new beginnings

DougK said:
I don't find the gallery hard to upload to or to navigate. I have found that most of my shots, after editing, resizing, and compressing, come out to about 400K; trying to fit them into 300K files or smaller is simply a pain in the butt and involves more compromises with image quality than I'm willing to make.
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If I have a TIFF open in Photoshop and want to put it in the gallery, I go into Image Size, change the longest dimension to 1000 pixels; Save As and rename the file and save it as a jpeg quality 8.
The gallery seems to happy to accept them this way and they look fine for internet viewing to me.
 
CameraQuest said:
Guys,

As mentioned in the opening Volunteer thread, any changes will be made within the existing form and function of the site. Extensive programming changes are not going to be done.

Neither will RFF become like Flickr. Neither will the gallery be replaced by Flickr.

The doable goal is to make RFF a better imagery site with more images emphasis.

This is a discussion thread for ideas, ideally to be lead by the six volunteers who have agreed to help it happen, and keep it happening. But of course any member is welcome to contribute.

Before any changes are made, let's kick around ideas and see what we come up with. The decision what to try first will be made my myself, the mods, and the image promo guys. Over time, if we try things that don't work so well, we will shelve it and try something else. Possible solutions are fluid and changeable over time.

Stephen
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I guess I missed the announcement, those six volunteers are.....?

I'm just offering an opinion as a member, take it or leave it. It seems that using flickr to house the images solves alot of issues that other members have complained about for years. I belong to a few other sites that do it this way and it seems to work well for them. It also saves server space, not sure if that's an issue or not.

good luck corraling this "circle of confusion" 😉
 
photogdave said:
Flickr has already been caught red-handed letting one of its user's images to be used in a major advertising campaign in Australia. There is wording in the agreement that gives Flickr some license over your images (permission to post them on the site) but I'm not sure there is any such language here. Please correct me if I am wrong!
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Flickr wasn't caught doing anything. Flickr did not let the major advertiser use the images. Flickr is not named in the lawsuits. The photographer (not Flickr) chose to license his photos for commercial use even though he did not have a model release from his subject(s). The major advertiser did not perform due diligence as to whether or not the model had signed a release.

Any intellectual property you post on the internet can be stolen and misused. One you post it, you no longer have control. Flickr can use your images on their site. They can feature them in areas of Flickr that new vistors are likey to spend time. That's it. Visitors to Flickr can steal your photos with screen-capture software even if you actively prohibit downloading in your account. They can do that here too, or anywhere else.

The RFF Gallery is so obscure, your images are safer here. On the plus side RFF Gallery photos are not easily found (if at all) using Google images. But they are can be abused if someone wants to misuse them.
 
Mr Gandy's intent seems clear to me. Without modifying great gobs of existing code, and without using external photo-sharing sites, he wants to expand RFF's discussions to include the aesthetic and artistic aspects of photography.

I think Mr. Gandy's goals and vision are on target for both the members and the site. I sincerely applaud his leadership. Unfortunately the cumbersome Gallery software will impede RFF's ability to reach these goals. Still, it is reasonable to try and expand RFFs aesthetic activities with full knowledge that the current Gallery software is a handicap (maybe even a significant handicap). The only thing at risk is wasted time. But lots of well-intended experiments end up wasting time. (I just wasted 18 months trying to model a certain kind of MRI data – but I digress). You won't know until you try.

My guess is that in 3 to 12 months Mr. Gandy will realize that either RFF will remain an equipment oriented site, or RFF will have to implement a more radical change in how members share and view their work.

willie
 
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CameraQuest said:
Guys,

As mentioned in the opening Volunteer thread, any changes will be made within the existing form and function of the site. Extensive programming changes are not going to be done.
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I have to say, this is not good news.

The current gallery system is really bad. Sorry but thats the way I feel. It uploads "copies" of photos to other albums instead of linking the same image. So then you get two sets of the same image with different comments. I find that extremely annoying.

I dont want copies of my images in other albums of mine... i want the same image with the same comments in whatever albums i specify.


Seriously.. it would be worth it to look for a better gallery system. No joke. I bet the majority of users would definately upload more if the system was better.
 
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Im not crazy about the flickr idea. It makes sense, but it is a blocked site for me at work. i know....i should be working at work, but rff AND it's gallery help get me thru the day. Of course this shouldnt be a deciding factor. If this is how it goes, I'll take part. Dont forget we do have our W/NW forum here and to be honest that is where I look most on rff for the best images here.
 
1. In the Salon I can see just seven photos, of which four have a single vote each and the other three nothing.

2. In the current Gallery Picks thread there are just two photos after two days.

Are there any ideas about how to make RFF more image-oriented?
 
You could put the Imagery Forums on equal footing with the Gear Forums- Place links to them on the main page. It takes a few clicks and some hunting to get down to the Words/No Words forum. On several other photography forums, it is usually up with the main page and tends to get more activity than the W/NW forum does on RFF.
 
In my opinion , the best way to post and comment is that each people wanting a gallery open a thread with is name and post there is pictures while others give him critics, it is much more simple than the system used here now, too fusy. these forum really needs much more pictures
 
pesphoto said:
Dont forget we do have our W/NW forum here and to be honest that is where I look most on rff for the best images here.
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While I like the W/NW threads for what they are, I think they also form part of the problem.

That's because postings there tend to run as one thread with some kind of unifying theme. Even a thread with lots of activity, and lots of photos, only shows up on the home page or under "active topics" as a single thread - amoung many, many threads from gear-ralated forums, general discussion forums and so on.

I'd like to see something where a singe photo (or set of related photos) had its own thread for viewing and discussion. If there were lots of photo threads then the home and active topics pages might start looking more like a photography place and less like a gearheads' convention - even if not that many more photos were on display.

In fact, based on something I've seen elsewhere, I wouldn't mind seeing three main photo forums. One would be (or be like) the current W/NW forum, where images are posted, for the most part, just to make them available for viewing with not much comment. There might even be a moderator-(lightly)-enforced rule preventing negative comment, and critique, just to encourage posting by people who want to show their stuff without feeling that they're at risk of hurt feelings. A second forum would be something like "photos for discussion" with comment and critique allowed. And the third would be "criticism (constructive) invited" where photography-specific critique (rather than general comment) is actively sought. Perhaps that's the already-existing critique/photo-picks/whatever forum, or perhaps something different.

Just a few thoughts, anyway.

...Mike
 
I'm going to bump this, because I'd like to see some more reaction. Not so much the "three forums" thing I mentioned earlier (which may or may not contain any good ideas) but because of the "have more image threads appear on the home and active topics pages" concept (rather than, say, the W/NW approach where lots of photos can appear in a single thread).

mfunnell said:
I'd like to see something where a singe photo (or set of related photos) had its own thread for viewing and discussion. If there were lots of photo threads then the home and active topics pages might start looking more like a photography place and less like a gearheads' convention - even if not that many more photos were on display.
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Thoughts?

...Mike
 
Stephen started this effort two months ago.

Except for some initiatives from individuals, not much has changed
in my perception. No updates from the owner, no word from the
change initiative champions.

No changes to the gallery in particular.

Therefore, sadly, I am assuming the effort is dead.

Merry Christmas, everybody.
 
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ferider said:
Stephen started this effort two months ago.

Except for some initiatives from individuals, not much has changed
in my perception. No updates from the owner, no word from the
change initiative champions.

No changes to the gallery in particular.

Therefore, sadly, I am assuming the effort is dead.

Merry Christmas, everybody.
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nope. not dead.
not fast either though.

Stephen
 
sitemistic said:
Yep. It has been suggested and vetoed. No functional changes have been made. A few threads where you can post some photos have popped up, but I think it was mostly a lot of noise leading nowhere.
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kinda rude, don't ya think?
have you asked if anything is in the works before you pronounce us noisemakers?

joe
 
Strangely this is the first time I see this thread. One thing I can say for sure: we the members can do lot and should do more. The Weekly Picks is a great move but few people participate in the reviews - why ?

As for the Owner and staff, my request is to make the job easier. I do have patience and hope it will change. Just take into account that reviewing all pics submitted during a week is a tremendous work and challenge that should be helped as soon as possible, even by the most minimal help.

Thus for example having a good slide show is to my understanding a major change. But making the thumbnails bigger - is this too much as a minimal measure ? - Well, you know, in these technical issues my understanding is close to zero. Just wanted to ask for a minimum help asap, before the big changes in the long run.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
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this is not dead idea - Marc-A. and me are making contest every month. so whoever wants to join - just go ahead. link is in my signature.
 
I'm not much of a one for competitions - although if I can sort myself out over the next couple of days I will be entering the Jan 2008 Magic Roll thingy - however I do like the gallery and participate each week in the "Gallery Picks For Week Ending..." thread. Perhaps a quick fix (adding a competitive element for those who like it) would be to set up some sort of automated "Hit Parade" which could run once a week and list the top ten shots with the most viewings.

Sorry if someone has already suggected this, but I don't have time while at work to read all through this thread. Indeed I shouldn't even be doing this and if the boss catches me he's likely to switch off my workstation without warni
 
Just have the software show a picture or two every now and then to somebody who wouldn't have looked at them anyway.

Random Gallery picks did that, they were axed because the implementation sucked, now while there has been some talk about other ways of promoting imagery I'm not holding my breath.
 
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