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Stu, I take it from what you wrote you don't like the criticism levelled at astro images keeping in mind the hard work, money, long hours processing and even longer hours debugging and making gear work, deciding on gear combinations, debugging software and drivers etc. It goes a bit unappreciated right? Plus sometimes it merely boils down to artistic viewpoint differences of opinion (except for the objective parts which are 90% of the image though).
Artistic critique is common on this site. Its mostly very helpful. Sometimes unpalatable, but this site is very polite. I have met many of the people who post here and they are very fine people. I often find people point out things I have overlooked. Sometimes its merely a difference of artistic opinion other times its an objective thing that others will agree on and you can see yourself once pointed out to you. I find sometimes my images evolve as a result of posting here from this process. At the end they are often better for it. It would be great to post an image in a near perfect state that cannot be improved on but that's rarely the case.
Keep in mind that your processing is to some degree subjective and taste comes into it now digital manipulation means colour can be made to almost anything. But of course there is an objective element to an astrophoto. Was the tracking done well and the stars are round? Nothing subjective about that.
Is it noisy or well exposed? Again nothing subjective about that. Perhaps slightly differing opinions about how long but noise or no noise is not subjective.
Framing and composition is a bit subjective but even there, there are established guidelines that are well known for that. Plus plenty of excellent examples to follow as a guide.
Are the stars well processed and no bad rings or bloats, bleeding, artifacts, fuzziness, harsh sharpening? Again objective measures.
Are the bright areas overexposed and blown out? Again objective.
So not that much in the end is really personal interpretation or subjective.
Its either well executed and well processed or its not by pretty commonly held standards. Narrowband has a bit more leeway because its artificial colour anyway.
Now if you want to see what rude and downright antagonistic/antisocial looks like then have a look at DPreview posts about someone's posted photo. Wow. This site now looks positively friendly and civil by comparison, which of course it is.
Its one of the things I like about this site. The tone of the posts and people here is overwhelmingly positive and encouraging and appreciative. Sometimes it gets a tad competitive but really not that much and a little is fine if it makes us strive to do better.
If one finds the critiques too hard to take it would be better to not post the images publicly or state upfront you are not looking for critiques and I am sure the community here would respect your wishes there.
But yeah I have seen it where someone jumps in early in a posting to criticise an image unfairly in an attempt to stifle others appreciating and being positive about an image. Luckily that sort of thing is not that common but yes it does happen sometimes. Call it artistic jealousy!
Greg.
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