criticism

There’s an article, published here on PetaPixel, that’s currently making the rounds on social media. It's called “A Disturbing Trend in Photography.” In it, long-time photographer and photo educator Neal Rantoul makes the argument that the art photography of today is heavy on words and light on quality.

After sharing some of his work online recently, photographer Sean Tucker got a harsh taste of the hurtful words of online critics. Learning from the experience, Tucker just posted this 5.5-minute video on how you can deal with Internet criticism and not allow it to kill your creativity and passion.

Hungarian journalist and human rights lawyer Boglarka Balogh recently published a series of photos for a good cause... and it blew up in her face.

Balogh is now being widely criticized online for the project, which featured Photoshopped portraits of her face edited onto the portraits of black African tribeswomen.

User interface designer Brad Colbow has sparked a conversation about Adobe's mobile app lineup with the 5-minute video critique above. It's titled "Dear Adobe, Your Mobile Apps Are a Mess."

Apple and Adobe sparked some unintended controversy yesterday after unveiling and demonstrating the new iPad Pro. Adobe mobile design director, Eric Snowden, took to the stage and showed off a new app called Adobe Fix, which offers powerful face detection features for mobile photo retouching. This is the mobile Photoshop app that was previously referred to as Project Rigel.

As an example of the app's powers, Snowden showed how the app can easily turn a woman's neutral expression into a smile. The demo drew some chuckles from the audience, but journalists and commentators immediately turned to social media to condemn the demo as sexist.

Have you ever looked at a piece of artwork -- a photo, for example -- and had the thought “I could do that”? PBS's The Art Assignment takes a closer look at the statement to explore a few questions it raises.

Earlier this month, the photo sharing service 500px rolled out a new version of its iOS app that focused on sleekness, simplicity, and social sharing. Media outlets immediately pointed out how similar the new app's look and feel is to other services, particularly Instagram.

Unfortunately for 500px, it seems that many users aren't responding well to the change: the latest version of the app is getting slammed by reviewers in the iTunes App Store.

If you share your photography in any public manner, you’re bound to run into critics who point out things …

(The Roosevelt quote above is one of my all time favorites. I have a couple of copies of it and one is on the wall next to my cluttered, USB encrusted desk.)

Ahhh… the world of the artist. A place where we can nurture our ideas and share our bountiful creativity to others who will accept it into their lives with open arms, and smiles of gratitude.

Or… not.

If you're ever in a situation where you need to (or want to) give some constructive criticism to another photographer, here's a simple trick for giving good feedback in a way that will help rather than hinder: use the word "and" instead of "but."

Top editors at the Associated Press slammed the White House -- or, more specifically, the Obama Administration -- last week for restricting photographers' access to the president in favor of staged "propaganda."

If you want more feedback about your photography portfolio than what your friends, peers, parents, and keyboard critics provide -- and you're willing to drop some money on a professional review -- you should check out Eyeist, a new disruptive service that's trying to bring high-quality portfolio reviews to the masses.

The Internet can be a tough place for photographers. One can pour an immeasurable amount of time, money, energy, blood, sweat, and tears into a picture (or a series of pictures), only to have his or her hard work torn to shreds by nameless and faceless commenters who hide behind the veil of anonymity.

Respected stock market analysis website Seeking Alpha doesn’t think too highly of the …

The Associated Press caused a stir this week after publishing the above photograph of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Shot at Fairfield Elementary School in Virginia, the photo had the caption,

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney poses for photographs with students of Fairfield Elementary School, Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, in Fairfield, Va.

The caption was innocent enough, but the fact that the photo looked as though a girl behind Romney was gaping at his rear end instantly drew criticism from across the web, with commentators calling it "unflattering" and "inexcusable".

Photographer Kenneth Jarecke has written up an …

Have you ever noticed how ridiculous many of the poses seen in fashion and glamor photographs are? Artist …

Back in 2006, Flickr user André Rabelo submitted the above photograph to the group pool of DeleteMe!, a group whose members vote on photos to weed out any photos that aren't "incredible pictures, amazing, astonishing, perfect". Sadly, the photograph was very quickly removed by popular vote.

There have been a number of stories lately reporting that a large number of Flickr users are leaving the site for new photo-sharing services that are cropping up, including Instagram and 500px. Earlier his week, a designer at Flickr named Timoni West wrote a post on her blog that publicly criticized Flickr's usability. More specifically, she calls the "Your contacts" page (the one that shows your contacts' photos) the "most important page on Flickr", pointing out the problems with the page and offering redesign ideas that would address them.

The British Journal of Photography announced recently that South African photographer Michelle Sank's image "Man asleep on the Golden Mile, Durban, South Africa." had won the single image category of its International Photography Award.

The image, which shows a man asleep in a park just off the Golden Mile in Durban, was described by judges Nick Galvin, Bruno Ceschel and Diane Smyth as both surreal and disturbing, and was picked out from 338 other entries because of its quiet, enduring intensity. "The more I look at it, the more powerful it becomes," commented Galvin, who manages the archive at Magnum London.