DIY Critique: How to Choose Your Best Shot

Robby Green | https://flic.kr/s/aHsjw3o1uM

You’ve just finished up a very successful photoshoot, whether it was of an amazing sunset, or a headshot for a client. Now the big task is to choose your best work. Sometimes this can be really easy if you’ve only taken a select few photographs, other times you may end up with multiple photographs of basically the same thing. Without a whole class of Photo 101 students to help you choose your best, you’ll need a checklist to help eliminate and ultimately select your best shots.

1. Check Exposure

Automatically rule out shots that don’t have proper exposure. Make sure your whites are white and your blacks are black. Your image should be punchy without the loss of information in those crucial dark and light areas.

Guiseppe Milo | https://flic.kr/p/vwbZPQ

2. Check your focus

This is a good thing to practice when you’re shooting because it can’t be fixed after the fact. The best photographers will always review their images in camera right away after shooting to make sure they don’t walk away with an out-of-focus image.

Editing software light Lightroom, Bridge and Photoshop will allow you to get a super-up-close look at your image to make sure it’s as sharp as possible.

Koshy Koshy | https://flic.kr/p/65Gt28

3. Distractions

Is there a pole coming out of your subject’s head? Or a red stop sign in your urban landscape? Look at your image with fresh eyes and take note of where your eye wants to go. If you end up staring at something other than your intended subject, you might have a problem. Choose images that focus clearly on your subject without bright or colourful distractions. Can you spot the distractions in this cityscape?

Stefan Jurca | https://flic.kr/p/p9EmVM

4. Portraits: Expression

That posed photograph of your subject saying “cheese” likely isn’t your best. Look for the moments just after that when your subject has loosened up a bit. It’s helpful to have some tricks in your back pocket while shooting to get these expressions out. Having the subject laugh out loud might just make them feel silly enough to cause real laughter.

5. Interest

Is this image unlike any other you’ve seen? If yes, you’ve got a winner! Sometimes it’s a good idea to judge your photo on visual impact and first impressions alone. If your first thought is “Wow!”, then mostly likely your audience will say the same.