David Rathbone
@david_rathbone_photo14h
Critique
What are your thoughts on having a dedicated critique section within the Framelines community? I’m not talking about the usual “That’s great!”, “Love it!”, or “Fantastic shot!” comments. I’m thinking of genuine, constructive critiques that cover things like: • What works well in the image and why. • What could be improved, and how. • What impact the photograph has on you as a viewer. I believe receiving thoughtful independent critique is one of the best ways to improve as a photographer. Just as importantly, writing a critique makes you slow down, really study an image, and think about why it succeeds or where it could be stronger. That process can be just as valuable for your own photography as receiving feedback on your own work. And remember it’s only someone’s opinion Would this be something you’d be interested in doing
I would be up for this. Although I think honest feedback works better when people are not anonymous or face to face.
But maybe here the community is more closed and respectful.
I say that cause on flicker I joined a group a while back where critique was pivotal and it was fairly harsh..
Maybe if the responses are guided, like your bullet points. At least to begin with. We don't want toxicity to sip in the community.
You are so right, many critique groups on Flickr and Facebook, lose there way especially as the groups grow larger and there is a wide difference in abilities. Maybe a small group of photographers is the way to go
edited
I'm not sure how successful a critique group would be. How many would engage and how many would be brave enough to offer constructive criticism, especially ideas about improvements without their comments being seen as potentially harsh or inviting disagreements in the discussions?
Also, constructive critique can be hard when we all might judge photography based on our own personal tastes, consciously or not.
Good points, A lot of people take criticism personally, even when it's meant to help. But honestly, if someone only wants to hear compliments, they probably shouldn't be asking for a critique. At the end of the day, a critique is just one person's opinion, you don't have to agree with it. That said, I totally agree that private feedback is usually best. Public groups can make people get defensive real fast."
Hi David, In my view, probably not 🙂. There are plenty of other places to get critiques . Why here?. Critiques give 'power' to the critic and can have an underlying message of superiority in knowlege and knowhow. This can be divisive. I will be interested to see others views on this issue?
Agreed, this isn’t the place for it imo.
Yes your probably right, let’s keep community as it is
Yeah not sure not sure. I wonder what the admins think.
At the end of the day, we post on the monthly assignments as well and people there vote accordingly.
Also street photogtaphy is very fluid. You can have an excellent photograph due to what you are showning (which is very much to taste).
But someone will think it is overexposed, or too grainy or this and that. Too many pitfalls.
I like the community as is to be honest and this could be a double edged sword.
I don’t think this is going anywhere, after further thought I don’t think this would be the right place for critique, I will probably put a group of photos together and pay for a critique, which is probably the best way to do this
I’m in one critique group and it’s a bit tetchy at times
Yeah I can imagine
Everyone is a critic! as they say..
It is always very hard to find a critique group with a good balance. I am a member of a few Facebook groups and they are either 'This is great, love it' or some of the most horrid responses ever. I wish I had an answer for you but I am definitely keen to obtain open and honest critique of my 'work'
I have an idea that may help. Ask AI to critique your images. I just did a quick one with the first photo I had to hand on my phone using Grok. See what you think..... https://x.com/i/grok/share/eb0b03b8187343e2b7ac40f1045e3723
I'm not against it but I've seen similar where it feels unnatural, forced critique.
People are encouraged to find something, whether there are points to mention or not, in order to try and be helpful. A bit camera cluby.
'its good but crop here', 'use rule of thirds', 'love it but go back to that once in lifetime moment that will never happen again but this time try standing a foot to the left'.
However, I believe that a portfolio check or a review of a set or a series of images can be very helpful.
I think the problem with this is that there would be too many photos to critique, and the feedback would be scant.
It is something we've been thinking about though, and I even built an 'open to critique' toggle in the profile settings which I didn't deploy, because I felt it wasn't a full solution to the problem.
Currently, I'm thinking about 'framelines groups' where you can group up with 5-10 people and critique eachothers projects, like a group workshop. You either invite people to your group, or mark your group as 'open' and allow anyone to join- making it truly social, and a cool way for members to mix.
Groups could even be based on locality, so you could have a group in London who even meetup for a photowalk.
What do you think?
Presumably there’s always the option to invite critique when posting in Dailies, no?