photoSIG

This is an excellent site if you want honest critiques of your photographs. A lot of very good photographers use this site which means that you can get a lot of good advice. It also means that people won't pile praise onto you unless your pictures are genuinely good.

If you can't take criticism than this is not the site for you. Remember that people are criticising your photograph, they are not criticising you. If you can take criticism than you can learn a lot.

Of course not everyone on the the site knows what they are talking about so sometimes people will write things that are clearly wrong. The best thing to do with this sort of thing is to ignore it. If you take it personally then you will end up all bitter and twisted.

Regarding the site's admin. In my opinion she does a very good job. I have not seen any of the "heavy handed behaviour" that sort people complain about. I have seen her intervene to calm down arguments that get out of hand, which can only be a good thing.

Note that the rules regarding critiques changes a while ago to stamp out the "mutual admiration societies" that some people complained about. The new rules also reward longer, more detailed critiques.

At least one review here claims that the site is "no longer free". That's not true. You can opt for a paid or for a free account. One of the advantages of paying is that you can post more pictures.

Great site, don't understand some of the negative. Great for me!

Photosig and DPreview are the 2 photography communities that I visit the most often. The best part of photosig is high level of photography that can be seen on the site. Sometimes you will see photos that are not so great though most of the time the photos are quite remarkable. It is a great mixture of professionals and amateurs. The contests are pretty fun too.

Flickr is fun but not very useful for learning better photography. My photo skills are lacking and the people on photosig give me harsh critiques but I do learn on that site. Flickr is TOO friendly to be very useful in improving one's photography skills.

Best way to learn about photography is from this site - Everything I learned about how to use my new Nikon D70, I learned from this site. I learned how to frame, compose and how to take great photos. You can easily become a member for free if you just message an existing user and ask to be given a free membership. But eventually you will want to pay for a membership on your own. The feedback from the other members is the best part about the site

No longer a free site, but you can really learn about photography if you read all of the reviews. It helps if you critique other members with quality work as they will in turn give you a critique of your photos. The best way to learn is to get solid critique from the experienced photographers