Lee was recently challenged by Pye Jirsa from SLR Lounge to do a male fitness photography competition. Although the results of that shoot have not been published yet, this week's Critique the Community was inspired by their images. Are your male fitness photos up to professional standards?
Between now and June 19th, you have the opportunity to submit up to three of your best male fitness photos for your chance to be critiqued in the next episode and win a free Fstoppers original tutorial. We will be giving away two free Fstoppers tutorials to the entrants. The first winner will be selected based on the highest average community rated image. The second winner will be chosen at random.
Once you've uploaded your images, be sure to scroll through the rest of the submissions and provide your own feedback. You can rate each image efficiently by using your number and keypad. Additionally, we encourage you to leave positive comments on how you feel other images could be improved.
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Ok, what do you think your pictures should be rated?
There are certainly some people who rate images low on purpose (we are keeping an eye on them) but, because everyone is rating everyone's images, no one person can kill the rating of a single image. It may just take a few days for your images to be rated by more than 1 person.
One problem is that you are using the mean value instead of the mode. By relying solely on the mean you allow outliers to unduly influence the vote. But if you still want to use a mean value consider using a mean value based on +/- two standard deviations of the vote distribution or 95% of the votes. This would also eliminate the outliers.
Another issue seems to be that people either don't know the rating system or simply ignore it. If the goal is to create an image suitable for one's portfolio (which varies by genre) than a different scale may work better.
Portfolio ready?
1 Needs a lot of work
2 Needs some work
3 Ready to go
4 Will get you clients
5 Will get you a showing
I think the current rating levels are fine. They're clear and each level is very distinct. I think your suggestion lacks clarity. You're saying something that is "ready to go" is not something that will get you clients??
The rating levels are definitely clear, but there are a lot of photos that receive 1 star which is supposedly a snapshot, that clearly is not a snapshot. If a photo is staged, in a studio, uses off camera flash, etc...it by definition is not a snapshot. A photo that is not great, but obviously not a snapshot should receive a 2 star rating by default.
Based on the definition of the rating system, you are correct Tony... but it can be counter-intuitive to give a 2-star rating to a really crappy studio shot... especially since the next step up is "portfolio worthy" and there is big spread between a terrible studio shot and one that is ready for your portfolio, so it's hard to give the entire spectrum 2 stars.
If a shot needs work, it's not ready for your portfolio. If it's ready for your portfolio, it probably doesn't need work. Seems pretty cut and dry to me.
Tony, yes, though it still seems unfair to give a really bad studio shot (that really deserves 1-star but can’t be given 1-star because the photographer used a strobe) the same 2-star rating as a great studio shot that just needs a small tweak to be portfolio-ready. It is the inability to rate with these subtleties in mind that is the shortfall of the rating system.
At the same time, it’s also possible for a “snapshot” taken on a phone to be given a high rating based on other factors that are in control of the photographer—composition, angle, etc.
I like your lighting but the background/location is boring, it'd be more interesting if it was in a boxing gym. Right now it's just a really good picture of a boxer. One of the photo the boxer gave a little smile i dont really like. I feel like the expression could be better.
Tri - I can see your point. But I think that this is more of a portrait than an environmental portrait. That said, an environmental portrait would look great with the model. Maybe something like Lee did in PR with his jiu jitsu coach
Your photos are ranking between 2 and 3 stars, which appears to be average for most of these contests. I would have to agree that they are average as professional photos go. You asked for critiques when you put your photos online, so that's what you got.
A heads up Lee, Patrick and team : this is the last Fstoppers post that allows commenting. All articles subsequent to this one do not show the green "Post" button to allow commenting.
Edit: it is now fixed.
Not so! Most of the posts in groups still won't accept comments.
Oh you're right, the problem remains in several places!
My image wasn't showing up, but I figured out how to delete and repost. Now I don't know how to delete this comment, because I'm just that good.