The previous Brief Ramblings began examining the question of “What makes a picture good?”.  I proposed six possible ways to evaluate a picture. The first approach was to decide if a picture is good if people want to buy it. My conclusion was no…  this is not a good way to determine how good a picture is.  So, let’s check off that first item and look at the remaining five.

 

 

 

 

Just about everyone likes to win photography competitions. However, we’ve also seen the subjective nature of image judging. Every judge has his/her own set of experiences and photography likes and dislikes. Thus, an image that is quickly “thrown out” of once competition may be awarded first prize by a different judge the next time.

 

 

 

 

After trying to write this article three times, I finally realized that it is totally BORING! Thus, I poured a glass of red wine and sat down to re-think the topic. Then I had a simple realization… to me, a picture is good if it makes me feel good. Thus, if selling a picture makes me feel good, then it’s a good picture. If winning competitions makes me feel good about a picture, then it’s a good photograph. Pictures by themselves are neither good nor bad. Instead, it’s the viewer’s emotions that determine the “success” of photographs. Without knowing the impact of a picture on a viewer, then a photograph is simply “a picture”.

Thus, with great relief, this ill-fated series about “What makes a picture good?”, is now DONE. 

 

 

 

 

 

I will try to pick a more interesting topic for the next Brief Rambling article!

 If you have comments, disagreements or additions to this article, please let me know by sending email to Pete.Morton@yahoo.com. Thank you!