Gallery comments

[DaiTheDragon]

Since joining this great forum I think the photography section has improved greatly. Image quality, diversity and quantity have all gone up.
I am beginning to wonder though if we (myself included) are getting so used to high quality images that they don’t get the comments they deserve. If I were to comment on every photograph that deserved it, it would take me ages and would end up running out things to say.
Maybe a photograph could be rated by the number of views it has instead of the old star system we had.
I apologise for not commenting more often, but as I say above it’s getting harder to pick out that special image.

Dai

[aestarte]

i think the gallery is amazing, particularly the spiders, I really didnt realize we (U.K) had that many species and because I spend so much time looking at them and learning about them my arachnaphobia has vertually gone (dont think those mother of all house spiders will ever be my best friends) I think I already thanked Venger and the other spider fans for that. The quality of all the photos has to be commended and everyone who uploaded the pics and took the time doing so should all have an outstanding virtual standing ovation, well done guys I have never seen so many great photos all in one place. Fi. X X X X

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by DaiTheDragon

Since joining this great forum I think the photography section has improved greatly. Image quality, diversity and quantity have all gone up.
I am beginning to wonder though if we (myself included) are getting so used to high quality images that they don’t get the comments they deserve.
Dai

I couldn't agree more Dai.

For some time now I have thought that although as you said the quality has improved and diversity and quantity have gone up there are less people commenting on them. I'm probably just as guilty on not commenting myself.

Maybe because WAB is first and foremost a wildlife sight rather than a photography site is the reason why the photos probably don't get the recognition in way of comments they deserve.

Just my thoughts anyway
Roger

[Brocker]

I think it is good to see WABers efforts in capturing on camera the flora and fauna they all care for. It takes great skill and I think it is great to share the practices that get that magical wildlife image. I have learned more about all aspects of British Flora and Fauna through showing my images on this site than anywhere else. It gives me incentive to get up early and get out there. . . . Maybe we could give a star rating to images in the gallery if that is possble. 1 star being the lowest and 5 stars being the highest. Not sure if that is possible to administer and whether it is in agreement with WAB members. Just a thought.

[ron1863]

Great point. I know that I comment on a fair amount of photos that I think are excellent, but there are so many nowadays, that I could spend hours just writing comments.
Dai's idea is excellent but I hope that this system would not deter people from commenting on others photographs.

[matt_xyz]

I agree that the number of comments on images appears to have declined in recent months - I haven't actually seen the figures but it seems to be the case. I think this is unfortunate, but probably understandable to an extent.

We experimented with a star rating system in the past but abandoned it when it became clear that one person's idea of a 5 rated image was not necessarily the same as another person's! It all became a bit meaningless and the scoring was fairly random.

A discussion of how to signal the quality of images comes up every few months and it's something us mods have thought about long and hard. The bottom line is that none of the options are ideal, both from an administrative 'hassle' point of view and from the point of view of being a reliable signal of quality.

Matt

[Brocker]

Thanks for that Matt. . . I understand this is a difficult one. Maybee we should all make a New Years Resolution to place a comment about members photos. From personal experience, it helps me a great deal with my photography, not just to receive comments but to also help others with my knowledge.

[pressld2]

Well I shall certainly make an effort to comment more often. I'm always dead chuffed when someone posts a compliment about one of mine even though I know there are loads better already in the gallery from other people.

Ever since I started uploading images I've been fascinated to see which ones get the most views and it seems to be the spiders that are very popular. Six out of the ten most viewed images in my gallery are spiders, with a cellar spider in the number one spot. Which surprised me a bit as I'd have thought that bird images would have been more popular. Perhaps it's just that there are many more birds than spiders in the gallery so people have many more images to choose from?

Dave P.

[glsammy]

As Matt said, we've played around with various options. We'd started nominating our own favourites with an Editors gallery, plus tried resurrecting the ratings system. Unfortunately it all disappeared when the Gallery was updated, but by then it was already becoming clear the job of rating over 30,000 images was just too time consuming, and inaccurate.

I wish we could come up with something to liven it up, and get more members commenting.

[DaiTheDragon]

We could just rate them in the comment such as **** out of ten and say why, as long as people dont mind critisism.

Dai

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by DaiTheDragon

Since joining this great forum I think the photography section has improved greatly. Image quality, diversity and quantity have all gone up.
I am beginning to wonder though if we (myself included) are getting so used to high quality images that they don’t get the comments they deserve. If I were to comment on every photograph that deserved it, it would take me ages and would end up running out things to say.
Maybe a photograph could be rated by the number of views it has instead of the old star system we had.
I apologise for not commenting more often, but as I say above it’s getting harder to pick out that special image.

Dai

I think it is because there are sooo many really good pictures - particularly of birds, dragonflies and butterflies I tend to only comment on ones that are really quite different because otherwise I feel like I'd be commenting lots and lots and the comments would start to become very samey.

I don know that when my family comment on my pics being good..... I sigh a little as there are only a very few that I can put up against the gorgeous ones we are so lucky to have so many of in the gallery!

[Susie]

I hope some people aren't put off posting their photographs because they don't think they are technically good enough in comparison to the other pictures in the gallery.

Some of the photographs there are of such a high professional standard there is no way that an amateur such as myself could ever match them but I know that when I am searching the gallery for images because I have something I want to identify and I need comparison pics the amateur shots are just as important as the professionals if it is a rare subject.

Anyhoo, keep posting your wonderful photographs, people. If they are good enough to be allowed in the gallery in the first place then that should be compliment enough (although it is always nice to get extra comments)

[agrumpycow]

Originally Posted by DaiTheDragon

Since joining this great forum I think the photography section has improved greatly.
Maybe a photograph could be rated by the number of views it has instead of the old star system we had.

Dai

The only fault with that way is that for a long time my most viewed photo was the one of me in the members gallery

I can assure you there was nothing good about that photo

[demicav]

I know this sounds crazy but I'm still getting used to the new gallery. The old one was easier for me but I will persevere. The standard of the images are just as good.

[dmclean2]

Hi All
I thought I was doing great with my photos, untill I started looking on WAB,
Talk about being humbled,,, I felt like erasing quite a lot of them and starting again, but I resisted that temptation and now strive to get my standard of photography up a couple of notches to get on to the bottom rung,
I agree with all the comments WAB photos are excellent,
Duncan