How Do You Know if Your Photo's Good?

Excellence. Excitement. Vision. Meaning. In addition to raw technical issues such as exposure, lighting, signal vs. noise, and focus -- when we're making art we're creating meaning. We're creating images that speak to us, that are interesting to look at, and fun to be around. How do you know if your photo has got it -- that special something that provokes people (including you the artist) to think about and consider the image?

For most artists, there's a point in one's technical practice when one is no longer struggling with specific craft issues, and instead, the technique occurs seamlessly and smoothly. This is called skill transcendence, when all of your skills and artistry come together and work as a group smoothly so that you feel in the zone, that things occur nearly automatically. A pianist who practices scales for a long time gains the dexterity and memory to play without thinking exactly where every finger ought to go -- instead, she can sight read the music, translate to another key, etc. If she had to think about every movement of each finger, she'd go too slow to play the tune. If you were learning skiing (or really any sport), you'd see how in the beginning your form was all over the place, skis angling and arms flailing and body wobbly, tentative. In contrast the expert skier appears smooth, efficient, with a quiet and focused form -- instead of concentrating on 'getting my back leg to weight and angle to make a turn down the fall line while punching my ski pole forwards and twisting at the waist' the expert feels and looks simpler and calmer like he is 'just skiing.' After much practice, you just don't have to think about every skill all the time. Your analytic mind is out of the way, and yet you feel wholly engaged. In photography, skills are exposure, focus, planning the camera's settings, and of course composing the image. Probably the creation of meaningful images happens mostly  when skills are so strong that you don't need to always be thinking of them, and can instead focus on the imagery. Of course when something goes wrong, the highly skilled artist can step back from making images and analyze technical issues to adjust and revise the entire process.

The skills you are using to create a photo depend on what kinds of photography you create, which includes what kinds of meaning you wish to provoke audiences to consider. Photographers have spoken frequently about how they recognize quality in their own work, for example...

Ansel Adams emphasized the need to move beyond mere technique when he said: “There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.” He also centered in on realism, when he noted that photography is "a blazing poetry of the real" but hinted at emotion too: "A great photography is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed."

Alfred Eisenstadt connected skill transcendence with artistry: “I dream that someday the step between my mind and my finger will no longer be needed. And that simply by blinking my eyes, I shall make pictures. Then, I think, I shall really have become a photographer.”

Yousef Karsh emphasized the psychological impact of his portraiture: “Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness.” and “Within every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is my task to reveal it if I can.”

Man Ray preferred meanings: “Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.”

Henri Cartier-Bresson linked reason, skill and emotion: “To take photographs means to recognize - simultaneously and within a fraction of a second - both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one's head, one's eye and one's heart on the same axis.”

Diane Arbus emphasized the importance of her subject matter when she said: “I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn't photograph them” and “A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.”

Dorothea Lange gave some advice about where artistic meaning comes from: “Pick a theme and work it to exhaustion... the subject must be something you truly love or truly hate.”

So I have a question for you: 

How do you recognize your own best work? What's different about it than artworks you've produced that just aren't quite so compelling? Does it look different than your mediocre or poor work? Does making your best work feel different than when you've made moderate work? Do your best images convey more or better meanings than otherwise? Which meanings? Why? What is your motivation to take pictures?

Use the comments to post your thoughts and ideas...