Writing a good photo critique is like anything else - there are certain criteria that need to be met and other things that you should avoid. This guide takes you through 5 things you should avoid when critiquing photos.
Giving one word responses While a one word response may form your initial action to a photograph (Wow! Fantastic! Okay. Boring. Great!), it shouldn't form the entirety of your critique. It can be useful to a photographer to know your initial thoughts on an image, but leaving it at that won't help them improve. You need to make sure you give adequate detail and demonstrate the reasoning behind your responses so the photographer can see why their picture worked or why it didn't.
Being a backseat photographer The photographers you're critiquing will welcome any hints or advice you can give them that will help them improve their work. It's a great idea to suggest different techniques they might try the next time they take a similar picture as you might think of something that they haven't. What isn't so useful, though, is telling them how you would've taken the picture yourself. This is because you don't know exactly where they were when they took the photo - you might, for example, think they should have moved backwards and crouched down to take it, but that may not have been physically possible at the time.
Critiquing a lack of detail in dark areas While it is possible to take photos that include impressive detail even in the very darkest areas of the picture, this isn't always appropriate for every photograph. If you're tempted to tell the photographer that they should have got more detail into the shadows, think about the context of their picture first. Does the image lend itself to detail in the dark areas? Would it detract from the main image? Think about what the photographer was trying to achieve with their picture before you critique their technique - after all, there's no way you can ever squeeze in every technique that's ever been invented into a photograph.
Missing the point of the photo Of course, everyone sees the world in different ways and so what the photographer sees in their picture, you may not see yourself. This isn't a problem, but you should try to create links between what the photographer was trying to achieve and if they've actually achieved it, even if you don't see it yourself. Make sure you read any notes that the photographer's included before writing your photo critique so you can see what they intended and critique it appropriately, as this will ultimately be more helpful to them.
Not telling how to improve Giving feedback is great but the real value of a critique is in telling the photographer how the photo could be improved. Always include several bullets telling the photographer how the photo could be improved next time or using a post processing tool.
Find out more about photo critique at http://www.gurushots.com/.
Gilon Miller is founder and CEO of GuruShots.com, a website that offers amateur photographers from around the world the highest quality photo critique on the internet via a network of world-class professional photographers.
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