The Self-Critique
by Kris Andres
One of the best tools I have learned from amazing humans is the Self-Critique. It has so many advantages, training the eye and soon leading to a faster workflow as you learn what works, what doesn't, and you generally have less back-and-forth indecisiveness while in editing mode. And I also don’t drive my partner nuts every few minutes asking for an image critique.
When I do ask for a critique, I wait until I feel the image is close to completion (or so I hope!).
But is there a dark side to the Self Critique? …. Not a "Luke I am your father" dark side, but……
What happens when the self-critique goes wrong? Not wrong with missing certain details in our images, but wrong in the way it can take over the whole workflow? Where you start picking apart your image and looking for things that may not be even there? You keep re-editing and retouching until you have to pretty much start over. You finally put it to the side, give up and just not use it.
For me, it started harmless enough. I would quickly self-critique an image, be happy and share it. Maybe even overshare it, haha. But there's a downside: After sharing my strongest images (the ones that really get us pumped and thinking, "this is the image I have been trying to create for a long time!"), I find myself now critiquing ALL my images to the level of my strongest work.
That has really started to cause the spiral of the Self-Critique-Gone-Wrong for me. All my images are now compared to my "strongest", "best" or "favourite" work (the images I had a strong emotional connection to while creating them, or the ones where I just got lucky with elements)... and I forget that not all images have to be that epic or powerful, or that not all images are that easy to get, create or edit.
I find myself lost in an endless spiral of time spent wondering why the images I'm editing are not as strong as others I've shot, and I keep going back and forth over the smallest details that may not even be fair to that image. Measuring images together from one shoot is one thing, but comparing images from different shoots causes me endless questioning, "why can't I get these images on the same level as that other shoot?!"
After attending a photography conference this year and hearing others struggling with similar issues, I thought it would be a great topic since this Self-Critique ordeal has really got me challenged.
Hearing about how relating an image to its photoshoot alone, and not an entire portfolio work, is helping me try and get back on track... but I am always looking for more advice, insights and conversations on how others manage this little spiral.
Some of the tidbits I hear are:
- What is the intent of the shoot, even before you shoot? Make a note of it for when you edit.
- Who is the image for? You, social, client, stock, or fun?
- Edit and sleep on it.
- Send to someone for a second look before starting over on the edit.
I would love to hear about your successes, challenges, struggles, wins and smiles on Self Critiquing. Let’s chat in the comments below.
Kris Andres is a landscape, adventure and portrait photographer.
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