A suggestion to improve the usefulness of the forum

[Dave_S]

While being very new to this forum, but the co-owner of an astro-photography forum, I can't help noticing the lack of information accompanying many of the images 'posted' here.

I would like to think that this forum is more about discussing EOS photography, and all that it encompasses, as opposed to being just another place to post your latest image.

From a photography enthusiasts perspective, an image without as a minimum, saying what equipment it was taken with, conveys nothing useful, other than being able to admire it as a picture. A bit like you would do at a photo exhibition.

Maybe I am wrong, but is not a forum based on a technical subject, more about exchanging ideas and experiences with like minded people, and helping those new to the hobby along the 'learning curve'.

A great picture, taken with say a 300D and a 'kit lens', is real encouragement to a newcomer with entry level equipment (I'm sure we all started there), demonstrating that in practiced hands, quite good results can be achieved without spending 'mega money'.

A picture posted without any information, conveys nothing, other than its quality and artistic attributes.

There is without doubt, some very interesting discussion here, along with good advice being provided by members, which is what encouraged me to join. However, IMO, this offset by images that are 'posted' without any relevant details to accompany them.

Making just that little bit of extra effort, to tell us what you used to achieve your image, would IMO be a great improvement to the value of this forum.

Please take this in the constructive manner in which it is intended. It is not my place or intention to criticise.

Sorry if posting this here is not the correct place, but there doesn't seem to be a suggestion section, as such.

Kind regards

Dave

[jonesgj]

Re: A suggestion to improve the usefulness of the forum

I tend to agree Dave. It's often useful to see what kit has been used and some of the basic exif too.

[tesarver]

I also would have to agree with Dave's comment.

Tom

[Applefan]

Re: A suggestion to improve the usefulness of the forum

spot on Dave!
I am on a steep learning curve and always like to know how images were achieved. All members have to date been happy to give this information when asked but it would be far better if the information was always there for all to see.
Lets hope all members all try to take this onboard.

[Hereford_EOS2]

Re: A suggestion to improve the usefulness of the forum

I also agree.
Camera, lens, shutterspeed, etc... would be useful.

[Dave_S]

Re: A suggestion to improve the usefulness of the forum

Thanks for your support on this guys.

Its such an easy improvement to make, taking very little effort, but conveys so much to the viewer.

With astro-imaging, the complexities are much greater, where we talk in hours for exposure times, and digital image processing is quite involved.

Therefore it is important, that those with knowledge and experience, convey this to those further down the 'learning curve'. The culture on our forum is one of giving constructive feedback on posted images, as opposed to 'mutual back patting'. This is a great help to the imager.

There is no reason that a terrestrial photography forum should be any different, and this particular forum seems to have all of the other attributes, to make it an excellent resource for EOS equipped photography enthusiasts.

I have been astro-imaging for over ten years, and I'm still learning. The same goes for digital terrestrial photography.

Dave

[Stan]

Re: A suggestion to improve the usefulness of the forum

Its a good idea Dave but as its voluntary I tend to be a bit lazy and as some do, posting half a dozen shots on a thread, may be a bit time consuming. The two other forums I regularly subscribe to, one it is compulsory to include the exif and the other automatically inserts it for you - I wonder if its possible to do something similar here ?

Stan

[Robert Scott]

Re: A suggestion to improve the usefulness of the forum

Since the first post was made I have been looking to see if there is some way of displaying the EXIF data automatically. I've had no success so far - but that does not mean it can't be done (apologies for the double negative).

Stan: can you give me lnks to the two forums you mention? Seeing how other sites handle features often helps.

[Dave_S]

Re: A suggestion to improve the usefulness of the forum

Thanks for your interest in this one Robert, it is certainly appreciated by me, and also many other members I'm sure.

Auto insertion of the data would be an ideal solution, but if not possible with this particular forum software (they all vary), then manual insertion of even basic info would still be very useful.

Stan, I can understand that it could be a chore when posting multiple images, but even the camera and lens used, would be better than no information at all.

I guess its the difference between the posted image sections of the forum, being just a 'showcase' of peoples work, much like 'Flicker' etc, or part of forum for enthusiastic EOS equipment users.

Regards

Dave

[Stan]

Re: A suggestion to improve the usefulness of the forum

Stan: can you give me lnks to the two forums you mention? Seeing how other sites handle features often helps.

canon fodder forums is the one where it is compusory to include exif - not too much of a chore as they only allow one image per thread to start with.
Nature Photo Hub is the one where exif is extracted automatically - they do not accept external hosted images, all have to be uploaded directly from your hard drive which may make it easier to programme the software to extract the exif

Stan

[Les McLean]

Re: A suggestion to improve the usefulness of the forum

Most browsers have extensions/plugins that enable you to see exif information regarding an image here's one using an exif viewer in Chrome Browser, using right click to bring up exif info on an image



I always mention the equipment used, and used to present the shooting info, but I assumed most folk would be using some kind of plug-in (probably wrongly ) that I stopped providing the info.

To enable this to happen though, you have to make sure the editing program doesn't strip the exif data from the image, so in CS5 when saving for web, you need to have 'all metadata' ticked so the exif info is saved with the image, I don't think it's done by default?

[Robert Scott]

Re: A suggestion to improve the usefulness of the forum

I've gone with the simple option for the moment. A notice has been posted asking members to add technical information when displaying images.

[Robert Scott]

Re: A suggestion to improve the usefulness of the forum

Most browsers have extensions/plugins that enable you to see exif information regarding an image here's one using an exif viewer in Chrome Browser, using right click to bring up exif info on an image

Thanks Les. This never occurred to me. I've just added the 'EXIF Viewer' extension to Firefox and it works well with external and internal links (as long as the EXIF data is there in the first place, of course). However, it would still be good if members provided technical data - a belt and braces approach.

Incidentally, for those of us using Macs, Control-click is the equivalent of the PC Right-click.

[Mazzie]

Re: A suggestion to improve the usefulness of the forum

I agree with your initial comments. Still being new to photography and wanting to learn all the time, I look at all the images posted here and think. 'I wonder if I could take a picture like that?' or 'wow how on earth did they do that?' I use Opanda to read the Exif data but unfortunately this information is not always present and without any comment from the poster it's difficult for me to grasp the complexities involved when taking a particular shot. Whilst it's lovely to see shots of places and things I have never or may never see, I want to understand what was involved and how it was taken so that I can try and replicate something similar. I like to see what fellow forum members can do with a camera like mine, and I also like to see what a 7D or 5Dmk3 is capable of in the right hands. Always something for me to aspire to. I have learned so much on this forum, and whilst I am not technical at all (and yes some of the discussions on focal lengths have baffled me a little) I think I can learn so much more. I haven't posted so many pictures but when I have the Exif data is there. This also helps because forum members can say... 'I see you used F this or that and your ISO was x, why not try xyz next time?' So please post information about your pictures to help this lady learn some more :)

[Robert Scott]

Re: A suggestion to improve the usefulness of the forum

I've just changed my EXIF viewer add-on to FxIF Data – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/fxif/
It gives a neater and clearer EXIF data display than EXIF Viewer I mentioned above.

Perhaps other members can give details of their favourite EXIF data add-on or extension for Firefox and other browsers.

Thanks again to Les for mentioning this feature. It seems to be the ideal solution for this forum - though it would still be good if members could type brief technical details for displayed images.