Ways to Get Honest Feedback on Your Photography Work
It is always useful to get feedback on your photography from people who have different tastes and styles. This helps you identify and understand your weaknesses and strengths. In addition, the feedback you get may inspire you to develop your style, skills and techniques. Here are some ideas to get honest feedback from other people.
Ask a professional photographer.
Ask for feedback on your photographs when you are working with a professional photographer.
They will be able to spot things like:
• Clarity of focus and contrast of light and dark
• Achieving sharpness
• Composition
• Eye catching
• Clarity
• Lighting
• Artistic style
• Interesting poses
• Interesting subject matter
• Colour balance
• Image quality
• File format
• Creative editing
Write down your thoughts about your photos and send them to a trusted friend or relative.
When you are taking your photos, write down each one and send them to a trusted friend or relative for feedback.
Set up a portfolio.
Set up a photo portfolio on your computer. This will enable you to keep track of the different images you have taken, and give you a clear idea of how many images you have taken.
For photography ideas, you can try to take pictures of all of your surroundings; a photo of a room or landscape can be very different from one of an object. Try to shoot in different lighting conditions, such as indoor and outdoor, sunny and cloudy, etc. You should always try to take photos of your own home, and then take some shots of the outside of it as well. If you are taking pictures of people, make sure that you take lots of them. This will allow you to capture a variety of different expressions.
Get feedback on your work online.
If you can get feedback on your work online then this is the best way to get honest feedback. You can post your photos on social media and ask friends and followers to comment.
Ask a trusted colleague.
If you don’t get a lot of feedback from a professional photographer, a friend or family member may be able to offer you a bit of honest feedback on your work. You can ask them for feedback on your work, for instance, to see if they think you should continue taking photography courses or doing photography as a career.
Have a friend look at your work.
Ask a friend or relative to look at your photos, and tell you what they think.
Talk to a teacher.
Get feedback on your photos from a teacher. If your teacher isn’t giving you much feedback, they may be able to offer some constructive criticism on how to improve your work. They will probably offer you suggestions on how to take more interesting photos, or suggest ways of improving your photos.
The teacher will have a good knowledge of your needs and requirements and will be able to tell you how to improve your work. They will also be able to assess your strengths and weaknesses and help you to understand what you need to work on to achieve better results.
Go to a photo shoot
Go to a photo shoot with friends and family, or a local event. Spend some time looking at each others images. Ask questions about the type of photography used, the equipment used, the photographer’s personality, the lighting, etc. Discuss how each picture works and doesn’t work, and why. By understanding what you all think about each picture you can compare ideas and opinions. This can be a good way of developing your own style.
Find a critique group
If you live in a town or city, there should be local photographers who belong to a critique group. The group should meet regularly to discuss the work of all its members and help each other improve. Critique groups can give constructive criticism and offer support to new photographers.
Join a magazine
You can join a photography magazine, either online or in a shop. Most magazines will have a forum for photographers to talk about their work. Photographers who post their work on the forum will give honest and objective feedback. Some magazines will offer you advice and tips to improve your work.
Visit a gallery
Visit a gallery and see the work of other photographers. Some galleries hold open days and will let you view the work in person. If this is the case, check out the exhibitions and talk to the artists about their work and approach. You can ask them questions about their technique and use of lighting and other equipment.