[Barbara G.]

Discussion Questions:

What are some of your tips for critiquing photographs?

What are some of the obvious and not so obvious things you look for?

Your comments will provide forums members with information to help better their critiquing skills and photography skills. Thanks for sharing!

[Dean]

The guide books talk about composition, focus, depth of field, tonal range and focus, but to me what is important is “does it make me want to go Wow?”

[PhotoPlay]

I primarily look for composition wise when critiquing an image, you know the basic composition some are good breaking this composition but very seldom to see that really stand out when an image do. Second is what is the theme (if there is) and the none obvious thing is it very rare to see images like it or not?

I wonder how others also do it

[JDS]

The biggest fault our camera club judges find with respect to beginner's photos is that they are not sharp enough. Beginners need to learn to do some post-process sharpening, particularly in wildlife or bird photos.

[Dean]

Not just beginners! Sharpness is, indeed, a problem, but I feel that too many images are over sharpened these days. Sharp where it should be and soft where it can be. Difficulty is in knowing just where the divining line should be.

[EdMak]

Over sharpenening was never a "Problem", B&W Days! Ed.

[Wall-E]

The biggest fault our camera club judges find with respect to beginner's photos is that they are not sharp enough. Beginners need to learn to do some post-process sharpening, particularly in wildlife or bird photos.

"not sharp enough" as in not in focus?
Or not sharpened enough in the post processing?

And to EdMak's comment:
It's pretty much mandatory to do 'some' sharpening, as almost every digital camera has an "anti-aliasing" filter in front of the sensor, which is a fancy name for a soft focus filter. It intentionally makes the image a little un-sharp, to get better color resolution. Film cameras didn't have that unless the photographer added one.

[JDS]

Not sharp enough as in requiring some post processing.

[John M]

My technique is to print the picture to A4 size and leave it lying around. When I see the picture when not actually thinking about photography I get a better reaction. Looking at the picture on a computer screen will make most pictures look a lot better than they are. That is mainly because computer screens are low resolution and that hides a lote of defects.