person to ask why? He said I was expecting him to clone my style in order to be a good photographer. Never did I allude to that either.

This whole thing proves to me more and more that a person unwilling to learn or take advice as constructive criticism (and not personal attacks) will never advance their skills. He kept saying he and I just have creative differences. Sigh. That’s not what it was. He can continue to take pictures of the garbage cans and security fence in a backyard and oversaturate it and call it creative HDR, I really don’t care. But I was trying to give some sound advice.