Photos of Chloë.

[Private Joker]

Hey everyone!

Yesterday I was given the chance to shoot my friend Chloë, who is looking to build her makeup portfolio. This was also my first experience in off-camera lighting, which was done with a Lumopro LP160 Manual Flash, shot through an umbrella, fired via optical slave (no bueno, can't wait for my Alienbee triggers). Let me know what you think!


Chloë. | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Chloë. | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[TPF Sponsor]

[j-dogg]

give me her number

seriously, good work.

[Derrel]

I think the choice of background is terrible. The background is just about as distracting as would be humanly possible to make,and it steals from her, terribly. Also, your use of the space is fundamentally unstudied; in shot #1 for example, you do not allow sufficient look-in room for her line of gaze or body direction. Instead, you allot MORE space to the empty right hand side of the frame, and instead of "skimming" down the wall's surface on the near side, to lead the eye in and *to her*, you lead the eye right out of the frame. You do the same, exact thing in shot #2. It's almost as if you've never studied compositional ideas at all. You make the same, exact mistake in shot #3.


Shots 1,2,and 3 are photos of graffiti-covered walls,with a girl standing in front of them. Her "makeup" comprises maybe .005 percent of the total frame area in those three shots. Shot #4 actually shows her makeup well enough to see it....but unfortunately the shot is framed as a horizontal, so she's 50% smaller in the frame than she could be, and she has her head cut off at the top. Also, you blew the exposure on her nose...it's sadly blown-out...

I hope you can manage to extract something valuable from this C&C. I hate to come off as a downer, but...notice I use the word "unstudied". There's a lesson or three underlying my C&C. I hate to appear to be ripping on your work, but I can not say "good work" to these. Too many fundamental ideas are being violated, with no payoff in exchange for disregarding basic compositional principles. it's hard to learn what to do until you study or are taught what to do,and what NOT to do.

[Private Joker]

Thanks, Derrel. That's the kind of criticism I had hoped to find when I joined this forum, and I intend to take your advice seriously. To be sure, you definitely found the most offensive way to offer me a lesson in composition, which I suppose is just fine, if that's the way you are intent on interacting with people. I'll do my best to learn from what you said, and to not let your self-serving attempt to establish infallibility on the subject of photography stain my opinion of this forum or the valuable critiques you managed to provide.

[8ball]

fix the pics

[Derrel]

Thanks, Derrel. That's the kind of criticism I had hoped to find when I joined this forum, and I intend to take your advice seriously. To be sure, you definitely found the most offensive way to offer me a lesson in composition, which I suppose is just fine, if that's the way you are intent on interacting with people. I'll do my best to learn from what you said, and to not let your self-serving attempt to establish infallibility on the subject of photography stain my opinion of this forum or the valuable critiques you managed to provide.

Atta' boy! Fan-tastic photos! They are awesome! Keep doing what you're doing. There's no need for you to take a painting,design, or photography class, nor to read any books, nor to study any photographic techniques! You are ready for the professional ranks. Your work is without peer. There is absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing, that could be improved in any of these photos. Also, keep holding that camera in the horizontal orientation while photographing standing subjects, and keep cropping the people off right at the elbow joint. Again, do not worry about taking a few painting or design classes, or going to the library to get a book to help you out. You are doing just absolutely great, and you undoubtedly need absolutely no advice or guidance, and you definitely, definitely do not need to make prints every week and have a class of 30 fellow students C&C them as you listen. Your work is beyond reproach. best I have seen in years. Your exposures are also perfect and consistent from shot one to shot two.

There. I hope that C&C helps you realize how fantastic these photos actually were. By the by, there is some evidence that the only lessons learned well are those where there was an actual, memorable event, or where the lesson was learned with pain, difficulty, and/or actual, substantial mental effort. In other words, learning works best when the learner, that would be you, actually has to put in some effort to learn.

Who is your actual, real-world photography instructor or mentor? Do you have one? Or just friends and family telling you how great your work is? And thanks for the thanks you gave me...I think I have nearly 600 thank-yous. Yours means so much to me.

[baturn]

Wow! couple egos here in dire need of stroking.

[Derrel]

Oh...I see now that you have pulled the original set of photos and re-uploaded a different second picture, a much more close-up black and white shot (a re-crop of the original horizontal shot) of your subject. At least in the newly-uploaded B&W photo, the viewer can actually see her makeup somewhat. So, the newly-posted, re-cropped B&W shot is an improvement over the original photo.

[N E Williams]

I like the graffiti background, not too sure on the pose but I like both photos. The B&W photo is really nice too

[JackRabbit]

I truly don't think I've seen a good picture with a model posing in front of a graffiti covered wall. The graffiti is just too distracting and gaudy for attention to be put on the model.

[Yellow Wagon]

I too don't mind the background but think it could have been shot at a wider aperture to help soften the background + add bokeh for visual interest. This shot has potential. The exposure looks pretty good also. Keep at it!!