Taking Part in the Photo Appraisal Group (known as the PAG): A Users Guide

Foreword

Some months ago the committee discussed the idea of setting up a Photo Appraisal Group based on my experience of the Electronic Portfolio Group of the Disabled Photographers Society, here is a link to their website: http://www.the-dps.co.uk

I am using what they do as the model for our Photo Appraisal Group (PAG) and the documents with regard to Taking Part and Commenting on images is a slight tweaking of their documents. Recently members of the Gloucester Camera Club have started using the Facebook Group page to appraise each others photos. The PAG will hopefully provide more structure to do this but will also hopefully encourage others to get involved

Kevin Daws

Introduction

Let me start by acknowledging that this document is a slightly amended version of a document produced by Sandy Robertson and Paul Grant for the Electronic Portfolio Group of the Disabled Photographers Society ( https://www.the-dps.co.uk )  –  my thanks to them for letting me use it for PAG.

If you are uncertain about anything or have questions about the PAG please ask the organisers. We will try to help and we do not bite. Our address is hello@gloucestercameraclub.co.uk

The PAG gives members the opportunity and encouragement to submit digital images, and comment on each other’s for the purpose of both enjoyment and improving our photos in a safe and supportive environment. Hopefully this will help develop our skills and confidence to submit images to more challenging and advanced activities.

The idea of the PAG is to allow our photos to be circulated amongst the group who will comment on them so that we get some feedback about what others feel about our images and sometimes tips for improving. We are very aware that we all have challenges which may make some types of photography more difficult.

The PAG works in "slow time" so that we have plenty of time to think about our comments and give our feedback in a measured way. In this way the PAG is very different to many of the online commenting groups where speedy or hasty and sometimes less well thought out responses seem to be the norm.

A short comment on your own photo is always welcome and it can be very helpful (if you feel like it) to share hints and tips based on personal experience on how to get good images.

We have tried to organise things so that people have the best opportunity to give comments and receive comments. In an ideal world, every body would comment on every picture circulated. Given people's different circumstances, we are conscious that not everyone will be able to comment on every image every time, nor will everybody be able to submit an image each time, but we hope that everybody will be able to comment and receive comments at least some of the time.

Even if you do not have an image for a particular month, your comments on other submissions are very welcome and likewise if you do not have any comments your image for the current month will still be welcome.

A topic or theme for each month is provided and your image should reflect that topic.

The themes will be listed on the GCC website at http://www.gloucestercameraclub.co.uk/ topic-guide-2020

We do have a deadline for submissions. The deadline for both the photos and comments is the14th of the month. This means that  the December/January submissions do not clash with Christmas or new year holidays. This hopefully will also allow more time for people to do comments and so be less rushed. For example in the month of March, the March pictures should be submitted by the 14th March and the comments on the February images should be submitted also by the 14 March.

As the PAG grows the number of images that we get may be too many for some people to comment on. To work around this and make sure that everyone gets a reasonable number of comments we have added a suggestion about a way to approach doing the comments in this guide.

How it works:

Images

Send in your image for the month to the organisers (before the deadline). The organisers will acknowledge receipt of your e-mails. If you do not get a response, then we have not got your e-mail.

Shortly after the deadline, the organisers will gather the pictures together and circulate them together with a list of the images via email. You can then look at the images and make comments on them.

Usually the organisers will send out a template as a word file which you can use as a base for your comments. This will save you retyping every filename.

Comments

Look at the list of images, start commenting with your own image (tell us about your image) and work your way to the bottom of the list, then start again at the top of the list

You will then comment on each image (Have a look at the PAG  guide on commenting). Put your comments into a word (.DOC) document or text/RTF document and send your comments back to the organisers before the deadline. The organisers will email you to confirm receipt of the comments. If you do not get a confirmation then the organisers have not received your comments.

After the deadline, the comments are then edited together by the organisers and circulated  in a separate e-mail. The circulations will usually be by around the 17th of the month but might be a bit earlier or later depending on the health and commitments of the organisers. Small versions of the  pictures will be then posted to the PAG gallery on the GCC website unless you specifically asks us not to.

The technical stuff.

Images

Send your images as JPEGs which must be named according to the following convention: ‘Photographer Name%Image Title.jpg

The size is:

Maximum of 1920 pixels wide

Maximum of 1080 pixels tall.

Bit Depth - 24bit max

Resoluton - 72 DPI

File Size - 2MB

If you have trouble resizing or have other technical concerns about your images do please ask the organisers. We will always try to help.

For people who manage colour space for their images, please send as RGB (best for screens), otherwise send as is.

Send your images to: hello@gloucestercameraclub.co.uk

Please send the  images as attachments to your e-mail. If you are sending from an iPad, iPhone or Apple computer please send attachment as a zip file

Deadline for images: 14th of the month.

Comments

A Photo Appraisal Sheet will be supplied in a MS Word Document format. If you do not have a compatible program, please contact Jay (jay@hallsworth.me.uk) who will be able to help work out a solution with you.

Please e-mail your comments as an attachment back to hello@gloucestercameraclub.co.uk when complete.

We reserve the right to moderate comments.

Deadline for comments: 14th of the month following circulation of the images.

Timetable

To be confirmed