Critique the Community
Group Photos
Submit Your Best Group Photos
Congratulations to the winners!
Congratulations to our winners. Janos Lakatos's image was chosen by the community as the best submission and Robert Sakowski's was selected as the random winner. To claim your free tutorial send Lee Morris a private message.
If you'd like to participate in the next episode, submit your best images of technology HERE.
Rules & Prizes
In this episode of Critique the Community, we are looking for your best photographs featuring groups of people. The group needs to be more than 2 people and can be of any genre of photography. Keep in mind, our critiques are always based on the idea that only your best work should be featured in your portfolio and these images would be used to gain future clients. Feel free to submit any images you want that fit the guideline but we will still critique based on portfolio quality work regardless.
As always, the highest rated image will win a free tutorial from the Fstoppers Store. During filming, we will also pick one random winner who will also get a copy of any tutorial in our store as well. The deadline for this Critique the Community is April 16th at 11:15pm.
Good luck and we hope everyone is doing well and staying safe as we continue to quarantine ourselves across the world.
Thu, 04/16/2020 - 22:15
This contest has ended.
296 people have cast a total of 11,144 votes on 145 entries from 145 participants
Contest Submissions
Click on the thumbnails below to comment and rate each image.
Click here to learn about the Fstoppers rating system and what each star value means.
39 Comments
Honestly, the only thing I think you should change is the fact that you don’t read the description of the images. If you’re worried it would sway your vote one way or another, don’t read it until after you vote. There’s just so many times that you guys debate over what the story is behind it and sometimes the description makes it pretty clear. I personally really enjoy these. Especially now more than ever with having the shelter in place in effect.
😇
for me, i definitely will never get tired of you two or listening to you both. all your videos are a highlight for me. first thing i do when i get home from work is to grab a cup of tea, sit on the couch and head straight to your videos. it's something i look forward to each and every day. personally i feel for the critiques, instead of going by the highest rating as you do, go through all and pick out the one's you find most interesting, it's just that the voting may not always be to the standard or in fact most of the time be correctly rated. so i'm saying chose the image its self, not just the ratings. p.s you guys are simply awesome, and you both seem to truly give honest opinions about everything on your show/videos which is very refreshing to see and hear. thanks so much guys for the great entertainment you provide to us all.
Critique the community is:
1. Lee sorting images by community ratings and taking top 10, no matter how shit they are.
2. Patrick not liking any photo and finding a fault in everything.
I agree with the above 2 comments. And did I hear correct, Not even looking through all the photos...Haha.
I’ve rarely ever looked past the top 100-150 images because consistently the lowest rated images are not worth putting in the episode. Trust me, it’s always been this way.
I'm just giving everything 5 stars because why not.
It's the most beautiful time of the year!
Wouldn't that cancel out the effect of all of your votes?... and the photographers can't tell you've done it anyway.
Childish mindset.
As opposed to everyone who gives 1 star, because they are so mature?
Correct. The ones giving out the 1 stars have valid reasons. The ones giving "everything" 5 stars are just throwing a tantrum.
https://i.imgur.com/h4ybnAN.jpg
The ‘valid reason’ being they have their own photo in the submission and don’t want to risk others having higher scores? Because nobody is ever giving a valid reason, or any reason for giving the score.
Aside from that troll who just repeats the same shit every week on each different theme.
I'm sure that's one of the reasons, but, that's not all of the reasons. I've read through some of their comments. Sounds like you don't want to accept their reasonings. You just want to hear what you want to hear.
Just so we are clear, ‘I’ don’t want anything and I certainly aren’t talking about people rating my photos because I don’t care.. what I do take issue with is people putting a 1 star rating on photos that are clearly above that level (90% of submissions are better than 1star if we follow the guidelines) and the only reason they would do it is to either fudge the system or they are just outright trolls/undesirable human beings.
Isn’t it funny that a pastime/profession that centres itself around capturing the earths greatest moments and in general positivity, has such a toxic community once people are safely tucked away behind their keyboard.
From my observation, the ones constantly bringing up "toxic community" are ones usually hostile, and they too are safely tucked away behind their keyboard. Toxicity spreads and lingers longer when people fan it.
some people just give 1 star to lower the rating of that image, thus keeping their own image higher rated
And has anyone noticed that they do not read the descriptions of the photo by the photographer or comments by reviewers? I'm not saying they have to read them aloud, but for their own information. They could argue this by saying they are trying to be as objective as possible but when they sit there and try to figure out what or where a photo is and aren't even close I'm embarrassed for them. Was it the last critique Lee had forgotten to include each photo community rating? There almost seems to be a reluctance on their part to take the time to do these sessions, that it's a chore for them. I suggest they do more homework before their presentation in addition to the recommendations from other commenters here to make it more interesting for us and perhaps less of a burden for them.
The idea was that we haven’t seen the images beforehand. That worked well in Charleston when we had other people in the office to curate them but now inevitably one of us has to pick the images ourselves.
That being said, what’s the old quote “if you have to explain a photograph then it’s not a good photography?” It’s interesting to read the descriptions but those descriptions won’t be printed next to your portfolio 99% of the time.
Thank you for writing back. Points well taken. Your opinion is much appreciated since you and Lee are the ones taking the brunt of the opinions expressed. Ansel Adams actually told me that saying during a private visit to his house in 1980 and have kept it in mind when taking or critiquing photos ever since (not that it ever brought me to his level!). And you are correct, the descriptions won't be printed next to your photos 99% of the time. Perhaps my suggestion should have been... see the photo, rate the photo, then read the description so there is less time speculating about what it is, and then maybe a comment from a forum member if there is a relevant one (not often unfortunately). I now understand how much more pressure is on you guys now that you're pretty much doing it all yourselves (I'm a relative newcomer to the forum so don't know much about the past goings on). I enjoy the critiques and hope you continue them. I also hope you can incorporate some of the suggestions to some degree from the forum members as there is obviously some frustrations out there. Many thanks again. [sorry for the "Anonymous Reviewer" moniker. I submit photos under my real name but don't critique under my name anymore because of name calling and retaliatory voting against my photos.]
Surely this is a parody account.
Just a bit of a thought on the rating system. Having the lowest rating a 1 star and highest a 5, making 3 a portfolio worthy image doesn't make sense, its 50%. Most images fall in the middle of the road. A basic understanding of photography but minor details that don't take it to the next level.
A rating of 1 star = snapshot, 2 = needs work, 3 = solid image, minor work needed, 4 = portfolio worthy 5 = pro
When pro photographers who can take 5 star images submit on here but rarely make it over the 4 mark, it seem like its impossible to reach.
I mean their idea is even if you take 10,000 images a year it's likely that less than 10 belong in your portfolio. Their rating system puts a 4 star image as the highlight of your portfolio and a 5 star is basically unattainable.
I do see the logic in this rating system but it doesn't seem to have enough fidelity (even Patrick & Lee will often rate images 2.5 in the CTC videos... if that doesn't tell you scale needs more points I don't know what would).
I would like to see the rating system changed so there is more middle ground. 4 star should be portfolio quality and 5 star should be highlight image. Get rid of "world class" because you will never get a group of people to agree what world class is for something as objective as a photo.
Personally I feel the rating system should follow more in line with:
1 - Snapshot - No consideration given to composition etc.
2 - Okay - Needs SIGNIFICANT work
3 - Good - could still use some improvements
4 - Solid photo - Needs very minor improvements
5 - Stunning - No improvements needed, you killed it
I think this gives context to the range of these numbers. 3 being portfolio worthy may still be true but that is so subjective. I might be way more critical of what goes into my portfolio than someone else.
Yes, people rate things so theirs look better but I have found a lot of value in seeing the harsh ratings (on my photos) so I know to always keep pushing myself. Very few photographers in the world would produce consistent 5 star photos. If I hit 3 (being an amateur and not doing this full time) I'm pretty pumped.
However, I do wish people would leave constructive feedback so I know exactly what they feel could be improved.
Side note, I wish I was able to see the number of each vote I received. did I get all 1s and 5s? I feel like that gives more insight to the validity of the votes. i.e. if I consistently got 2s and 3s I know people probably spent a little more time actually looking at the photo but if its widely 1s and 5s were they just quickly going through not really caring?! And to be clear, idc who gave the rating just curious as to the number of each received.
Do you think it would be good idea for next time to let the community vote for the next contest topic.I mean giving about 3 options to choose from. I believe it could be nice idea.
5 Star idea. :)
Only 1 entry this time around?
Yes, only one.
When are we expecting the next CtC video to be released?
I'm excited for the next challenge. :)
Did I miss the episode where Lee and Patrick rate the images? If so, could someone please link me to the video? I'm a bit confused, because there is already a new contest to which we can submit to.
They will upload it tonight or tomorrow.
Ah, okay, thanks! It has seriously been a long time since the last critique. They've devoted a little too much of their efforts towards this COVID-19 analysis, in my opinion.