Do you learn from Critique posts?

Mitch Morgan

Quote: IMHO if you genuinely want constructive feedback on your work, you should seek it from people whose work you admire and who share many of your beliefs and philosophies about photography. Posting in an online forum for random people to comment on doesn't really appeal

I agree with you. However I suspect that many of the people asking for a review or critique are new and perhaps do not know anyone to ask.

MaristarOxley said

Huw I honestly do not subscribe to there being a proper photograph. The technical side of things are irrelevant if the image conveys whatever it's trying to convey.

The most technically perfect image ( according to who?, by the way) does not always bring any emotion to it.

Oh, I’m not too bothered by “technical errors” or “lack of quality“. Slightly out of focus doesn’t matter if the emotion is sharp.

What does irritate however, for example, would be a bright highlight at the edge that leads the viewer’s eye out of the picture and weakens the impact.

MaristarOxley said

Mitch Morgan

Quote: IMHO if you genuinely want constructive feedback on your work, you should seek it from people whose work you admire and who share many of your beliefs and philosophies about photography. Posting in an online forum for random people to comment on doesn't really appeal

I agree with you. However I suspect that many of the people asking for a review or critique are new and perhaps do not know anyone to ask.

You're absolutely right. Just finding a person who meets those criteria is incredibly difficult, never mind building a relationship with one. That applies to everyone, but the real danger for people who are just getting started is that many of the freely offered critiques will do more harm than good, perhaps stifling creativity completely and trying to force the member down the production line favoured by so many McTographers.

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If you want to learn from people criticising your work you need to put yourself in an environment were those criticising are qualified for it. Where you will also learn and improve from the criticism. A website is not really it , I'm sure there are experienced people here who offer that space to progress, it's not going to be found on threads.

I don't agree with the idea of having to admire those who are trying to push your skill forward. It's about whether they are knowledgeable in that field and have the correct mindset to pass it on.

Edited by Lenswonder

Generally I share the views expressed above about critique here being baggage-laden, incurious and not much use for people who are trying to find the art in their work. Purpleport is not, really, a place to talk about photography as art, and it hasn't ever been.

Single Image Critique does seem occasionally useful in a sort of purpleport-bounded way, but it is not going to be a particularly useful way to get a real-world critique of an image.

Portfolio Review is worse than useless. It could be useful in a sort of bounded way, but the fact that any attempt to steer that group back to useful by pushing back against the longstanding malignant tone of some reviews gets buried as "unsolicited critique" of the review itself shows you that it is intrinsically broken.

That rule has provided a get-out clause for the most un-collegiate behaviour found anywhere on purpleport, and yet such a group can only function if collegiate behaviour is the norm. 

I believe common rudeness in a community should be addressed by the community itself, not by its administrators, so as such I won't go back there until such a time as I decide I want to be banned from the groups entirely ;-)

If as a photographer you feel the need for a critique of your work: ask a photographer or artist or critic you respect. If you need a discussion of whether your portfolio says what it needs to say to models, ask an experienced model when you make a booking. And similar for models.

Edited by Unfocussed Mike

Unfocussed Mike

While the process may be sub-optimal, as are many, I think there are enough things written that are worth knowing or noting as widely or generally worth considering.

There's material for an essay if one felt like it, along the lines of "commonly agreed" "no consensus" "options include" "you may care to consider" and even "/nice/ people would" rather than ",do this thus".

Mitch Morgan

Quote: the real danger for people who are just getting started is that many of the freely offered critiques will do more harm than good, perhaps stifling creativity completely

It happened to me a few years ago when I dared to ask for a portfolio review.

I was told to shoot nude if I wanted an actual career in modelling, because I'm not going to make it in any other genre.

Huw

The image highlights that if editing is done well, it's not a distraction, but an enhancement. 👍🏽👍🏽

I posted in the portfolio review once. I was a victim of the individual alluded to in this thread and it very nearly made me stop shooting. I believed myself to be thick skinned but the guy tore into every single image.

I did ask for it I suppose. Never again though!

In response to one request for a review on here, one individual responded

The whole portfolio should go... start from scratch!

and when I thanked them for their opinion they came back again

Can't handle the truth?  Dont ask for opinion then...

Did I learn from that?  Of course I did.  I learned that that individual was a complete and utter twonk, and not to be listened to.

ClickMore 📷

This sums it up perfectly 👌

When an artist, photographer, or model publishes their creations, they’re ultimately saying, 'I’m happy with this; this is my creation.' When they ask on the same public forum for critique, they open themselves up to negative reviews, which is always a risk. Yes, if you ask for critique, you should brace yourself and accept that advice reflects personal opinion. But inevitably, negative reviews can cause doubt and hurt.

As for the person giving that critique—are they better than you at your craft? Do they bask in accolades and awards that justify their overbearing comments on your work, comments that wound you so deeply?

Do they even share the same interests and style as you?

Isn’t it better to seek feedback from someone you know and trust, or from someone who creates similar work that you admire? And ultimately, isn’t art 100% subjective anyway?

This image may get bad critique—her posture is poor, her bare feet stick out and draw attention, the backdrop is an aweful mess, and her hair isn’t great. In fact, I don’t see anything good in this at all. Do you? But this is Kate Moss, shot by Owen Scarbiena, so who am I to judge?

Critique is ultimately just an opinion, not a professional standard, and it reflects as much about the person giving it as it does about what is being said. What’s more important is that you enjoy what you do and are proud of what you create, because some people will never like your art, and others will—it’s all subjective.

Love what you create and love what you do—that's the important part! Nobody does it exactly like you, so how can someone else tell you how you should do it?

You can’t hope to stand out as an individual if you’re creating what others tell you to—just saying.

Edited by ANDY00

Perception "I think the best critiques need to be a conversation too."

I like this. For me it speaks to the issue of critique here. So much critique here are closed questions.

"Here's my work do you like it?"

"Yes/No"

*List of points*

It so often needs to be a dialogue. If the critique was more open ended, then a person could build from it.

I'm not sure people realise how closed off this space can be.

As a generalisation most welcome the positives, some accept highlighted crit, others take offence, just the way it is. What might be glaringly obvious areas/aspects that can be improved on to some, just isn't noticed by others. If you don't want to hear it don't ask, and if you wish to offer opinion try to do it in a constructive helpful non offence way or say nowt. It really how it's put over.

Opinions vary too, I have an image that the model asked to be edited in a certain way, it was in my opinion horrendous and looked poor quality due to pushing aspects too far, full of noise etc. Next thing it's on the front page....I still have no idea how or why, and I'm still embarrassed by it....hey ho