new beginnings

Hi,
Stephen has already said that the random photos will not be back because of the effect it has on the speed of the site.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=663477#post663477
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=663402#post663402

One of the main reasons for this thread was to try and find new ideas for promoting greater interest in images without the penalty of slowing the site down.

Kim

ClaremontPhoto said:
I too miss the Random photos feature on the front page.

As well as reinstating that I wonder if the software could be reconfigured to show the top five most popular recent photos?
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Kim Coxon:

Thank you for that information.

Such a shame about Random Photos, and such a loss. Especially when photos are expected to come more to the forefront here.
 
I stopped posting images in the RFF gallery because I have all my photos worth posting online on Flickr and it's too much trouble to resize my photos just to upload here. I don't mind posting a link to a photo in my Flickr gallery in a thread, though, and have done so in several W/NW threads.

The other reason is because I haven't been shooting with rangefinders that much lately, mostly either my point-and-shoots or my digital camera, so many of my photos don't fit the "rangefinder requirement," so to speak.

EDIT: It would be nice to see more photography talk and less gear talk, so I welcome this development wholeheartedly.
 
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DougK said:
I stopped posting images in the RFF gallery because I have all my photos worth posting online on Flickr and it's too much trouble to resize my photos just to upload here. I don't mind posting a link to a photo in my Flickr gallery in a thread, though, and have done so in several W/NW threads.

The other reason is because I haven't been shooting with rangefinders that much lately, mostly either my point-and-shoots or my digital camera, so many of my photos don't fit the "rangefinder requirement," so to speak.

EDIT: It would be nice to see more photography talk and less gear talk, so I welcome this development wholeheartedly.
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And that brings up a question that I think was first broached by sitemistic; are only RF photos allowed, or can SLR or even digital ( 😱 ) be allowed? I am sort of inclined to film based at least, but would enjoy hearing comments/suggestions.
 
As I see it, I think the idea is to try and strike a balance. It would be nice to have more photos easily visible but it has to be affordable and not slow the site too much. That comes down to bandwidth. Perhaps a seperate section where random photos come up? Weekly/Monthly/brand type theme competitions? I don't have the answers and hence the purpose of throwing open fr ideas. It will not suit everyone whatever happens. Some will not want to take part or won't want to resize for this site. Some will always be gearheads.

As Stephen said when he introduced it, neither he nor the mods have the time to run it. IMHO, it needs to be something that many are involved in and not just a few. That was one of the reasons I suggested a series of mini competitions in which the winner set the theme etc for the next. In that way, fresh ideas would be introduced and it would not rely on the preferences of just a couple of people running it and it would also share the workload and would mean that at least all the entries get at least one critique.

As to RF/SLR/P+S or Film/Digital, I don't know. To say no digital rules out the M8 and RD1. To say RF only could rule out some very interesting images which could give inspiration. But then again it doesn't have to be only one critique/comp etc. It will depend on how it is organised/supported. I wouldn't like the think it became dSLR only. There is another forum for that. 😉 Long telephoto shots and macro work are perhaps not what this forum is about.

Perhaps the important thing at the moment is to fiels all the ideas and then sort out rules/limitations etc about the equipment.

Kim
 
Would it slow the site down too much if JUST the single most recent image that was uploaded to the gallery was displayed on the front page?
 
pesphoto said:
Would it slow the site down too much if JUST the single most recent image that was uploaded to the gallery was displayed on the front page?
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The main page already has ten photos of equipment for sale, plus advertisements for about ten companies, plus the RFF banner graphics.

Something to represent imagery wouldn't add anything significant bandwith-wise.
 
Keith said:
I find the general lack of interest in 'gallery pics for the week' disappointing ... some weeks it's lucky to get a dozen posts. I also see some noteworthy pics go through the gallery that draw no comment, supportive or otherwise!

I really hope this move turns the situation around a little. 🙂
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I agree - I will say though, that the way the gallery is organized (or not) and the fact that it's a bit buried within the site - especially without the "random gallery pics" on the main page - makes this a difficult task.

I look forward to seeing where we go with this.
 
originally, we didn't have a gallery.
then jorge set one up and it was sort of seperate from the main rff pages complete with a seperate sign in etc.
then he found a way to merge them both with one sign in.

i'm no programer etc...but i'm guessing that anything that strays from how the gallery is now set up would require a major reworking of the software or completely different software altogether.

if jorge reads this maybe you could explain it better than my feeble attempt?

joe
 
A more images related talk would be interesting. I post some comments to the photo in gallery, sometimes i don't because for not native english speaking a comment risk to be misunderstood, it is not always simple to explain concepts in a different language (at least for me).Please keep in mind that a real comment sometimes could have an improvement suggestion, but not knowing the photographer, his personality, there is the risk to "disturb" someone and in this case I prefer not to comment. I like this place, beside th RF cameras, because it still is quiet enough...
Anyway interesting idea, Iìll try to give a contribution.
robert
 
Concerning posting photos/using the RFF Gallery, there's a thread here (no pun intended): the desire for commonality of format/image size with other services like Flickr.

I haven't uploaded to the Gallery in a while, I'll have to admit, so I don't recall exactly - but I think that I needed to be very specific about image dimensions and sizes in a way that was particularly different from the requirements at Flickr. It might be attractive if an image already formatted for Flickr (for example) could be eligible for upload to RFF.

Someone already mentioned the idea of a "plugin" module for vBulletin or similar that could do auto-resizing or such; such a thing would make the fiddly bit about prepping for upload go away.

Then again, there are something like 50k images in the Gallery, so perhaps I'm barking up the wrong tree here. At any rate, this talk has me excited about posting images again. I'm not so much into contests, but critiques are VERY useful.


Cheers,
--joe.
 
Kim Coxon said:
Hi,
Stephen has already said that the random photos will not be back because of the effect it has on the speed of the site.
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Yeah but if PBase or Flickr or any photo site can do it...
 
Just a couple of thoughts:

- this is the third thread on the subject and each thread emphasizes that RFF wants to be more than a "gear head" forum. Keep emphasizing it and you will keep making a wrong point and keep being critizised for being a gear head. IMO, many of the famous photographers (HCB, AA, etc.) were "gear heads", BTW.

- what's the goal, and specifically what do we want to achieve photographically ? If we want to learn from each other, having teachers among our own rows would be great, and picking them according to genre, etc. will be important. For example, I always felt that RFF was too street and B+W focused. I browsed an encyclopedia on famous Life Magazine photographers yesterday. While most of them shot RFs, less than half could be considered street photographers, IMO. Lots of portraits of course, many color photos, etc.

- what's the process ? So there is a group that will think about what can/should be done. Will they need the owner's approval for RFF changes/additions, will it be a democratic process, etc. Is this group the group of teachers, or will teachers be elected separately ? Etc.

Roland.
 
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robert blu said:
A more images related talk would be interesting. I post some comments to the photo in gallery, sometimes i don't because for not native english speaking a comment risk to be misunderstood, it is not always simple to explain concepts in a different language (at least for me).Please keep in mind that a real comment sometimes could have an improvement suggestion, but not knowing the photographer, his personality, there is the risk to "disturb" someone and in this case I prefer not to comment. I like this place, beside th RF cameras, because it still is quiet enough...
Anyway interesting idea, Iìll try to give a contribution.
robert
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That's OK Robert, some of us have trouble explaining concepts in our native language... (I know I do, that's why I work with computers instead of writting for a living).

Since the gallery preview went away, I must admit I haven't spent enough time looking through the gallery. Anything that makes that easier would be great.
 
ferider said:
<snip>

- what's the goal, and specifically what do we want to achieve photographically ? If we want to learn from each other, having teachers among our own rows would be great, and picking them according to genre, etc. will be important. For example, I always felt that RFF was too street and B+W focused.

<snip>

Roland.
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One of the reasons I haven't started a gallery is that I don't do street shooting, although I am a big fan of Black and White. I may have to dig out some of the railroad shots I've done on rangefinder. I should probably start on the other site, as the majority of my decent stuff is digital or SLR.
 
To my unasked opinion DougK and planetjoe - like mfogiel did before - gave the answer to a very important question on the way to a more picture related rff: What makes members with outstsanding pictures leave rff and post them on - for example - flickr ?

As long as Stephen says all changes must be within the existing shape and function of the forum there might be a little problem. It seems to be too complicated to load up pictures and the gallery is a little bit hidden to become attractive. Maybe this has to be changed in a direction Marek, Doug and Joe mentioned even it means a little change of shape and function - I have no idea how this works maybe someone else does ...

Thomas
 
NB23 said:
Guys, please don't make it complicated and please don't cut the contests by the kind of gear to be used. An image is an image.
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If it were a poetry contest, the language would "cut the contest". Should Mandarin poems be judged the same as those written in Greek? A poem is a poem, right? But rules are there for a reason, and limiting a poem contest to a language, or a photography contest to its creator apparatus isn't really "cutting" anything, except chaos.

In either case, what happened to the Words/No Words forum? There are lots of threads there. Granted, not many people participate, and the vast majority fizzle.

Edit: typo.
 
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How about we nix the gallery and upload to flikr, maybe a dedicated group page. I know there is one curently running, and that would handle the objections everybody has to how things are run here. A link could be added on the home page that would show the most recent images uploaded and also allow you to see images in peoples galleries not taken with RFs if they have them.

m2cents,
Todd
 
kalokeri said:
To my unasked opinion DougK and planetjoe - like mfogiel did before - gave the answer to a very important question on the way to a more picture related rff: What makes members with outstsanding pictures leave rff and post them on - for example - flickr ?
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Lack of feedback. Lots and lots of great images just pass by the forum. No comments mean either they're being ignored, they suck, or "all of the above". Then there are certain clicks, people who only comment on other people they know. I guess it's something learned in Junior High Schools, can't get rid of that in certain cultures.

The gallery would be more awesome if people were a little more involved. I am guilty of that too, for I hardly peruse the RFF gallery. And that's mainly because there's a certain apathy (per lack of commentary/discussion) that just makes you not go there, if you're really into photography, not just into dumping images onto a repository.
 
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