Portrait Forum?

[Photo-John]

There's a post in the Feedback Forum about adding new, dedicated forums. One of the forums mentioned would be for portraits. What do you guys think? Would a dedicated portrait forum get enough action? Is it different enough from what gets posted in this forum? One thing I am thinking about is that not all portraits are done in the studio or with artificial lighting. Maybe we should consider changing the name of this forum to "Portraits and Lighting."

Thoughts?

[Asylum Steve]

This may only be semantics, but while I think the vast majority of threads and questions in this forum pertain to portraits (Almo's fish come to mind as the rare exception, heh heh), I also think a dedicated "Portrait Forum" should be as much about natural lighting as studio lighting.

Make sense?

I guess what I'm saying is that a new seperate Portrait Forum might be too much of an overlap with this, and renaming this one "Portraits and Lighting" may water it down too much (covering too broad a field).

Then again, there may be members who are intimidated with discussions about studio gear, but would be more comfortable in a seperate Portrait Forum.

OTOH, I can also say (all modesty aside) I do consider myself equally adept at natural and artificial light portraits, so whatever you chose to do I think I'd have it covered...

Hope that clears everything up...

[MJS]

Semd the portrait guys over here, be they natural, au natural or whatever. Those shooting portraits outside the studio are just using the same lighting techniques without plugging it in.

[Alison]

Yay! I'm up for it John! I'd love to see a portrait forum. :thumbsup:

[KenB]

Since I'm the one who posted the thread in Feedback, this is what my thoughts were.......

As a newbie here, it never occurred to me that this forum would be the place to go for portrait specific photography even though studio photography, by nature, would be mostly portrait. My impression of Viewfinder are more of a place to post pics just to share but not for more serious discussion of technique. That's my impression, though, and is probably misplaced. I did look in here once or twice but the thread count was really low and the tag line "Discuss lights, lighting techniques, backdrops, and other studio-related issues." made it seem more studio gear specific.

In the interest of full disclosure, I readily admit that I have selfish interests in that I want to learn as much as I can from the portrait specialists here as it's the type of photography I enjoy most. I also completely agree that too many forums dilute the experience and make content harder to find. Any portrait "specific" forum would have to cover natural and artificial lighting as well as traditional and non-traditional portraiture, IMO, in order to avoid becoming too specific.

Maximizing exposure is, of course, one of the goals of the forums. Having more forums could make it less likely for posts to be seen. That's always a risk. The flip side of that coin is that having too busy a forum, one with a high per day thread count, could have the same effect as threads roll off to the second and third page, especially if someone misses a day or so between visits. It's a difficult balance to strike.


The one thing I don't want to do is come across in the wrong way -- as some noob stirring the pot. My entire PR experience thus far has been beyond positive. This is a great community that invites and welcomes participation. Posts have and will always find a home, regardless of what the forums are called. I don't want to convey anything other than a positive attitude towards the site.


Anyway, those are my thoughts on the subject.

[adina]

isn't this studio and lighting? i'd guess that covers any kind of lighting.

i would hesitate to add a specific portrait forum, maybe a people photo forum, to include weddings and any other type of work like that.

[photophorous]

I think changing the name to "Portraits and Lighting" makes good sense. Most people who are starting out trying to learn about portrait photography are not shooting in a studio, and there are a lot of questions about portrait photography that have nothing to do with a studio or even lighting. I think this may invite a wider variety of questions to the forum. But, I don't think a dedicated Portrait forum is necessary. My two cents.

Paul

[Frog]

Check the dates folks!

[Byron Lentz]

Count me in,I could really use help.

[adina]

damn that spam!! brought it back up and tricked us all!