Critique the Community: Commercial Beachwear
Congrats to our winners in the Swimwear and Resort Wear critique! Please pick out which tutorial you want from the Fstoppers Store and David will reach out to you soon.
To be a part of the next critique you can upload any photo that fits your interpretation of the word "wet." All images must be posted by Oct 23rd before noon eastern time. Next week, 19 random images and the top rated image will be critiqued by the Fstoppers team.
Your submissions can be posted to this link: https://fstoppers.com/critique-community/submit-your-best-interpretation-wet-images
Have you taken photos of swimwear or resort wear that are worthy of being in your portfolio? Are you looking to have your work critiqued by someone well known in the industry? If so, our next Critique the Community is going to be a barn burner!
Submit up to two of your best beach fashion oriented photographs for a chance to win a free tutorial from the Fstoppers Store. Miami photographer Joey Wright will guest host our next episode so you can be sure he will have some solid advice on how to make your swimwear and beach catalog images look even better.
The deadline to submit your images is October 15th by midnight eastern time. Good luck and we hope to see some amazing summer time images!
Tue, 10/15/2019 - 22:45
This contest has ended.
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.
54 Comments
And its a great image
Isn't the voting closed and then they do the critique?
Keeping the voting going while recording the critique sounds like a messy way of doing it.
Yes something must have been off with the time on the back end and you were able to submit after final images were picked. My guess is the contest stayed opened a few hours because the timer on the contest was Pacific time and we use Eastern Time.
I'm happy to send you a free tutorial since you did win.
Thanks Patrick. That would be awesome. On the plus side, the critique on some of the other images was really helpful.
I actually picked up a bunch of tips from that one.
Oh well, missed out on all the accolades on the video but all good.
Awesome !! The best in this contest IMO :)
I had a photo that was 3.36
I don’t need the tutorial if you want it you can message me and I can just give it to you.
Hi Angela and thanks for the offer but it's not necessary. I enter these comps to get some exposure to my page and if possible some constructive feedback.
I was curious on how the voting system ended up with the results that it did.
I would have loved to have had some feedback from Joey Wright
BTW, congrats on your win, it was a very cool image. :)
I want Joe's tutorial :)))
Angela if you haven’t given the tutorial away I would be happy to have it :)
I was in the top 10
I want it... crhistmas is coming ❤
Your top photo appears on our side as having a 3.4. Greg had one that just inched past yours at 3.5 but I believe it either beat your image an hour or so before the voting ended or it was submitted an hour or so before the voting ended and had just enough votes to be the winner very last minute. We will try to figure out what happened and adjust the system accordingly.
Just to clarify the rules, it says 'Submit up to two of your best beach fashion oriented photographs'.
Does that mean the location has to be at the beach?
If this critique is meant to help the community improve, you could probably do a little more good by not critiquing more than one image by the same photographer like you did with David T's images.
It says "photos of swimwear or resort wear"
Not just his, two of Dan Howell's as well.
We just try to pull images that are interesting and unique. We don't look at the names. Our biggest critique especially with something like this is having a good model. It seems so bad having to say over and over again your model isn't portfolio grade but in many cases that's the top critique.
Aye, I def. understand that! Could it be that you guys limit entries to one?
That's a significant concept to absorb and perhaps the greatest thing I had to learn after technical basics. The subject and their performance is most of what makes an image great.
Question for the judge(s): how can one objectively judge a swimwear photo on photography merits alone, ignoring one's subconscious proclivity towards a certain body type or hair colour or facial features, etc.? This is a serious question.
A lot of these seem to be just pretty girls who happen to be wearing bikinis, but I'm understanding it that it's more supposed to be fashion shots taken of beachwear or resortwear. So, if the picture is of a girl sitting sideways covering the bikini top with her arms and you can only see a side of a string of the bottoms, (and it has a weird color grade) it's probably not a fashion shot, and more of a portrait. Should we be looking at these in the context of how good of a fashion shot it is or how good of a portrait it is, because those are two different things.
Wow I made it into the video and Top 20 twice :D
Thanks for the great critique guys!
If anybody is interested in the "how", I have BTS stories on my http://instagram.com/gosuland and a few words in my fstoppers portfolio.
Removed my submission, can't believe it got voted under 2*!
Was of a pro model shot on an exotic Caribbean beach. I can't believe it rated as a snapshot, will take a long time before I submit again, if I do.
I guess participants vote 1* expecting theirs to rise?
Thanks for selecting my images for review in the video. I was amused, if not a little embarrassed, that Joey quickly spotted an issue that I was sensitive about in one of my submission--that the model was wearing lingerie set not a traditional bikini. That fact did give me pause in entering the review. I had shot the model in a range of swimwear and lingerie (and even a conceptual piece of fashion), but I liked that image best overall. Well spotted.
Why remove it? There might be many reasons it was voted low, and that could include quality, how it relates to the contest's theme or *sadly* those low-rating thinking it will boost their work(it never does). I don't know what was yours(you removed it and I don't vote until the end), how many rated it or what have you. But removing it defeats the purpose of growing as an artist. These contests aren't for serious stakes. Can I ask why you feel that having a 'pro' model somehow means it's better? Can we see it or you submit it again?
Thanks Crystal, I probably over reacted since I have some rated 4+ in my fstoppers portfolio and a "1" was an insult to me.
I know how it is! I have some POTD's as well, and mine are rated under 3*. It's something that always, and I do mean ALWAYS, happens in these contests. The Fstoppers rating system needs to be fixed, but eh... Just don't take it to heart and if you do enter these contests again expect it to happen.
I too have a picture that I think is wrongfully being labeled as a 1. In no sane world could you call it a snapshot. I’m actually pretty blown away at the disparity between my taste, and the voting community.
I’m not claiming either of my images are a 4 (they aren’t). I ain’t even mad. But I know damned well that photo ain’t a 1. So how can someone rationalize the two realities?
You don’t. But that’s why these things are so frustrating.
Heh. It’s since inches into “2” territory. But I think my rant stands.
I agree. To me shooting at a beach and using HSS to darken the background is just boring. But those are the high rated ones. Im just in the middle of moving my studio. I wish this came out next week, because I have some awesome beachshots at F16. I would love to see it get voted a 1 star because of the high DOF.
I agree it's not a 1 or 2. I call it a 3. The light reflection pattern on the water alone is a genius move.
Multiple leading lines. Complimentary colors. Background desperation. She’s the brightest component of the image. Red (pops). Not a bad pose. Not a bad model. Nothings distracting. Strong color and tonal contrast. Sharp.
I might put this on my website just to spite the voter ignorance. Again. I don’t think it’s an amazing photo. But it isn’t lacking anything.
That said, I’m open to real criticism. Any of you 1-voters – let me know what you were thinking.
I have a 1.2 rated. Its not what I consider a snapshot, its properly lit and composed. It does have issues, but i wasnt shooting for portfolio at the time. I just shake my head a lot.
That swimming shot is great. Very well done.
That other, I’d rate a 2. You’re right it’s not terrible. But it’s lacking a reason to look at it. The subject seems disinterested (or even candid). She’s looking into nothing. It’s overcast (see my comment about rating my own image a 2 for a similar ding), I’m curious what – compositionally – you feel is admirable. Not a slight, I’m genuine in searching for your take.
So swimming shot is a 3-3.5. Standing shot sits squarely between a 1 & 3.
I think it may have been rated higher had the model been leaning back and we could see her face, even have some eye contact, which would have drawn the viewer in more, or at least show more of the swimsuit.
Well Martin, it is a snapshot, no modeling intended. We were on vacation. But I stick to composition and lighting. Its a 2 at best. and If I could photoshop better, I think my swimmer image would be better. But I only use photoshop for minimal work.
Sorry Tim - I was commenting on another user’s image! I love your swimmer shot!
This place and its rating system is known click bait for sabatouge from fustrated gear heads. They do the same on your port and comments.
Welcome to FStoopers ..
Obviously a frustrated gear head here (as you deleted and reuploaded your image after my one comment): Try to be open about criticism and take it as is. While taking it personally around here obviously isn't clever as ratings can be extremely harsh, completely ignoring even constructive criticism won't get you far in the long run.
Hey Chase - you've been around a long time. You know how these go. Every time it is the same chain of comments about the voting. You could cut and paste the entire comment stream from contests back months and would not be able to tell the difference. I'm surprised that you're surprised. You are an awesome photographer. Why care about the voting here? It has never, in a single competition, ever represented reality.
Thanks Ruth.
I’m fine with the photos i take. And we all participate with these kind of things for the sport. But I’m also an engineer, so I naturally attempt to figure out and reverse engineer most anything I encounter.
Now I don’t take any of this go heart, I do try and make sense.
I posted two images. One of them is desaturated, strangely cropped, aggressive fill, overcast day. I expected a 2 on that one. It’s only saving grace (albeit a good one) was that it had in the frame a perfect butt. Still I expected a two. The second image was very well composed, bright, colorful, simple, evenly exposed, and is more airy. I expected just under a 3. What I got was (for a long time) the opposite.
Anyhow, you’re right. Same comments. Same shit voting. Same inaction. But my 1.7 photo got my engineer brain on this issue again, and I think I have a new proposal for a solution. There really ought to be “staff” rating. Similar to how critics and the masses rate movies separately on Rotten Tomatoes. Even if the “staff” rating had no bearing on anything - it would still provide a backboard for consistent feedback for those of us not chasing a free tutorial.
I’m typing on my phone. I’m sure I’ve made a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes.
I'm with you. I'm a botanist so I'm often trying to logically explain things but the scale here is such a problem. The voting too.
The problem with the scale is the wording. "Snapshot" and "Needs work" are offensive things to say to an artist/technician who made the effort to create the Image and submitted it with good intentions. Leaving this comment (by nature of rating something a 1 or 2) as a drop and run anonymous comment with no explanation - it is even more so. It gets the hackles up.
The voting is not something that can be logically explained. I compete in other venues and if you want to see "snapshots" look elsewhere. I rarely see anything submitted here that I would consider to be at that low level. Here it is one great shot after another! I'm a guru on gurushots and I run challenges that can have thousands of entrants. If half are done by talented amateurs and 10% are top notch I am happy.
I have said many times that the scale should be simplified to:
In my opinion, this photo is a:
1 - bottom 30% of entries
2 - middle 30% of entries
3 - top 30% of entries
4 - top 10% of entries
5 - winner
Simple and sweet. But, I could have cut and pasted this entire comment from a past competition! :)
Tavita was the light pattern to me? I wish I was able to tag people on their website.
Chase, thank you. Yeah funny that was actually the first image of the day. It was the test shot image and the model loved it so it was the one I edited for her. Somehow tho, that image got a 1 star. Probably because it was shot at f9. Its just funny to me, because any image not at F1.4 is a snapshot. But to me its a photographers snapshot. Its just an easy out...
I won the free tutorial for the Published Image" contest and I have not yet received any information on how I get it. I have posted in that contest thread and even emailed Lee. So far not a word. Checked my messages on Fstoppers, my email and my spam folder. How long is the normal wait time to be notified?
Fast. Message David:
https://fstoppers.com/profile/305
Thank you !
Whats the winning picture?
Lee or Patrick
I am unsure if you are interested in this or not. But I would love to see critique the community where it would be portraits of people with F8 or higher.(non studio images) I always see portraits that are not 2.8 or lower getting snapshot or two stars. I would love to see what the community does with that.
the community is licking their chops lol