How To View & Assess Your Own Images

How To View & Assess Your Own Images

By William Lulow

I was reading an article in PDN (Photo District News), an industry publication, and there was an article about looking critically at your own work. The author mentioned that it is often hard to separate the making of a photograph from editing one. The former necessarily interferes with the latter. So, I decided to write a bit about how I try to do it.

As photographers, we are all very involved in the making of our own photographs from thinking about an image to the actual execution. As a matter of fact, many people don’t really think about what they are doing, they just do it. That’s not a good way to make really strong images. There is a reason that most advertisements that need to communicate something quickly and accurately, go through a long process of conceptualization, preview, testing and final execution. It’s because these folks, copywriters, art directors and account people want to make sure that the process of communicating an idea gets plenty of thought and creativity added to it to make the intended point. In my case, the procedure is the following:

First, I usually come up with an idea. I’m thinking “that would make a great picture.” But what I am noticing is first the subject matter. Is it intriguing? Can I imagine the image displayed either on my wall or in my portfolio? I ask myself, what’s the image saying? Is it simply existing somewhere? Or does it make some point about the human condition, or the world’s condition? Is it merely documentary in nature, that is, just recording what’s happening in the world? I then might wonder if anyone else would be interested in viewing it.

Second, I look at the light. Does the lighting illuminate a part of the subject that interests me? I may think in terms of “what would be the best light in which to make the picture?’ In which case, I consider returning to the site at a more opportune time, lighting-wise. Or, I might just stop and begin making images right then and there.

Third, I consider a composition. Is it vertical or horizontal? Which would work better? Sometimes I even think of a display size. If I’m thinking about it for my wall, I am usually thinking about a print perhaps 16”x20” in size or maybe larger.

Fourth, I ask myself “How close is the image I made to the one I initially had in my mind?” If it provokes a reaction in my heart or mind similar to what I felt when I got the idea, I know I’m on to something. I will then show the image to my wife, who is not at all conversant in the procedure of making the image, to see whether she has the same reaction to it as I do. I consider her intuition about “art” (because she has studied it) to be fairly close to an above-average viewer’s approach to “seeing” photographs. If it provokes a reaction in her, then I know I’m on the right track. It may not cause a similar reaction in everyone, but at least I have a more objective report on whether my image making has succeeded or not. Anything you can do as the photographer, to objectify your view of an image, tends to corroborate your initial feelings, and you know you’ve created something of value.

Here are a few images that I hope illustrate what I’m getting at:

This is a beach scene that I came upon last year on our family’s trip to Florida. I was hoping to arrive to sunny skies and warmer weather, but a storm had just passed and the weather was very cool and cloudy. My thought process was: I wanted to make an image that conveyed the idea of a storm and a beach devoid of people. That’s exactly what I saw. So, I decided to make the image in Black & White but have the clouds lighter to add an element of hope to the photo. The line of closed umbrellas leads the eye from left to right in the photo and then directs it up to the lighter clouds. When I’m doing landscape compositions, I always like to put the horizon line either above the middle or below it. Here it’s sort of right in the middle, so technically it’s a mistake to me, but it still manages to say what I was feeling.

Here is a portrait of my friend Paul Golden, who happens to be a printing broker by trade, but who has an extensive library and is a voracious reader. I had the idea to make the portrait in his own library. I had an image similar to this in mind, but just had to find the proper place for him to sit and somewhere to put my lights. There was a closet behind him and just to his left (camera right). The closet door provided just the shade I needed and I also had a main light mounted on the camera to provide the overall illumination. To call more attention to his library, I placed the subject to the right in the frame. The camera was on a tripod and I went through ten or fifteen minutes talking to Paul and making sure he liked the spot I chose (which he did). The photo is successful, I think, because it really shows a photographic idea carried out to make the image.

These days, because images are so easy to make, some people just record images on their iPhones and really don’t bother to edit any of them. When someone hands me their camera or their camera phone and asks me to look at their images, I usually decline. It means that they haven’t really taken the time to edit them or do any post processing on them. So they are probably not the best images they can be. If they are showing me photos of family members, I will usually look at those.

In my editing process, I am constantly asking myself if an image I made makes an impact of some sort. It’s not just a matter of whether I LIKE the image, but more about whether or not I think the image is impactful. It has to show something special. Maybe it’s the light. Or maybe the subject is very interesting. Maybe it evokes a mood. I think we need to be very critical of our own images when we are selecting them for publication or inclusion in a portfolio. They always need to be the best you can make them and stand up to some of the tests I have outlined. Then you know you have a great image.