On Critiquing Photos
PHOTO CHALLENGE | Pick at least ONE photo this week to truly offer a critique on. Use the checklist to guide you through the process.
By learning how to critique photos, you’re training your visual response to work on a technical and artistic level. Of the many things I hope you take away from this, you have to start with an open mind and prepare to spend time reflecting on how you feel, what you think, and observing your own reactions. This will be easy for some and feel impossible for others. Take me, for example, I’m a fast thinker with a very intuitive creative sense, much of what I do is stems from a subconscious level. My photography skill and “eye” have developed from YEARS of education, practicing, and firsthand experience. Some photographic elements have come naturally while others have had to be shaped. In either sense, understanding any form of critique begins with your collective experiences.
The key activity in critique is analysis. It does not consider whether feedback is negative or positive, but it is simply an analysis of what works and what doesn't. Try not to confuse the two. However, most photographs offer another layer of experience if we take the time to observe and process the photograph’s visual language. A photographer intervened between the subject and viewer in these photographs, composing and framing the elements in the photograph to express a narrative, nudge the viewer’s focus, and evoke feelings. These photographs are about something. They not only invite a viewer’s involvement; they demand that engagement. Photographs provide insights and information, but only if we interpret the visual rhetoric.
More than any other art form, a photograph represents something inherently real. We don’t look at a photo as much as we look through or around it, using the photograph as a mental re-creation of what we expect to see. But even the most representative photograph is a version of reality interpreted by the photographer for an intended audience. By reading a photograph, we decode the photograph, unpacking the photographer’s interpretation rather than accepting the photograph as it appears on its face. This is key.
A few things to note about giving feedback and reading it from others: Your approach to reading a photograph can change, depending upon the purpose or your use of the photograph. Often times the focus will be the photo as art, as commercial use, as technical accuracy, and each time your response can vary. It is highly likely that viewers will disagree on the interpretation and your own feelings/response to a photo can change.
Terry Barrett, an American art critic who specializes in reading photography, suggests we work our way through these guidelines in this approach: Subject Matter + Form + Medium + Context = Content
Breakdown of our Photography Critique Checklist:
What is your initial reaction?
Your first response should note what works or not. Is there harmony? Does it make sense? Does it evoke a reaction?
Where are you eyes drawn?
This might take a few tries to be mindful of what you’re looking at and how you’re looking at the photo.
Is the main subject clear?
Can you quickly and easily identify the “point” and primary subject of the photo? Note what is present from edge to edge of the photo, list the activities, people, and things. Do you notice a relationship between subjects?
Are there obvious technical issues?
This can mean so many things, but if there is something that inherently distracts you, takes away from the overall photo, then take note of what that might be. Exposure? Clutter? Composition?
Can you easily describe the photo and what it's about?
There isn’t exactly a “right” answer here, but you do want to try to make sense of what the photo is about. Can you find words to describe it?
What compositional concepts are used?
Photography forces us to work within a frame and with technique. Look at what was chosen to be emphasized and how. Consider subject placement within the frame and the use of leading lines, depth of field, and focus.
Is there a visual narrative (story)?
What is the photograph meant to tell us? What are we meant to see that we can express in words?
Does your reaction change as you look at the photo?
Our eyes will give us an immediate response, a sense of right or wrong, of visual appeal or not. What was your first thought of the photo, then as you look around the image, do you find your thoughts shifting on your response to it?
What is/isn't working in the image?
This might easily be the most important question to answer for the photographer. It’s not about whether or not you like something, but how the elements of the photo work together, if there’s a balance, and connectedness, and clarity to the photograph.
Does the image fit the brand identity?
This question can only be answered if you have some knowledge of the photographer’s style and/or branding. Does the image feel like it “fits in” with their portfolio? Does it make sense for that photographer?