Hi guys and girls from all over the globe!

I collecting  snapshots of various events quet a few years but  taking photography seriously no more than  1year. I can self judge myself,  have a few shot what realy get me by mood or quality. But so as I can tell browsing throug my gallery I have a lot to learn, I making mistakes what photographer should not. That is where you guys comming in " handy " LOL  with comments. Great help but wish sometimes a tad more critics in there. Do not need to affraid I am not  bite for a good advise or oppinion. 
I ask my family as well what they think of my work. My Dad says .....That's my girl! ....here we go, not very helpfull, would keep my spirit up if I would be a 9 yrs old little girl...but thanx Dad. An other classic comment from him is ...wow this is a good camera I tell ya..... while his looking at my shot. Na that will not help either. 
Hubby a bit better, if his not realy say nothing or ...yeah pretty good... this is a sign, something wrong with a shot, doesn't have the element to grab (his) attention. 

So I realy like to know how is your family or friend react on your photography. What they say or how they encouriging you?

seeyus  Tunde

pretty much the same - the thing with family and friends is that they most probably dont know anything about the technical side of photography and thus couldn't give any constructive feedback - just "i like it" or "i dont like it".  That or if they do know a bit about photography they dont want to be too critical because they want to seem to be encouraging.  My girlfriend is getting better at knowing why she does or doesnt like something, but she is more exposed to my photography than anyone else really (being my model/assistant when she is around ;)) so knows how to put things like that into words.

I do try to be critical on here because nothing is worse than just saying "wow i love it, everything is perfect" to everything you see, because that cant possibly be the truth.  If i do see something which i cant fault i normally say so and say why i like it.  I hope i have offered constructive criticism to you in the past and everyone here - and would like to take the opportunity to tell everyone here, that i would like everyone to do the same to me. :)

Ah, family... My father doesn't give much comment, other than: "I don't know anything about artistic photography", which means that he doesn't see much in my pictures. He likes beautiful landscapes, flowers and portraits. But he's colour blind... My sister is not very interested, and doesn't understand why someone would want to show off his personal pictures on the Internet. My brother, that's something else: he was a gifted photographer for more than 20 years, before he got paralysed on his right side... he's my best and toughest critic, and I value his comments very highly. If he likes it, I know it must be good... An example: this summer I went shooting the sunrise on the French coast, and I showed him all my pictures (about 180). He found 3 or 4 images that were 'relatively good'... And there are more than 20 images from that shoot in my gallery here on RR... Lately he always keeps saying: "Your work is good, but... where are the people in your images? You should do more people photography, like before." Maybe he has a point there...

A very interesting topic...thanks for starting this thread Tunde!
For the most part, the people around me don't know much about photography...and I suspect many of them don't care too much either...
So, the responses are very simliar to what girsempa and inshaala have experienced.
One of the benefits of posting here...or in any other photo group is that you are presenting your image to people that are also interested in this hobby.  Generally, it is they who will also give you the best constructive criticism.

It is very similar when I show my Terragen images to some friends....they generally like them and think they look cool...and wonder how they can be generated by computer....but, that's about as far as it goes.  They are not able to offer any technical critique nor do they understand the amount of work involved in creating such an image....
The comments that help me get better, come from my peers...We are able to learn from their advice and, we are also able to learn from their work.

Attached Link: http://deepersilence.blogspot.com//

I get favorable comments on my photography, maybe it is the content, I hike places many people would never go, and see what many never see. Of course i have my flower pictures, too. This is the best place for feedback, or start a blog, and post there. I think you do it for yourself, and judgment isn't necessary, so much as looking at your own work, just looking at it, all will flow from that place, as you see it from different perspectives of your own development. Hang some photos around your room, don't be quick to judge, just live with them for awhile, let them speak to you! I have worked with many people in the art world, children and adults, I tell them al this same thing. Who knows but that doing something different won't pay off in a new form that hasn't been tried before, coming from an open mind. Trust yourself...!! That is how art is, inventive, and happens accidentally as often as not.. Cheers! Jerez

@ Rich  Please don't change your coment habit. Say it what is a first impression of a shot....I like your comment on my uploads, sometimes hars perhaps, but honest and if I really look into the coment you right too!

@  Geert! I remember those coastal shots in your galery, I like them a lot, specialy a sand ripples shining in a sunrise. You have a hars buta very good teacher if your brother only liked 3-4 shots. Does he actualy explane why the shot is not working or just leave you with a fact they are no good?  Yeah..where are the ppl from your shots? you don't like to shot them or they too shy?

@ Gradient Yes this is a realy good place to get feedback from our work, but sometimes overwhelmed with.... friendly lines what very encouraging but maybe encourage us to the wrong way concerning taking better photography! (ooops  shus girl hope I am  not making waves with this oppinion)

seeyus  Tunde

i find if you ask for technical critiques or feedback, ask people to be honest and  you can often get more than just the ohh, ahh type of comment. Just be prepared for blunt assessments.

Jerez....I might missed your point, but You got very welcoming coments and honestly 90% has nothing to do with your shot. How can this help you go forward with your photography art skill and understanding compositions, lighting, color selecting .....? That is what I am looking in comments to turn, guide me into the right direction.... sometimes I get some but so rare.

seeya  Tunde

Boofy, I don't mind to face my lack of skill, that is why I am not a pro photographer working for N.G.
Thanks to join in, what is your family or friend or perhaps club members opinnion about your work?

seeya  Tunde

Attached Link: http://cloudhiddenwheraboutsmukilteo.blogspot.com/

Well Tundy, it is a matter of developing your own eye. You don't need a teacher to do this, you need experience with yourself, it will come naturally. I say, try it, you might like it. If it sounds too far fetched to you, sorry, but I am not an inbox thinker. Also your opinion of my work, or anyone else's doesn't really concern me. "You got very welcoming coments and honestly 90% has nothing to do with your shot." I am wondering what you know that perhaps no one else knows here. An asumption, but you see, it doesn't matter, them, you, doesn't matter. Most of success, is simply being in the running, it is not always the most talented that suceed, and besides what is success? If it is not your own defination, something is wrong. Yes, much is socializing, the whole world is very much about socializing, and also it is about going inside onesself, both worlds are very much the same. We actually project our inner world's outward, creating our experieinces. Our perceptions create that.... I say , again, trust yourself. Pin up your work, and look at it, you will learn, your eye will develop, and you may see something new that no one has ever seen before. Remember what Einstein said, Imagination is more important than education. ( or knowledge) And so my dear, it is...! Love what you do! below...link to my blogs, you see, not many comments on my blogs, but I did it for me,. not for anyone else...to experiment, to learn, to explore.. arms akimbo, is my ceramic art work, included, morphed from play..I can assure you, art is more expression than it is learning..what a dry bone learning is...

Dear jerez .....sorry for it, but you missed my point....perhaps my english is not good enough to make my question understandable.

This tread suppose to be talking about how is your family or friend see your work, what they think of your photographs, which way they encourage you.  Absolutely I have no intention to get R.R place involve now.  I am not saying I don't care what they say...of corse I do. It is all about opinnion of those who's suround you at home or in the office or where ever....if you have any!

(quote)   "I am wondering what you know that perhaps no one else knows here. "  

I never claimed I know so much of photography or any other stuff....did I?  I have a " thirst " for photography knowledge and untill my last breath I will seek it . I have to finish here because you not concern  what my or others oppinion anyway. I save my time for those ppl.

Have a lovely day and enjoy a holiday 
seeya  Tunde

PS: Kort  or Bruce, if you think this tread went too far just close it please.....I got a few respond I happy for that...thank you and thanks for those who understand what was this tread about!

Hi Tunde,
My husband thinks they are a mix of great and duds, my family shrug and talk about basketball and the camera club I am in have had mixed reactions from really good to 'that one is ummmm really bad.' I guess it depends on the shot. Some of my friends really like them and say 'WOW!" I don't mind which reactions I get as long as I like the shot. Jenny.

Jenny! You said it....long as you happy with a shot....that is a most important!  I have a few favs even others think it isn't my best!

seeya  Tunde

What people like is not always the best... Actually it very seldom is. You won't find the best music in the Top 40 charts either. In time you develop your own vision and you come forward with what you regard as your best work... the work that shows best what you are and how you see things around you... regardless of other people's approval.

'You can write your own music or use someone elses work and still be in the "top 40"....as for me, I hold more respect for the artists who does his or her own music, like the Beatles did. ' 

In photography, I take each image as it is, Tunde.   Folks will look at some of mine and say, "You should be doing this professionally!" and that is scary since I am very far from that level artistically.   Sure, I can do a shot like the photo mill studios..if that is what professional means.

Other people see a photo and simply.."humm...why did you take a picture of that?"   The artist in me likes it..even if some others don't have a clue.  Still, for it to be successful with others, if that is what you want, some must like it or at least respect the artistry.

I will try to be more critical in constructive ways from this day on.   Sometimes, I simply do not criticize, feeling a bit inadequate to do so unless the faults are very obvious.       Thanks! Tom.

Tunda, I was addressing your situation where you were looking for feedback from family or friends by saying that opinions from outside are not so important. A compliment is nice if it is sincere, but to be interested in ones own expression and ability to imagine and to learn from that is much more important. It is what I have taught innumerable students in art classes to open them to themselves, and I was sincere and encouraging, but perhaps you misunderstood what I was saying, sorry if I wasn't clear. Enjoy!

My family is very supportive of my photography. My wife is my biggest fan, but she's not afraid to tell me when a photo sucks. She also tries to plan for outings and vacations where I'll have an opportunity to take some photos of out of the ordinary things. I am encouraged to do what I like with it, as long as I occasionally take some family shots too. And she lets me spend time in Photoshop and on Renderosity. How much more supportive can you get? :)

Attached Link: http://thinkingoutsoft.blogspot.com/

Oh Kramer, that sounds like the best kind of support, arranging places to go to shoot photos. How wonderful. My daughter loves my photography, and asks for photos of mine for her home or office. She tells me that people ask about the photographs, and I guess that, too, is supportive.

Yes, count on family, for both the good and the bad. I am glad to hear your daughter is supportive...I hope mine will be. :)

Oh Kramer, I've seen your photos, and they are lifegiving, I am sure your daughter, however old she is now, is impressed by your visual captures and it will long influence the course of her life! I've noticed that children who live with interesting art on the walls learn to look up sooner than those who don't have it, especially if you carry them around to each photo or painting, print, whatever, as an infant, and say the name, of it. Infants within a few weeks time will turn their heads to that work when you say the name.They develop a way of seeing early on, a real eye for movement, and art, and expression. So how old is your daughter???? lol

hmmm  just reading through the thread kept me thinking...nice one, Tunde...smile....

As to my family... a great variety in this, some of them are not interested at all, some of them like only special themes, like landscapes but dont like other themes, like my little still lives...lol... and my sister in law is a photography addict too but she mainly takes shots of her family for documentation and plants of all sorts and we had not much time until now to really talk about, what photography means to each of us. Writing this, I know this is something I will change soon.
My husband is supporting me in giving me as much time of the sparse time we two have for us as I need to go out and shoot or to be here in RR, even if its midnight...grin.. cause he knows, what it means to me. He sometimes has a totally diffrent taste concerning the photos I do, especially when they are more abstract or too close up for his liking... He really is supporting in other ways too, as he has bought new bigger discs for the server we have, so all my shots will be safe...grin.. and he honestly gives his opinion to my experiments with framing or what shot I should upload.
My father is very supporting too and loves to take shots too, he has taken shots for documentation since I was a little child and so all of his four children have a complete documentation from birth till 18th birthday completed by the stories my mother collected and I guess this is very rare to have...smile... For him photography is a medium to take shots of what he loves or finds fascinating to keep as a memory, including lots of shots of the mountain he sees from his working room in all possible weathers and moods or lots of shots of the special dinner dish decorations he has done for my mother, or even shots of a carpet, where he sees faces in, or the sky with special clouds which trigger his phantasy. The most important for him is to have a tiny cam easy to handle, so he can carry it with him all the time.
He likes to see my shots and gives his opinion on it and of course he likes most those shots, where his phantasy can roam freely... So I printed out some of my shots presented here to hang on the wall opposite to his bed, when he was in hospital and he was so glad he had something  he liked to look at and to let his phantasy play with in the long hours he had to stay there.  And he asked me to do a shot of him in his room, made a poem and asked me to combine photo and words and print them out for handing it with a little gift of money to the nurses in the hospital who cared for him.
Some of my shots are to "artistic" for him, meaning to abstract and he says so...lol...
Oki, thats my 5 pence to it...smile

Hmm.....well my family is basically telling me i´m wasting both my time and money on something completely "useless" that i´d be better off putting more time and money into fixing up my house or what not......so i reckon that falls under the category as "None encouraging" huh? :tt2:

Oh no...Andreas... you are certainly not wasting time and money!!!... Don't let them discourage you, please!  Fixing the house is useful, yes, but one has to have something not only useful or practical buy joyful and inspiring and recreative... you just can't do useful things all the time...

Hi Tunde, my hubby is great at telling me if he likes a shot. Honesty is hard to be/give, but gratefully received.   Sometimes because i like a particular place or shot i get too attached to it.  Then i ask some friends/hubby independently and they usually say WOW to something else.  I use this when im having a go at club competitions and give them a choice of ten shots and i see what they pick.  Its often not the one i like best!!  Criticisim is hard to give/receive as some people take it the wrong way.  You are quite right and brave in asking for such!!  Cheers form Louise.

@ Kort, your wife realy suportive  I would say you lucky, but these outing is good for akiddies as well, before you know your angel ganna ask for a camera for herself, than a real pleasure coming for Daddy to teach her all the little trucks. You vwife taking shot too, does she uploading here too?

@ Ulla. You got support...backup...sound like photography is runs in a blood in your family. Good to know other hubbies out there taking their wifes out for nightshots too. Feels good when they don't let you go alone, make sure no harm comes a sake of a cool photo.

@ Andreas.....I admire your strong will, without supports you go out and taking shots like no other. 

@jerez! Your daughter like your work in her office or home....you don't need better support...this is a best! 

seeyus  Tunde

@Lou! I know what you mean, my hubby knows me and most of the time knows why I take 'that" shot, so of corse he is ganna say it is beautifull, because he doesn't want to hurt my feeling about a shot. I got surprise sometimes, what friends think is a good picture it is doesn't grab me at all....nice yeah...but nothing more and they like it.  

Ulla sai right, can not be waist what makes us happy. 

To Andreas.....they will change their mind when a little nanuk will arrive, everybody will want some photos...LOL....just watch them fight over the best shot of a cute darling smile!

seeyus  Tunde and thax the effort put into this tread...I like it!

Tunde, this is a fine thread!   What kind of responses I get depends on the audience.  For instance, at the veterinarians office I showed some of my best cat portriats.  All were raves and they are the ones who said I should do that and offer the service.  Fine idea but they likely don't know how tough it is to get animals to cooperate in an "in-house" setting.   Still, I truly appreciated the comments because they "appreciated" the subject matter.

Then, at a family event, I shot a couple of nephews splashing up a good time in a small plastic blow-up pool.   My mother-in-law said to one young nephew, "You ruined the picture. This time, stand still and smile!"  My pic was the kid splashing, making a face.  My pic had the human interest part and the kid part...yet my loved mom-in-law is trained to think pictures must be posed and smiles.  Alas.

Then, there is the subject "can of worms" of craft or art.   To me, for a photo to be good, it must be well crafted, technically correct as can be for the situation.   Many are fine craftspersons of photos with all technically correct.  Some of these folks create artistic work and others do not, preferring to make techincally correct landscapes, etc.      

The artistry concept is what feeds my creative spirit yet the technical must be mastered or at least advanced to show the artistic to its value.    My tehnically correct photos are the ones most folks will say, "oooh and ahhh" about and generally of kids, amimals, landscapes, flowers, etc. 

The just as well crafted ones depicting shadow, repitition of of forms, what ever...these receive less comment and are less understood.  These are not the photos seen on the "Parade Magazine" photo contest or in the defunct back page of "Life" magazine.  These are the ones I hold dear for my own contentment..both craft and artistry of concept and presentation.

A few artistic friends will see one of the more "arty" shots and make fine comments and even critiize or discuss...while the general viewers will not see it for what I do.  The will give the usual comments heard at art museums.."humm"..."I like something about it"..."they call THIS art?"..."interesting"...or even the great copout..."ahh, whimsical work".

So, this is my essay to the thread.   Great thread, btw. (00ps, said that twice!)         Your friend in the USA,  Tom.

My family is very supportive in as much as they did not report me to the police yet! :b_funny:

Kidding, but most of them would say "This is good, but I don't have that kind of money for a camera!" So they are very well aware of my camera's worth and if I thus follow their reasoning and buy a  more expensive cam, I will have improved as a photographer. LOL

Serious now: I do two things for family which I find extremely valuable.

First I make A4 size prints of my better work I want them to evaluate and I laminate them and throw them on the coffee table where we socialize. Here they pick it up, everybody has an equal opportunity to air his view and they don't feel I put them on the spot. Then I listen...

Secondly I use my grandkids (girls) who are teens now and they are live(ly) experiments. They tell me how a pose should have been done, lips, eyes etc and they would show me how to do it, while we page through the family photos. Alternatively we page through glamour magazines.

I know this is not a forum thread to show off pics but in all humbleness I want to show you the results of a photo Jolene and I did on Sunday afternoon. She chose to let her earrings and eyes take the stage here against a strong backlight - she was part of all the decisions. Bear in mind I am not in the business of taking portraits! You be the judge if her advice is worth a dime.

Happy shooting with the family, not at them...

@busi2ness....wonderful shot...and a very pretty girl!  I would say that her advice speaks for itself here.  Well done, congrats to both of you for the collaboration!

Thank You Piet to join a " confession "! LOL

Well sure she gave you some good advise. This shot is very classy, not too much in your face, just a hint youngness mixed with a good light from a side. I like it!

seeya  Tunde

Nicely done, Piet.