jenna brophy critique2
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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. (http://adayofbliss.com/)
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. (http://adayofbliss.com/)
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.
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