Tudor Rating System

Quality Guide in Photography by Christian Tudor

Introduction

T
his guide is an attempt to standardise the common
understanding of what is meant by quality in
photography. Despite widely varying views due to
subjectivity, there is a need to bring all elements together
into a recognised, established and valuable system. This will
bring all aspects together and eliminates 90% of how
someones judgement is shaped by personal opinions and
feelings.
Having a standardised and unified system also offers an
education path which helps photography students focus,
recognise and learn important aspects of photography
thereby improving their images.
This guide, within the TRS (Tudor Rating System) will be
subject to a continual improvement process. Information will
be collated over time and more photographers and visual
artists will adopt, refine and use it.

Description of the Tudor Rating System

The Tudor Rating System measures and assigns a numerical
value or mark on a ten-point scale, to three separate and
differentiated aspects, namely Content, Composition and
Image Quality. The average of these three values will be the
final mark awarded to the image. The mark refers to the
calculated central value of the three scores.

Validity and Reliability of the TRS

For every individual, awarding a mark of 10 will be probably
different due to ones subjectivity, taste and visual education.
These and many other elements will inevitably come into
play.
The TRS aims to minimise and lessen such effects in creating
a marking scheme, essentially a grading system to which
photographs can be analysed and rated. This system ensures
the validity and reliability of the final mark awarded to an
image.
Further, the TRSs reliability, fairness and rigorousness are
greatly increased when at least five different judges including
Academy of Photography The Tudor Rating System Quality Guide in
Photography

the image author, evaluate, rate and averages a score for any
submitted image. This is a moderation process, whereby
these independent markers ensure that marking standards
are appropriate and have been applied consistently and fairly
across the three groups.

The 3 main aspects of the TRS as applied to images.

1. Content:
This refers to how interesting the content is the
quality of the story. It also takes into account the
subject of the image and how it is presented.

Content will be first categorised into a specific photography

field and then analysed within that field.
Categories are specifically defined divisions in the TRS of
classification. They are therefore distinctive and should not to
be compared or evaluated to one another. The following are
the categories into which all images are grouped, namely;
- street photography - landscape
- photojournalism events - portraiture
- children - new-born
- weddings - product photography
- sports - automotive etc.

For each category, the lowest mark 1, will be assigned to an

uninteresting and un-stimulating image that is poorly
presented in low quality. A maximum of ten marks will be
assigned to the most interesting one an image having
structure which attracts the eye.

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Academy of Photography The Tudor Rating System Quality Guide in
Photography

Good and poor examples of images may include;

a. Self-portrait, half naked in a bathroom, taken with a
phone camera in low light, will only receive a TRS mark
of 1 out of 10.
b. A portrait which is visually appealing, reflecting
amongst others, the likeness and personality or even the
mood of the person will score the TRS maximum mark of
10.

2. Composition:
This refers to the language how the story is
presented. This aspect breaks down and analyse the
visual components of the picture in relation to each
other and assesses the knowledge and
understanding of composition.

In terms of composition a low rating of 1 will be assigned to

an image taken at random with no consideration for
composition. Conversely, full marks will be assigned to an
image which follows several compositional elements while
creating a visually appealing and interesting arrangement.
An example of this may be an image combining the rule of
thirds, rhythm or repetition, perspective lines and diagonals
and using balance to establish the very well positioned and
defined subject.

3. Image quality:
This refers to how well you know your camera in
terms of its various settings and manipulation.
The score also takes into account the quality of
your equipment. This aspect analyses the core
visual quality of an image, such as image
sharpness, colours, contrast, depth of field etc.
A TRS mark 1 will be assigned to an image taken with a
phone, a low quality camera, in low light, grainy, dark or in
such a way that the subject is confusing, un-appealing and
not clearly defined. A high score of 10 will be assigned to an
image perfectly executed by an experienced and skilled
individual using high quality equipment.

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Academy of Photography The Tudor Rating System Quality Guide in
Photography

Since this is also prone to subjectivity if you would hang the

image on a wall in your living room for the rest of your life,
that would surely be a 10!

Final TRS Mark = (Content + Composition + Image

Quality)/3

Content

Valu
e
Image
Composition
quality

The above is a guide which does not include any examples

intentionally in order to allow any TRS user to interpret
images in their own way.
As outlined above, the accuracy of the final score will
increase if there will be at least 3-5 different individuals
using the system thus providing their independent
assessments.

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