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Critiquing a
Photo
By Simone Ekstroem

Critique Sessions
Also known as “crit”
A group of people carefully analyzing one’s photo and
judging it together
The basic questions to be asked
What is good about it?
What is not good?
How could it be better?
Critiquing other’s work makes you a better
photographer

Evaluating a Print
First: move beyond your personal likes and dislikes and you
will have an open mind
The essential distinction is between style and standard
Overtime, everyone acquires their own style which is
consistent through each photo
Four basic factors determine a photo’s standards:
Value
Clarity
Composition
Presentasion

Value

Concerns the range of light in a photograph
The larger range of contrast (scale of white
to black)
It is necessary to also have grays to define
shapes and provide shading

Improving Value
The most common area loss of incorrect
exposure
Too little light will result in dark “muddy”
areas
Too much light will cause “washed-out”
or “burned out”
The developing of negatives and paper it is
printed on also affects a photo’s values

Clarity
The primary key is whether or not the photo
is focused
A focused photo is either soft or sharp
Sharp: all edges are clearly defined
Soft: the edges blur a bit
Clarity also depends on the shutter speed
and degree of contrast

Improving Clarity
There are two ways to create better clarity
The shutter speed can be increased
The aperture can be increased so the depth
of field decreases
When focused on a certain object, the goal is not
to move forward or backward
Camera shake is a huge problem for many
photographers. This can be prevented by
keeping the camera completely still or balanced

Presentation
How clean the photograph is when presented makes
a huge difference for critiques
This includes
Fingerprints
Scratches
Dark circles caused by poor agitation
Cleanly trimmed edges and proper adhesion to the
display makes a large difference regarding the way
people view the photo

Composition

The four objectives of composition are
Point of Interest
Cropping
Lines
Aesthetics

Composition (Point of
Interest)
Is there a point of interest? Does this point
stand out or is it lost in its surroundings?
Every photograph should have on clear and
dominant element which attracts your eyes
first
This element should be towards the center
of the frame

Composition
(Cropping)
When looking at the photo, determine if the artist left empty
and unnecessary space or if the photo was left to “tight”
Negative space with little action taking place can enhance
the pictures impact but can also take away from it
What is the overall balance of the composition? Make sure
the photo is not lopsided. It can be balanced in two ways
Static: weight the balance so the area with a lot of
attention is equal to a side of none
Dynamic: weight the composition away from the center,
towards sides or corners

Composition (Lines)
The amount of straight lines and curved
should be balanced
A single misplaced line can distract the
viewer away from the focus point and lead
their eye somewhere else
Lines can be used to open up an image to
where its attention is bound to be

Composition
(Aesthetics)
Aesthetics or style can make the difference
between a skillful photograph and an
ordinary photo
All photographers strive to make their photo
different and style is what makes it happen
A critique’s eye must be trained overtime to
be able to pinpoint when there is style and
when there is not

Sample Crit
This photo’s contrast is well
balanced and there is a
clear divide between whites,
blacks and grays
The photographer didn’t
acknowledge the scratch
across the boys pants. The
artist should have used the
stamp tool to remove it
The picture is well focused
so the viewers eyes go to
the boy’s body and ball
instead of the back wall and
plants

Sample Crit

This photo has a nice pallet of colors that are well
contrasted
Although the bride and groom stand out, they could be
more in focus
The picture has no obvious dust and scratches and
has been very well edited

Sample Crit
Personally, had I edited
and or taken this photo I
would have put the entire
diamond ring in focus to
make the picture more
appealing
I also would have left out
the yellow in the corner
because the color is
distracting from the focus
point which is the rings
Lastly, there is a mark on
the picture that was not
well edited

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