Critiques

This is very new to me. I'm the woman who has owned a digital SLR camera for over a year and never used it on any setting except portrait or landscape. I only found out it had an auto setting two days ago! Now I'm supposed to critique the work of others...right.

It's a bit like me critiquing someone's surgical technique when the most dangerous implement I've ever wielded is a potato peeler. Still, in for a penny as they say.

At the moment I'm sticking to what I know. Given that I'm only part way through week 2 that doesn't amount to a whole lot but I've found that even a numpty like me can praise someone's use of the 'rule of thirds', comment on their exposure and suggest a different way of cropping an image. Ok, it's not much, but it's more than I could do 10 days ago. I've even been brave and suggested that something might be edited a little in Photoshop Elements (though I've had to admit I haven't a clue how I'd set about it).

Amazingly my comments have been taken in good part by everyone...except one...and as he doesn't seem to have taken criticism by anyone in good part I'll try not to lose much sleep over it.

All I'd say to anyone who is too timid to venture beyond 'nice picture' and 'I like this' is, just dive in and have a go. No-one is expecting us to be David Bailey. I try to say something nice about a piccie and then say what I feel I might have done differently and I try to do it in a polite way...the way I hope people will critique my own work.

In fact critiquing is easier than taking photos. It's MUCH easier to see where someone has gone wrong after the event than it is to see it yourself before you take your own photos. Theatre and restaurant critics take note: those at the sharp end are trying their best and if the results aren't gold-standard every time...well you bl**dy well try it and see if you can do any better!