I think the current set-up is fine as it is. I guess I have never seen this forum as a "show and tell" type of site but more focused on discussions on topics that some include examples to support ideas or suggestions. I find Flickr or other sites are better a place to share images. I think the PAD covers the sharing of our work is sufficient enough.

Just my 2-cents

SquamishPhoto said:
It was never my suggestion that the PAD thread change in any way, shape or form and its not about being able to simply share more snaps. Its about making the nature of lens discussions more focused by creating lens specific threads that feature opinions, photos, short reviews and general discussion about the lens and its uses. It doesn't need to be a sticky and its something thats done already to great effect at more than one forum. I could have simply started a more specifically titled thread about, as an example, the Nikon 85mm f1.4 lenses and then tried to get other forum members to participate by adding their photos and experiences with the lens. I don't even think anyone would have even objected and I doubt it would've been closed, but I just thought I would make it a discussion with the rest of the forum first.

To some extent it's already being done. People already share examples of photos taken with specific lenses. It's not very common, but some new members often request samples before they purchase the lens.

It was never my suggestion that the PAD thread change in any way, shape or form and its not about being able to simply share more snaps. Its about making the nature of lens discussions more focused by creating lens specific threads that feature opinions, photos, short reviews and general discussion about the lens and its uses. It doesn't need to be a sticky and its something thats done already to great effect at more than one forum. I could have simply started a more specifically titled thread about, as an example, the Nikon 85mm f1.4 lenses and then tried to get other forum members to participate by adding their photos and experiences with the lens. I don't even think anyone would have even objected and I doubt it would've been closed, but I just thought I would make it a discussion with the rest of the forum first.

After short discussion with msmoto and admin we decided to keep the PAD thread as is. If You guys'n gals want to post some more snaps than there's the flickr group.

I think PAD is just fine the way it is. Although sometimes if I don't log in for a while, there are a lot to look through. And any comments that I would like to leave on a particular picture would be lost because of the length of time.
Maybe if we just added a tag of which lens was used, then people could do a search for their lens if they wanted. This would (I think) bring up all pictures using that lens.

Sounds like maybe PAD should be just like it is, but I think I will see what is on the Flickr group and drop some into that. I noticed on the other forum where they have dozens of photo threads not one person had commented on my car photos in spite of there being far superior to the ones posted by the others... I don't think anyone even looks due to the large number of threads and posts of photos. Oh well, those gray lens people just have no taste....ha, ha, ha.....

Good suggestion. My sense is to leave PAD as it is, with the one photo a day limit (which is sometimes difficult because we have a lot of enthusiasm for our hobby/work) but to complement PAD with tags that can be sorted or searched--not sure what is the correct term--by the viewer if desired. I like the diversity of shots, as it brings up ideas for new ways of capturing images, and indicates the interests of different photographers. In addition, PAD here is very positive and reinforcing versus some photo sites where negativity dominates.
Have fun.

What I probably enjoy most at our PAD is, how divers it is. It often shows the entire bandwith of photography on one page. If we really need to do any changes, I would hope, we are not loosing this unique asset.

Jürgen

I'm even fine with one photo a week - the less the better. I'm just saying a different format for viewing may work better.

I do think that this is a good subject that SquamishPhoto brought up here. I often visit The Nikon Cafe myself and the first thread that I open is the Lens Lust thread. Primarily because I'm always wondering if I'm missing out by not getting certain lenses - honestly, the ones I want are the ones I can't afford anyway. In a way I do like the organization of that thread which allows you to target the discussion to a particular lens. The discussion within each lens category is a tremendous help because you pretty much know what lens is being discussed. That's a big plus for that format. That said, I have seen many "snapshot" type photos there that people drop in just to show how a particular lens performs. Some can be pretty blah.

The PAD restriction of one photo a day, I think, prompts us here to present something that we think makes for pretty good photography - so we tend to make that one chance worthwhile with whatever lenses we have. So browsing NR PAD is like Forrest Gump's box-o-chocolate: you never know what you gonna get, but you know it's gonna be good.

I guess the things that make each of these forums different are the things that make each unique.

Strange how I have been to another forum today where they post photos as a new topic. I actually dropped a few in, then could not even find my own photos. Such utter chaos. PAD here on NRF allows us each to post one photo per day. We can do this or we can simply enjoy the ones posted by others. I would hope that each post is well thought out, and is at least a reasonable attempt to do our best.

My brief experience on the other forum is that there is a lot of what I would call "poor photographs" And, a lot of these are posted by folks I know are in the business of shooting for publication.

NRF is quite unique in its level of sophistication. And this is in part to some of the limits placed on it by the administration. I really believe the way things are is quite nice.

I also believe the PAD topic can be formatted/managed better. So many beautiful shots but most of them don't get the credit they deserve due to poor visibility. For regular followers/contributers, it may be fine but for those who log in once in a while, it is an enormous task to scroll down 40 pages of photos without getting distracted.

We keep discussing the same topics over and over in the forum; a better designed PAD - more ease in viewing maybe by the help of a thumbnail page - may provide the "color" & action we are looking for.

P.S. I know NR is not a photosharing site :-)

+1 pierre, we tried it already and it didn't work; though we gonna discuss it among mods and admin and will let know

As the community and posts count grow, we may hit a point where there would not be other choices but to categorize but personally, I do not like the format of other sites where you have to dig-in or basically have to hunt for things. If there were too many categories, it would dilute the audiance and if it become even a bit of work, people may not bother trying to find.

Since the 'Forum group pool' was moved to the bottom of the forum page, I rarely go in it and I am sure not too many bother going back to previous PAD months threads.

Maybe we could be provided with standardized tags for the PAD entries and have pages regrouping them using the tag(s) and post time.

Hmm, are you saying there should be specific photos of the day for specific categories?

Because I can already think of a category- macro!

Off the top of my head there are probably more than 5 owners of macro lenses.

Edit- perhaps not a macro picture of the day, but just a macro photography sharing thread.

Hmm... so one thread per lens showcasing a collection of photos taken with that specific lens. It doesn't sound half bad... although I do have to work on my PAD post ratio Xp

Back when I first started reading and posting here at NRF there were several categories of photo threads that allowed users a larger and more specialized means of sharing and discussing of their photographs. I realize that the emphasis of the pages namesake is evident, but the community growth and enthusiasm present in each and every page of every months PAD thread seems to indicate that perhaps a return to something akin to the previously varied photo threads would be very welcome.

I also say this as someone who's quite enjoyed the format of the "Lens Lust" category at the NikonCafe forums. Its essentially as simple as starting new threads specifically about one lens and allow photos and discussion to cary on as long as people are finding it interesting.

What do you think?