Give well-considered photo critique and learn in the process

One of the best ways of learning by not doing is to analyze photos. You should do this often on your own photos. Try to find out what makes your good photos work, and why those you are less satisfied with doesn’t work. Equally instructive is to give photo critiques.

Where to give critiques

Visit a site like Flickr, browse through images and spend some time analyzing each. If you see a great photo, try analyzing why the photo is great. What works? How are the elements ordered? What creates visual harmony (or visual tension)? What compositional tools has the photographer utilized to compose the scene? Look for lines, colors, symmetry (or asymmetry), balance and angles.

I really recommend that you join a site like Flickr and give photo critiques on a regular basis. You will learn a lot from doing this. And as an added bonus, those you critique will probably visit your profile and give you critiques back. This will enable you to look at your own pictures in new ways, learning a whole lot in the process.

What is a photo critique?

Giving critique is not about commending or slating the image. It’s about training your own photographic perception and skills, and doing something for others at the same time. A good critique should be thoroughly considered before given.

Writing the critique

You should start by writing a few words about how the photo affects you, how you “read” it. Maybe even say something about what you think the photographer is trying to convey with the photo.

Continue by considering the technical qualities in the photo. Is the focus ok? Do you see imperfections in the image, clipped highlights or blocked shadows, familiar objects that has an incorrect color rendering?

Then, focus on what you like about the photo. In most any photo there is bound to be some points that are positive. Write what you think works well in the image. This may be technical, compositional or artistical.

The photographer should be pretty warm by now and have the impression that you’re giving a serious critique. So now is the time to comment on the weaker points, but with a constructive basis. Write something about what could be done to improve the image, or what you would have done differently should you try and take the same photo.

Wrap it all up with a conclusion.

For an example photo critique by framed reality, see this link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashumittal/4114761522/