Critiquing Etiquette...

[theantiquetiger]

The concept is to make a sandwich of the critique. Place the the meat of the critique between two positives.
Be honest because a critique is useless otherwise. however place the meat of the critique in a sandwich.

As the giver of the awkward critique, I am glad you came back to the forum and to this thread. I like your assessment of how to critique as in a sandwich. I will use your advice in the future.

[Iguanasan]

Well, since my name was bantered about I feel I should pop in a comment here as well

Offering critique is, I think, one of the best ways to improve your own photographs as you can see what others have done and learn from their mistakes as well as your own. That being said, I wouldn't suggest that anyone offer technical critique on a subject which they do not currently understand. I'm not saying that's happened here, just clarifying my position. For instance, you could say, "I don't like the lighting on the subject." if you do not feel it's pleasing. If you don't really know much about lighting then I would refrain from saying "You should have had your main light mounted up and to the left and your rim light 1 stop under", etc, etc.

tbond's idea of the critique sandwich is excellent. I try to be as honest as possible when critiquing but I always look for positives and I try to ensure that my critique offers possible suggestions on how to improve. Whether we admit it or not, many of our photographic works are quite personal and I know one of the reasons I've stayed on this forum is because the critiques are honest and kind. I see no reason why critique must be harsh or mean.

[Marko]

Glad you came back tbond and thanks for the input. I also like the idea of a sandwich
I'm gonna try and write something up that we can refer to regularly as a rough guideline.

Thanks everyone!
Marko