CRITIQUE PREPARATION

Critiques are where everyone shows their final selection of photographs for the given topic and everyone else comments on them. The idea is for everyone to work together to make all the photographs better. There is no one point of view that is correct in the Art world. It takes input from everyone in the class for us to learn how our photographs are being received. It is a matter of communication and peer review. If the feedback you are receiving is close to what you intended your photographs to say, then you are doing well. If you are getting a very different response, or people are missing your point, then you need further refinement in aesthetics and technique. 

You should be constantly posting photographs and looking at what everyone else is posting. This class is based in experiential learning. You cannot learn how to do this just by reading about it. You have to DO it, receive feedback, and then refine your work.

OVERVIEW

Here is an overview of what has to be accomplished during the next week, and during all critique weeks in the semester. It may look like a lot when all viewed at once, but take it one day and one task at a time and it is easy.

Monday (note: Critique 1 is due on Tuesday due to Holiday) 

Every fourth Monday is the due date of the next Critique. The posting should be done by 5 PM.

Before this date you should go through everything you have posted on-line (there should be more that the minimum number of prints already on-line) and edit down to the actual number of prints due (or a little bit over if desired). 

• the full number of prints required for the critique should now be uploaded
• reorganize the photos by content

• see the minimum number of prints on the Semester Schedule

• > Semester Schedule-701

you should have this Schedule printed and posted on your wall 

• add numbers above each of your prints so people can easily vote for their favorite

Tuesday (note: Commentary 1 is due on Wednesday due to Holiday)

You have a day to look at what everyone has posted for their critique and formulate ideas about what they have done. You then have to make commentary on the photos of your classmates. The commenting period ends at 5 PM on Tuesday.  

• look at other people’s photos and comment on them
• base the commentary on 3 criteria: content, form, impact [3 Disciplines]
• > Commenting & Voting
• tell any story that the photos remind you of:

(sharing personal experience: resonance)

• cast a vote for at least 10 people in the class. Indicate which shot you think is their best
• if you see someone already has 5 comments, go on to someone else
• this will assure that everyone receives the same number of comments

note: no one will want to comment on your photos if you do not comment on theirs. 

This is another variation of the Golden Rule.

Thursday

You have two days to review all the comments you have received and write a Self-Evaluation that presents a synthesis of these reviews. The self-evaluations are due by 5 PM.

• review all the comments you have received
• write a synopsis of that commentary, again based on 3 criteria: form, content, impact 
• there is a handout explaining how to write a self-evaluation
• > Self-Evaluations
• determine which of your prints is the best (according to peer voting)

• The votes cast by your classmates in their comments on the class blog 

will help you determine which photo is the ‘best of the week’

• This photo is designated your POW (Picture of the Week)

• include the POW at the top the Self-Evaluation document
• please write the Self-Evaluation in MS Word
• use 12 point type
• use 1.5 line spacing (under Paragraph Formatting)

• start the document with a header as follows:

Your Name

Smartphone Photo 2831-section #, Crit 1 - B&W: Mystery

• name the file in a similar manner:

your name_self evaluation - crit 1 - section#.docx

• upload the finished Self-Evaluation document to OWLbox
• there is a separate folder for each critique

Fridays are the introduction days of new topics including aesthetics, techniques, ways of shooting, ways of processing (apps), etc. You should study and absorb this information quickly and, in a day or two, start shooting, processing and posting your photos to the class blog. You should shoot and post every day. That is part of the routine of this class.  

You can only really learn about photography by thinking, shooting, and posting on an ongoing manner [think, make, share]. This is an Art Studio course and it utilizes ‘experiential learning’ that is quite different from the ‘book learning’ as in most academic classes. Because of this, it is not possible to cram for a studio class. You cannot wait unit the day before the Critique is due to shoot everything. If you try this you will never learn how to shoot properly let alone how to think about what you are shooting or feel what your photos are expressing. Do not cheat yourself out of the education you are paying for. 

note: All students must participate and complete all phases of each Critique cycle. Failure to complete any segment results in failure of the entire critique. 

note: All Topics are defined and available on the professor’s web site at all times. If you want a head-start you are welcome to read those.

REFINING YOUR SHOOTING

Identification

If content (an object or event/space or time) can be easily identified, your viewer will walk away from your photo in 2 seconds flat. This is the function MYSTERY has in your photos. You want your viewers response to be, "What the heck is that?"  It is at this point that you have captured their attention. Then you have to have other stuff in the photo to given them clues as to what is going on. It is better if the photo poses questions without the requirement of presenting any answers. 

Multiplicity/ Positioning

Pictures of singular objects (with no environment to add extra meaning) are simply not interesting. It is even worse if that singular subject is in the center of the frame. Don't center you content. Your viewer’s eye will go to the center of the photo and there will be nowhere else to go. If there is only one focus point in the photo, then the movement dies at that spot.

The point is to guide your viewer through the picture space. There has to be more than one interesting place within the frame to keep the viewer’s eye moving around. Multiple subjects lead to relationships, either visual, or emotional, or even conceptual. And as their eye is moving around, so will their mind be working to figure out how all of these things interrelate. Try moving the visual centerline to extreme locations in the frame [corners have power/ edges have power]

Content in Context

After you have played around with the concept of Fragmentation through Close Focusing, try backing away from the subject to include some environment. This will introduce context and add more meaning to the photograph.  

Cropping/ Lazy Eye

DO NOT CROP YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS. You have to learn how to compose the photograph in the fame. You have to look carefully and get exactly what you want into the frame before you push the shutter release button. If you have the ability to crop your photographs later you will never learn this. What happens is that you will develop 'Lazy Eye'. This is where people shoot quickly without composing the shot, then go back to the studio and crop everything to get rid of the parts of the photo they do not like. This is something that should have happened when shooting! 

The best shot probably should have been shot from an inch over, and an inch down, and a second or two later. And you will have missed it with that quick-shot technique. Framing & Composing is the art of making a good photograph. Take responsibility for what you capture and display is as it is shot. It is a matter of photographic integrity. And it is my challenge to you. 

> FramingComposition.pdf

Contact Sheet Syndrome

Take the time to shoot numerous shots of any single subject. Investigate it to the fullest. But then, ONLY PICK THE BEST SINGLE PHOTOGRAPH OF THAT SET to post on your blog page. It takes several shots of anything to actually get to the best shot. You have to adjust your shooting angle, your distance from the subject, get the light just right, and you have to get the timing right. Otherwise you are making snap-shots, and this is a class in ‘How to Make Good Photographs’, not how to make snap-shots. These are two completely different aesthetics.

> PhotoCliches.pdf 

If you display several shots of the same subject, you end up with ‘Contact Sheet Syndrome’. Start editing down to your best shots. Remove any that are similar, i.e. all shot at about the same time. A ‘contact sheet’ is what used to be made when shooting film. All the photos on a roll would be exposed onto a single sheet of photo paper so we could easily see the whole roll and select which shots were the best, and then, which shots would be enlarged. Looking at photos in your Camera Roll on a Smartphone is now the analogous activity. What you don’t want to do is show people your working process, you want to show them the results of your efforts. And that is the single best shot of any subject. 

Content Bleed

The other side of the coin from Contact Sheet Syndrome is Content Bleed. This is where you have several shots of related subject material that all fit together; visually, conceptually and/or emotionally, yet there is some distance between them. When these photos are displayed together, each one starts to effect how the others are viewed. The content of one bleeds into the content of another, and changes or adds to its meaning and impact. 

Personal Vision

In the end, all photographs should not be about the appearance of things but, rather, about your interest in these things. The photos are about you and your artistic vision. They should be subjective, not objective like Photojournalism.

> PassiveActiveShooting.pdf

Reminder about Photo Clichés

No pets, no drooling babies or cute kids. No posing (pretentious = snapshot) No pix on TU campus (too easy, unless we really can't tell...) No photos of sculpture or iconic Center City buildings (someone else has already made the art). Remember to also avoid the new Smartphone photo clichés: selfies, pictures of food, lights and sunsets. 

I’m not telling you totally what not to do. I’m just trying to steer you clear of things that will almost automatically generic and therefore mediocre photographs.

> PhotoCliches.pdf

Pictures of your feet are NOT self portraits! Pictures that look like snapshots are not self-portraits. They are snapshots. If you are posing for the photo it will probably look like a snap-shot.

All photographs have to be taken during the current semester. This proves they are in response to the current topics being taught. 

Photo Hunting

Get out of your apartment and stalk the streets for good photos. See what you are drawn to intuitively. Collect those pictures, organize them into sets, and then go hunting for more pictures to fill out or expand the set. 

> IntuitiveVsDirectedShooting.pdf

Self-Evaluation

Make a score sheet that includes the above-mentioned topics and concerns: closeness (proximity), angle of view (attitude), dramatic lighting (illumination), mystery, etc. Then see how many of your photos have all or most of them. These will most likely be the best photos of the lot.

ADVANCED TECHNICAL POINTS

There is some nice use of space in the photos currently posted. Now see if you can get something to happen in those spaces. Although a couple are about emptiness itself! That is great. 

There is also some nice use of light. Sometimes a photo can just be about light and the feel that it invokes.

DEPTH OF FIELD 

Some of you are experimenting with shallow depth of field (even if inadvertently). This is where the camera lens is wide open and only certain small parts of the subject are in focus. If you are doing close-focusing then there is a greater likelihood that this will happen. There always has to be one place in the photographic frame that actually IS in focus, however. Otherwise there is no place for the viewer’s eye to settle, and you loose their attention.

CONTRAST

Some of you have discovered that by applying a red filter the contrast is raised making it unclear if the photo is shot during the day or at night. [or maybe the app you are using doesn't say how it is working, but you are getting this dramatic contrast effect.] This kind of ambiguity is good and it adds Mystery.

SHADOW DETAIL

There is supposed to be detail even in the darkest shadows. If there is no detail there is no picture. But sometimes nighttime shots are of places where at least part of the scene is unlit. This is the exception to that rule. 

REFINING YOUR POSTS

Resolution Reduction

DO NOT USE AN APP that drastically REDUCES THE SIZE AND RESOLUTION of your image! Process one photograph with the App being tried out, and then open it on a computer and check its size. Typical Smartphone camera resolution is over 2000 x 3000 pixels. If the result is something in the 100's (640 x 480, 720 x 480 or 853 x 480), that is way too small. Even 1920 x 1080 (the size of HD TV) is a bit too small.  

Posting Resolution

Use the 'Larger' option or ‘Original Size’ when posting, otherwise your photos get too small. (again a question of Resolution). We do not want the photos to run outside of the blog window, however.  

Center the Photos

Center the photographs in the column. This makes the post much easier to read. 

Check the Links

After you edit your post, open your individual blog post in a browser by clicking on any photo. A new page should open with all of the photos shown as thumbnails at the bottom. It is then easy to navigate through the series by clicking on the thumbs or simply using the arrow keys. Make sure that clicking on any photograph opens the window that displays all photos in the set. Sometimes photos get added and the link is missing and they are not included in the ‘individual post’ page.

Recipe Text

Keep all text at the very bottom of the post. This blog should be a visual experience first and foremost. 

Create Continuity

During the shooting weeks you can add photos in a chronological order, with the newest photos at the top. Or you can arrange them by subject. But when it comes time to edit down to the final photos for the Critique, reorder the photos so their adjacencies makes some sense. Groups similar photos together. Try to establish some ‘Content Bleed’.

Tonality

At least half the photographs for the first critique must be toned, but please do it subtly. If the color is too strong it becomes a ‘colorized’ photo. We are trying to emulate the look of high-end silver prints as made by the masters. 

PHOTO CLICHÉS

Some years ago there was a conference of the Society of Photographic Education. During that conference there was a panel of New York gallery directors, including the infamous Ivan Karp from OK Harris in Soho. Someone posed the question, “How do you deal with looking at so many portfolios?’ Karp was quick to reply. “I have a list of photo clichés in my desk. I open each portfolio and compare the top photo with my list. If there is a match, I close the portfolio and go on to the next.”

He then began to recite the photo clichés on his list.

“• no pictures of the expressive hands of old people,

• no pictures of the gnarled roots of mighty trees,

• no dramatic sunsets,

• no drooling babies,

• no cute, cuddly pets,

• no self-portraits in rear-view mirrors,

• no pictures of cemeteries with or without dancing nymphets,

• no pictures of motorcycles boys with or without pierced nipples”, 

and he went on, to a riotous response of laughs and applause.

When I first started teaching in Bucks County I got lots of picturesque photos of barns and covered bridges, so I added the rule of

• no pictures of barns or covered bridges.

Then I came to teach at Temple University, an urban campus.  The first new rules that were added were

• no pictures on TU campus, and

• no pictures that could immediately be identified as typical student photos, including snapshots of roommates and drinking buddies.

• no pictures that look like they could have been shot at the family or company barbecue [aka snapshots]

These expanded to include the urban postcard set:

• no pictures of City Hall (or any landmark building)

• no pictures of the Love Sculpture (or any sculpture)

• no pictures of City Hall through the O of the Love Sculpture

• no pictures of City Hall through the O of the Love Sculpture, reflected in a puddle. 

This is basically a way of saying

• no pictures that look like anything that might appear on a picture postcard.

• no pictures that look like snapshots

(these depend on personal knowledge of the people or places in the photos).

There are other types of photos that seem to have been used up by the commercial world that should be avoided, including the following:

• no pictures of musicians,

every record album shot is trying to look like art

• no pictures of dancers,

Dance Magazine is full of photos trying to look like art

• no pictures of kids on skateboards or bikes

like everything we see in bike and skateboard magazines

• no pictures of animals of any kind

they will just look like Nat Geo shots

This is basically a way of saying

• no pictures that look like anything that might appear in a documentary.

These are photojournalism, which is neither better nor worse, just different from what we are engaged in here, which is subjective rather than objective.

And finally

• no pictures that could be fashion ads.

The bottom line here is that the motivation for making any of these pictures is to sell something, not to make any kind of personal statement.  These photos cannot be art – they are commerce. ref : Sarah Moon

SMARTPHONE-SPECIFIC PHOTO CLICHES

There are some specific Photo clichés that have come up in previous smart phone photo classes.

• no selfies (the most obvious, with or without a selfie-stick)

This means not hamming it up for the camera, Making snapshots are only relevant to you and your friends.

• food pictures

Everybody seems to be compelled to take pictures of their meal to share to their friends.

• lights

         Finding great lighting is imperative, but taking pictures of lights is not quite as exciting.

VIEWING ON A P–ANGLE

Please do not turn the camera on an angle. This is known as a P-Angle, p being for pretentious. Here’s the story: You know when you go to a family picnic and your Uncle says, “Okay everybody, get together for a group picture”, and then just before he snaps the shot he tilts the camera on an angle. This is because he knows, even subconsciously, that he is about to take that generic family snapshot that is inherently a boring photograph. Tilting the camera makes it look like you’re trying to make an artsy photograph of something that is not all that interesting. [note: immediately shoot anyone who uses the term ‘artsy’ for they know nothing about art.]

Part of the aesthetic of shooting well-composed photographs is to frame the shot so it is obvious that the photo is being created by the photo-artist’s individual point of view. This has been called ‘constructed photographs.  This comes from considering the angle of view, the distance from the subject, and how things are lined up with the edges of the frame and with other things within the frame. One way to test this is to ask, “How does this photograph look different from what was seen when the shot was taken?” If it looks no different, then you are only capturing the appearance of the things in the photograph. What is far more interesting is your personal view of the things in the photograph.

note: also refer to the document ‘Passive/Active Shooting’.

MOTIVATION & INTENT

Sometimes it is not the appearance of the photograph that counts. It is the motivation of the photographer that is important. What is the photographer trying to share with you?  What is the essence of the communication?

This does not have to be some profound statement. It may only be some small part of the world they are drawn to, and then wish to share with you. If you find this same content interesting, then there is some similarity between you and the photographer. This is called resonance.

For this to work the artist must first be clear about what they are trying to communicate.

If they are not clear about their content, how can anyone ever understand what they are trying to say? If the motivation behind the content is indiscernible, then there is no communication.  If there is no communication then there is no art.

It can be so simple sometimes, that clarity can be the content!

Other times it can be buried behind layers of personal meaning, and only the surface is clear.  But still you can understand the depth of the feeling without knowing all the details. This is the emotional aspect of communication. EMOTIONAL discipline.

Other times it can be some ideas about the content.  Maybe the connection in a group of photos is the place or a series of events. This is an example of the conceptual aspect of photography. CONCEPTUAL discipline.

And even other times it can be the way a photo is made that can make it compelling. It could be some technical aspect of the craftsmanship. PHYSICAL discipline.

CONTACT SHEET SYNDROME 

Another measuring stick of progress in this class is how much time is invested in shooting for each critique. It says in the syllabus that part of your grade is based on “an ongoing effort to produce quality work”. If you come in with a collection photographs that were shot in one session, this demonstrates a lack of effort on the student’s part. 

You cannot show a group of photographs that are so limited in scope. It will look like a Contact Sheet. When you shoot, you are encouraged to shoot numerous shots of each subject, playing with the proximity and angle of view in an effort to get just the right framing and composition. But in the end you have to edit these down to select the single best photograph from each group of shots. This is called Creative Editing. 

The photos can be of similar subjects but you must shoot regularly throughout the two or three week period between critiques to get a varied collection of shots. You cannot do two weeks worth of work in a couple of hours. You cannot ‘cram’ for this class. It is about the evolution of ideas and refining your personal vision. You must shoot almost every day. Even if you think you have no to time to shot, then you should shoot on your way from one place to another. 

You should have a consistent body of work of each critique. Within this, however, you should have diversity. The consistency should come automatically if you are aware of what you are drawn to and make a conscious effort to study your shots as you go, determining what works well and what does not, and continually refining the nature of your quest for what is meaningful to you, and how you can shoot it so that it can become meaningful to your audience. The diversity will come from shooting on a regular basis and continually expanding the range of your visual investigations. 

FRAMING and COMPOSITION

The widespread use of photography as a documentary medium presents photographs to the public that give it all to the viewer without requiring a response. This is one-way communication. The goal in this case is to impart information quickly and cleanly. These pictures will not keep the viewer's attention for very long. People are happy just to identify what it is a picture of and then move on. 

In the Art world we are interested in two-way communication. It is important, therefore, to make images that raise questions that involve the viewer in a conversation. Meaningful images inspire their audience to compare their personal experiences with those of the photo-artist, using the photograph as linkage.

This end is achieved by creating images with a sense of mystery. Photographs that are filled with clues rather than facts are far more interesting. The artist must be clear about the questions their photos raise. If the motivation behind a photo is confused then the best one can hope for is a confused audience.

In general, the assignment for the semester is to make photographs with mystery, passion and meaning, using light as the paintbrush.  The first endeavor is to imbue your photos with a sense of mystery using a whole series of visual tools.  

Extrapolation

An interesting technique is to take whatever you are doing and figure out the most extreme example of that. Extrapolate it out to its logical conclusion. Below are some shooting strategies, followed by extrapolations to their extremes.

M Y S T E R Y   t h r o u g h   c o m p o s i t i o n   &   f r a m i n g   

COMPOSITION

[strategy >> closeness/ proximity]

remove all the unnecessary clutter or distractions from the image

cameras do not have editing filters that the mind supplies for vision

look carefully at you subject - take your time!

position the subject inside the viewfinder 

get close enough to remove all unwanted background

make sure you fill the frame with only meaningful content

moving closer eliminates any undesired elements

if you can step closer and remove unnecessary things from your image

and the image is no worse, it has been improved, by default!

this is called "economy of means" - saying much with few words

[extrapolation>> fragmentation]

get so close that you literally fragment the subject, 

making it more abstract

focus on the geometrical structure of the subject

[strategy>> unique angle of view/ attitude]

establish a good shooting angle 

never shoot from eye level

much of our lives are spent looking at the world from 5' 6" off the ground

this is where most people see the world from, i.e. the most boring viewpoint

put a new perspective on things that may be somewhat ordinary

shooting from a unique angle shows the photo is through the photographer’s eye, 

not just about the appearance of the subject

[extrapolation >> bird’s eye/ worm’s eye view]

find an extreme viewpoint that is rarely seen

[strategy>> luminance]

light is the bottom line in photography

a camera is merely a box that captures light!

if you are shooting in flat light you will get a flat picture

search for great light 

“if the light sucks, the photo will suck”. It is that simple.

sometimes it is possible make photographs that are just about the quality of light

look for things that either reflect or refract light in peculiar ways

water is a good example of something that both reflects and refracts water

the other side of light is shadow - the absence of light

find things hiding in shadows, or emerging out of the shadows

[extrapolation >> dramatic lighting/ deep shadow]

shoot at dawn, shoot at dusk, or in any unusual or unnatural light

shoot at night and find shadows or hidden features 

FRAMING

[strategy>> corners have power]

look at the corners of your subject 

place important elements of the picture near a corner

“if the corners are great the rest of the picture will take care of itself”

a face pushed up into a corner looking across the page can be inspiring

[extrapolation >> cut things as they are pushed into the corners]

[strategy>> edges have power]

look at the edges

place important aspects of the picture close to an edge

align horizons or prominent lines with the edge of the frame

crooked pictures show a lack of attention

[extrapolation >> push horizons to the very top or very bottom of the frame]

this open up the space and extends the vision

make a painting out of your subject

“But for me the greatest joy is geometry. Its a sensuous pleasure, an intellectual pleasure at the same time to have everything at the right place. It’s a recognition of an order that is in front of you.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson

shoot a picture that is blank except for the edge(s)

Shooting with Intuition

take several shots of each subject

you are not allowed to crop your photos

if you could you would not look carefully, thinking, “I can fix it later”

sometimes the best picture is over and inch or down two, and a second later...

A photograph is an “...Immediate sketch done with intuition and you can't correct it. If you have to correct it, it's your next picture.” -HCB  “The difference between a good picture and a mediocre picture is a matter of millimeters- small, small differences, but it is essential.” “And if I take the picture from there it's another arrangement of that. And it's very small moves I'm doing.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson

refine your vision with each shot

take a shot, move closer, change your angle of view, shoot again, repeat

“You have to be yourself and you have to forget yourself so that the image comes much stronger, and what you want and what you say.” “And sometimes there's no picture. Alright there's no picture.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson