>>> how to critique <<<
Andy
Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
let's have a discussion on how to improve our critiques, so we can help each other out.
first, let me cover the difficult situaiton of you wanting to provide a critique to a photo that you find absolutely horrible! i like to think of this situation as follows.. lead with something good about the photograph.... anything, no matter how tiny.... it can be even about "A" for effort! put the meat of your critique next... "this shot is really oof. compositionally, you have placed the main subject with a telephone pole sticking out of his head, which looks really bad." now, provide a way to improve the shot: "next time, ask the subject to move (if you can) or, move yourself to a different angle, so that the background behind the main subject is less distracting..." finally, and this applies to new folks you are critiquing, or new folks that have say, just joined dgrin, try to offer some words of encouragement: "a good effort, you went out in the driving snow and got a decent shot... keep up the good work, try again, and i'm looking forward to watching your progress..."
easy, isn't it?
now... let's go deeper
there's technical critique: is the exposure good? focus? color? how's the post-processing? and remember, instead of saying: "boy, your snow looks really grey and dull...." try this: your snow is grey, flat, and dull. try overexposing in the snow and sunlit scenes, becuase the camera's meter gets fooled. a+++ effort if you can link a resource from dgrin that will help the shooter
composition: is the composition pleasing? say so! tell the shooter *why* you like the composition. where was your eye drawn? how long did you stare and appreciate the photo? if the compo is off, offer help - rule of thirds, golden mean, give a link if you think they could use it, etc.
emotions: how did the photo make you *feel*? did the photograph stir any emotions inside? bring up any memories?
finally, i would add that *anyone* at dgrin can provide critiques that incorporate any or all of the above.... let's try to do more than "good shot" or, "i pick number 3" :deal
please, if you have something to add, we'd love to hear it, right here in this thread!
enjoy (critiquing) photography,
first, let me cover the difficult situaiton of you wanting to provide a critique to a photo that you find absolutely horrible! i like to think of this situation as follows.. lead with something good about the photograph.... anything, no matter how tiny.... it can be even about "A" for effort! put the meat of your critique next... "this shot is really oof. compositionally, you have placed the main subject with a telephone pole sticking out of his head, which looks really bad." now, provide a way to improve the shot: "next time, ask the subject to move (if you can) or, move yourself to a different angle, so that the background behind the main subject is less distracting..." finally, and this applies to new folks you are critiquing, or new folks that have say, just joined dgrin, try to offer some words of encouragement: "a good effort, you went out in the driving snow and got a decent shot... keep up the good work, try again, and i'm looking forward to watching your progress..."
easy, isn't it?
now... let's go deeper
there's technical critique: is the exposure good? focus? color? how's the post-processing? and remember, instead of saying: "boy, your snow looks really grey and dull...." try this: your snow is grey, flat, and dull. try overexposing in the snow and sunlit scenes, becuase the camera's meter gets fooled. a+++ effort if you can link a resource from dgrin that will help the shooter
composition: is the composition pleasing? say so! tell the shooter *why* you like the composition. where was your eye drawn? how long did you stare and appreciate the photo? if the compo is off, offer help - rule of thirds, golden mean, give a link if you think they could use it, etc.
emotions: how did the photo make you *feel*? did the photograph stir any emotions inside? bring up any memories?
finally, i would add that *anyone* at dgrin can provide critiques that incorporate any or all of the above.... let's try to do more than "good shot" or, "i pick number 3" :deal
please, if you have something to add, we'd love to hear it, right here in this thread!
enjoy (critiquing) photography,
0
Comments
1. you placed your photo out there, so be prepared for *anything* !!!
2. your critiquer may have the best of intentions, but may not be able to put it in nice friendly words... typing on the internet doesn't convey the emotions we can when we're speaking face to face.
3. take all critiques, good/bad/thorough/terse, and learn from them.
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http://clix.smugmug.com
I know I am picking up on letters and using them expecting to be helpful, but not everyone, especially people new to "the speak" knows what these letters mean. Even the most obvious. (And the really obvious ones I can't think of, as they have become obvious to me after about 9 months here.)
But I do remember the first time I saw OOF (out of focus), I also saw red as I thought I had been heavily insulted with a new word for "terrible". In fact, it was a while before I got those letters figured out, probably because of the emotions involved and the fatigue that can settle in after hours of this stuff. Now I have made those letters so famous in my family, they are used a lot. I still don't like them because of my initial feeling when I initially saw them. I am sure that by the time my family gets through teasing me, I will get over it.
Since then, I do remember the letters, OS and not knowing that they meant operating system, not that I would have known what "operating system" is.
Sometimes us newbies gone to intermediates can still be slow on some of the basics. I still would like to see a book printed up of those letters and what they stand for.
That is just a thought, something I have had problems with. Jargon takes awhile to learn, it is assumed in most cases that if we know one thing, we know another. Some of us are just learning at one level or another. My only contact with photography is on dgrin, so I would be slower than someone out in the field every day.
Please ask me to clarify if I say something you, or you, cannot understand.
ginger
Keep writing! Look forward to seeing your future work!
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
Besides people minding that not everyone is used to that type of common photographers/computer geeks jargon, they should also bear in mind that English is not the native language to many people around here (like myself)...
Roger
gubbs.smugmug.com
g
-GAry
Roger, thanks for the reminder about the language barrier. May I add something here. Some people have their location appearing by their avatar on their posts, some people don't. I find it very helpful to see a location as I read a post. It reminds me of the time zone and the weather where the poster is located. As I read a post, I can relate better when I realize, "Oh, he's in AUSTRALIA, the other side of the world. It's summer there." I'm in Califiornia, I have oranges in my yard, not snow. I don't know photography jargon or computer jargon very well. I'm still trying to figure out what
Reminder, use the smilies in your critiques. It helps to convey the casual mood.
Oh, by the way, my location today is "Sunny San Diego", which is also "Muddy San Diego". We've been "under water" here for a week. I've got a hill of mud and two big boulders in my driveway. But, the sun is shining on all of it today.
Susan Appel Photography My Blog
Hopefully this is not too OffTopic here, but I've been wanting to discuss a related convention - which msg in a thread to respond to. I really like these online threaded conversations because of how "naturally" it encourages a logical structure to the conversations that makes them very readable - as long as everyone replies to the msg in the thread whose content one is actually responding to. This is quite different to the "chat room" situaltion, where the structure is strictly time-based, which I find totally chaotic.
Of course on this forum the participants have several alternative thread presentation options, some of which are more like the chat room where the threaded nature is less evident. As a result, I notice that sometimes the newest msg is submitted as a response to the most recent msg read by the submitter, rather than to the msg to which it would most logically follow on a content basis.
An example of this is the submission of photo's in the challenge threads. In this case of course there is really no logical structure anyway, so it doesn't really matter, but it still seems strange to me to have someone submitting their entry as a "reply" to someone else's entry. (In this case it's probably due to convenience, especially because responding to Andy's original msg requires us to delete the long quoted content of Andy's original msg - maybe if Andy added a 2nd short msg just saying "reply to this msg when submitting your entry".
Atr any rate, the reason I mention it here is that if there is to be an "orientation-type" thread in the Hall of wisdom, (or a sticky thread here), maybe a "how to respond to threaded conversations" topic could be added as well for newby's who may be coming from the chat room tradition.
-Gary
Remember, we are a community first! Some people just want to display their images, just like they put images on their home and office walls. Would you walk into someone's home and start criticizing their artwork?
So I would recommend that people be sensitive to comments like "what do you guys think?" or "all comments welcome" as being clues that the poster would like a review. If the image is posted with no comments or just a simple "look what I saw in my tree today...I'm so excited!", then please keep the critical comments to yourself, and feel free to say things like "That's lovely!" and "Nicely done!"
Okay? Great. As you were.
"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."-Hunter S.Thompson
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Thanks.:encore
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
I sure would like an education on what my thread presentation options are, and how best to use them.
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(i'm referring to your avatar, don't want people to think I'm a jerk)
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
Can anybody give me a clue please as I have looked over the User CP and cannot find any related option?
Thanks!
Roger
P.S. The name of the American state would also help as not everyone knows what ND, CA, VA ot whatever stands for :smooch
roger, do you have lisbon listed in the "location" field?
obrigado,
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I do have it in the only Location field I have seen (in Additional Information, last section of the Profile).
Roger
I had this problem, it's a bug. I forget the exact solution, but I believe that there's a field in your profile just above location that needs to have something in it. Baldy is the one who figured it out for me, you could ask him, but first just try putting something in blank fields.
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I did it and now we'll see...:confused
Roger
Edit: Worked!
Hi Roger,
Just an aside here, sunny San Diego is in sunny Southern California. We have beaches and deserts, a few mountains, but not many trees. And no snow!
Susan Appel Photography My Blog
I love your new avatar. Great picture, it should be on the Kodak photo of the year screen!
Susan Appel Photography My Blog
Roger
I think that's a good point Fish, I always apreciate comments (good or bad) I'll remember to ask for them
gubbs.smugmug.com
here's a very good piece on how to critique
thanks to netgarden for the link!
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But I really do have problems when I see a photo that does nothing whatsoever for me. I see no redeeming qualities at all. And that happens. However, I have always been able to say something nice about someone's baby and don't understand people who can't.
Sometimes, I say, "how beautiful, it is a baby"! "I love babies." I guess I could do that with a photograph. I also comment on how soft the skin is, I suppose with a photograph, I could comment on, "it has color, so nice".
But I really can't think of anything constructive to say, and I can be wrong, some of those photographs end up in the finals, not often, but a few times. I hate to hold someone back.
It is a problem for me, especially when I want to say, "can you just start over." With babies, there is no contest involved. Nothing is really on the line. And we all know about the ugly duckling, I have seen some really homely kids become stunners. (I did not say anything about a photograph a month or so ago, and others, did, it was one I thought should be trashed, but it became one very nice photograph. I was quite impressed and was very glad I had not said anything.)
I just wanted to comment that I appreciate the article, Andy, I am going to copy it. It did have some helpful hints that I can think on.
This has been a problem for me, and the more of a problem it is, the less I am apt to critique.
ginger