Recent Critiques Articles

Critique the Community Episode 23: Landscape Photography

This episode of Critique the Community ended up being our biggest ever with over 500 comments on the submission post. Thank you all for your participation. Unfortunately, we we only able to give feedback to 20 images, although we did throw in an extra curve ball for Lee and Patrick and added an Elia Locardi image, who Lee and Patrick have filmed several landscape tutorials with. In keeping with our new tradition, we are also giving one participant a free Fstoppers original tutorial. And the winner is...

Critique the Community: Submit Your Landscape Photos Now

If you haven't seen the latest episode of Critique the Community, make sure to check out the new surprise we've added to the series. As an immediate follow up, we're inviting the community to submit their landscape images now for our next round of critique. Make sure to follow the submission rules below to keep your image eligible to be chosen. Submissions will remain open until this Wednesday, January 17, at midnight.

Critique the Community: Submit Your Best Family Portraits Now

For the next episode of Critique the Community, we would like to invite Fstoppers members to send over their best Family Portraits for feedback. Your submission can include families, kids, or babies. We will keep submissions open through Friday, January 12th, at midnight and will release the feedback from Lee and Patrick early next week. Make sure to check out the guidelines below to make sure the picture you provide is eligible to be chosen.

Critique the Community Episode 21: Commercial Imagery

It's been a while since we've sat down to critique of the Fstoppers images but we're back with the series for our 30 videos in 30 days challenge. To commemorate our recent tutorial with Monte Isom, we filmed a new episode of Critique the Community which will focus on commercial images. A few days ago, we asked the community to submit their work for us to choose from. Since the definition of commercial imagery encompasses a wide variety of subject matters, we chose 20 varied images to give some feedback to. Do you agree with Chelsey and Lee's commentary on the images below?

Critique the Community Is Back! Submit Your Commercial Photographs

Fstoppers is happy to announce we're bringing back Critique the Community in 2018. We invite everyone to submit your best commercial image to be critiqued by the Fstoppers team. We are keeping this first critique of 2018 pretty vague and broad, so if you think your image is "commercial" then submit in the comments below! Please follow the guidelines for submissions below to ensure eligibility for your image to be chosen. We will be accepting submissions through Thursday night, January 4, and will be offering feedback to a total of 20 pictures.

Canon 6D Mark II: The Worst Camera of 2017

It's the time of the year in which rankings appear all around the Internet spotlighting the best performers of the past 12 months. But what about the worst? As the French writer Beaumarchais once said, “Without Freedom to blame, there is no flatterer's praise.” Here is my take at the worst 2017 camera, the Canon 6D Mark II.

The Trump White House Doesn’t Care About Photos or Video

Two days after Donald Trump’s inauguration, I posted a tweet about his use of a low-resolution, potentially unlicensed image being used as his header image on his preferred weapon of choice, Twitter. On technical and professional levels, it was a fail (you can see it at the top of this article). I should have realized it was a sign of things to come.

Using Your Own Darkness to Influence Your Conceptual Photography

Generations of musicians have expressed their sorrow and grief through their chosen medium, yet seeking inspiration in these dark places is somewhat niche in amateur photography. I caught up with emerging British talent Michelle Mackie to understand how she expresses these sullen tones in her conceptual photography.

Irish Photographer Debuts a Grittier London in New Exhibition

Gregory Nolan doesn’t just have old photos, he’s got an extensive look into the abrasive music scene of London’s 00s. He’s recently dusted off the old hard drives and brought the best of 100,000 photos to the public.

Critiquing Your Work Does Not Make Someone a Troll

Before it starts to seem like I'm galloping around on my high horse, I'd like to say that this article is more of a reminder to myself than anyone else. I have made the mistake of dismissing someone as a troll just because they disagree with me. In many cases, It's much easier to simply dismiss someone as a troll if they criticize your work instead of taking it on the chin. This could be due to a number of reasons but when we do, we are breaking one of the cardinal rules.

Should You Buy Your Next Smartphone Based On DxOMark Ratings?

DxOMark has essentially become mainstream when it comes to providing ratings for cameras and smartphones. Anytime a new smartphone is released now, there’s a good chance that the overall camera rating from DxOMark is provided to demonstrate how much better this latest camera is. A growing number of individuals consider DxOMark to be biased and unscientific in its methods. The question is, how reliable is the overall rating or is it reliable at all.

Photographing Those Who Don't Want To Be Photographed

A few months ago, I took an overnight bus from Pokhara, Nepal, to Kathmandu. Arriving at five in the morning was not a part of the plan; nor was losing a night’s worth of sleep to dangerous curves, heavy rainfall, imminent landslides, and music that blared until shortly before arrival in the city. When I got there, I wasn't in too pleasant of a mood.

'How to Be Creative: How an Artist Turns Pro': Inspiring Video for All Creatives

Have you ever heard of the poem by Charles Bukowski that questions what it means to be a creative, and how to answer to that calling you have within? Are we supposed to listen to Bukowski’s poem when we consider becoming a photographer or taking our photography pro? This video starts off with the poem. Bukowski was a writer, but the insight can be applied to all creative professions. Have you ever had a day where you just had no creative voice within you? It’s happened to me, and after this video, I don’t feel so bad about it. No one can be switched “on” al the time. We need to let the creative juices come as they want to.

Disappointment After Disappointment — What Is Wrong With Canon?

Back in 2008 the Canon 5D Mark II was a photographer’s dream. The camera revolutionized the industry and opened new creative horizons for many professionals. The low light performance, dynamic range, and image quality were unheard of. This technological wonder was a huge hit in the photography world and beyond, especially in the indie filmmaker community. Later in 2012 came the 5D Mark III, with a solid body but somehow conservative specifications. Since then, it seems that Canon has decided to freeze progress, and lately, take a few steps backward.

The Storytelling Technique That's Taking Over TV

The box-set revolution of the last fifteen years has pressed huge demands of screenwriters to flesh out narratives into 10-20 hours of television. Over the last few years, there has been a go-to technique that has helped writers add meat to the bones of complex narratives, whilst filling up the content needed to air modern TV shows. We’re talking about the flashback.

How to Give and Receive Constructive Criticism the Right Way

Constructive Criticism is a unicorn in online photography groups; much sought after, but rarely found. Good constructive criticism, or CC as it's often referred to, can be some of the most helpful and growth inducing feedback a photographer can receive but, in the wrong hands, it can be a sword that cuts confidence to ribbons. Here is how to give, and receive, CC in a way that wont destroy your soul.

No Red in the Strawberries? Not So Fast...

So wham! Rumor has it that apparently two years to the date, or at least the same week, we get a sequel to "The Dress." The not so red strawberries.

Don't Knock VR Until You Try 360 Photos

Whether it’s all a gimmick or not, photos in virtual reality are amazing. They’re easy to create, and throw your audience into a straightforward, immersive experience. If you haven’t tried making one yet, you should.

The Most Liked Image in Instagram History: Beyoncé's Maternity Photo

Kim Kardashian West needed to bare her booty in an attempt to "break the internet" for Paper Magazine, but move over Kim, the Queen has just side stepped your attempts in grand fashion. Beyoncé's birth announcement photo, published yesterday, has captured more than 8 million likes on Instagram as of this writing, making it the most liked photo to ever grace the social media platform.

The Genius of Sherlock Explained

BBC's "Sherlock" has been widely praised since it debut in 2010 thanks to it's razor sharp dialog, witty humor, and gorgeous production. From a filmmaking perspective there is much to be admired, which is why we were thrilled to see Nerdwriter1 use the Conan Doyle adaptation as his latest subject in his latest YouTube video essay.

Critique the Community Episode 20: Editorial and Fashion Photography with Clay Cook

For the past month, the Fstoppers team has been working with Clay Cook filming a new original tutorial on Editorial Photography. While we were filming, we used some of our time with Clay to offer feedback to a variety of images submitted by the Fstoppers community. We chose 20 images to critique. Check out our selections below and add your thoughts and ratings to the comments below. If you want to learn more about the new tutorial with Clay Cook, be sure to signup below to receive more information and an early bird discount.

Visiting Sir Elton John’s Dazzling Modernist Photography Collection

In 1990, Sir Elton John got sober and unknowingly began collecting one of the most significant private collections of photography in the world. He has collaborated with the Tate Modern to exhibit an extraordinary collection of photographs from the classic modernist period of 1920-1960. On a cold and wet Thursday afternoon in London, I went to see The Radical Eye exhibition for myself, and it didn’t disappoint.

Critique the Community: Submit Your Best Editorial and Fashion Images Now

Fstoppers is happy to announce the next round of Critique the Community. We invite everyone to submit your best editorial and fashion images to be critiqued by Clay Cook. Please follow the guidelines for submissions below to ensure eligibility for your image to be chosen. We will be accepting submissions through Friday night, November 18 and will be offering feedback to a total of 20 pictures.

How to Constructively Critique a Photographer’s Work

As an aspiring photographer, it eventually becomes obvious that likes on Facebook or comments such as “Beautiful work Kiddo!” from your mother aren’t exactly providing an objective evaluation of your talent. Constructive feedback from others in your field is something that everyone can benefit from at times, even as a professional. The problem is, most of us don’t take criticism very well especially when it comes to something we’ve poured our heart into and may actually love on a personal level.

Would You Let a Computer Critique Your Photography?

Photography and critiques seem to go hand in hand. If you've spent any time on social media you know exactly what I mean. Critiques can provide valuable insight into your work but that of course depends on the source. What if that source was a computer? Meet Keegan, the artificial intelligence photo critic that aims to be your personal photo coach.

Free Today Only: Fearless Photographers Big Critique Day

If you are in the wedding industry, then I'm sure you have heard of Fearless Photographers. But in case you haven't heard, Fearless Photographers is a wedding directory that specializes in photographers that are not afraid to push their limits. Like most directories, they have awards for the best submitted photos as well as top photographers of the year, but they also do so much more. The founder Huy Nguyen puts a very large emphasis on helping other photographers get better as well as raising money for charities and organizations that help those in need.

Filmmaker Kevin Smith Demonstrates the Perfect Way to Deal With Criticism

As part of the screening circuit for his new movie releases, filmmaker Kevin Smith typically holds a Q&A session afterwards in which he gets to interact with fans. Any audience member is welcome to stand up to the mic and throw out a question for Smith to answer at length. At a recent Q&A session he got some blunt criticism for his upcoming movie “Yoga Hosers,” but the way he handled it couldn’t have been better. This is something we all could learn from.
Landscape Photography Design Part 5: Advanced Communication

We’re living in a visual society. Every day, we see new ways of visual advertising. Some of the messages presented without the use of words can be very powerful, as if there's some subliminal code that makes us think. As photographers, we are used to delivering messages by solely providing the image. Or are we? This series is the go-to resource for compelling visual storytelling in landscape photography and closes this week with advanced communication techniques that help create spectacular images. Join me now as we dive into the deep end, far beyond compositional elements like lines and color and learn that secret code by heart.

Critique the Community Episode 19: Architectural Photography with Mike Kelley

The Fstoppers team has been working on a new project with Mike Kelley. Two weeks ago, we asked you all to submit your best Architectural images to be critiqued by Lee and Mike. We had some great submissions, and 20 images were selected to be reviewed. Check it out to see if your image was selected, and hear great advice on how to better your architectural photography.

Critique the Community with Mike Kelley - Submit Your Architectural Photos

The Fstoppers team has been working on a new project with Mike Kelley. While we're with him, we wanted to give some of our readers the chance to have their architectural images critiqued by one of the best in the field. Join us for our next episode of Critique the community by submitting some of your pictures below in the comments. We will be selecting a total of 20 images to give feedback to. See the instructions below to submit your images correctly.

Critique the Community Episode 18: Concert Photography

A few weeks ago, we asked the Fstoppers Community to submit their best Concert Photography, you all rocked out! It took us a little longer to get the Critique back in front of your eyes with Lee Morris' wedding and finishing up the new Joey Wright Swimwear tutorial, but we finally have it ready for you. We selected twenty of our favorite images to review. Take a look at the selections and add your thoughts in the comments below!

Lamenting the Loss of the When and What in Photography

The sheer volume of photographs being produced has reached unforeseen levels. We take photographs almost without thinking now; any vaguely noteworthy event garners a veritable mass of cameras and cameraphones. But quantity does not necessarily beget quality, nor does it necessarily enable the photographic eye to sharpen itself. In fact, the digital age has (to a degree) destroyed appreciation for process, thereby relegating craft to an anachronism, a relic of a time when the process of making pictures forced a certain deliberateness in their creation.

Critique the Community: Submit Your Best Concert Images Now

Music concerts are often a wide mix of sensory input, and a good concert photographer must figure out a way to capture the full scope of a concert experience in a single image. How well are your images accomplishing this difficult task? Submit your best concert photos to our next episode of Critique the Community! Please follow the guidelines for submissions below to ensure eligibility for your image to be chosen. We will be accepting submissions through Sunday night, February 28th, and will be offering feedback to a total of 20 pictures.

Critique the Community Episode 17: Sports Photography

Last week, we asked the Fstoppers Community to submit their best sports images to be critiqued by the Fstoppers team. We had a fantastic variety of images to choose from with over 250 entries. To keep in theme with this episode, we decided to film it during a recent ski trip. Lee and Patrick gave feedback to twenty images chosen from the submissions. Check out the selections and add your feedback and thoughts to the comments.

Critique the Community: Submit Your Best Sports Images Now

Fstoppers is happy to announce the next round of Critique the Community. We invite everyone to submit your best sports image to be critiqued by the Fstoppers team. The image doesn't have to have any particular style but it must be related to sports and action, incorporating a human element (not just products or sports equipment). Please follow the guidelines for submissions below to ensure eligibility for your image to be chosen. We will be accepting submissions through Sunday night, February 7th and will be offering feedback to a total of 20 pictures.

Critique the Community Episode 16: Swimwear Photography with Joey Wright

For the last several weeks, the Fstoppers team has been working with Joey Wright in Curaçao filming a new original tutorial on swimwear photography. While we were filming, we used some of our time with Joey to offer feedback to a variety of images submitted by the Fstoppers community. We chose 20 images to critique. Check out our selections below and add your thoughts and ratings to the comments below.

Critique the Community: Submit Your Swimwear Images Now!

In the next few weeks, Fstoppers is going to be working on an awesome new project with the incredible swimwear photographer, Joey Wright. While we're working with Wright, we thought we'd give everyone a chance to have their swimwear images critiqued by one of the best in the business. Between now and January 5, enter your swimwear images by following the submission guidelines below. We will be choosing 20 images to give feedback to.

Critique the Community Episode 15: Lifestyle Photography

A couple weeks ago, we asked the Fstoppers Community to submit their best lifestyle images for our next episode of "Critique the Community." This episode is particularly special because we are giving away two free camera bags from HEX to two of the photographers who were selected for critique. We chose a total of 21 images to offer feedback to, 20 of them were submitted and one was chosen from some of Fstoppers most popular photos. Check out the image we chose to critique, see who won the backpacks, and give your thoughts and feedback on the pictures in the comments below!

Critique the Community: Submit Your Lifestyle Images Now (Also, Win a Bag)

Fstoppers is adding a little something extra to this week's episode of "Critique the Community." We are inviting everyone to submit your lifestyle photography images for review. This means your images shouldn't just be portraits of people, they need to be images of people in action or living some sort of life. Like we've done in the past, we will be choosing 20 images give our thoughts and feedback to. In addition to our normal critique, we will also be giving away two camera bags to two individuals who will be randomly chosen from the critiqued image pool. Submissions must be made by Sunday, December 13th.

Critique the Community Episode 14: Food Photography

Last week, we asked the Fstoppers community to submit their best pictures of food to be reviewed by the Fstoppers team for our next episode of "Critique the Community." To change things up a little for this episode, we had a local commercial photographer, Andy Hagedon, join us to give some fresh perspective. A total of twenty images were selected to be reviewed. Check out the selections and add your thoughts and critiques in the comments below.

Critique the Community: Submit Your Best Food Images Now

To celebrate the holidays and all the delicious meals that are being prepared around the world, we invite you to share your best looking food images for our next episode of "Critique the Community." We will be critiquing the pictures from a commercial standpoint so submit the pictures that you think sells the food itself. Please get in your submissions by the end of Wednesday, December 2, and you'll have the chance to have your image critiqued by the Fstoppers team. For this episode, we will be giving feedback to 20 pictures. To qualify, you must follow the submission rules below.

Critique the Community Episode 13: Composite Photography

Last week we had the Fstoppers community submit their best composite images for the latest episode of "Critique the Community." There were some awesome composite submissions, including a wide range of genres. We chose a total of 20 pictures for Lee and Patrick to give feedback on. Add your comments and ratings to the pictures below. If we selected your picture, we'd love to hear about how you did it.

Critique the Community Episode 12: Swimwear with Dixie Dixon

A couple weeks ago, we asked the Fstoppers Community to submit their swimwear images for a special episode of "Critique the Community" with Dixie Dixon. Patrick met up with Dixie and went through 20 images of the submissions to give their thoughts on the quality of each image according to the Fstoppers rating system and how the images could be improved. Check out the image selection below and add your thoughts and ratings to the comments below.

Critique the Community: Submit Your Composite Images Now

Our next episode of "Critique the Community" will feature images that have included some sort of composite. Take our featured image for example, the background was composited behind the beer bottle. (Check out this post for details of how it was done). Your composite image can come from any genre of photography but it must include elements from multiple images. Please get in your submissions by Saturday, November 14th and you'll have the chance to have your image critiqued by the Fstoppers team. For this episode, we will be giving feedback to 20 pictures. To qualify, you must follow the submission rules below.

Critique the Community Episode 11b: Head Shots

A few weeks ago we offered to critique a handful of head shot photographs from the Fstoppers Community. Patrick Hall and Peter Hurley sat and gave their feedback for 18 images. Since there were so many submissions for this genre of photography, Lee and I decided to add on an extra round of critique for the photos that were submitted. Check out the images we chose below and add your own thoughts and critique to the comments.

Critique the Community Episode 11a: Headshots with Peter Hurley

A few weeks ago we offered to critique a handful of headshot photographs from the Fstoppers Community. I was able to sit down with professional headshot photographer Peter Hurley for his advice on how you guys can help improve your own headshot photos. Since there were so many submissions we were only able to get to about 18 images, but don't worry because next week Lee and David will tackle many of the images that did not make this episode of Critique the Community.

Critique the Community Episode 10b: Natural Light Portraits

Due to the incredible amount of submissions, we decided to film a second edition of Natural Light Portraits! This time, Lee and I sat down in the Fstoppers studio and critiqued an additional 20 Natural Light Portraits. Check out the pictures we selected and feel free to add your thoughts in the comments!

Critique the Community: Submit Your Best Swimwear Photos Now

Our next episode of "Critique the Community" will feature swimwear photography. This featured image was taken by the amazing swimwear/fashion photographer Dixie Dixon. In our next episode, Dixie and Patrick Hall will critique 20 random images submitted by our readers. Please post your submissions into this post by Sunday November 1st at 11:59PM EDT for your chance to get direct feedback from Dixie and the FS staff.