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Stop asking others for opinion, it doesn’t help your photography

by 6 Comments

If you post your photos on social media and critique groups asking for opinions: well, you should stop doing that if you want to improve. This is what Joe Edelman argues in his latest video, so let’s see how the opinion of others can slow your progress down instead of improving it.

Joe made a social experiment: he took two glamour headshots and posted them along with the BTS photos to 32 different Facebook groups. All of the groups are dedicated to portrait and fashion photography, as well as to mirrorless cameras, MFT and Olympus. He also posted the images to his Facebook pages, both business and personal, and in his own Togchat LIVE Facebook group. And he shared all this with two simple questions: which one do you prefer and why?

If he’d been to choose the photo for his portfolio based on other people’s opinions, he would have had a hard time. Over 1,000 comments were posted, and the result was roughly 50/50. Those who liked the first image complimented the model’s expression and the symmetry in the photo, and they disliked the messy hair in the second shot. In the group who liked the second photo, people liked the leading lines, and also the model’s expression. They disliked the first photo because of the model’s expression (which the first group liked). Additionally, the majority of people complimented the beautiful model. And what all this left Joe with?

Well, other than great engagement in his posts and a few new followers, he didn’t get much. Both groups had good arguments pro and con both images. Objectively speaking, both photos are good – it’s just a matter of taste. And since other people’s taste may not be the same as yours, their opinions may not be helpful for your future progress. What’s more, they can even hinder it because other people’s opinions can influence your future decisions and make you doubt your creative instincts.

Personally, I think that you sometimes should ask for an opinion after all. I believe that the community feedback is especially important for new photographers, as they can get precious advice and some tips and tricks from their more experienced colleagues. If you’ve already been into photography for a long time, then I also believe it’s better to rely on your vision and creative instincts.

[STOP Asking For OPINIONS! They DON’T help your photography! | Joe Edelman]

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  • John Skinner

    The input of others, whether it’s a professional or guy off the street on photos taken are all of value.

    The pros will see things you may never know about, and the street talk is all about appeal. Either way, a critique of work should always be a good thing to listen to. Just IMO

  • You might want to ask the right questions to the right groups to get the right answers.

    Random questions to random people lead to random results.

  • Yeah all the time then tell them to f@ck off because I’m a photographic God 😋

  • DOn’t ask for opinions, ask for critiques. Even the weird ones will help you see them from a different perspective.

  • Jimmy Harris

    To be fair, both of those photos are at about the same level of mediocrity. So I would expect a 50/50 split, or thereabouts. They’re both technically well done, in that the lighting is even, the eyes are in focus, and the exposure is good, but neither stands out for being particularly interesting or original.

    It’s always a good idea to get a good critique on your work. The thing is, you need to get it from people you respect. That way, you will respect their critiques. You also need to be open to criticism, and not post videos about how you don’t need criticism. Because if you can’t take criticism, then why are you asking for it? It’s just gonna make you mad, and you’re not going to grow as an artist or a person.

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