Hey, thanks to those of you that commented! It means a lot to me. I got a low score for composition, and I'd really love to know what I could have done differently with this.
Let me know! Thank you!

The only person that posted after me (photos 49-56) that commented on my shot, is CaptureThis.
I'd really love to know why so many of you aren't commenting on photos (or only commenting on two or three of the ones you rate before posting).
I mean, honestly...I feel like you should AT LEAST comment on every photo you have to rate before posting. That is only courteous, IMO. And yes, a comment like "this has wonderful lighting" IS good, if you mean it.
I want to know why those of you that rated my shot, rated it low for composition. I'd really like to know....that's part of why I post here...to learn what 'the public' likes and doesn't like. But if you can't (or don't) have the time to write a quick comment, why are you here?
Do you like comments and expect them on your shots?? Or do you just want the score and a feature?
What is better for you? A featured shot with 2 comments, or a shot that contains a discussion of 8 or more comments (plus your own) that helps you become more aware of what people like and don't like?
I'd rather have a good discussion.

The light is great on this, but what I like most is how there appears to be a person peeking through that lower right-hand window behind the drapes.
I, of course, agree with you on your comment about comments. I have a simple personal rule: if I rate, I comment. If the photo inspires absolutely no words from me, why should I even rate it numerically. Some complain that there is a language barrier; but, if you don't speak or write English, do it in your native tongue (I actually think that's cool).
I honestly can think of absolutely no value in anonymous numerical ratings that leave the photographer (as you mention yourself) wondering what's wrong with the composition that yielded such a low score.

Warm.....:)

I rate a lot of pictures, and comment on about two/thirds of them. Ana, I know your expectation is that everyone who rates also comments, but at some point you're going to need to accept that not everyone feels that way. It's not a rudeness thing, nor is it mandatory. Not every shot warrants a comment, I'm not going to waste my time on a comment if I have nothing to say.

Playing "gotcha" every week won't help either, everyone is entitled to participate in Weekly Shot according to their own choosing - provided of course they don't game the system.

Flatline. I totally agree with you. People (of course) have a right not to comment if they don't feel the need.
I accept that.
It still bothers me, but I accept it.

And I happen to think every shot DOES warrant a comment. Either that, or I don't rate it at all.
But that's me.

Congrats Ana! The only change I would have made to the composition of this shot is to crop some of the left wall out to in order to centre the middle column of brick. Otherwise, this is great. Even without that comp change, it still deserves the front page.

Ana, I am one of those people that didn't comment on your shot because while I liked the texture and the colour, my thought was that the image was overall sub-par. The dark shadow on the left is distracting and I didn't feel that it was necessary to have it there so I scored low on composition. I also didn't particularly care for the shadow of the lamp.

As for commenting on every shot, I simply don't and I won't. It has nothing to do with being courteous and everyrthing to do with what moves me as far as imagery is concerned. And IMO if everyone commented all the time on every shot those comments would hold less weight than someone singling out my image to comment on it - so to me ONE well written comment is worth a whole lot more than TEN "nice shot" ones.

See, now Tracy...that comment is valuable to me...
I want to know why I got a low composition score, and if you gave me a 1, 2 or 3, I'd like to know why. I think it's just as important to explain your low scores as it is to explain the high ones. I agree that 'nice shot' comments aren't of any value, but if it moves you in any way (good or bad) I think it's beneficial to comment. I guess I feel that if I am contributing to someones 'over all score,' that they deserve to know why they got the score they got. Getting only two comments and a 2.3 does nothing for me in terms of learning how to better at pleasing 'the public.'

Thank you Dave.. I thought about 'centering' that middle column, but then it looked too perfect. ya know?
And you know me... I'm so very NOT perfect.
:)

oh, and Tracy? The shadow of the lamp is why I took this photograph. Hee hee.

Ana,

I'm one of the people who rated and didn't comment.

I can't remember what I gave you as a rating, obviously cannot have been too bad as the image featured. It can't have been that great either as the photograph doesn't grab me, shake me about and leave me all weak in the knees.

It's one of those ones I don't really have much to say about, it doesn't do much for me either way. Sometimes that happens and I think if you want to grow as an artist you need to realise that images are quite capable of inspiring little more than a shrug of the shoulders, don't love it, don't hate it.

For me, an image has to fall outside a set of parameters to inspire a comment, either I think it's great or I think it really sucks, and it has to be really bad for me to rip into it as people don't take kindly to having their picture ripped apart. If I think the image has potential but has a flaw I often will comment on what I think would make it better.

I also know that although an image may not do much for me either way, I can see that others will like it. I see little point leaving a comment saying "I neither like this nor dislike this"
when the photographer will get more from those people who have had some sort of reaction to the image.

Taking a longer look at the image and my thoughts on the composition.

An image like this needs to have everything square, square up the window on the left. It's a little too tight a crop, needs more space on the bottom to balance it out, there's too much weight up the top. It needs centering, as in the windows need to have the same space left and right, which would also fix up what's happening with the lamp, which also "feels" cut off at the moment.

So, either crop in tighter or give some more breathing space to those windows.

But, obvioulsy others thought different as it got featured.

phototext..thank you so much for taking the time to write out two great comments.
Funny how you found a lot to say about a shot you didn't have a lot say about. :)
I guess this is what I mean when it comes to commenting. I had a couple people tell me they didn't have anything to say, but really, really gave me some great ideas in the category I got a low rating on. Yes, I got a high enough score to be featured, but the composition score was quite low.
I love hearing WHY it was low, you know? Even if the photo doesn't inspire you or make you want to say something, I think if you give something a low score in one category or more, there's a REASON.

I'm so glad to get some ideas on why this shot isn't working for some people.
I'll admit that sometimes my comments are just "this is really lovely, it makes me happy." But that is my reaction. Sometimes I go into more detail and try and explain why something doesn't quite work for me, but more often than not, when I'm commenting and rating a photo, it's because (like phototext said) it either is really great, and there's nothing more to say other than, "this is really great" or it's a shot with potential if a few, small tweeks were made.
Thanks again.

Hi Ana, I don't comment on every one that I rate. I'm not sure how to explain it. Generally I think I am not really qualified to critique most photos if that makes sense? Sometimes I just really like or dislike a photo and it really has only to do with taste. I will rate those images according to their technical merits as unbiased as I possibly can but if the actual photo doesn't appeal to my personal tastes then I tend not to comment in most cases. When I see a photo that I like but it has a couple of little things that I think could be maybe a little better by doing this or that then I might be inclined to say so, although as I said before sometimes I feel foolish and unqualified to critique.

In terms of this photo as far as the composition goes, I think I might have tried to include the lamp post(s) that were casting the shadow, or eliminated the lamp that is peeking into the shot. Now would that actually make the shot stronger? I don't know for sure unless I saw it. Maybe, maybe not.

I hope this helps to give a little insight to the mindset of some about commenting.

CaptureThis, thank you for letting me know how you feel about the composition of my shot. now I really know what went wrong (in the eyes of the 'public') and I feel good for knowing.
I think EVERYONE is qualified to give their impressions of a photograph. No one here is any better than another, in regards to that. No matter if you been a "professional" for 40 or more years; It doesn't really matter..because what appeals is what appeals. You know?

Thank you so much for participating in this conversation. Regardless of whether or not people think the shouldn't comment if they don't have anything to say, I think we've all figured out that we can all think of something to say if we take the time. Look at the great and helpful comments here!
YAY!

Wow...Ana, you are soon going to take over from King in terms of generating debate!

Not trying to generate a debate, and certainly would not want to take over anything, such as that.
I think it's been a good discussion and some people that didn't feel they had a comment, came up with some really great comments and suggestions for me. I'm very happy about the opinions I was able to get, and to see what it was that got me such a low composition score.
Now I know.

Ana, sorry to confess that I also rated but didn't comment. Anyway, here's what I *would've* said: I love the warm tones and texture, but the shadow on the left and the lamp shadow distract from said tones and texture (for me, of course).

I didn't comment. In fact, I can't even recall rating this shot, but since mine is in that range that you 'outed', I must have.

I guess that sums up why I didn't comment - the shot made no impression on me whatsoever. Not a good impression, not a bad one. To me, it's just a wall with some shadows. Ho hum.

Regardless of whether or not you liked this shot, I'm so very happy with the score I received, because it's honest. It seems, that after receiving comments from the people that rated it, that I got a very fair rating. Most of you didn't like the composition, and some of you even thought the shot was bland and boring. (or 'ho hum' as Heath says!) But it IS relevant.
This is (I guess) why I 'outed' people that rated and didn't comment.
It seems that everyone who came back to comment, DID have something to say, even if it was an admission that they just didn't like the shot..and that it made no impression.

Everyone's opinion is valuable, and as long as you say it nicely, it's even valuable to say you 'just don't like the shot.'

I just like to know WHY..ya know?
(don't you?)
So thank you all for coming back and taking the time to tell me 'why.'
Everyone that posts a photograph here, is a real person, and they post for a reason. It might JUST be to get to the front page and be 'featured.' It might be JUST a contest to most.
That used to be important to me. Now it seems that just about anyone (relevant or not) can get to the FP...and it means less and less to me over time. Yeah, it's cool...but not as cool as it is to have a good conversation and learn a bit more about what appeals and what doesn't.

As eggplant said, "If the photo inspires absolutely no words from me, why should I even rate it numerically."

I think that's fair.

I was thinking a little more about this whole debate about ratings and comments. One thing I find is that most times when I want to submit an image I end up with at least 10 images to rate. I don't usually have a lot of time to really make thoughtful critiques on ALL of those images, but I still have to at least rate them before I can submit one of my own, even if I don't really want to. If I had the ability to pick which ones I really wanted to rate then I think, at least for me, it would make a huge difference. I think that is what leads to drive by comments. I'd rather leave one thoughtful meaningful comment than a bunch of "nice shots" just for the sake of saying something, especially since I'm not that confident in my critiquing to begin with.

I suppose I could just click the "no rating" button on those images that I really don't know what to say about? I've never done that. I wonder has anyone else done that? How does that affect the rankings if at all?

I think people go about WS in their own way.
For me, I love getting comments, and I think that's one of the reasons I post photographs here. It's not for ratings, otherwise I'd be satisfied with just that.

So, since I value comments so much, I only think it fair to comment on the photos that I rate.
I think that if you value comments, you should comment every time you rate. But that's me.
I suppose, if you don't value receiving comments, then it makes more sense for you, as an individual, to just rate and post and leave.
If I don't have time to rate and comment on 10 images before posting, I don't...I wait until I do have time. Or I do a little and a time and come back. If I find a shot I'd rather NOT rate, I try and look at it and figure out why....then I can usually come up with a comment.

I think that clicking the 'no rating' button doesn't do anything...meaning, I don't think your score is added as a score....nor will the red go away.
But I've never tried it....
:)