Critique the Community
Street Photography
Submit your best street photo for a chance to win a free Fstoppers tutorial."
Congratulations to the winners!
We had some incredible street photography submissions this week and Lee was more generous with his ratings than he's ever been.
Congratulations to Jonäs Groan for his submission that earned the highest community average rating and to Scott Firestone for being the randomly selected winner of a free Fstoppers original tutorial. We will be in touch with both of you via your Fstoppers profiles to claim your prize.
If you missed your chance to participate in this week's episode, we invite you to participate in next week's with your "unedited photos." Submit your pictures HERE.
Rules & Prizes
Have you shot any street photography? We invite you to join the next episode of Critique the Community and submit two of your best street photography shots for feedback and the chance to win one of two Fstoppers tutorials.Although Lee and Patrick don't have much experience with street photography, they do have an eye for quality photos. If you'd like to receive the feedback of Lee and Patrick and your peers here in the Fstoppers community, simply upload up to two of your best street photos before December 18th, 2018 at 11:45 PM EST. We will select a total of 20 images to provide feedback to. The image with the highest average community rating will receive a free tutorial as will a randomly selected entrant.
Once you've uploaded your images, we invite you scroll through the photos submitted by other members and give them ratings and helpful feedback. The easiest way to do this is by using the arrow pad and number keys on your keyboard. Please keep comments helpful and encouraging.
Tue, 12/18/2018 - 23:45
This contest has ended.
650 people have cast a total of 49,521 votes on 777 entries from 469 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.
132 Comments
It was my first upload. I just registered to fstoppers.
Now I see why it's not working. I don't think "not strong enough" is the word. Isn't "not appropriate" more suitable?
I took a risk and it didn't pay off. No big deal. There are some great images in there (and many snapshots of course).
I don't know how to look at your submissions, but I love your photos. They are very strong indeed. Thanks for the feedback.
Thanks for your comments! And for passing by to look at some of my images.
These are the two picts i posted for the contest. Perhaps not pure street photography, but is what I like shooting mostly in the streets :)
https://fstoppers.com/entry/318545
And
https://fstoppers.com/entry/319308
The second one, with the cop, is a winner.
I don't understand how people voted 3. I think it's a 4 or even a 5.
You got serious skills and talent.
Hi Laurent, once more thanks!
Maybe this is an opinion not a ton of people share, but I kinda wish there were more comments on photos. I know the photography community can be one of the more toxic, I mean I've seen people get mean, but if you have a thought about a photo, I think people should be a little more forthcoming and feel comfortable posting it.
I don’t think this is too much to ask. It’s be a long-standing concern with the contests. Abnormally low ratings without feedback. I try to give feedback to any photos I rate, especially 2s. The best we can do is lead by example and try to create the community we want to be a part of.
I know some people can be “toxic” but I spend a lot of time on r/photocritque, and while the people there aren’t professional level, the majority of them remain civil. That could possibly be due to the lack of a rating system, or the fact that it’s not a competion, or maybe even because most are just there for fun. However it does show that people can take the time to critique and comment without getting toxic. I mean if Reddit can remain civil, I’d certainly hope people here could.
I agree, I think we can definitely remain civil. But that's true, I'll make sure to do that from now on, I usually do comment when I give lower scores, but I can't say I've been perfect on that. Leading by example may be just the ticket here.
yeah, unfortunately the way it’s set up now indirectly encourages people to give low ratings without reasons, and some people take advantage of that.
The admins can make a few changes to encourage more honest votes and more interaction, but in the end it falls on us as a community to make that a reality. So let’s do that and hope others follow... I wouldn’t hold my breath, though, haha.
The problem with giving feedback, is that you need to know how to give it, for it to be productive. Is something you learn, I can give you my honest opinion on your pictures, but what relevance it has? How do you know if indeed is worth it taking my criciticsm seriously? Just by looking at the material I have? Perhaps my work is excellent but i dont know how to provide feedback on someones work or the other way around. To get good feedback you need to get it from a photoschool, or from someone who knows how to give it....and quite sure you wont found here from us. So dont expect someone here to tell you what you need to improve, look at it as something fun :)
The best technique I’ve come across for critiquing is from the essential book “Art and Fear.” Ask yourself two questions, “what is the artist trying to say/achieve?” “Were they successful?” In school we weren’t allowed to use the work “like” in critiques.
I think this is good advice for the most part but it does rely a lot on the viewer’s ability to pick up on subtle message or abstract images. Sometimes people aren’t able to pick up on those, but it shouldn’t devalue the image. So I think this is one way of critiquing art, but I feel like this way of thinking fits more for art majors.
For example, I believe Salvador Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory” to be a beautiful painting with some interesting imagery. However, I haven’t got a clue what he’s trying to “say” or “achieve”. Does that mean he wasn’t unsuccessful?
I think the first question the viewer has to ask is “who is this work intended for?”
The questions are more for the viewer than the artist/photographer. They help the viewer get past the gut reaction of like/dislike and into a more empathetic headspace. We may not know exactly what an artist is trying to say or achieve, but at least now we are thinking about it, which enriches our experience of the work. We still may not like it, but now our 1 star review comes from a more thoughtful place.
This morning I took a look at the book to make sure my paraphrasing was correct and discovered there was a third question that I forgot about, "was it worth doing?"
Well, I don't disagree, but I guess this comes from the standpoint that I don't take negative remarks negatively. I see if it is a critique of my work based on a serious opinion, or if it's just something they don't like. Like maybe it's composition, and I think it works but they don't. Or they say I should've focused on a different spot. I agree with Styron, there's no reason to not give an opinion, because maybe it'll help people see through your eyes and get that extra viewpoint for their next shoot.
The perception of street photography images are very subjective, and thus is the rating. This also has to do with a certain over-saturation of themes. The tendency to repeat certain "stereotypes" of street photography. An image of a beggar, the day-to-day struggle on the streets of asia, the insignificance of a human-being lost in the valleys of metropolis -- it´s been covered a multitude of times. And still the viewer may be captured -- but for this the image has to have a certain something, expression, a rare glimpse, a fleeing moment, an intruiging story. Secondly, even the "masters" of street photographers mentioned in many comments did some work on them later in the darkroom: especially proper cropping. I believe many images rated here as snapshots are lacking this basic post-production. Yet I do agree that the rating system could be approved, maybe by listing the names of those who voted (as is done in Fotocomunnity), or by having to leave a comment in order to be able to vote.
https://fstoppers.com/photo/319581
https://fstoppers.com/photo/319581
I wish someone would give advice on a picture in stead of just giving it a crap rating and flipping to the next.
These contests have never been a good way to get actual community feedback. Unfortunately the way it's set up indirectly encourages people to rate low and a number of people choose to do that rather than giving honest feedback in hopes of getting the prize which the contenders and voters are technically competing for. If you're looking for meaningful feedback, the "groups" tab is your best bet. There are no ratings there, and people seem genuinely interested in helping each other out, unlike in the contests and community tabs.
I will repeat my post from above... The problem with giving feedback, is that you need to know how to give it, for it to be productive. Is something you learn, I can give you my honest opinion on your pictures, but what relevance it has? How do you know if indeed is worth it taking my criciticsm seriously? Just by looking at the material I have? Perhaps my work is excellent but i dont know how to provide feedback on someones work or the other way around. To get good feedback you need to get it from a photoschool, or from someone who knows how to give it....and quite sure you wont found that here from us. So dont expect someone here to tell you what you need to improve, look at it as something fun :)
Lot's of the entries are "Snapshots" BUT that's what Street Photography essentially is. That's the charm of the style. It's then the photographers job to put their own flavour into it; whether that be little bits of humour or perhaps a striking composition with the use of 'The decisive moment' like in HCB iconic image. It can change but it is supposed to be short and snappy clever or engaging images. People just walking down any street without a context, or photographs of buskers / homeless people don't really cut it. I recommend everyone have a quick google of he book "Street Photography now" to get a better idea.
I think looking at this broad and interesting discussion going on that Patrick and Lee will have to have an extended sum-up of the contest :-) We need a street-photography symposium! :-))
814 entries. Good luck to everyone. Thank you to everyone who put yourself out there to be reviewed. It is a good community effort when we all try.
When are the result ?
When is the contest over?
Next contest could be panoramas
Is this contest ever closing?