Consolidating Photo Art

[chiquitita]

I notice that when using the "Last 24 hours" which is what I usually look at to see the new posts, that Restoration, Retouching and Manipulation are all grouped under one forum while Photo Art has at least 3 different sections it is posted under (photo art 101, photo based art, and photo art mini challenges). I was wondering if there is a way of consolidating all the photo art under one heading so it is quicker scan and get to the meat of what you want.

I am noticing that people on this site seem to be much more interested in "Photo-Art" than in retouching, restoration, and manipulation combined - although some of these overlap, I realize. Is it a lack of material for challenges and such, or just a lack of interest?

[Doug Nelson]

When I first started looking for a website devoted to retouching and photo restoration, I could only find websites for digital photography, website graphics, and photo-art. So I started one. The retouching and restoration part of the site is more popular and active than ever, but unfortunately it will always play 4th fiddle to the other digital imaging categories.

The popularity of the Photo-Art forums here is more a tribute to Danny and the general interest in that topic than any sort of reflection on the rest of this site.

As for the number of forums, the Photo-Art section has a few subforums, but the retouching and photo restoration section takes up the rest of the entire website

[chiquitita]

I understand. There are just so many PA and Salon postings that it seems that the retouching / restoration areas are really the minority. I guess we just need more material.

Still a great site though Doug!

[DannyRaphael]

chiquitita:

Your observation is valid and I appreciate you bringing it up. To Doug's credit he had the vision (and courage) to stretch the definition of R&R to include photo-art, and gave it a place to take root.

On one hand I'm amazed by the degree of interest and participation in photo-art considering the forum is just a week short of nine months old. On the other I feel a little guilty about its ever growing popularity considering the genisis and original intent of this site.

In some ways the popularity of photo-art may benefit RP in the long run, because it attracts people with varying interests, including R&R. Hopefully all these new eyes will translate into the opening of more pockets in support of the site when we do the periodic campaign drives.

There's no doubt this site, overall, is outstanding when one considers the diversity of skills, talent, background and interest of the members, not to mention the exceptional high quality content.

Regarding your comment, "Still a great site though Doug!" - I couldn't agree with you more. I'm proud and privileged to be a part of it.

~Danny~

[chiquitita]

I am not trying to complain about photo-art itself, don't get me wrong, I would just like to see more things along the lines of R&R to equal the popularity of photo art.

I am surprised we don't have photographers willing to contribute photos of people which we can work on. I have lots of photos, but not hardly any of people.