Things to consider when looking at photos

Technical qualities of a photo

  • Exposure
    • Overall Brightness
    • Highlight detail
    • Shadow detail
  • Focus
  • Depth of field
  • Shutter speed
    • Too fast or too slow
  • Contrast
    • Is the image too flat or does it have to much contrast
  • Color balance
    • White balance
  • Saturation
    • Too much or too little
  • Lack of noise

Creative qualities of a photo

  • Composition
    • The arrangement of shapes, forms, colors, areas of light and dark, and other elements in a work of art.
    • Framing/Cropping
  • A clear subject
  • Focus/depth of field
  • Angle
  • Light /lighting
  • Contrast
    • the ratio of light to dark
  • Color
  • Point of emphasis
  • Point of view
    • Literaly
    • Figuratively
  • Line
  • Shape
  • Texture
  • Balance
  • Point of view
  • Motion
  • Perspective
  • Content
  • Emotion
  • Humor
  • Mood
  • Informative
  • Meaning
  • Something unique about the photo
  • Visually Interesting
  • Compelling
  • Tells a story/Narrative
  • Theme
  • Timing/The moment
  • Personal Relevance
  • The Subject/Interesting Subject
  • Juxtaposition
    • the act of placing or positioning items in the image area of a photograph side by side or next to one another to illustrate some comparison.

 

One critique proceedure

Evaluate the piece technically:
All of these criteria are open to debate and interpretation.

Description
Describe the work without using value words such as "beautiful" or "ugly":

Analysis
Describe how the work is organized as a complete composition:

Interpretation
Describe how the work makes you think or feel:

Judgment or Evaluation
Present your opinion of the work's success or failure: