ARS BETA is a Website for Constructive (and Anonymous) Photo Critiques

Looking for a place to receive constructive criticism and feedback for your photos outside of popular social media platforms and photo sharing sites? ARS BETA, a service created by street photographer Eric Kim, is designed to offer just that.

ARS, which stands for Art Revolution Society, is specifically a place for photographers to find meaningful critique from other photographers.

After you upload your photo to the site via desktop or mobile, the algorithm randomly and anonymously shares the image to other users in the community, and those users are asked to weigh in on the photos strengths and weaknesses.

As is common in social apps these days — think Tinder — ARS has an extremely basic feedback process: photographers can “keep” or “ditch” for each photo while providing optional comments on thoughts and rationale.

“Facebook and Instagram is a good platform for sharing pictures, but not a good platform for receiving meaningful critique and feedback on your photos,” the service states. “Consider ARSBETA like a ‘testing ground’ for your pictures (A/B testing). You can upload pictures, and see what other (random/anonymous) photographers really think about your pictures.”

While Facebook and Instagram are full of photographers trying to “game” the reach algorithms and attract as many followers as possible, the anonymous nature of ABS causes the focus to be on the photos rather than the photo makers.

The first version of ARS BETA was launched back in February 2018, and the service has so far attracted a community of thousands of active photographers. Version 2 was just launched on September 28, 2018. Head on over to the ABS BETA website and sign in with your Google account if you’d like to try it out.

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