How to Critique a photograph

How to Critique a photograph

Jenna BrophyJenna Brophy

Three Main Questions to ask

1. What is good about it?

2. What is not good?

3. How could it be better?

Evaluating a Print

Your first goal is to move beyond your own likes and dislikes and look at the technical, objective factors that define a photograph.

Distinguish between style and standards

Style VS. Standards

Style-

Largely a personal matter

Style is developed by every photographer, and is a unique way of seeing things and expressing them.

In the best photographs, the style is consistent

Liking or disliking a style is strictly an opinion!

Standards-

Are not an opinion

Skill is the key part of standards

Four basic factors determine a photograph’s standards-

1. Value

2. Clarity

3. Composition

4. Presentation

VS.

Value

Refers to the range of light in a photograph- from black through grey to white

The more CONTRAST a photograph has, the greater its visual impact will be.

A photograph that contains only black and white, may have a lot of impact, but will most likely lack interest.

A good photograph needs to have shades of gray to attract interest.

Make sure the grays are “good” grays

“Muddy” grays result from under-exposing when shooting, under developing the film, over-exposing the print, or removing the developer too soon.

Clarity

Primary key is if the photograph is in focus or not.

Questions to ask yourself- What is in focus? What should be in focus?

A focused photograph can be either soft or sharp-

Soft: Edges blurred

Sharp: Everything is clear and defined

Generally the main focus of the picture should be in focus

Improving Clarity

Focus is the most common problem to bad clarity

Create better clarity by-

Increasing the shutter speed

Increasing the aperture so that depth of field decreases

Decreasing the chances of camera shake by holding the camera still

Presentation

To determine a good photograph, care and skill should be used to produce every final print.

Certain things should not be seem on a good photograph’s negatives- including

white flecks on the negatives

finger prints on the negatives

scratches on the negatives

dark circles caused by bad agitation while developing on the negatives

Composition

Four objectives of composition

Point-of-interest

Cropping

Lines

Aesthetics

Point-of-interest composition

Ask yourself, “Is there a point-of-interest?”

a photo should have one clear point of interest

the single focus should be in the general area of the center of the frame but not exactly in the center

CroppingComposition

Determine if the photograph is “tight”, meaning is the frame filled with important elements, or is there wasted space?

Negative space can enhance a photograph, but it needs to have a connection with the central image.

Frame should narrow in on what is important.

What is the overall balance of the composition? The composition can be balanced in two ways- static or dynamic.

Static- weigh the composition by having the point-of-interest near the center of the frame

Dynamic- weighting to composition more to one side then the other or towards the corners

LinesComposition

Lines and curves in a photo have a tremendous effect on its impact.

A single line can “pull” or “point”, drawing the viewer’s eye towards or away from the point-of-interest.

Lines and curves should be used correctly in a photograph so that they enhance the meaning of the photograph and are not random.

AestheticsComposition

Aesthetics can make a difference between a skillful photograph and an ordinary photo

All photographers try to make their photo different from everyones else's by the style they use

When critiquing a photograph you must be able to determine when there is style and when there is not

Sample CritiqueIn this photograph, the value is not very good

and the grays are muddy.

The clarity of this picture is okay, it is not perfect. Also, the point of interest is hard to

determine in this photograph. Therefore this picture could be

enhanced a lot.

Sample Critique The following picture is by a professional wedding photographer. This photograph has good value, because of the range of grays in the photograph. The image does not have good clarity. The photograph is blurry and almost looks as if there as slight camera shake. There is a single point of interest in the photograph. The point of interest in the couple. (Wolfgang Freithof Studio)

Sample Critique

In this photograph by Robert Duvall Argentina, some areas are better than others. The value in this photograph is lacking here because there is not a very good range of grays. The clarity is okay in this picture because the people in the background are clear. The point of interest is not exactly certain, because it is not clear if the focus is the back of the people head of the people in the back ground. (Wolfgang Freithof Studio)

Citations

O'Brien, Michael, and Norman Sibley. The Photographic Eye: Learning to See with a Camera. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, 1995. Print.

Wolfgang Freithof Studio. "NYC Wedding Photographers and Photojournalists." A Day of Bliss. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.