Too Many Pictures in Reviews

I don't think it is compatible with Mac, sadly.

I did some searching though, and found a couple of Mac options. Sounds like they aren't as powerful as Photofiltre, but still have good editing options. (I haven't tried them or anything.)


Image Tricks

link


Livequartz Image Editor

link


I believe that the GIMP software is also Mac compatible. I tried using it before on my PC, but I preferred Photofiltre just because GIMP felt a little clunkier to me. I think it's supposed to be on about the same level as Photofiltre though. less

Do you ever read a review and find there are too many images?

While I understand that pictures can be useful, I guess I use them sparingly. To me, they're especially helpful if something is different from the product images or unable to be seen in them, like with textures. Pictures can be good to describe unique shapes that are hard to define in words or flaws of a product. Lately, I've run across reviews with nearly a dozen pictures and I find this overwhelming. If an image isn't significantly different from others or I can't readily identify what I'm looking at or why, it doesn't add to the review for me. less

I hope you know that I have actually showed your reviews to my plus sized friends because they're VERY helpful. Your pictures are not redundant. They're well shot, and they show what needs to be shown. You show the kinds of things that many women are looking for, especially for plus sized lingerie: breast support, good coverage, etc. Furthermore, I have always thought you were extremely courageous for showing your curves when bigger bodies typically do not get the love and support they deserve. Maybe I should have said that sooner instead of thinking it - which I have often. In either case, I do think it's really brave, and I also know for a fact that it lends confidence and courage to women with similar bodies. Please don't take the pictures out, unless you are personally uncomfortable with them.

Finally? Your picture aren't redundant. You have a formula, and you always show the front, back, side and bust. It's a great template, and I think it works really well. less

I'm sitting here bawling my eyes out - thank you so much. You have no idea just how much it means to me to hear this.

Yes, I struggle with taking the photos and posting them. To be honest- I look at the smaller gals like Sam and some of you others and I just feel sick to look at myself.

But then I remind myself that I have a right to be beautiful too and to feel "pretty" and have nice things.

I'm 51 years old and I decided to go ahead and share pictures because perhaps I'll be able to help some other woman to stop hating herself and her body and be willing to allow herself to be beautiful. If I can help one woman - than it is worth the shame I feel everytime I look at my photos (especially from the side).

I posted one review earlier tonight called She Rules the Night because my husband suggested that title. I thought I looked SO PRETTY in it - till I saw the pictures - especially the sideways one.

I sat and cried - here I'd been joking with my husband and daughter about feeling like a "Bond Girl"...and now I saw what I must look like to them.

My husband came over and hugged me and asked me what is wrong. I was like, "I can't do this review - I can't post these pictures...and people don't like pictures and think others are just trying to show themselves off..." and told him about the personal message I'd received about how I make the items look bad because of my posture (they didn't realize just how ashamed I was to take those pictures - all they wanted to do was critique things - as I'm hearing from others they've contacted with remarks too).

Anyway - I say all that to say "thank you so much" for letting me know that my pictures have helped someone. That was the goal...and I know I've met it.

By the way - I have six items due in tomorrow (lingerie) plus another lingerie item I ordered off Eden Classifieds plus six pairs of underwear (which I will NOT model but will photograph close up).

So watch for more lingerie reviews to come soon! less

I just want to say thank you for your reviews! It takes a LOT of guts to put yourself out there, even if you do feel self confident. When you feel down on yourself it is even harder. You DO have the right to feel pretty and beautiful. EVERY woman has that right! Congrats to you for being brave enough to do what you do!

And shame on someone for saying you make items look bad for any reason. That's a very rude comment to make when someone puts themselves out like that. It's not easy to post pictures of yourself in skimpy things for all to see. No one needs comments like that.

Can't wait to see your new reviews! less

So I have debated responding to this thread pretty much all day. I decided to put my two cents in, but I may regret it later. We shall see.

I put many pictures in my reviews. I put as many pictures as I feel are needed for the item in question. Sometimes this means four pictures and sometimes this means double digit numbers. If it's lingerie and there are lots of details to show, I like to show them. The product page does not show these details and I feel it is something important to see that words would not do as well as a photo. If it's a toy, I take photos for size, texture, flexibility, and packaging. I place these photos within the review along with the text that goes with it.

I do this for a few reasons. My selfish reason is that pictures are my personal preference for reviews. I am ADD and a visual learner. I cannot read large blocks of text without getting very bored. The pictures hold my interest and allow me to get through the review. I also will not grasp a concept fully if it is just in written word, so the picture is more useful to me than 1000 words describing what is in the photo. So I include any photo that I would personally want to see as well as any photo I think may be useful to someone else.

My other reason has to do with my professional background. I am in sales. In sales, you learn that in public forums you must cater to a variety of learning styles. Some people learn better from the written form, some from hearing, some from seeing. When doing a presentation for a large audience, you must cater to as many learning styles as possible. I have trouble doing video reviews since I have a small child and a hectic work schedule, so audio is out for me. As such, I play up visual and textual aspects of my reviews. I include as much of a visual description as possible as well as a written one. This way the review reaches a larger audience of people.

The only time I find lots of photos will make a review less useful is if they are included IN LIEU of a text review. Photos do not exempt you from writing a review that should stand on its own merit. The review should be able to be read if, say, the pictures don't load for someone or if you pretend they aren't there. If the photos are there to mask the fact that the text review sucks, the review is less useful by default. Also, if the photos are very blurry where the product cannot be made out, that will make it less useful to me. Otherwise, I say the more pictures that are included the better.

I find it incredibly distasteful to vote less useful on a review that includes a full text review with all the information SIMPLY because it included more pictures than you would prefer. I understand if the review itself is lacking, but if not, the inclusion of photos should not bring down the vote. If the photos themselves are poorly shot, I can also understand that - as in blurry, etc.

I tend to learn who posts reviews with the most pictures and I will read those reviews before others. They are simply more useful to me personally. In fact, when I open a new review, the first thing I do is scroll through and look for pictures. If they aren't there and I am feeling very ADD that day, I won't read the review at all.

My suggestion is simply the opposite of that. There are many "regular" reviewers that post reviews with lots of pictures. This thread is a good way to spot them! The people that have said they post pictures or find them very useful will have the reviews with the most pictures. If you don't like pictures, don't read reviews by that person rather reading their reviews and letting yourself get annoyed with the known inclusion of photos. There are reviewers that I like and those I'm not as fond of their style. It's not too difficult to pay a bit of attention to the screen name attached to a review before clicking on it to save yourself some frustration.

To those who post photos - please don't stop! I will be so upset if I start to see less pictures.

If you don't like pictures in reviews, my fair warning is not to read mine. less

I don't think it is compatible with Mac, sadly.

I did some searching though, and found a couple of Mac options. Sounds like they aren't as powerful as Photofiltre, but still have good editing options. (I haven't tried them or anything.)


Image Tricks

link


Livequartz Image Editor

link


I believe that the GIMP software is also Mac compatible. I tried using it before on my PC, but I preferred Photofiltre just because GIMP felt a little clunkier to me. I think it's supposed to be on about the same level as Photofiltre though. less

I hope this doesn't offend anyone but this is how I feel..

basically, you cannot please everyone. While it would be nice if we could, there will always be someone or some people who are not fully satisfied with the way you do things. This is true in life, not just reviewing.

Since I've been here at EF, I've seen many reviews and comments, and many posts in the forum about such things.

Some people can't stand photos, while others cannot get enough.
Some people find the "adult" videos extremely useful, while others find them silly and useless.
Some people want every single detail even if it's on the product page, others just want an experience review.
Some people don't want comments that only say "thank you" while other people will take any comments they can get.

...and the list goes on. Personally, I just try and write an extremely useful review that I would consider to be extremely helpful to someone who is interested in the product. I seen a few people mention in this thread that now they feel they shouldn't add photos, or not as many. I hope these people continue adding photos because I like seeing them!

If you change the style of your reviews for a few people, you'll still have another group of people who can find something they dislike. For myself, I know that if I were to change my review style for the few who don't like it, then I'd probably find reviewing a lot less exciting and fun... It'd become more of a chore than a pleasure.

Anyway, like I said, hope this doesn't offend anyone.. I just think that if we all had similar review styles/preferences; then it'd be silly to even have more than one review per product. less

Do you ever read a review and find there are too many images?

While I understand that pictures can be useful, I guess I use them sparingly. To me, they're especially helpful if something is different from the product images or unable to be seen in them, like with textures. Pictures can be good to describe unique shapes that are hard to define in words or flaws of a product. Lately, I've run across reviews with nearly a dozen pictures and I find this overwhelming. If an image isn't significantly different from others or I can't readily identify what I'm looking at or why, it doesn't add to the review for me. less

I hope this doesn't offend anyone but this is how I feel..

basically, you cannot please everyone. While it would be nice if we could, there will always be someone or some people who are not fully satisfied with the way you do things. This is true in life, not just reviewing.

Since I've been here at EF, I've seen many reviews and comments, and many posts in the forum about such things.

Some people can't stand photos, while others cannot get enough.
Some people find the "adult" videos extremely useful, while others find them silly and useless.
Some people want every single detail even if it's on the product page, others just want an experience review.
Some people don't want comments that only say "thank you" while other people will take any comments they can get.

...and the list goes on. Personally, I just try and write an extremely useful review that I would consider to be extremely helpful to someone who is interested in the product. I seen a few people mention in this thread that now they feel they shouldn't add photos, or not as many. I hope these people continue adding photos because I like seeing them!

If you change the style of your reviews for a few people, you'll still have another group of people who can find something they dislike. For myself, I know that if I were to change my review style for the few who don't like it, then I'd probably find reviewing a lot less exciting and fun... It'd become more of a chore than a pleasure.

Anyway, like I said, hope this doesn't offend anyone.. I just think that if we all had similar review styles/preferences; then it'd be silly to even have more than one review per product. less

People are becoming much too defensive over this issue. No one has said exactly how many is too many pictures in a review, and yet somehow everyone assumes we are talking about their reviews. Also, it will obviously vary by product type. Some products lend themselves to more pictures compared to others. Lastly, it is each persons opinion on the subject as to how many is too many. Whether you agree or not, it's an opinion and does not require justification to anyone. It's no different than the criteria that I use to justify my rating of a review. It's my criteria. No one said you had to agree with it. less

It was said on the previous page that more than 4 or 5 was too many. So yes, those of us who routinely use more than 4 or 5 feel like we're being called out. I worry that it's making new reviewers or forum lurkers feel criticized and unwelcome, so I suppose I'm speaking up more on the behalf of other people than myself.

As for myself, they're my reviews. No one said you had to use my style or agree with it. less

Thanks for all the suggestions for photo software! I'm going to play around some soon. Now if anyone wants to teach me how to use the software....

Kindred - There have been instances of comments being left and messages being sent to those who post multiple pictures in reviews lately. If you look at what TexasMama said, someone messaged her saying she made pieces look bad due to her posture. I've also recently had comments on my reviews from one person about my photos. I think that is another part of the reason why some people are feeling a little defensive. At least that's why I am. I really don't mind what votes I get so much, but snide remarks I can live without. They really ruin my day and have the potential to hurt people's feelings. There's no need for that on Eden. less