Fstoppers Community Critiques: Show Us Your Best Photos

Fstoppers Community Critiques:  Show Us Your Best Photos

Last week Lee Morris wrote an article outlining the community rating system and we have been flooded with emails.  The most common question has been "now that I have a rating associated with my images, how can I get honest critiques and suggestions about my work?"  Well today is your lucky day because this weekend Lee and I are going to examine 15 images submitted to us and break down what makes each image great and not so great.  

Over the last couple weeks Lee and I have rated over 4,000 images in the Fstoppers Community.  It's pretty obvious after browsing through the most popular and highest ranked images that we have some real talent lurking on Fstoppers.  

As fun as it can be seeing how your own images rank among the entire community, sometimes it is more helpful hearing first hand how you can improve your work and make even stronger images.  That is our plan for this Sunday as we go through 15 user submitted images and break down the good, the bad, and the ugly.  It's not always going to be pretty and I'm honestly a little nervous about having to dish out my own personal thoughts on some of your photos.  

Here are a few of the areas we will be looking at and considering when giving our praise and criticism:

Mastery of Lighting

Creativity

Selection of Talent/Models

Post Production

General Photography Technique

Emotion and Mood

Commercial Viability (can this image book you work)

If you think you have the guts to have your work critiqued or simply want to get our opinions on how you can push yourself to the next level, leave a link to a specific image in your Fstoppers Portfolio below.  On Sunday July 20th, Lee and I will hand pick 15 images to talk about live on video.  We are not going to reveal your name unless your entire portfolio is world class and hopefully everyone can take something constructive away even if it isn't their own work.  

This idea is sort of a test as I'm not exactly sure what to expect, but if this turns out to be something you guys find valuable then maybe the Community Critiques will become a regular occurance on Fstoppers.com.

Patrick Hall's picture

Patrick Hall is a founder of Fstoppers.com and a photographer based out of Charleston, South Carolina.

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180 Comments

I would love to have you guys look at my work and tell me what I'm doing right & wrong.
http://fstoppers.com/photo/22996
Thanks again.

Ok, Let me have it.... http://fstoppers.com/photo/21126
Thanks

What do you guys think of this image? http://fstoppers.com/photo/14115

Oh, this will be a lot of fun!!
http://fstoppers.com/photo/15861

I'd enjoy the opportunity to get more feedback on my work. Thanks!

http://fstoppers.com/photo/9915

Okay, I'll try it for this image. Taken outside against a river for a backdrop, which I blew to turn bright white. I wanted to give her a different look from the standard trees and flowers.

http://fstoppers.com/photo/17343

Just for the fun :] http://fstoppers.com/photo/13569

And damn.. there's some nice imagery in these comments. Way to go people!

I see a lot of portraits so I'll throw one of my architecture shots in there. Had a tough time picking one so I went with the one the community has rated the highest. Now don't go easy because wheres the fun, plus I wont learn anything!
http://fstoppers.com/photo/11328

I'll give it a go too: http://fstoppers.com/photo/19582

For some reason, it uploaded with a green tint but here it is...http://fstoppers.com/photo/23420

You forgot to export as sRGB :)

Scary, but I'll have a go.
http://fstoppers.com/photo/23113

Hey Lee and Patrick, it would be fantastic if you could give me some advice on my underwater photography. I've only been doing it for a few weeks (actually I couldn't even really swim a month ago...) So I'd like to know if I'm heading in the right direction!

http://fstoppers.com/photo/19157

Sweet! I am game! give me some good constructive criticism! http://fstoppers.com/photo/11744

I'm game, please critique my flower macro photography lit with a beauty dish.

http://fstoppers.com/photo/22763

http://500px.com/811photography

I agree with Ralph, no pain no gain... http://fstoppers.com/photo/22947

Let me know what you think!
http://fstoppers.com/photo/23454

I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts about this image.
http://fstoppers.com/photo/23440

Suena muy interesante y es un honor, gracias!
Aquí va: http://fstoppers.com/photo/23461

What a lovely chance to hear from you. I am in too :)

http://fstoppers.com/photo/21291

Sounds awesome!
http://fstoppers.com/photo/17211
PS These dudes are all pro surfers, not models....

Here it is! http://fstoppers.com/photo/23475 Thanks for the opportunity guys!

Found it

I've had only one rating on this photo which was "needs work". The problem being that they didn't tell me what exactly needed work? Seemed pretty pointless. I would like to get some good, honest feedback on this one as it's one of my most requested, purchased and popular images on other online platforms.

http://fstoppers.com/photo/18979

How about a little photojournalism for something new?. http://fstoppers.com/photo/23479

I will be very happy if i can disable ranking on some photos of mine ....
I really do not like ranking in this type of subjective work ... None of the people (exclude directly participating people on the work) has been on the shot and or post production, so they did not now why there is something this or another way done .........

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this photo: http://fstoppers.com/photo/23536

Nice work.

I love this idea! This was a self portrait I did a couple months ago. Probably one of my best, though there are a ton of improvements to be made. http://fstoppers.com/photo/17415 Anyways, thank you so much for doing this! I'm excited to learn from the critiques you give to those lucky 15!

Also, since some people are complaining about not getting comments with bad ratings, maybe you could make it so that someone can only rate if they leave a comment? Just a suggestion. :)

What do you think of http://fstoppers.com/photo/23568 ? Thank you.

Great idea, Always happy to receive feedback!
http://fstoppers.com/photo/18516

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