AmbleYonder
Senior Member
- Messages
- 1,680
- Solutions
- 2
- Reaction score
- 1,341
you granted permission by default as there is no forum ruling that requires an invitation to comment.
-
Welcome to the new forums! Please read this first. For known issues we are working to resolve, click here.
How do you critique a photo?
- Thread starter tbcass
- Start date
Gerry Winterbourne
Forum Pro
There is a clear distinction between "granting permission" and "inviting". You have been writing about inviting so far; if you want to change the discussion to granting permission I can't stop you (although I won't join in) but it is a change.
Chris Wolfgram
Veteran Member
Well you can check me on this, but I think i am somewhere in the middle, because most of the time, if I don't like a photo in the first place, I just won't reply at all. So you won't see many (any ?) all negative replies from me.
Now, if somebody is straight up asking for my C/C, "and I like the photo" to begin with, then I can almost always find something with cropping, color, brightness / contrast, etc, that I might change.
I like to play with others photos too, as long as they are okay with this of course. And as far as C/C of my own photos, I really prefer somebody does the tweaks they are talking about on my photos, as it's so much easier for me to see what they are saying with the actual photo, than it is to try to visualize it from words.....
Anyway, I saw you did not have a gallery here ? But if you would like me to, plz post a photo, and I will only tell you what I don't like about it, and withhold my comments about what I do like ☺ .....just for you of course. I'd feel rude to do that to anyone else.
--
Photos are my paintings. The camera is my brush.
DPreview gallery; http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/5075216809
No time or attention given for negativity or trolls.
Last edited:
There is always something that can be done differently. A reviewer should know, and explain, the difference between a possible error and a difference in direction.
tbcass
Forum Pro
I do have a gallery but they are simply examples of what various cameras and lenses I've owned can do. They are not necessarily "keepers". I don't post photos for CC because that's not my thing. My photography is only for my and my families enjoyment and they are the only opinions I care about. I also don't do much critiquing of other people's photos unless there is something obvious I think I can help with technically with camera settings. Composition in particular is personal so I don't comment on that.
That's a good point. It generally comes from one or two attempts.
Exactly and telling them truly what's good about it can be profitable to them in the future.
abiquiuense
Veteran Member
tbcass
Forum Pro
I've been involved in this hobby for over 50 years and still don't feel qualified to critique a photo, aside from the obvious. ;-)
What is obvious to one person may not be obvious to another.
I find that if someone just says what is appealing to them in a photograph or painting can be helpful. I don't think one has to "qualify" to offer your own insights and preferences of what aspect of a photograph or watercolor they like or that strikes a discordant note with them.
Tom, don't sell yourself short.....your informal critique of a photo might be very valuable to the photographer.
Don
Last edited:
tbcass
Forum Pro
I believe you can think of flaws that would be obvious to anybody. Totally out of focus for example.
Well sure.I believe you can think of flaws that would be obvious to anybody. Totally out of focus for example.
I often ask my wife "what's wrong with this watercolor".....she is not an artist, but she often brings a little something to my attention that is wrong with the painting, something that confuses her eye....and is then obvious to me, too....but only after she has pointed it out. Now other times I don't agree with her and leave the painting alone.
Still, sometimes it's difficult for us to see faults in our own work, to see our work through someone else's eyes.
--
Don
Last edited:
tko
Forum Pro
If the purpose of art is too communicate, then the artist is automatically excluded from any critiquing, because of course he understands what he was trying to say.
The purpose of a critique to supply feedback on the communication process, not how self-satisfied you are with your own work. Making yourself feel good is easy. Making someone feel is far harder.
By the way, I'm the world's greatest photographer, singer, and dancer. At least that's what I think
~~~
no, I won't return to read your witty reply!
professional cynic and contrarian: don't take it personally
500px
tko
Forum Pro
The trouble is, a lot of people see this as being too harsh and honest. If you really want to get better, you need to be able to accept direct criticism without all the sugar. That's the first step in getting better.
Goethe
Senior Member
- Messages
- 1,511
- Solutions
- 1
- Reaction score
- 2,239
First of all that is a big IF. Art encompasses much more then just communication. But, using your criteria, what if the artist is simply having a dialogue with him or herself? What if the artist is simply creating, with no concern of what others think?
Catching and cooking a fish is art. The purpose isnt to communicate but to feed the belly.
Are you honestly suggesting that nobody has ever created anything and then stood back amazed because what is now before them was not what they intended, but rather seems that they channeled something from somewhere else? That a piece of their work, their own imagining, transcended their intent and communicated something back in a new and previously not understood way?
The purpose of critique is to judge, to assess. Feedback is optional and in the best of times littered with subjective experience. This feedback can also be tainted with any number of human traits from sycophantic simpering to deceptive self interest.
Have you dealt with clinical depression?
No...making someone feel something worthwhile is harder. Basic feelings are easy. Walk up to a stranger and pinch them hard. You can make them feel pain, anger and frustration immediately with little effort on your part.
By the way, I'm the world's greatest photographer, singer, and dancer. At least that's what I think
~~~
no, I won't return to read your witty reply!
professional cynic and contrarian: don't take it personally
http://500px.com/omearak
confused circle
Senior Member
- Messages
- 1,708
- Reaction score
- 1,554
I think I truly don't care what anyone here thinks of my photos. I didn't take any of them for anyone here, and now I know I wouldn't change anything I do for anyone here. In that I see critique as really pointless. I sometimes take photos for other people, and I satisfy those people by satisfying myself. I have found that if I am good with the photo, they will be, too. When you ask for c&c, in the midst of some genuine attempts to assist by many, you're also just inflating some egos for a few that don't deserve it. I don't know what makes those certain others think they can tell others how to shoot. There's some technical issues that can be addressed at times, but beyond that it comes down to taste, and no one person owns that. That and rampant groupthink are issues online.
Lu1Wang
Senior Member
For a more technical genre such as wildlife and studio portrait, it would make sens to pixel peep a bit and check critical focus. For something more artistic such as street photography, those matters a lot less than the story telling aspect of the shot.
I personally don't feel qualified nor comfortable to criticize other people's works, based on how my camera club's C&C sessions often end up like.
I personally don't feel qualified nor comfortable to criticize other people's works, based on how my camera club's C&C sessions often end up like.
Why? A good critique is not all sugar, but it is not all salt either. You did this right is equally as much critique as you did this wrong. And how you express the wrong is going to affect how that is accepted. If one’s goal is to actually help the person, it behooves one to state critique well.
David Pavlich
Veteran Member
tko
Forum Pro
What else?
Don't mistake skill and art. Skill has a measurable result (how many fish are caught.) Art is can only be evaluated by others.
An artist who never shows his painting, an actor who only acts for himself, a singer who only sings in the shower, a writer who is never published? Sure, you can play at these things, but you aren't doing yourself any favors if you don't look for feedback.
Hey, I was amazed by the first photo I ever took. I guess babies are amazed by their first finger painting. But reality sinks in and many never get past that first glow of amazement.
They communicated back to themselves? But they already knew what they were saying.
How do you know your feeling of amazement is backed by anything concrete and not simple self-delusion? You don't, until you let someone else see it. Someone besides your mother and girlfriend.
By definition, most of that subjectiveness comes from the artist himself. He's involved, he created it. How much more subjective can you get?
You like playing with words to avoid the point.
That's called performance art. Perfect point. What it lacks is subtlety and probably wouldn't pass critical, external review, no matter how much the performer themselves likes it.
You seem to like to dance around with words in an effort not the have you work judged by others. Art doesn't exist in a vacuum. It must be seen, appreciated, and discussed.
http://500px.com/omearak
Goethe
Senior Member
- Messages
- 1,511
- Solutions
- 1
- Reaction score
- 2,239
I dont have time for a detailed breakdown of this. I'm not sure if you missed my earlier post of how I see art, but it is this: Art is any activity humans do that rises above the level of instinct. Reread my post with that in mind. Esp re: fish. Yes, skill is how many fish are caught. But it is pure art to use disparate parts of nature to accomplish an activity. Instinct is to reach into the water with your hand and catch a fish. Art is to see the connection between making a thin line, breaking off a tree branch of the right springyness, then finding a suitable bait (while not eating it) and then put it all together to practice the art of catching a fish. Skill is just how good you get at it.
Everything we do...everything...that is above instinct is Art.
--
Straylightrun- "Are you for real?"
Goethe- "No, I'm a unicorn. Kudos for seeing thru the disguise."
http://photolumiere.net/
Goethe, this is a notification that you have been temporarily banned from dpreview, details of the reason are as follows: Excessive use of glitter.
Last edited:
Similar threads
Keyboard shortcuts
- f
- Forum