Less can be more.

I don't think anyone is judging the pictures of less talented photograhers, as we know, practice makes perfect.  Heaven knows some of my pictures leave allot to be desired.

And Ron. I can't believe people use bad language. For Heaven's sakes!

We all appreciate the hard work put in by Ron, Chirs an his darling wife.  

I do think that if everyone just took the time to assess the images and then caption the rest before sending them to POE, then perhaps it would lead to less mass submissions. We should be able to take the time to do this with our pictures, rather than expecting POE to do it.  

In the days of film, some people I knew used to boast about getting 38 shots out of a roll of 36, and then show every one regardless of quality or more importantly, potential interest to any viewer.

POE provides a great way of showing how wonderful and diverse our country is, to all who wish to submit them. Quality comes after the subject matter as any publisher will tell you. I would though, rather people took a closer look at their pictures before sending them in. I am my own worst critic when it comes to my own photography and would far rather delete all the poor images I take than just send them off as part of a batch. I delete more than I keep in truth.

I’ve really enjoyed reading the follow ups to my initial thread on this subject.

Well done to you Ron for all the hard work.  

Like Rod, I am my own worst critic. Photography is a learning experience, and I am gratified when someone makes a favourable comment on my efforts. Looking at my pictures, some definitely deserve negative comments, but we are a tolerant bunch on PoE and I think most people only make positive comments and generally abstain from making negative comments. This is good, and encourages people.

As for descriptions, again I must agree with Rod. I often do a search on Google for some additional info about the scene in question, as much for my own education as for the other users of PoE. Some pictures I have seen without descriptions make no sense at all. After all, the pictures are likely to be viewed by visitors to England and accurate background information is always helpful.

And, last but not least, a good description and classification makes Ron's job so much easier.  

Spot on Edward. This is NOT a critique site, There are plenty of those about and from my exeprience most are full of sour grapes and grudges, not to mention the' i'll vote you, you vote for me' brigade. Self criticism is good ...... if you can be brutal with yourself which is not the easiest thing to be. It seems that one or two at the moment seem to be uploading everything they have, which not only makes Ron's job difficult as he also has his own perosonal site to look after, but makes viewing and commenting more difficullt...and that is if you have the time to wade through a lot of what can only be described as mediocre images poorly captioned. A little time spent checking images and just adding a line or two makes a whole lot of difference. When I was away in the Lakes the other week i took somewhere in the region of 600 shots and so far have uploaded about 15. I tend to leave them for a week or so and go back and look with a fresh eye. I find that way I can be more critical of my own work. I tend not to Google much for captioning as most of my shots are not usually of anything that needs a vast dialogue. Captions to my mind should be relatively short and concise as reading through too many long captions and explanations could become tiresome before too long. I fully realise that some images of the more obscure subjects may need a bit more clarification than others but my general advice would be 'keep it short and keep it simple' maybe a bit of humour as well which we do see already.

Just to finish my biggest pet hate, so often seen, is sloping horizons....... with the software that is freely available nowadays, don't need Photoshop or Elements, horizons should always be 'horizontal'. But the Photoshop or Not debate is for another thread.

Yes, some good points there Dave. Leaving a little time to elapse before submitting the picture is definitely a good idea. There is many a time I have looked at one of my own pictures a few days later and thought..Mmmm..uh oh.....I didn't see my own shadow in the shot or something similar!

As for sloping horizons, I confess I have been guilty on some occasions. The problem can be made worse for technical reasons too, such as when using a very wide-angle lens, or because of squinting into the tiny view-finder of a small-sensor DSLR. Personally, I am not too worried about other people's sloping horizons, unless it is really obvious. I find that one or two degrees error is acceptable, five degrees is not !

Good and honest comments here again. Thank you to all who participate, but you know what to give you all a better idea the following and more besides has to be looked at every time. I might add I am not looking for sympathy I do this to help Chris and Sarah whilst considering it my contribution to the POE site, but how about the following lists of things to look for when somebody submits a picture.

Apart from obvious quality and angles that has been mentioned above the spelling, spaces or not, comma's in place of full stops and vice versa, caps when it should be lower case and lower case when it should be caps and often a mix of both, repeated use of exclamation marks and full stops to make a point when one would suffice, obscenity and yes it does happen, personal pictures, overly intrusive pictures, family pets (pictures of England?) several shots, different angle of the same subject, poor grammar although I accept this is an area where I can and do help, descriptions and lack of them (I research via Google for answers that should be there already) pictures submitted to wrong locations and so the list goes on................!!!!!!!!!! lol

So the life of he who approves POE pictures is one frought with exasperation sometimes, but I really do try to be fair in approving the majority.

And then there is my own site to look after, good eh? lol

Thanks again for honest and supportive comment, it's appreciated.

Edward, I am sure i am as gulilty as anyone of the horrizon issue when taking the shot but try to disguise it afterwards.....but agree with you a couple of degrees either way is reasonable. I find easier to get a reasonable horizon with a 'viewfinder' camera rather than a compact using the rear screen!!!! But that is probably a 'me ' thing

Ron, Rest assured my friend your efforts are well recognised ..... but again probably only by those who get involved here in the forums. Pity a lot of the regular uploading members don't look in now and again......maybe they do but disregard it who knows. As to having to correct grammer and spelling that is totally out of order, most people should have a reasonable enough grasp to get by with laying out a caption. And as to pets and personal photos.....the guidelines for submitting photos lays out all what is and is not acceptable very clearly i think. I can accept the family dog or kids in a photo as long as they are not the main subject as in a lot of cases they can add to the image in emphasising scale and such like.

So at the end of the day Ron, you do a sterling job.