How to use Social Groups ...

[r_fredrick_smith]

Only two Social Groups exist on ShotCritic at present. One is the Challenge group. To facilitate use of this group so that more people can participate, I'm adding this short tutorial.

To see the Social groups you belong to, go to your profile and look in the right hand lower area (you may have to scroll down). Here is what you'll see:

You can join a group by clicking the little link below the list of groups you already belong to (if any).

Click on the group (you are a member of) that you want to visit. You'll then see something like this:

Here you see me at the Challenges Social Group. The top row of photos shows the avatars of the member of the group. The next row of photos shows photos currently attached to the group (contest entries in this case).

Suppose I want to enter the challenge with a photo that meets the current Challenge criteria. Then this screen shot shows one route to doing that. If you scroll on down from in the above screen shot you'll see the group comments and the directions for the current challenge. Usually it will be the top message (in this case).

So, suppose you want to enter the current contest. Then click on the Add Pictures button that is shown in the above screen shot. This will take you to a dialog that looks like this:

Paste in the URL (not BB code) to where the photo is located. I've shown an example of posting it from one of my Albums (but it could be a URL to a photo on a host or server that allows hotlinking --- don't use Picasso, and other types of sites that don't allow hotlinking). Once you paste the URL, then click the Add Picture button and the photo will be added to the Social group and will appear as shown in the second screen shot in this tutorial.

The second way to add a photo to a group that you belong to is actually easier than the above. It assumes that the photo is in one of your albums. Navigate to the photo and view it. Here is a screen shot at that point:

Notice that there is an option to add it to a group. Click on that and you'll see this screen shot:

Put a check mark beside the group to attach the photo to, and click the Add button. The photo is now attached to the group and is ready to be commented on by all in the group.

So now the photo is attached to the group (by one of the two methods). If this is the challenge group, you can now make individual comments on each photo. Here's how.

Click on the photo that you wish to make a comment on (see screen shot #2 above to see where these photos are located).

You'll see something like this:

As you can observe, you see the photo, and any comments that have already been made and a empty dialog for you to enter your comment. Type whatever you want, and then click the Post Comment button.

Congratulations! You are now up to speed on using social groups and participating in the Challenge Contest.

Cheers,
rfs

[Electricseashell]

You rock! Thank you very much. add hot link to your keyword list, since it answers the failure of my non-link as it was Picassa.. I like my albums there but now know I can't link to it. (Topic : New Challenge Posted)

[A.C. Gellert]

Another Great tutorial by the infamous RFS!!!

[Electricseashell]

New Challenge posted:

I know it's been awhile so there will be no time limit to this one.. shoot eyes, animal, people, inanimate objects that look like eyes. Submit them first of course in your albums, then come back and post in the group. Post as many as you can..

The object of course is to get the lighting and exposures right.. Have fun ESS

[Electricseashell]

Thanks Arbib for posting to the challenge... hope to see more.. ESS