Critique principles

Since asking for a critique on my gallery I have improved it's look I think.
But as per suggestiosn I have started watching critique videos on youtube and other places and it became apparent that it doesn't matter what the image is, everyone is going to have their own take on it.

So in order for me to understand what potential customers see, I got to thinking questions are more ponient.

I have started listing major questions for critiqing my own images with.
Eg, where am I supposed to look?
What is blocking this view
How are the colours balanced?
Where is the light coming from?
Where is the story?
What is the story?
Does the story fit the image?
etc etc


Can you help me make like a top questions list to critique images with.
What do judges ask?

Does it speak to me?

8thsinner wrote in post #17849231
...it doesn't matter what the image is, everyone is going to have their own take on it.....

.....What do judges ask?

I think you sort of answered and dismissed your own question. Even "technical" critiques end up encompassing some form of subjective judgement. I know a photographer that is caught up with local photo contests that he never wins. He gets so frustrated that it is actually comical. He's constantly chasing this perfectly creative image that he thinks the judges are looking for. The entire process seems totally ironic. Essentially, you are allowing somebody else to tell you how to be creative and whether or not your creativity is good, or bad. Perfect example is the very first sentence in your post. It's YOUR gallery, and you "think" it's look has improved.

Personally, I've actually started to participate less and less in presenting my work for critique (in these forums and elsewhere), unless I have a specific technical question. For awhile, I believe I was also chasing a "perfect" image and my photography definitely lost some degree of creativity and enjoyment. There's no worse feeling (I exaggerate) than capturing an image, absolutely loving it, and then having it dissected with microscopic forceps. I may still like the image but, undeniably, I will admit to being less proud of that image.

Anyways .....I'll play along and suggest that a good place to start your own critique is by asking yourself if you could have used a different aperture, shutter, or ISO value to improve the final image.

Critique is a funny thing. If you ask for critique without being specific you'll get a lot of information that you don't need. For example, I posted a portrait shot once and one of the critiques that I received was that I was too close in and there was no environmental component but the shot was designed that way; a head shot. So in order for people to give you relevant feedback it is important to let them know what kind of feedback you're looking for. To just plainly ask an audience for non-specific critique is analogous to showing up for a shoot without knowing anything about what the client is looking for. It can be messy. Lastly, Internet forums are great places for basic ideas or to participate in critique forums for the fun of it but when it is mission critical you are better of consulting a small group of people whom you know and trust. I don't know if this sheds any light on anything for you or provides you with anything you're looking for but good luck with your gallery.

nqjudo wrote in post #17849351
...when it is mission critical you are better of consulting a small group of people whom you know and trust.

I forgot to mention that in my post as well. Again, other than true technical feedback, I have gotten some of the best feedback from people who know nothing about photography. I think every photographer is tainted...we can't form a subjective opinion about an image without inadvertently thinking about the "rules" of composition, exposure, lighting, DOF, sharpness, white balance, etc.

Critique - a second pair of eyes and a fresh look - can be a good thing. It will allow you to learn and adjust your shooting style.

If you take it too far though, you will lose your shooting style (chasing for that perfect shot). With every comment you'll have to weigh in how useful it is to you.

I've had similar comment as nqjudo mentioned, I think something like shooting a sunset and someone mentioning the sun detracted from the shot.

I tend to remind myself that comment dont only reflect on your work, but also on the reviewer. Clearly the guy doesn't like sunsets. This holds true for real life conversations as well, not just critique.

For me:
Is it sharp where it needs to be
Is it well exposed
Is it well framed/composed
Is there a something that makes me go 'wow'
Is it memorable
Is it something I could look at and take pleasure from
Does the title match the image

(not an exclusive list)

There are technical aspects and artistic aspects. If you want good feedback from a judge, try and make sure there is nothing in the image they can pick holes in.

the goals of every photographer and photograph are different. OP mentions his website, if the site is meant to sell sessions or event photography to consumers the critique of it and the images would be quite different from a fine art set of images.

"Judges" are also mentioned. Each contest and gallery look for something different.

so IMO, context of the image is key to understanding how best to make a critique.

Thanks for all the replies so far. I have been up for 35 hours or so so wo't babble on, but I am aiming via online gallery to sell my works and this is more of a guide to help me establish what sells, my creativity will still come out through that in it's own way though.
It owuld be nice if people did want to become clients by viewing my work also thogh.
As for judges it was a generalising based on the assumption that they have set guide lines of some sort.

If you're selling anything at all, you need to know *exactly* who your customer is. This will be your guide to know how to build your website, where to advertise and to sell. In better words, how are they going to find you and why do they choose you over anyone else? For example, brides and grooms are a different type of customers than fashion models and will look in different places. They will also appreciate different shooting styles.

Great Photographers on the Internet

1st question to ask yourself...would you hang that picture in your living room.

If your planning on selling your work and having clients, I would do at least one shoot for every major catagory. Both for the practice and for something to show your clients. If you come up with your own style, as long as people like it, it will help you out.

So I'm not sure what your interested in shooting, but if you're interested in it all I would do at least one shoot of each of the folloeing to be able to show prospective customers.

Senior portraits
Family portraits
Seasonal portraits
Holliday portraits: Easter, christmas, holoween etc.
Engagement photos

I'm sure you could add to this list, but I'm curently haveing a brain freeze

Bottom line is you need to either have your own style that people come to you for which may take some experimenting, or you need to be able to produce what our customers are looking for. The best thing would be if you could do both.

Good luck I hope it all works out for you and that your sucessfull!

Hope I may have helped a little,
Seth

Do I like it.

Not everyone likes the same things. I have seen some prints by photographers that I would not put in my basement, but others seem to love them.

One of the nice things about being older is that quite often I don't really care if someone else likes my image or not. If I like it and if there is a person in the image that person likes it, then I am happy. Like everyone else I can probably find something in almost any image that I would change, but that doesn't make my view correct.

chauncey wrote in post #17850004
1st question to ask yourself...would you hang that picture in your living room.

It's not as simple as that is it? At least not for me.
Perhaps it's because I am autistic, but when I look at other peoples pictures especially, I know only one of two things. I either like it or I don't.
Even if I do love it, I need to figure out some sort of rule book for myself to help me find the reasons why I like it.

In the same way, I know which of my images I like and for some I know the reasons. But the rest, I still need to figure out why myself.