Critique Night
Come join us the first Monday of every month for Critique Night.
We meet at 7 p.m. in the Room 302 of the Central United Methodist Church.
We meet at 7 p.m. in the Room 302 of the Central United Methodist Church.
Month |
Theme |
Description |
September |
Abstract |
Abstract photography showcases the physical world in a way that may not be immediately recognizable to the viewer. This may be achieved by removing context, breaking traditional rules of photography, or using a variety of photographic techniques including long exposures, intentional camera movement, and shooting a subject intentionally out of focus. https://digital-photography-school.com/6-tips-on-how-to-create-abstract-photos/ |
October |
Portraiture |
Portraiture is the ability to take a photograph of a person or animal and catch the uniqueness of that person or animal (e.g. pet). The portraiture photograph can use natural or man made light to give the viewer an emotional view of the person or animal being photographed. Darren Rowse--https://digital-photography-school.com/10-ways-to-take-stunningportraits/ |
November |
Landscape |
Landscape allows the photographer to reflect their views of nature and all its wonders. The landscapes reveal to others details in nature that they may not not normally experience. Nasim Mansorov-- https://photographylife.com/definition/landscape-photography |
December |
Still Life |
Still life photography is an artistic form of photography that involves photographing inanimate objects, with the photographer having creative control over the objects’ placement and lighting to turn ordinary, everyday subjects into compelling works of art. https://digital-photography-school.com/tips-for-getting-started-with-still-life-photography/ |
January |
Sports |
Sports category for Critique Night is intended to be open-ended, potentially including photographs that depict action, motion, physical activities, and non-traditional sports, in addition to traditional sports. https://expertphotography.com/complete-guide-sports-photography-87-tips/ |
February |
Silhouette |
Silhouette photography takes images of people, objects, nature and abstract images and flattens those images into 2 denominational shapes. Silhouettes date back prior to photography. Artists often did Profile Portraits of people that were cut out and framed. Darren Rowse--https://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photographsilhouettes/ Josh Katz-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=uqFzoCgxojs |
March |
Minimalist |
Minimalist photography emphasizes simple compositions via negative space and the elimination of distracting visual elements to create striking images that often emphasize the subject. https://digital-photography-school.com/photographic-minimalism/ |
April |
At Work |
At Work (or Industrial Portraiture) allows the photographer to show everyday work life, or unusual work activities of persons who may not have what people view as regular work. At Work photography can also make social statements about work. Lynne Eodice--https://www.shutterbug.com/content/point-shoot-photographingpeoplework#:~:text=When%20you%20want%20to%20photograph%20someone%20working%2C%scout,of%2C%20such%20as%20special%award%20or%20achievement Kevin Landwer-Johan--https://digital-photography-school.com/the-ultimate-guideto-photographing-people-for-the-shy-photographer/ |
May |
Voting Results for Best Photographs (Categories) for the past year will be presented and celebrated. A discussion of Next Year's Critique Schedule (2025-2026) will also be presented. |
Critique Night and Annual Competition Guidelines
Edited August (2024)
OBJECTIVES:
Critique is not a competition. The objectives of the Club’s Critique Night programs are to encourage the development of members’ photographic skills, both technical and artistic, through the sharing of images with the panel and membership in attendance for critique and discussion. It is meant to provide a forum for discussion of intent, technique, sharing of ideas and feeling. A place to show and discuss your work and get specific feedback.
The annual competition will take place in May each year (see below).
CRITIQUE NIGHT MEETINGS:
▪ Critique Night meetings are held the first Monday night of each month from September through May. It occurs on the second Monday in case of a holiday.
▪ The meetings are held in the Fellowship Hall of The Presbyterian Church unless advised otherwise in advance by the Critique Night Chair.
▪ The meetings begin promptly at 7:00 p.m.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:
▪ Members in good standing (current dues paid) may enter up to two images into a session.
▪ The images must be entered in digital format to allow for early review ahead of the session.
Print images:
Some members prefer to show print images. In the new Critique Night format the panelists need to view all images ahead of the session, thus, all images must be submitted in digital format.
We do want to provide the opportunity for members to display print images at the critique Night session and a place will be designated for that purpose at each session. Members are welcome to bring prints for viewing at all Critique Night sessions.
Digital images:
Must be submitted by e-mail to the address provided in advance by the Critique Night Committee by midnight on the Saturday prior to the competition. A statement of intent from the photographer may be included in the email and is encouraged.
Must be submitted as JPEGs whose dimensions do not exceed 1920 pixels wide and 1080 pixels high (be sure to preserve the image’s original aspect ratio and apply the proper amount of sharpening for this resolution).
Must not be matted or framed virtually.
File Naming
IMAGE CATEGORIES:
Images may be entered into critique session in the “Assignment” category, the “Open” category, or both categories.
Assignment Category
Images whose subjects are related to the Assignment topic for that month.
mages entered in the Assignment category must have been taken in the prior 12 months.
Images taken specifically for the Assignment category are encouraged.
The list of Assignment topics for the upcoming year will be issued by June of each year
Open Category:
Any image taken or processed including those that might be Assignment related that were taken over a year ago, but previously not submitted to Critique.
PANELIST REVIEWS:
Each of the two panelists will have access to the night’s images on the Saturday before the Critique Night. They will make brief notes to share at the critique night for each image addressing image quality, composition, impact, technical competence, etc. The main purpose of the panelist is to lead a conversation about a particular photograph. To engage the photographer about his/her intent and/or technical items.
Critique consists of:
Positive/constructive comments
Suggestions for improvement
Encouragement
Following the panelists’ critiques, comments from the audience are welcome as time allows.
Panelists will jointly in their review choose up to four images of those submitted as best accomplishing the photographer’s intent, execution etc. This of course will include execution of the technical aspects as that plays a role in how well the intent is realized but includes photographer intent as a primary focus. These images will be posted each month on facebook and on the website. It takes a “subjective board” out of the equation and has the panelists whom have reviewed the images more than anyone provide the judgment.
ANNUAL COMPETITION:
The annual competition will take the place of the critique night session in the month of May each year. It is a competition for the best projected and print images. All photos from previous Critique Night sessions that year are eligible for the annual competition.
Those members that have participated in critique night will be able to submit up to two images for the May competition from monthly assignments category and two images from the open category. Any member in good standing may submit one image from the last 12 months of their choice.
Images submitted to competition must be in the digital format.
All voting is anonymous and all members are eligible to vote. For each category (Open and Assigned) such as landscape abstract etc.
Judging is as follows:
Members will have opportunity to view the images several times prior to voting.
Each member will vote for three entries, indicating their choice for first, second, and third for each category.
Five (5) points are awarded for a first-place vote, three (3) for second, and one (1) for third.
Total points received rank the entries as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and honorable mention.
In the event of a tie the TACC Board will review and break the tie.
Winning entries are displayed as a slide show for the following year on the TACC website.
Members may have the option of formally displaying their winning entries at the Crooked Tree Gallery in the fall following Competition. (all images would have to in print format for display according to Crooked Tree guidelines)
Competition Night format: A Celebration
The voting results are revealed (slide show and intro for each winning photo).
Food and drinks and social hour while a slide show of all entries are played.
© TACC 2025
Edited August (2024)
OBJECTIVES:
Critique is not a competition. The objectives of the Club’s Critique Night programs are to encourage the development of members’ photographic skills, both technical and artistic, through the sharing of images with the panel and membership in attendance for critique and discussion. It is meant to provide a forum for discussion of intent, technique, sharing of ideas and feeling. A place to show and discuss your work and get specific feedback.
The annual competition will take place in May each year (see below).
CRITIQUE NIGHT MEETINGS:
▪ Critique Night meetings are held the first Monday night of each month from September through May. It occurs on the second Monday in case of a holiday.
▪ The meetings are held in the Fellowship Hall of The Presbyterian Church unless advised otherwise in advance by the Critique Night Chair.
▪ The meetings begin promptly at 7:00 p.m.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:
▪ Members in good standing (current dues paid) may enter up to two images into a session.
▪ The images must be entered in digital format to allow for early review ahead of the session.
Print images:
Some members prefer to show print images. In the new Critique Night format the panelists need to view all images ahead of the session, thus, all images must be submitted in digital format.
We do want to provide the opportunity for members to display print images at the critique Night session and a place will be designated for that purpose at each session. Members are welcome to bring prints for viewing at all Critique Night sessions.
Digital images:
Must be submitted by e-mail to the address provided in advance by the Critique Night Committee by midnight on the Saturday prior to the competition. A statement of intent from the photographer may be included in the email and is encouraged.
Must be submitted as JPEGs whose dimensions do not exceed 1920 pixels wide and 1080 pixels high (be sure to preserve the image’s original aspect ratio and apply the proper amount of sharpening for this resolution).
Must not be matted or framed virtually.
File Naming
- Must have their files named in the following format: Category-Title-Name.jpg,
- Category = image category (A or O for Assignment or Open, respectively),
- Title= title of the image,
- Name = member’s name.
- For example, an image with the title “Butterfly” entered in the Assignment category by John Doe, A–Butterfly–Doe.jpg. (A–Butterfly–Doe.jpg.) that the first letters are all capitalized and there are no spaces before or after the hyphens.
IMAGE CATEGORIES:
Images may be entered into critique session in the “Assignment” category, the “Open” category, or both categories.
Assignment Category
Images whose subjects are related to the Assignment topic for that month.
mages entered in the Assignment category must have been taken in the prior 12 months.
Images taken specifically for the Assignment category are encouraged.
The list of Assignment topics for the upcoming year will be issued by June of each year
Open Category:
Any image taken or processed including those that might be Assignment related that were taken over a year ago, but previously not submitted to Critique.
PANELIST REVIEWS:
Each of the two panelists will have access to the night’s images on the Saturday before the Critique Night. They will make brief notes to share at the critique night for each image addressing image quality, composition, impact, technical competence, etc. The main purpose of the panelist is to lead a conversation about a particular photograph. To engage the photographer about his/her intent and/or technical items.
Critique consists of:
Positive/constructive comments
Suggestions for improvement
Encouragement
Following the panelists’ critiques, comments from the audience are welcome as time allows.
Panelists will jointly in their review choose up to four images of those submitted as best accomplishing the photographer’s intent, execution etc. This of course will include execution of the technical aspects as that plays a role in how well the intent is realized but includes photographer intent as a primary focus. These images will be posted each month on facebook and on the website. It takes a “subjective board” out of the equation and has the panelists whom have reviewed the images more than anyone provide the judgment.
ANNUAL COMPETITION:
The annual competition will take the place of the critique night session in the month of May each year. It is a competition for the best projected and print images. All photos from previous Critique Night sessions that year are eligible for the annual competition.
Those members that have participated in critique night will be able to submit up to two images for the May competition from monthly assignments category and two images from the open category. Any member in good standing may submit one image from the last 12 months of their choice.
Images submitted to competition must be in the digital format.
All voting is anonymous and all members are eligible to vote. For each category (Open and Assigned) such as landscape abstract etc.
Judging is as follows:
Members will have opportunity to view the images several times prior to voting.
Each member will vote for three entries, indicating their choice for first, second, and third for each category.
Five (5) points are awarded for a first-place vote, three (3) for second, and one (1) for third.
Total points received rank the entries as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and honorable mention.
In the event of a tie the TACC Board will review and break the tie.
Winning entries are displayed as a slide show for the following year on the TACC website.
Members may have the option of formally displaying their winning entries at the Crooked Tree Gallery in the fall following Competition. (all images would have to in print format for display according to Crooked Tree guidelines)
Competition Night format: A Celebration
The voting results are revealed (slide show and intro for each winning photo).
Food and drinks and social hour while a slide show of all entries are played.
© TACC 2025
