Ken-Bot is our behind-the-scenes photo expert. His goal is to help us all grow as photographers, and he looks at every photo the way a professional photographer would. That doesn't mean you have to want to go pro. It means he aims high, because aiming for the stars is how we all get better, at whatever pace suits us.
So his advice is about the photo itself, not the gear. For example, if you shot it on your phone, he won't tell you it's a great phone photo. He'll use the same principles professional photographers rely on to tell you what would make it a better photo, full stop. Take what's useful and use it your way.
Like Ken, but a bot.
Ken-Bot studies the photos Big Photo Hunt members share and learns to help us all grow as photographers. Everything in your review comes from evidence only he has: tens of thousands of photos from photographers just like you, connected to how real photographers actually responded to them. Except… his opinion section.
And that's because you told us you wanted at least one section that was just his raw, unfiltered opinion on your photo. So, we let him off his leash to tell you, personally and subjectively, what he thinks of your photo.
He's a good dude, though, and he knows what he's talking about. His take is worth considering, but of course, it's still just that: his take. Keep that in mind before throwing a tomato at him. He's sensitive(ish). He lives in a metal box in Ken's basement, after all. 🤪
Think of your six scores as a starting point, not a final grade. Every photo is scored on the same six fundamentals: composition, light, color, focus, story and editing, all measured against the same yardstick. That yardstick is grounded in time-tested photography principles and reviews of tens of thousands of community photos, and shaped by how real photographers respond to them. So a score on your photo means exactly what it means on anyone else's.
Each fundamental is scored on its own, so a photo can nail the light and still have room to grow on story. Next to each score you'll see the community average, so you know where you stand on each one compared with thousands of photographers just like you. Pick the one you most want to fix or build on, and start there.
At the top of your review, you'll see where your photo stands against all the community photos Ken-Bot has ever reviewed. That's a lot of photos. It's shown as a percentile, like "Ahead of 40% of photos", or "Top 10%" when your photo is in the top quarter. Ahead of 40% means your photo scored higher than 40% of them. Top 10% means it scored higher than 90%.
This has nothing to do with upvotes or how your photo did in a weekly Hunt. Upvotes and the Top Ten come from members. This number comes only from Ken-Bot, measured against every community photo he's ever reviewed.
It works by scoring your photo with the same calibrated rubric Ken-Bot uses on every photo in the community. Then a set of formulas and calculations puts every photo on equal footing, holding it up to what Ken-Bot knows makes a photo land and correcting for his own known tendencies. The result is placed against the entire pool to find your percentile.
That makes it a true apples-to-apples comparison, even across genres. Because it's built on the fundamentals of photography and how real photographers respond to them, a landscape and a portrait are held to the same standard.
Your standing is a snapshot of the moment your review is made. It's locked, so it won't shift later as more photos come in.
And it's a calculation, not a verdict. Photography is subjective. A photo can sit in the middle here and still be the one people talk about. If your standing is lower than you'd hoped, that's okay. That's exactly what your review is for: helping you grow. Every photo you make is a fresh chance to climb.
Ken-Bot doesn't know the story behind your photo, what you were going for, or what it took to be there at that moment. If he misses something that matters to you, that's on him, not you. Tell us by tapping the speech bubble at the top of your review.
Your reviews are private. Only you can see them. Unless you explicitly ask us to, we never tell anyone which photos you've had reviewed, and we never show your review to anyone else.
Photos you upload just to get a review aren't posted anywhere. Photos you share elsewhere on Big Photo Hunt, like in our weekly photo hunt, stay public as usual, but their reviews are private too.
Nothing we use to create your review is shown to other members. Your review also has no say in the weekly photo hunt. It never adds or takes away upvotes, and it plays no part in deciding the Top Ten. Those come from members, not Ken-Bot.
We keep one compressed copy of the photo and your review, so you can come back to it any time. Once a review is made, it stays with your account, private to you.
Every once in a while, Ken-Bot may give a photographer a couple of extra choices.
Feature my photo. Say yes if you want your photo and its review featured on our platforms.
Let others compare their photos to mine. Say yes so other members can run a review of their own photo compared with what your photo did well. Your photo becomes their guide to improving. We all learn best from each other, so this truly puts the Big Photo Hunt mission to work.
These are totally your choice. Neither one happens by default. You explicitly need to say yes when asked. Saying yes doesn't mean your photo and review will definitely be used, just that Ken-Bot will recommend them to us for consideration.
Ken-Bot is new, and he gets better every week, mostly because of your feedback. More is on the way, and we'll let you know when it's here.