Art of critqueing Art

From the fredmiranda.com site here are some guidelines that they offer before commenting on images that have been posted.
By the way I highly recommend that site for learning. People seem honest, open, and highly experienced. As a newbie I sit back and listen a lot but there are really good images and content on that site.

Here is what they say:

Effort: Has the photographer made full use of the facilities at his disposal? Or, are there things that the photographer could have improved with a little more work? Does it look like the photographer made an extra effort to capture the best possible image under the circumstances, or did he just go with what was in front of him?


Color: Was the photographer's choice to use or not use color sound? If the photographer used black and white, then is the subject of the photo something that is normally associated with color, like an apple? If the photographer used color, does the color add to or detract from the image?


Spatial positioning and composition: Is the subject in the center of the frame? Usually a centered subject looks boring, but it works in some cases. Did it work this time? Does anything look squeezed up against the side of the frame? Are there big open spaces around the edges that could be cropped out? Is there a clear subject that occupies the majority of the frame, or is the subject unclear or small and surrounded by irrelevant material?


Direction of attention: What do you see first in the photo? Is it the right thing? Do you have to hunt for the subject or does it stand out? Is your eye drawn to objects in the background, rather than the subject, or do you look to the edge of the frame, expecting to find something that isn't there?


Focus: Is anything in focus? Is it the subject or something else? Is the depth of field appropriate? Is the subject contained within the depth of field or are parts of the subject fuzzy? Are there distracting elements in the background that are in focus which would have been blurred out by a wider aperture?


Exposure: Is the photo properly exposed? Are there details both in the highlights and in the shadows, or are there large "blown-out" highlight areas or "blocked-up" shadow areas? If the exposure is biased towards light (high key) or dark (low key), did the photographer make a good choice?

This seems like a good place to start.

Mark

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the effort you put into this. I did go to this site, right after you told me about it and I found it very helpful. I made a handout and some copies that I will bring to the next meeting. Also, I appreciated your critique of my photo at the Fine Arts Academy[:).

See you at the next meeting. Have a great weekend.
Robin

Robin,
Kent & I will not be at the June meeting. Can you save handouts for us...one copy will do. Thanks, Mark, for the info on critiqueing. Looks like we're getting off to a good start!
Monica