How I use and enjoy 100ASA

 

My problem with photography is that I often do not know which images are good and which are mediocre, or maybe even bad. We all strive to get better, so self-critique is partly a good thing. But if it makes you unsure about your own accomplishments, it starts to hinder more than help. This is a general problem in learning, and it is the reason why mentors mean so much. A good one will enforce your good developments and try to fix the bad habits.

Some will argue that you should not care. If you like an image, then it is okay. But that is a sure way not to progress. Even worse, most photographers only get positive reactions, because most viewers don't care about image quality, only about content. The Web is no help here, because on many photography sites there is no room for constructive critique. Everybody praises everybody, just to get praised in reward. Most comments are meaningless "Nice Picture!" remarks.

What you need is a positive attitude about yourself and your work, but also a way to see your images as they are. Everybody can improve, and you should be open to suggestions.

Here is where a site like 100ASA can help. Its main feature is a curation scheme. You can upload images for it, and other users are anonymously rating the quality, creativity and content, and can also comment. If you reach a certain point level, images are published in galleries. The most prestigious one is the Prime gallery. Some images are selected by site curators for an Elite gallery, and after suggested by other users for an Inspiration gallery.

Of course, you need to make sure that you like the kind of images on that site. Photography is a diverse art, and your way might not be represented on 100ASA. But I try to convince you with the images I uploaded and which were endorsed by the curators that 100ASA allows many different genres. Personally, I like many of the images on the galleries, albeit not all. There is also a lot of nude content, some better, some not so.

Have a look at the image at the start. This one was curated to Prime in no time, and soon after to Inspiration. Clearly, it's a good image and I like it a lot, but I would not consider it outstanding. The elections by others just helps me to see, how much they like it too. Of course, I got rejections too. Those were not bad images. Else I would not have tried. They were just not interesting enough. I understood that.

Now, you may argue that I should not serve the taste of this specific site. But I don't. I do have a lot of trust in the judgement of the curators. But even if they hype one image it just means that this particular one has good enough image quality and interesting content to convince. I am not going to get too excited. I am just pleased and continue to do my own thing. I stay realistic!

This is another one that made to Inspiration. It is clearly a completely different genre. I like this image myself, but mostly because I know the two persons in the image well. I was just lucky when I shot it. Both silhouettes are in front of a brighter background area. Without that detail, the image would be much less attracting.

Admittedly, this is not the usual genre on 100ASA. Street photography and scenes in natural light are rare, besides in landscape photography. But they exist.

Here is another one in Inspiration. It is a far more common kind of photography on this site. There are absolutely great landscapes there. Have a look!

This is the only one of my images that made it to Elite. That means it was hand picked by the site's curators without suggestion by other users.

There is always the fear of amateurs that they do not have the right equipment to provide content for these sites. The image above shows that such fear is not necessary. It was taken with one of the weakest lenses of the Nikon Z lineup, the 28mm f/2.8. I use this lens only for street walks, because it is light. The picture is also cropped to get rid of disturbing elements.

The final one did not make it to any of the selected galleries, just to the Prime one. But it shows that content and good light and mood are more important than equipment. I took it 18 years ago on a Pentax Optio point-and-shoot camera.