C&C welcome

smakelijk11 · Feb 28, 2017

Hi there,

I did a natural light photoshoot with a friend and would like some C&C on this photo. I worked on it in Lightroom and Photoshop and it's based on Portra 800. I am really in love with film photography and I'm trying to get my photos to emulate film. What have I done right with this photo? What could I do to improve.

Many thanks.

Granddad · Mar 1, 2017

Welcome to TPF!

What did you do right? My 2 pence worth (which is probably overcharging by 2 pence):
1) You chose a pretty model who gave you a lovely, warm expression on her face. 10 out of 10!
2) You lit the shot well, no blown highlights or harsh shadows.
3) You have a decent crop that works. I'm personally not a fan of cutting tops of heads off but this one doesn't trouble me at all.

What could you improve?
1) The angle of the thing she's leaning on (a tree?) is slightly distracting to ME (others may not agree). Personally I'd try straightening it if you have enough room to do so without losing too much of the girl.
2) I'd warm up the white balance a bit, it's quite cool and although I know this is popular I'd like to see it a shade warmer.
3) You have no EXIF data embedded in the shot so we can't see things like depth of field, shutter speed, ISO, lens used etc. All that info helps us to give useful advice.

I'll look forward to seeing more of your work.

smakelijk11 · Mar 1, 2017

Ok, I retouched the file here again and put in the EXIF data. I did shoot at ISO 1000. I do have shaky hands though, so I think that I needed to. There is also a copy that is warmed up a little bit. Thank you so much for the feedback btw. I do find it very useful.

snowbear · Mar 1, 2017

I like them.

smakelijk11 said:
I am really in love with film photography and I'm trying to get my photos to emulate film.

Why not shoot film?

smakelijk11 · Mar 1, 2017

I do! But I own a Nikon F100 and Mamiya 645. The F100 is easy to use but I'm having a hard time with the manual focus on the Mamiya. Also, I have been scsnning myself and it has been really tough.

Granddad · Mar 1, 2017

YES!

From your image and your settings (1000 iso, 1/800 @ f2.8 and 85mm) I'm guessing that you're not an inexperienced photographer.

smakelijk11 · Mar 1, 2017

Thank you so much Granddad! And yes, I'll try and shoot with film next time. Portra 800 indoors should be good, right?

smakelijk11 · Mar 1, 2017

Here is another one from that shoot.

Granddad · Mar 2, 2017

smakelijk11 said:
Thank you so much Granddad! And yes, I'll try and shoot with film next time. Portra 800 indoors should be good, right?

I have no qualifications to comment on film. I didn't start to get serious about photography until digital came in, I could never afford all the processing back in the film days.

smakelijk11 said:
Here is another one from that shoot.

Very nice. I'd straighten the background but then I'm a bit OCD about that. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else on the forum agrees with me.

TIP: If you don't mind people editing your images to show you what they mean you need to go back into your profile and change the settings to allow edits. Many new members miss that one but if you don't want your images worked on that's absolutely fine.