How self-critical are you about your work?

[batmura]

I was talking to a friend of mine and he asked me how pleased I am with the photos I take. After giving it some thought, I said I actually don't like the images I take after a while. I listen to others' opinions and feedback and see how much better I could haven taken them. What I do really like, however, is the moment I take the shot, or even the few hours before I take them. Driving to a certain location through muddy roads, asking the locals for directions, and finally finding the location give me chills. Then, racing with time to find the perfect spot to shoot, trying different angles and settings... seeing the image I had envisioned on the back of my camera... These I like. Upon returning home, editing and sharing the images on forums like this, I already start critivising my work. I should have shot wider, the sky should have been better emphasized, I wish I had taken a couple steps to the right, etc.


Is this normal? Anyone have anything to say on this?

 

[Overread]

Welcome to photography - what you're feeling is perfectly normal

 

[TheFantasticG]

It's normal. Even though everyone who reads my wife's writings from friends to strangers think it's phenomenal in the top ten New York best sellers list for 50 weeks kind of way her writing will never see the light of a publishers desk lamp because she is super critical of her own work. She said if it isn't going to be published the way she wants it isn't going to happen.

I'm critical of my own work but not to the extreme point my wife is. Her point is debilitating. What good is a picture if no one looks at it? Doesn't matter if it's the best in the world if is never seen. Granted, I know in a few seconds if I like a picture or not. Further study will determine how much I like it.

 

[jsecordphoto]

I'm super critical of my own work. I think 99% of artists I've met, no matter what the medium, are this way. Lately it's been that even a photo that I'm even mildly happy with, within a few weeks I'll look back and practically hate it. It keeps me hungry though and drives me to go back out every day and try to do better

 

[Braineack]

very. In the last year, there's probably only two pictures I've taken that I actually "like".

 

[snowbear]

Most of mine suck.

Any other questions?

 

[rexbobcat]

I'll go weeks without looking at photos from shoots that I've done, because I'm angry that I should have done better.

This is why I don't typically photograph for families/seniors, because it's emotionally painful to have to sit and edit these photographs that I know are mediocre.

 

[pgriz]

Self-criticism is a good thing, in moderation. Perfection is a lofty peak, and most of us can only aspire to that. It also changes with the degree of our knowledge and awareness. So the simple fact is that almost all the time, we'll be failing at it. However, if each attempt has a little less failure in it, then there is progress, and in that we can take some satisfaction in terms of our progress. Another aspect to this, is that "failure" is guaranteed when we venture past our comfort zone. Yet in those "failures" are the seeds of experience and learning. It's an iterative process. Plan, do, evaluate, adjust. Each iteration opens up new ground of becoming aware of things you did not even know. That's the funny thing about knowledge - the more you know, the more you're aware of how little you know. So every increment of progress should be celebrated. That's good for your mental state. Then look at what didn't work, and tackle that. A few iterations later, that will now be in the success column. And so we all continue.

 

[SCraig]

I was talking to a friend of mine and he asked me how pleased I am with the photos I take. After giving it some thought, I said I actually don't like the images I take after a while. I listen to others' opinions and feedback and see how much better I could haven taken them. What I do really like, however, is the moment I take the shot, or even the few hours before I take them. Driving to a certain location through muddy roads, asking the locals for directions, and finally finding the location give me chills. Then, racing with time to find the perfect spot to shoot, trying different angles and settings... seeing the image I had envisioned on the back of my camera... These I like. Upon returning home, editing and sharing the images on forums like this, I already start critivising my work. I should have shot wider, the sky should have been better emphasized, I wish I had taken a couple steps to the right, etc.


Is this normal? Anyone have anything to say on this?

The best advice I can give is that every finished image should be the best that you can accomplish AT THE TIME. A year from now you'll look back on it and say to yourself, "What was I thinking???" because you will have improved. That's the goal: Every time you look at your past photos they should look BAD to you because your abilities are constantly improving.

... What good is a picture if no one looks at it?

It has meaning to me. I don't have clients, I don't have aspirations. I shoot for me and occasionally show some to others. If they like them, great! If they don't, I can live with it. What matters to me is that each shot has meaning to me.

 

[limr]

Every single photographer is better than me. Well, except for ones who totally suck, but it's only because they're not trying, and if they DID try, they'd totally be better than me.

Okay, maybe it's not quite that extreme. I can appreciate my own work to a point. What's odd is that I can sometimes think - about the same picture, mind you - that it's really great, but that no one else is going to think so, which then leads me to think that maybe it does suck after all. Or sometimes it leads me to think that everyone else is just a weenie

I feel that way about my writing as well (which is actually my first love. Photography is a close second, but writing has been there first for as long as I can remember.)

The self-criticism can be quite debilitating, it's true. When it's that harsh, it leaches into the rest of my system and affects other areas in my life and can often come close to paralyzing me. Some days, I'm thankful for auto pilot.

One thing I did to start getting over it is starting a blog (first As a Linguist? | Observations on language, literature, and other interesting phenomena and then the one in my signature line) and joining forums, just to start getting my work "out there" in a more low-stakes kind of a way so I can slowly understand the lesson that ultimately, some will like my work, some won't, and none of this triggers the apocalypse.

The criticism never goes away, but the trick is to figure out how to make it work for you instead of against you, and also to learn when to tell yourself to just shut the hell up When someone else figures out that trick, please let me know.

 

[gconnoyer]

I'm definitely like this. Hyper-critical.

I do mostly automotive photography, and depending on what we're doing, how long we shoot, etc...I try to capture every angle, cool small details, and make sure everything has as close to perfect exposure as I can get, along with sharpness. When I do rolling shots I shot ALOT to make sure that I come out with some that are tack sharp. Shooting one car, moving from another moving car at 1/40th (ish) is hard to get them all sharp. So at the end of the day I end up with A TON of images. I normally cull them down to 10-15. I always have customers ask me, "man thats all the good ones we got"?

I realize to them I could probably edit all couple hundred and they would be in love and think they were amazing, but I'm not putting my name on something that I'm not a little more than pleased with.

Its good to be critical and blunt. Especially with yourself. When I post images, I love nothing more than when someone pics them apart. Good and bad.
You cant go through a shoot and all your images and say "Hey, I could not have done anything better." because a) thats not true, and b) you would never grow not being able to admit your mistakes.

 

[PJL]

I can be pretty harsh about my own work to the point that it can get me down about my own skills. It can be stifling, honestly.

 

[Meeskephoto]

I'm definitely super critical of myself. I don't get mad necessarily but I do look back and think about how I have improved and then I usually get embarrassed for thinking that shot was good back in the day. I always look at it like there is room to improve never as if I "sucked". And if I missed something I keep it in mind for the next time I shoot.

 

[ToddnTN]

I am a complete newb and I am pretty critical of my shots, but I can see progress from when I started, so I am happy.

Most of the pictures I take are of my daughters HS marching band and I share those with all the parents on Flickr. I had someone come up to me and tell me that I had taken the best picture she has ever seen of her daughter; that I had captured exactly who she was in that one picture. She was to the point of tears in describing how much she loved that photograph.

I tell this story not boast of my achievement. Honestly I think there are a few things wrong with the picture she was talking about, but she loved that picture, if I had chosen not to share it because of a flaw I saw, she would never have had the joy that that picture brought her.

 

[ratssass]

The best advice I can give is that every finished image should be the best that you can accomplish AT THE TIME. A year from now you'll look back on it and say to yourself, "What was I thinking???" because you will have improved. That's the goal: Every time you look at your past photos they should look BAD to you because your abilities are constantly improving.

It has meaning to me. I don't have clients, I don't have aspirations. I shoot for me and occasionally show some to others. If they like them, great! If they don't, I can live with it. What matters to me is that each shot has meaning to me.

... :thumbup: