Skip to main content

Why Critique?

Lesson 134 from: Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide

Brooke Shaden

buy this class

$00

$00
Sale Ends Soon!

starting under

$13/month*

Unlock this classplus 2200+ more >

Lesson Info

134. Why Critique?

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Class Introduction

19:06
2

Storytelling & Ideas

27:34
3

Universal Symbols in Stories

03:19
4

Create Interactive Characters

02:16
5

The Story is in The Details

04:13
6

Giving Your Audience Feelings

05:49
7

Guided Daydream Exercise

04:20
8

Elements of Imagery

02:19
9

The Death Scenario

01:47
10

Associations with Objects

03:01
11

Three Writing Exercises

06:39
12

Connection Through Art

30:35
13

Break Through Imposter Syndrome

07:40
14

Layering Inspiration

23:13
15

Creating an Original Narrative

07:42
16

Analyze an Image

04:12
17

Translate Emotion into Images

04:31
18

Finding Parts in Images

06:02
19

Finding Your Target Audience

04:05
20

Where Do You Want Your Images to Live?

12:01
21

Create a Series That Targets Your Audience

32:43
22

Formatting Your Work

06:08
23

Additional Materials to Attract Clients

07:24
24

Which Social Media Platforms Will be Useful?

04:17
25

How to Make Money from Your Target Audience

11:27
26

Circle of Focus

07:55
27

The Pillars of Branding

06:18
28

Planning Your Photoshoot

09:05
29

Choose Every Element for The Series

07:38
30

Write a Descriptive Paragraph

09:37
31

Sketch Your Ideas

17:27
32

Choose Your Gear

02:50
33

How to Utilize Costumes, Props & Locations

26:18
34

What Tells a Story in a Series?

13:06
35

Set Design Overview

01:43
36

Color Theory

19:50
37

Lighting for the Scene

12:05
38

Props, Wardrobe & Time Period for Set Design

06:00
39

Locations

04:31
40

Subject Within the Scene

07:26
41

Set Design Arrangement

05:46
42

Fine Art Compositing

03:46
43

Plan The Composite Before Shooting

10:29
44

Checklist for Composite Shooting

18:52
45

Analyze Composite Mistakes

12:11
46

Shoot: Black Backdrop for White Clothing

10:42
47

Shoot: Black Backdrop for Color Clothing

08:36
48

Shoot: Black Backdrop for Accessories

08:17
49

Shoot: Miniature Scene

09:59
50

Editing Workflow Overview

01:57
51

Add Fabric to Make a Big Dress

08:35
52

Edit Details of Images

08:09
53

Add Smoke & Texture

10:47
54

Blend Multiple Images Into One Composite

24:58
55

Put Subject Into a Miniature Scenario

17:55
56

Location Scouting & Test Photoshoot

22:10
57

Self Portrait Test Shoots

22:30
58

Shoot for Edit

04:21
59

Shoot Extra Stock Images

10:01
60

Practice the Shoot

25:07
61

Introduction to Shooting Photo Series

03:33
62

Shoot: Vine Image

10:40
63

Shoot: Sand Image

09:50
64

Shoot: End Table Image

04:59
65

Shoot: Bed Image

06:18
66

Shoot: Wall Paper Image

05:54
67

Shoot: Chair Image

08:02
68

Shoot: Mirror Image

06:57
69

Shoot: Moss Image

05:48
70

Shoot: Tree Image

07:33
71

Shoot: Fish Tank Image

04:09
72

Shoot: Feather Image

09:00
73

View Photo Series for Cohesion & Advanced Compositing

07:35
74

Edit Multiple Images to Show Cohesion

36:55
75

Edit Images with Advanced Compositing

29:33
76

Decide How to Start the Composite

09:35
77

Organize Final Images

21:37
78

Choosing Images for Your Portfolio

08:19
79

Order the Images in Your Portfolio

16:28
80

Why do Some Images Sell More Than Others?

16:03
81

Analyze Student Portfolio Image Order

11:42
82

Framing, Sizing, Editioning & Pricing

02:19
83

Determine Sizes for Prints

16:44
84

How to Choose Paper

13:56
85

How to Choose Editions

07:18
86

Pricing Strategies

18:59
87

How to Present Your Images

13:26
88

Example Pricing Exercise

09:39
89

Print Examples

08:23
90

Licensing, Commissions & Contracts

04:44
91

How to Keep Licensing Organized

06:07
92

How to Prepare Files for Licensing

07:28
93

Pricing Your Licensed Images

12:33
94

Contract Terms for Licensing

12:07
95

Where to Sell Images

04:55
96

Commission Pricing Structure

08:23
97

Contract for Commissions

12:17
98

Questions for a Commission Shoot

08:45
99

Working with Galleries

08:58
100

Benefits of Galleries

07:39
101

Contracts for Galleries

10:32
102

How to Find Galleries

05:22
103

Choose Images to Show

08:53
104

Hanging the Images

03:38
105

Importance of Proofing Prints

08:04
106

Interview with Soren Christensen Gallery

21:59
107

Press Package Overview

04:35
108

Artist Statement for Your Series

18:20
109

Write Your 'About Me' Page

09:04
110

Importance of Your Headshot

03:55
111

Create a Leave Behind & Elevator Pitch

20:19
112

Writing For Fine Art

04:44
113

Define Your Writing Style

14:49
114

Find Your Genre

06:41
115

What Sets You Apart?

02:25
116

Write to Different Audiences

05:10
117

Write for Blogging

39:57
118

Speak About Your Work

14:21
119

Branding for Video

07:37
120

Clearly Define Video Talking Points

14:27
121

Types of Video Content

31:45
122

Interview Practice

13:22
123

Diversifying Social Media Content

22:32
124

Create an Intentional Social Media Persona

24:48
125

Monetize Your Social Media Presence

18:46
126

Social Media Posting Plan

04:01
127

Choose Networks to Use & Invest

02:57
128

Presentation of Final Images

19:13
129

Printing Your Series

09:16
130

How to Work With a Print Lab

13:39
131

Proofing Your Prints

10:11
132

Bad Vs. Good Prints

03:32
133

Find Confidence to Print

10:50
134

Why Critique?

06:55
135

Critiquing Your Own Portfolio

10:39
136

Critique of Brooke's Series

16:18
137

Critique of Student Series

40:07
138

Yours is a Story Worth Telling

02:09

Lesson Info

Why Critique?

Not just critique, I'm not just going to critique you but self critique and how do we start to look at our portfolio in a really constructive way, where we can give ourselves some feedback. Which is really hard to do because it's hard to be objective about your work and impossible I would argue. You can't be totally objective about your work. But we're gonna talk about a few ways that you can take a fresh look at what you've been doing and figure out a way forward. And if you can't find a way forward, that's where other critiques come in and we're gonna help each other today, so what we're going to do is I'm gonna critique you four, who have been sort of like the stand in studio audience for everyone else out there who's watching. And you're gonna critique me and it's gonna be a really good thing, I hope. We're not gonna offend each other at all. Because I have the self critique checklist. And I'm hoping that this is going to really help us just going through the elements in the portfo...

lio that you'd want to look at, that you would want to make sure you check off your list if you're trying to figure out what's good, what's bad, what needs work, things like that. So we're going to be going through that and that's a bonus material self critique checklist that we have for our final segment, I'm so sad. Okay but let's talk about critique. Why, why bother critiquing? It's gonna give you better aim at your goals, which is an obvious thing. That's what you hope for from a critique. It can also break you soul into a million pieces if you get the wrong critique. So let's first of all recognize that there's almost always something valuable to be found in a critique, even if it might come at you from a harsh perspective. Technical advice, just literally improving your technique, which I think is probably one of the main reasons why people get critiques, is to improve their technique and their work flow, but I would argue that that's one of the simplest things to change and the simplest things to figure out about your own work. So I actually prefer to get critiques that are more centered on concepts and where my work is going to go after that. It helps you form an opinion of your own work and it helps you do that because essentially what you're doing is you're saying here critiquer person, here's my portfolio, what do you think? And the second somebody tells you what they think, you immediately form an opinion. Either yes I agree with that or no I don't agree with that. You know the feeling? I do this all the time with my friends. I'll be like, "oh I really want to make a picture, I don't know what to make a picture about, do you have any ideas?". And then they'll be like, "Okay yeah do this". And I'll be like, "No". They'll be like, 'Okay do this". I'll be like, "No way". And they're like, "You never take our ideas". And I'm like, "Yeah it's because I actually do know what I want, I just like to hear what I don't want". And that's what a critique is a lot of the time, where you're giving your images over and you're like what's good, then what's bad? And then they'll tell you and then you're either like I agree, or I definitely know that I don't agree with that person. And it's really good for that, it helps you form opinions about your work and you know right away if you feel strongly about something or if you don't. Clarity of vision, helping you to move forward in a way that feels really good, really authentic, really personal. Which images are the most popular. If you hand your portfolio over to enough people, eventually they'll start to say, "oh this one's my favorite, this one's not my favorite" and you'll probably start to get some consistent popular images cropping up. And then print worthiness. I had a review recently where I had my portfolio given to five different people and at the end of it nobody had mentioned this one print that was in there. They didn't say it was their favorite, they just kept moving right past it and the last person pulled out this image and she goes, "Get rid of this, this should not be in print, this is not good enough quality, do not print this image, don't keep it in your portfolio". She literally set it aside, she was like, "Don't even put it back in, put it somewhere else for now". I was like okay. You know what, two days later I sold that print. So you can't always trust people, but she was right about that print, it was not as good of quality as all the other prints. But sometimes the technique, the quality, sometimes those things take a back seat to how somebody emotionally feels towards something. So it's very difficult to get critiques because while she was absolutely correct about that image not being as good of quality, what she overlooked was the emotional tie that somebody might have to it. So, that's why critique is very, very difficult. So who can you trust? Everybody, everybody has something valuable to give. Now they might not give it in the most constructive way. They might now think of anything good to say right away. I've had my portfolio critiqued where we sit there in silence for way too long and you're very like, "Oh, what's gonna come of this, they can't even think of anything to say". And it's really, really scary. So I think that everyone can give something constructive. Everyone out there could look at your portfolio and say something that will positively impact the direction that you go. But at the same time, I don't trust anyone but myself. So this is a very confusing, conflicted set of emotions, because I'm very open to critique, I love being critiqued, I think it's massively helpful, but at the end of the day I can't listen to anyone, unless what they say aligns with my goals. And that's how I always judge a critique. Now I have a self critique check list and this is part of what you have in the bonus materials here. And this checklist is just really centering in on things that might need improvement, really big areas of connection with images and how can we work through that in a logical, technical way. Alright, overall cohesion. When you hand a portfolio over, they're going to expect there be cohesion from one picture to the next, to the next, all the way through to the end. Unless you're entering into a review, saying I have multiple portfolios here, they're going to expect one continuous portfolio that really works well together. So how do we determine cohesion? As we talked about in the printing segment, that there are ways of flowing form one image to the other be it visual or conceptual and either of those might apply to you portfolio. So whatever would make a series work together, same goes into your portfolio. Is there something that connects one to the other, to the other?

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Guided Daydream & Writing Exercises Workbook (Lessons 1-11)
Creating an Original Narrative Workbook (Lessons 12-18)
Finding Your Target Audience Workbook (Lessons 19-27)
Planning Your Series Workbook (Lessons 28-34)
Set Design Workbook (Lessons 35-41)
Compositing Workflow Checklist (Lessons 42-49)
Editing Workflow Checklist (Lessons 50-55)
Location Scouting Workbook (Lessons 56-60)
Stock Image Downloads for Practice (Lessons 61-72)
Organizing Your Portfolio Workbook (Lessons 77-81)
Pricing & Editioning Your Work Workbook (Lessons 82-89)
Writing Contracts & Licensing Images Workbook (Lessons 90-98)
Gallery Best Practices (Lessons 99-106)
Pitch Package Workbook (Lessons 107-111)
Writing Your Brand Workbook (Lessons 112-117)
Marketing Workbook (Lessons 118-122)
Social Media Workbook (Lessons 123-127)
Printing Methods Checklist (Lessons 128-133)
Self Critique Workbook (Lessons 134-137)
Bonus Materials Guide
Syllabus
Image Edit Videos

Ratings and Reviews

April S.
 

I tuned in for most of Brooke's lessons in this course and watched some of them more than once as they were rebroadcast. First I want to say that Brooke is a very good instructor. Her easy-going, friendly, down-to-earth, somewhat quirky manner cannot be mistaken for unprofessional. She is very prepared, she speaks well (not a bunch of hemming and hawing), she is thoughtful, she is thorough, she is very relatable and at ease, and she is definitely professional in her presentation. I really thought when I first tuned in that it would mostly be background noise while I was at work, sound to keep me company. Not because I didn't like Brooke but I really didn't think I was into fine art photography nor did I think I cared about the business side of things much. Not now anyhow. I was really wrong. Brooke sparked a deep interest in me to delve into fine art photography, to consider creating images for myself, from my imagination. In fact, I realized that this was something I'd been thinking about for a couple of years though I hadn't put a name to it (the idea of creating pre-conceived images based on my own creative goals). I gleaned many little treasures from her about image sizes, working with printers, different types of paper, selling, interacting with galleries, and so much more. I may not need all of what she taught right now because I'm definitely headed in another direction at the moment, but she planted ideas and information in my head that I know will be useful at some point. Things I may not have thought of on my own, but that seed is in my head now so when the time comes, I'll know. I'd really like to buy her course but at the moment, with the holidays right around the corner, it's not in my personal budget. I'm grateful to have caught the live and rebroadcast lessons though, and her course is on my list to own. I think it's a great reference to be consulted over and over again, not watched once and forgotten. Kudos Brooke for really putting together an excellent course.

Angel Ricci
 

When the title says comprehensive, it means comprehensive! I loved every part of this course. It's inspirational, motivating, and insightful towards creating art work. Even if you are not necessarily considering a fine art specialty, the concepts discussed in this course are applicable to many areas! I find this super useful as a videographer and photographer and look to apply all of these exercises and concepts for my personal and business work moving forward. It is lengthy, but you will not regret a single minute. Brooke Shaden is an amazing artist and educator. I recommend keeping up with her work, presentations, and any future courses that may come in the future.

Ron Landis
 

I'm retired now, but spent decades in the people and training business. Brooke is extraordinary! Even though this course is extremely well organized and she's left nothing unattended, she moves through it with friendly conversational manners and without a sense of it being stilted. It's as though we are all her friends, not students, as she shares her heart and passion with us. What a joy it is to listen to her. And what a clear, unambiguous command of her subject. Wow! She explains it with such ease using explanations and techniques that won't overwhelm artists just starting their portfolio or the Photoshop-squeamish among us; but despite its simplicity her resulting art is breathtaking and beyond original. I wish more of my professors at school were as engaging. This was by far my best buy at Creative Live yet.

Student Work

RELATED ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES