Critics… there are a million of them. Seems like it anyway.

And when you are starting out in the world of professional photography, getting good, really good critique on your work is very important. Getting poor, or mis-guided critique can be damaging to the progress of your book.

We want to find out what others think about our work, right? And hopefully by doing that we can see what we are doing right or wrong, correct it and become instantly wildly successful. OK… maybe just a little more successful.

But that critique must be tailored to what we need to hear. It shouldn’t and cannot be sugar-coated sweetness designed to not hurt our feelings, nor should it be harsh and overly critical with tones of jealousy and envy. And it should come from a place of knowledge, real knowledge about the work being criticized.

Now with the web we have the ability to have our work criticized by experts all over the world. And also, of course those with no clue at all, but they live on forums where they suck up the ‘lingo’.

So the question we answer first is: Is all criticism, from anyone, important?

No. It isn’t. Not at all.

Criticism from people who are not knowledgeable on what you are doing, the genre of the work, the history and legacy of that genre, and what you are trying to achieve is simply not worth listening to. Or asking for. It can be frustrating for some, and a source of irritation to others, to be critiqued by those with no understanding of the work, and it enlightens the photographer not at all.

Posting your work to places like zoomr, flickr and other photo ‘sharing’ sites and looking for critique is asking for people who have no clue to say things about your work that have no meaning for you. Good or bad. And the work doesn’t have to be good to get a ton of wonderful comments and critiques. At the time of this writing this photograph has 550 “wow” comments on Flickr (SFW unless you work with idiots). Think about that the next time you go looking for criticism on some internet forum. (I do not link to that image to make fun of it, and it is absolutely certain that the image is not put out there as art or serious photography. The point is that on Flickr the image is ‘popular’ and totally capable of getting hundreds if not thousands of ‘comments’. If you are thinking that popular means you are a great shooter… well, think again.)

“Dude, rockin’ color…” means what to an emerging photographer? That the color was, uh, ‘rockin’? Substantially more must be involved when doing a critique of your work.

If you are a fashion photographer looking for serious critique, I would make sure that the people who are critiquing your work know who Patrick, Arthur, Albert, Annie, Helmut, Richard, and Peter are. If you need the last names, you probably aren’t a fashion photographer anyway. Even if the names are not the ‘new’ shooters, I can tell you that everyone in fashion knows who they are. Everyone.

And if you are working toward a ‘snapshot’ style reminiscent of Shore and Eggleston, wouldn’t you want someone who knows what that means to critique your work. Someone who understands the aesthetic? Someone who won’t say… ‘dude, looks like a snapshot’.

Yes, we have been told that everybody has a right to their opinion. I get that. No problem. But not every opinion has the same weight or value. I do not look for the opinions of people who are not involved in what I do for guidance. If I was a consumer product looking for mass appeal, yeah… I would probably go for ‘mass appeal’ opinions. But I am not, and we are not. We are looking for criticism from the heart, passed through the brain for filtering. The filter is the most important part.

How to get Great Critiques.

Ask the right people. Ask the right people for recommendations of more right people. If you don’t know the right people, find out who they are. You do have to do some research. There are photography consultants, portfolio consultants, gallery owners, editors, other photographers, designers who can work with you to develop your work by critiquing what you are doing. You have to dig to find them.

And sometimes they will do it cause they love to, and sometimes they will do it for a fee. Either way can help or harm you if you haven’t done your research well. And both ways should be considered.

When looking for someone to critique your work, from consultant to buddy, make sure they have skills to offer to help that process go smoothly. Have they done it before? Do they do it often enough to be good at it? Are they offering constructive criticism or is it ‘this sucks, this sucks, this sucks…” sort of college art class crap? Will they offer guidance to help make your work stronger?

If I was seeking advice on how to get into a fine art gallery, I would make sure the critic had knowledge, real knowledge, about that tricky endeavor. If fashion is your thing, make damn sure the consultant has some real working knowledge of the fashion industry and what is hot/not to get your work ready. Same with industrial, corporate, architectural… whatever. Good photographic consultants can help you get your work ready faster than most any process I know of… but you have to be ready.

(Personal story. Back in the early 80’s I had the pleasure of working for one of the most hardass AD’s in the region. He would cajole, yell, pout, and be so obnoxious as to make you want to put the dark slide down and leave. He also helped me make some outstanding, and award winning, images. I realized one day that all that bluster was to get the people who he was working with to do it better and better and better. We spent two days on a bar of soap on a sink. Final shot was simply astounding… and that is what he was after.

I asked him to critique my book one afternoon and he told me to bring all the images that I had thought about putting in my book, my book, and images that I loved but thought had no place in my book.

I almost canceled it three times, but the day we did it he blended hardnosed critique with pure love of the business and I left there with a new book, and some hard things to think about. Very next time my book was called in, I got the job immediately upon showing it. The book kept growing and I can still hear his voice, and his demanding determination for excellence, when I am working on new stuff.)

More after the jump…

Present the work in a cohesive form.

I get calls and emails to critique work many times a month. “See my flickr site and can you give me some advice.” “Can you take a look at my web site and crit my shots?” Well, actually, no… I cannot do that. We have to narrow it down a bit. And set some ground rules.

I always have the following criteria for anyone wanting a critique from me:

• Tell me why you want ME to look at your images. Because of what I do, and how I do it – or because I have a web site? (HINT: number two don’t cut it.)
• OK: Put 20 pictures into a “set” at flickr, or a gallery at whatever site you are using.
• Better: put 20 images into a folder, zip it up and send it to me.
• Number them in the order you are currently using (1.jpg, 2.jpg etc)
• Tell me what you are trying to accomplish with the images.
• Share your photographic business mission statement with me.
• Briefly tell me where you are level wise in your business – starting out, thinking about starting out, etc…
• Agree that you understand I am not going to give you anything but my opinion.

I can tell you that only 2 or so out of every 10 requests will honor what I have asked them to do. Other people who critique work will have different criteria. Consultants I have known have asked for all sorts of things. Remember that it is important to their process for you to bring and do what they ask of you.

How to Take Criticism:

Understand that if you have done the research, prepared your work for presentation, and opened your mind to receive what is being offered, it can be a wonderful experience. A good consultant will deliver the news you need to hear… and while it may not be what you want to hear, remember our flickr post above.

Listen to the critic and make notes. If asked, offer insight about image and how it relates to your total offering. If questioned about something, answer with your conviction, not what you think the consultant wants to hear.

Keep an open and accepting mind. The critic is going to challenge you, lift you up, dash you on the rocks like yesterdays soup, sweep you to the edge, pull you back with acceptance… and so much more. Going in with a closed, or intellectually belligerent mindset will not help you. You must listen. You must take the information and synthesize it. If it ultimately cannot be worked into your world you either picked the wrong consultant, or have your very own, intractable way of doing things. (I will never tell anyone to not be intractable… heh. The irony of that would be thick enough to cut with a knife.)

Take the knowledge of the critique back with you and think about it. Write about it. Look through the work and then make notes and ideas on what you WILL do to initiate the advice into your work. DO IT. And with all sorts of reasons I will state again… DO IT. Do what the consultant said. Even if it is hard to implement, and you find yourself floundering a bit… yeah… that is good in many cases. From comfort, mediocrity grows at an astounding rate.

How to Give Criticism.

Know what you are discussing. Know what the work you are looking at was supposed to do. Otherwise, referring to the flickr post above, you should simply say… “wow, great composition, nice color.”

Giving criticism when you are not ready to critique may be more difficult than you think. To do it with any meaning, that is.

Without knowing what the photographer was trying to say, it is simply impossible to judge. Sharpness? Noise? Saturation? Composition? – All depend on what the artist was trying to say with the work. In a vacuum, critiquing the color can be done, but no one needs criticism that lives in a vacuum.

So find out what the intention of the photographer was. Does that work for you? Do you feel that there are things that could be stronger in the work to help get it to where the artist intended?

Tell them that.

Do not tell them what you would have done. To say that is totally and incomprehensibly stupid. We don’t know what you would have done that day with that subject and the parameters that constrained the photographer. To say that you do is totally BS. (And most of the time, when clicking to see the work of the photographer who has so much to say on what he/she would have done, the work is most often of kitties and laundry… sorry, just is.)

Do not tell the photographer that the work is “awesome” as that is probably a bit of hyperbole, and is certainly welcome on the sharing sites, but is not a critique of the work. A photographer who is asking for a critique wants to know what is wrong and what is right about the work… not that you think it is awesome. Ego stroking is not critique.

If you have nothing good to say about the image, then don’t bother. If you can see that the photographer had a good idea and didn’t carry it far enough, that is fine. But image bashing is also not critique. If there is nothing of value in the work, pass on the critique. Telling someone that they suck totally is not as helpful as letting them know that while they are not ready, there are places to go to get their work up to a level that could be acceptable. I generally send them to several blogs and sites that can help them get their work to the next level. I want to be helpful, but sometimes pointing out what is needed is help in itself.

Learning to critique an image is one of the most important things you can do as a photographer. It will be necessary to do in your own work, and invaluable when working with others. Take your time and learn to do it well.

Bring compassion, opinion, and goodwill toward the image maker.

Leave belligerence, anger, jealousy and what you THINK a reviewer must do at home. Come prepared to help someone who is asking for help. If you think that tearing someone down will elevate you, well, you are sadly mistaken. No amount of belittling will ever bring you to a higher plane.

Conclusion:

Know what you want to accomplish.
Find the critic / consultant that can help you with your goals.
Prepare your work for the critique.
Listen to the critic with an open mind.
Take what is learned and follow through on it.
Learn how to give good, honest critique.
Remember that what we say and what we do is ultimately who we are.
Be kind, be tough, be human.

Over the years we seem to have embraced the harshness of Cowell as our level of critical discourse. Too bad. I think you can tell someone that they need work, and didn’t rise to the occasion without humiliation and colorful, but mean anecdotes. In the end, the one doing the humiliation (except on reality shows) seems all the weaker.

UPDATE: I forgot to add something I feel really strong about. Don’t offer unsolicited critique. It is rude, amateurish and quite honestly rather stupid. If you have not been asked, then you probably don’t know what the photographer was trying to do, what the legacy of the image is, where the photographer is going, what the purpose of the image is and more… way more. Wait to be asked first, then do the best you can to answer. I have seen some people have terrible experiences because of some joker deciding to ‘skool them’ on photography. Want a good ‘skoolin’, watch Judge Joe Brown. He has a pelican case.

BTW… if you really cannot think of anything ‘deep’ or ‘arty’ there is this handy link. Heh.

UPDATE 2: One more link that makes me laugh. Henri Cartier Bresson’s famous photograph “The Bicyclist” is shredded at Flickr after being added to a “delete me” critique group. All I can say is… well… there ya go.

Courtesy A Photo Editor, here is a list of photographic consultants. Here at LE, we kind of dig having Selina pop in from time to time to help the photographers who follow this site. Another wonderful site to follow is Heather Morton in Toronto.

Thanks for following along on this rant thing about criticism. I think it is important to discuss, and I look forward to a lively discussion on the comment boards. As always, if you would like to stalk… err, follow me on Twitter, or visit my site, or see my Flickr stream where you can leave really pithy comments like “you rock” and ‘duuuuuude… whoa…”, those are the links.

If you are thinking about a workshop this year, I hope you take a look at Learn to Light. We teach a totally interactive, hands on workshop. You will learn the tools of lighting in an intensive 2 day workshop.