Mumble Something Workshop

About Mumble Something Workshop

Mumble Something Workshop is a salon for the supportive, meaningful, constructive discussion and exploration of members' photographs. This is a place to be nice and helpful.

Below are some general, preliminary guidelines--but please remember, this is still a work a progress!

Reviewing a Photo

The goal of the group is to help members understand how their pictures impact viewers and expose them to new and insightful ways of seeing their own photographs--and to do so in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. If we don't like something about a photo, we try to articulate it in a supportive way (e.g., instead of saying "this is a bland photo", we'll say, "I see what you're after--I wonder if doing X, Y, Z would achieve it more effectively"). We try to provide comments that reflect an in-depth analysis of the photo, rather than hurried, superficial one-liners. No one here pretends to be more of an authority than anyone else, and we share our opinions and impressions rather than forcing them on one another.

We ask that everyone reviews as many photos as possible so that we all get as much feedback as possible.

In most cases, the submitter will ask for specific feedback. In such instances, we try to stick to the scope defined by the submitter (e.g., what do you think of the exposure in this photo). If the submitter requests more general input, however, a review could also include (not necessarily in the following order) a) your emotional reaction to the piece (like it, love it, gets my attention, it doesn’t get my attention, it’s original, it’s predictable, etc), followed by b) an aesthetic discussion (composition, PoV, framing), and c) a technical discussion (focus, exposure, light, contrast, saturation, post-processing).

Submitting a Photo

To regulate dataflow, we ask that you submit for review only one photo per week.

When you submit a photo for review, let the other members know what kind of feedback you’re looking for—comments about composition, or lighting, or your use of Photoshop. Doing so will give the reviewers an idea of what sort of information they should provide.

Please title your review threads with the "Mumble This: [title of photo]" format, so that others can distinguish it from general conversation threads.

It will probably be helpful, too, if you let us know what you were after when you took the picture—i.e., whether you intended for it to be a social commentary, art, a candid, and so on. If you weren’t sure what you were after—the subject just seemed interesting—that’s fine, too.

If you want to tell us about the subject, please do, but if you think doing so will color readers’ interpretation of the image (e.g., people will feel compelled to say the baby is cute once you tell them it’s yours!), feel free to say nothing about the content.

If you’d like to provide technical details—camera, lens, exposure information (shutter, aperture, ISO)—that may be good, too. Probably a good idea to let folks know if you’ve shot with a digital or a film camera.

Reading Reviews of Your Photo

The purpose of this group is to provide a space where members can provide constructive, well-meaning criticism of each other's work. We are all here to help each other, so occasional thanks and/or constructive responses to the review stream will help foster a supportive atmosphere.

We expect the tone to be friendly and helpful, but sometimes things don't come out of the keyboard right, and sometimes they are misinterpreted. If a comment upsets you, it probably wasn't meant that way. Take a deep breath and give the person the benefit of the doubt. That being said, if you 1) can't take criticism, no matter how well meant, or 2) can't give criticism without making old ladies and kittens cry, this group is probably not for you. But you're not like that, are you? :)

NB: We have opened the pool for a trial run. The limit is 3 per day. If you use the pool, please participate in the threads - that's where most of the good stuff is anyway.