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There is perhaps no better example of a love/hate relationship than that of creative individuals and their critics. With few exceptions, the writings of famed artists, authors, performers, musicians, filmmakers, and the likes, contain some reference to their critics, usually ranging from witty jabs to hateful diatribes. Curiously, the emotion is almost reversed when polling an audience of beginners and amateurs on any given online critique forum. Ask the members whether they value critique from their peers and the favorable answer is often as unanimous as it is emphatic. Why the disconnect

Useful critique must be more than just honest. It must take into account both the critic’s sensibilities and the artist’s maturity and intent. Without knowledge of the critic’s personal preferences, and whether the artist is experimenting, learning, or making deliberate creative choices, no value judgment can be made.

Before you critique a photograph:
Some things that you may want to consider:

Effort: Has the photographer made full use of the facilities at his disposal? Or, are there things that the photographer could have improved with a little more work? Does it look like the photographer made an extra effort to capture the best possible image under the circumstances, or did he just go with what was in front of him?


Color: Was the photographer's choice to use or not use color sound? If the photographer used black and white, then is the subject of the photo something that is normally associated with color, like an apple? If the photographer used color, does the color add to or detract from the image?


Spatial positioning and composition: Is the subject in the center of the frame? Usually a centered subject looks boring, but it works in some cases. Did it work this time? Does anything look squeezed up against the side of the frame? Are there big open spaces around the edges that could be cropped out? Is there a clear subject that occupies the majority of the frame, or is the subject unclear or small and surrounded by irrelevant material?


Direction of attention: What do you see first in the photo? Is it the right thing? Do you have to hunt for the subject or does it stand out? Is your eye drawn to objects in the background, rather than the subject, or do you look to the edge of the frame, expecting to find something that isn't there?


Focus: Is anything in focus? Is it the subject or something else? Is the depth of field appropriate? Is the subject contained within the depth of field or are parts of the subject fuzzy? Are there distracting elements in the background that are in focus which would have been blurred out by a wider aperture?


Exposure: Is the photo properly exposed? Are there details both in the highlights and in the shadows, or are there large "blown-out" highlight areas or "blocked-up" shadow areas? If the exposure is biased towards light (high key) or dark (low key), did the photographer make a good choice?

sirhc55 wrote:This is a subject that will continue to go round in circles simply because there is no definitive answer to critique.

sirhc55 wrote:we had a POTW that was totally out of focus, but it was brilliant (IMO)

Matt. K wrote:Virtual oranges and lemons????? they have a certain je ne sais quoi.

sirhc55 wrote:This is a subject that will continue to go round in circles simply because there is no definitive answer to critique.