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i've done numerous retouches, restores and photo art on retouchpro.com. i enjoy it. however, there is something that rankles me just a bit from time to time. someone comes in, posts needing help with an image, goes away for a while, comes back and gives maybe a general 'thanks, all', picks up their copy(s) of the posted work and that's it.
now, there is actually a policy here on RP about giving out freebies (see the FAQs). we're not here to provide you with free work. most of us really dont mind doing it. it's often good practice. but, nonetheless, it's against the policy of this site to just freeload off the good people here doing their practicing and volunteering.
but, that's not even what rankles me. i do a lot of 'freebies'. what bothers me is someone getting a half a dozen pieces done on their image and then just giving out a generic 'thanks, guys'. that's just plain rude to me. i am not 'guys'. i am me. i EXPECT a thank you, even if the work i did was horrible. i expect at least a civil 'thanks craig for taking the time to try to fix my image'. THAT'S my payment here. and i really do EXPECT that! and, i expect that for everyone doing the work. each person did something. each person tried to help. these are individuals, not 'guys'.
and even worse is the person who doesnt even bother with a thank you at all! these are actually fairly rare, but it does happen. i do tend to note those individuals and they get nothing from me from then on. period.
and, as i stated earlier, you, the person posting the image, are expected to be attempting to fix the image yourself. we know some of you have no such intention and we're actually pretty generous people here who tend to look the other way a lot of the time. but, nonetheless, you are expected to be learning yourself. this is not a free lunch clinic. so, with that in mind, i also expect to see you post some of your own results and i reserve the right to delete all posts and threads not demonstrating such.
now, if you dont have an image to post, maybe due to copyrights or some other reason, but just want to ask how to do a certain thing, that's fine. it's always easier when we can see the image, but i do understand that sometimes that's not possible.
i also expect folks to post images that are large enough to be worked on. one of the common requests and maybe the most common request here is, 'have you got a larger image?'. i see that one all too often. you shld get used to thinking in pixels not inches. inches can be deceiving when you start factoring in resolutions. a 9 x 12 inch isnt always 9 x 12. but a 900 x 1200 pixel image is always 900 x 1200. so, one requirement is, learn HOW to post.
now, i know the file size limitation here is rather limiting at times, but nonetheless, a decent sized image can usually be obtained and posted and still make it within the 100k (200k for patrons) limit. 800 x 600 (or vice versa) is a good size to shoot for. it doesnt have to be exactly that. you can be off by quite a bit, but once you post your image, LOOK AT IT! can you see it very well or does it look like a postage stamp? it is MUCH better to have 1600 x 1200 image at 72 dpi than a 400 x 300 image at 100 dpi.
and if you just cant get your image large enough to view easily here, try posting at some place like imageshack and then posting a link to it. we prefer to have them here so that they are always here for the future, but if there's no other way, use a remote location and provide a link.
basically, all of this boils down to courtesy. say 'thank you!' to every individual. make comments on their work... 'i liked that, john. i thought that could use a bit more work, mary. i liked it mostly, but that one color seemed off to me, bob'. folks generally want feedback on their work; ALL folks. post your images large enough to see. it's just rude to post tiny pics and then have 6 requests being made to you to post something larger. do and learn yourself! only criminals expect everything for free. and dont get the idea that i'm calling everyone that posts for help a criminal; i'm not! like i said, you pay us, exchange with us, by talking to us, giving us comments and thank you's on the work and by giving us images to practice on. so, i'm only talking about the rare few who think someone owes them the work. we dont. we expect to be paid and in the manner i specified. and, it never hurts to become a patron yourself. that's a great way to keep this site alive and the help continuing.
and, though not totally expected, i'd like to also see those doing the work commenting on the work of others. it's a great way to gain insight on one's own work by having those others doing the work give feedback. keep it courteous, but give some feedback to your fellow helpers. talk it up! and be genuine. if you dont like some aspect of someone's piece, say so and maybe give some tips on how they could make it better. and, even more importantly, perhaps, is tell them also what you do like! give the good with the bad. only giving the bad will soon see someone dropping into apathy thinking that they cant do anything right. so, always be sure to say what you did like!
and, there's one last thing i'll say here; know your target audience. if you do critque someone's work, take the time to figure out how long they've been doing this sort of work. i try to do this whenever i comment on someone's work. nitpicking some new person's work can drive them away in a hurry. if you suspect they are new, just make comments on one or two major items and give them advice on how to fix it. and be sure to comment on what they did right! on the other hand, if someone's been around for a while, be a little more fussy. the trick is to steer them always towards doing better, but within the scale of where they currently are in skill. if you go too far beyond that, you'll tend to overwhelm them and they'll likely give up. but, if you can lead them to that next step they need to take, and they can see how to get there, chance are they'll indeed get there and everyone gets better. going too far beyond their current scope and skill levels will tend to just drive them downhill with that heavy, old feeling of being crushed by a rock.
so, what i'm saying here is something like the old school system where the teacher taught the oldest kids and the oldest kids then taught the next younger and so on down the line. some of you have been around for a while and i'd love to see you 'teaching the younger kids'
yes, i know most of you are already doing that and i commend you for that. let's just see everyone doing that. so, when you post your work, post how you did it. or, post stages of your work. there's nothing like a picture sequence to show how a thing progressed to the final stage. i'd also love to see some video tutorials done for retouching. and another method is to do just a partial job to start and show that much. if the person learning can get and duplicate that, move on to the next stage. if they cant duplicate it, then something's been missed and you need to go back a bit and find what that is.
ok, this has gotten a bit longer than i originally anticipated, so i'll stop here. i'll just say this one last thing, i'm proud to be a member and moderator here and i'm proud of the folks that participate and help others here!
now, there is actually a policy here on RP about giving out freebies (see the FAQs). we're not here to provide you with free work. most of us really dont mind doing it. it's often good practice. but, nonetheless, it's against the policy of this site to just freeload off the good people here doing their practicing and volunteering.
but, that's not even what rankles me. i do a lot of 'freebies'. what bothers me is someone getting a half a dozen pieces done on their image and then just giving out a generic 'thanks, guys'. that's just plain rude to me. i am not 'guys'. i am me. i EXPECT a thank you, even if the work i did was horrible. i expect at least a civil 'thanks craig for taking the time to try to fix my image'. THAT'S my payment here. and i really do EXPECT that! and, i expect that for everyone doing the work. each person did something. each person tried to help. these are individuals, not 'guys'.
and even worse is the person who doesnt even bother with a thank you at all! these are actually fairly rare, but it does happen. i do tend to note those individuals and they get nothing from me from then on. period.
and, as i stated earlier, you, the person posting the image, are expected to be attempting to fix the image yourself. we know some of you have no such intention and we're actually pretty generous people here who tend to look the other way a lot of the time. but, nonetheless, you are expected to be learning yourself. this is not a free lunch clinic. so, with that in mind, i also expect to see you post some of your own results and i reserve the right to delete all posts and threads not demonstrating such.
now, if you dont have an image to post, maybe due to copyrights or some other reason, but just want to ask how to do a certain thing, that's fine. it's always easier when we can see the image, but i do understand that sometimes that's not possible.
i also expect folks to post images that are large enough to be worked on. one of the common requests and maybe the most common request here is, 'have you got a larger image?'. i see that one all too often. you shld get used to thinking in pixels not inches. inches can be deceiving when you start factoring in resolutions. a 9 x 12 inch isnt always 9 x 12. but a 900 x 1200 pixel image is always 900 x 1200. so, one requirement is, learn HOW to post.
now, i know the file size limitation here is rather limiting at times, but nonetheless, a decent sized image can usually be obtained and posted and still make it within the 100k (200k for patrons) limit. 800 x 600 (or vice versa) is a good size to shoot for. it doesnt have to be exactly that. you can be off by quite a bit, but once you post your image, LOOK AT IT! can you see it very well or does it look like a postage stamp? it is MUCH better to have 1600 x 1200 image at 72 dpi than a 400 x 300 image at 100 dpi.
and if you just cant get your image large enough to view easily here, try posting at some place like imageshack and then posting a link to it. we prefer to have them here so that they are always here for the future, but if there's no other way, use a remote location and provide a link.
basically, all of this boils down to courtesy. say 'thank you!' to every individual. make comments on their work... 'i liked that, john. i thought that could use a bit more work, mary. i liked it mostly, but that one color seemed off to me, bob'. folks generally want feedback on their work; ALL folks. post your images large enough to see. it's just rude to post tiny pics and then have 6 requests being made to you to post something larger. do and learn yourself! only criminals expect everything for free. and dont get the idea that i'm calling everyone that posts for help a criminal; i'm not! like i said, you pay us, exchange with us, by talking to us, giving us comments and thank you's on the work and by giving us images to practice on. so, i'm only talking about the rare few who think someone owes them the work. we dont. we expect to be paid and in the manner i specified. and, it never hurts to become a patron yourself. that's a great way to keep this site alive and the help continuing.
and, though not totally expected, i'd like to also see those doing the work commenting on the work of others. it's a great way to gain insight on one's own work by having those others doing the work give feedback. keep it courteous, but give some feedback to your fellow helpers. talk it up! and be genuine. if you dont like some aspect of someone's piece, say so and maybe give some tips on how they could make it better. and, even more importantly, perhaps, is tell them also what you do like! give the good with the bad. only giving the bad will soon see someone dropping into apathy thinking that they cant do anything right. so, always be sure to say what you did like!
and, there's one last thing i'll say here; know your target audience. if you do critque someone's work, take the time to figure out how long they've been doing this sort of work. i try to do this whenever i comment on someone's work. nitpicking some new person's work can drive them away in a hurry. if you suspect they are new, just make comments on one or two major items and give them advice on how to fix it. and be sure to comment on what they did right! on the other hand, if someone's been around for a while, be a little more fussy. the trick is to steer them always towards doing better, but within the scale of where they currently are in skill. if you go too far beyond that, you'll tend to overwhelm them and they'll likely give up. but, if you can lead them to that next step they need to take, and they can see how to get there, chance are they'll indeed get there and everyone gets better. going too far beyond their current scope and skill levels will tend to just drive them downhill with that heavy, old feeling of being crushed by a rock.
so, what i'm saying here is something like the old school system where the teacher taught the oldest kids and the oldest kids then taught the next younger and so on down the line. some of you have been around for a while and i'd love to see you 'teaching the younger kids'
yes, i know most of you are already doing that and i commend you for that. let's just see everyone doing that. so, when you post your work, post how you did it. or, post stages of your work. there's nothing like a picture sequence to show how a thing progressed to the final stage. i'd also love to see some video tutorials done for retouching. and another method is to do just a partial job to start and show that much. if the person learning can get and duplicate that, move on to the next stage. if they cant duplicate it, then something's been missed and you need to go back a bit and find what that is.ok, this has gotten a bit longer than i originally anticipated, so i'll stop here. i'll just say this one last thing, i'm proud to be a member and moderator here and i'm proud of the folks that participate and help others here!
I admit to going through a why bother phrase lately, and as such havent been contributing much ,but one nice comment has restored some of my faith 
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