2. Before You Begin
Before you successfully begin your own work it is helpful to
critique the work of other photographers
When critiquing a photo all the various components are
evaluated: good, bad, or indifferent
Criticizing is different than critiquing. Criticizing is pointing
out the negatives while when critiquing it is a balance of both
negative and positive
3. Critique Sessions
Critique session- or “crit”
A very valuable tool for photographers
Involves a group of people who carefully examine a selection of photographs
Primary purpose- group analysis
Wen critiquing ask yourself three basic questions: What is good about it? What is
not good? How could it be better?
Want to train your eye and learn to see clearly
Benefits of group critique: You can more fairly judge someone else's work rather
than your own because you're not as close to it
4. Evaluating a Print
When evaluating a photo most people don’t know where to start and begin by saying whether they like it or
not
Tend to like a photograph if they like the subject that is being photographed or visa versa
A photographer wants to move away from one’s personal likes and dislikes and move toward seeing the
technical, objective factors and evaluate them
Essential distinction is between Style and Standards
Style: Largely a personal matter. Overtime a photographer develops a personal individual style
Each photograph also has a style of its own, a mood or interpretation. In the best photographs the style is
consistent, resulting in a clear image
Skill is the key in Standards and they can be judged objectively
5. Four Basic Factors
Value, Clarity, Composition and Presentation
Ideally the photograph will score well on each of these factors or be overall
successful
6. Value
Value concerns light- specially the Range of light in the photograph: black to
shades of white and gray
The more contrast a photo has (the wider range between its dark and light
elements) the greater its value impact will be
Although don’t be blind to photos always having contrast. A photo with all grays
and no whites or black could be effective.
One must be able to distinguish between good and bad grays
Muddy grays: can result from under exposing, under developing, using an
incorrect paper grade, over- exposing the print or removing it from the
developer too soon
7. Improving Value
Once one has determined that the photograph is weak the next question is “How
could it be better?”
The most common mistakes are made when the photograph is being taken
Too little light: a dark muddy print
Too much light: highlights (while ares) to be “washed out” or “burned out”
How the film was handled can also effect the value of the pictures- keeping the
film in the developer for too long or too short of time can result in complications
with lighting and contrast
Anther factor is the paper one uses. Paper grades allow the opportunity to adjust
the contrast up or down when making a print
8. Clarity
A key factory is clarity. But not just whether or
not the photograph is in focus but whether it is
correctly focused.
A subject can be either soft or sharp
Sharp: all edges are very clearly
defined
Soft: the edges blur a bit
See how the smaller branch in the front of the
A good way to treat this is to determine which picture is in clear focus and the tree in the
objects will be sharp, leaving other in softer background is blurry
focus- leads the viewers eye to a focal point
and makes the photo resemble normal sight
Clarity also depends on having an appropriate
shutter speed and an appropriate contrast
between the subject and the background
9. Clarity (cont.)
The relationship between the subject and background in a
photograph has something to do with light and value with
line and with composition
Common mistakes: Photographing a dark image with a dark
background
If a subject in a photo is clear enough is can provide a context
or setting
10. Improving Clarity
Focus is common cause of poor clarity
Generally caused by a failure to set the correct distance on the focusing ring
As the amount of available light decreases the photographer can deal with this is two ways:
The shutter speed can de decreased or the aperture can be increased
Aperture is increased- the lens get larger and the depth of field, or range of distance
that will be in focus at any time, decreased
Something will always be in focus it just may not be in the frame of the camera. The
trick is to carefully focus as you use larger apertures
Third cause of poor clarity: As the shutter speed decreases, the chances of blurring a picture
increases
May be caused my “camera shake”
11. Presentation
The third factor to look for is the care and skill in which the
final print has been produced
Pay attention to how clean the picture looks
Look for satellites, glitches, scuzz, hickies or glop (stuff on
the negative that should not be there)
Also include fingerprints, scratches and dark circles
Neatly trimmed edges, squared corners and proper
adhesion
12. Composition
Point of Interest
Is there a point of interest? Does something stand out? A photograph should have a
clear point of interest- a dominant element
Usually the point of interest should be close to the center although not directly in the
middle of the frame
Cropping
After identifying the structure of the photograph consider the way it is framed
Is it “tight”- is the frame filled with important elements or is there wasted space
Black areas or negative space can enhance the picture’s impact but should also
interact with the central image in some way
Keep the frame clean and simple. Narrow in on whats important
13. Composition (cont.)
A photo also has to have overall balance
Is it top heavy, lop sided, boring?
Can be balanced in two ways: Static or dynamic
Static balance just sits there but can be quite effective
Common way if achieving static balance is to weight the composition or concentrate its
point of interest near the center
Dynamic balance suggests movement
Achieved by weighting the composition away from the center, toward one side or the other,
or toward the corners
Lines
The lines and curves within a composition often have a tremendous effect on its impact
A single line can “pull” or “point” the viewers eye toward or away from the point of interest
14. Aesthetics
Finally “style”- the elusive something that makes the
difference between a skillful photograph and genuine art
Sometimes a photograph can lack elements but work or visa
vera
A good way to start is to master the techniques of producing
consistently good photographs, and to train your eye to
recognize the great ones that will eventually come alone.
15. Sample Crit
The picture of the boy on the right demonstrates an
equal and good balance of light. I feel like the picture
has a medium size range and contrast of its whites,
blacks and grays. Although it may contain more white
seeing how the boys face, hair and upper right corner
are very white compared to the rest of the image
When looking at the clarity one can see that this picture
is more soft, seeing how the edges blur a bit with the
background
The presentation of the photo is well done overall.
Although there is a mark going from the top of the lip
down to his jacket that may or may not have been able
to edit out
I feel like there is a clear point of interest and the
photograph does not contain wasted space
The slight tilt and not having the boys face to be
centered add a certain style that pulls the viewers eyes
to him
Photo credits to The Photographic Eye Book
16. Photo credits to Picture People family photography
portfolio
This photo demonstrates a more white than black and gray contrast
The clarity of this photo is that it is more soft than sharp because the edges of the people blur
into the white background.
The presentation of the photo is good overall seeing how there are no scratches or mark on the
picture that should not be there
I feel like there is a clear point of interest in the photo. Even though there are three people in
this picture the focus is on the baby. I feel like the way the father is holing the boy up draws
attention to the child.
17. This photo has a clear balance of
contrast between the colors in the
image
I feel like this picture is more sharp
because the flowers’ edges are clear
and crisp. Even though the
background is blurry it draws more
attention to the clear edges of the
leaves
Photo credits to Jennifer Angeloro wedding photography The presentation of the picture is
good because there are no visible
marks or imperfections
The photo has a clear point of
interest due to the blurry
background and vibrate colors in
the bouquet, drawing attention to
the flowers.
18. WORKS CITIED
Angeloro, Jennifer. "Wedding Photography Gallery." Wedding Photography Gallery - Jennifer
Angeloro Photography. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2013.
"Family." Picture People. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2013.
O'Brien, Michael, and Norman Sibley. The Photographic Eye: Learning to See with a Camera.
Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, 1995. Print
