How to Turn a Negative Photo Critique into a Good Thing

Sometimes, criticism can be hard to deal with. No one enjoys hearing that a piece of work to which they gave a lot of time, effort and devotion didn’t actually have the impact you wanted it to have at all. It’s important to remember, though, that everyone has different tastes and so people see things differently. This provides you with a great opportunity to take their perspective and make it work for you.

Nowhere is this truer than in photo critiques. Getting a negative photo critique can be disheartening at first, but you can quite easily turn it into a good thing that ultimately helps you in you work and allows you to develop your skill as a photographer.

For example, receiving a critique – no matter what it says – is proof that someone has looked at your work and spent time thinking about it. You should take heart from this as it suggests your photograph was worth commenting on, even if there are things you need to work on. This should make you more confident when you’re trying to improve your technique.

As many photo critiques are written by experienced, professional photographers (for examples, you could visit www.gurushots.com, which features many reviews by experts), it is also a good opportunity to learn from the best. You’ll be able to pick up valuable tips from the person critiquing your work, which is especially valuable if you are an amateur or just starting out in photography. Ask for clarity if you are not sure about anything they have written so you can be certain you’re going about things the right way.

Also, the person who wrote your photo critique has probably included helpful advice in their review. So, if they suggest that you could’ve made better use of focus by making the image more defined, this gives you something specific to work on. You could take their tips and suggestions and work on them one by one, learning the different outcomes of different techniques so you ultimately have more control over your craft.

Finally, a photo critique should ideally be an impartial, honest appraisal of your work. You’ll benefit much more from knowing where you might have gone wrong than if the reviewer had just given you a general comment or only written about what they liked. Take their advice on board and use it as a learning experience so you can maximise your chances of taking the perfect picture next time around.