First post - Calendar shots! - (Not Work Safe)

RMThompson · Nov 12, 2006

Hey guys. I am extremely new to this forum... in fact, this is my first post after a few minutes of poking around!

I am in the market for a DSLR, in fact I have been bidding on some D50's online... risky I know, but the pricing is so nice.

First question - Is Tamron a really bad lens maker? I ask because I see a lot of auctions on Ebay with D50's and Tamron lenses!

For now, I am using a handheld Canon A610, 5MP 4X lens camera. It takes decent shots, and has almost full manual capability, which is why I chose it.

For the following shots I used a floor lamp that had three 60 watt bulbs, a black sheet and a fan.

Second Question - I need to find more inexpensive lighting! Anyone got some tips? I don't have any external flash on this thing, and the one it is ugly!

So here are some shots I took with it recently! Looking for critiques mostly. Let me know if this is too racy for this forum.

Thanks in advance.

There are more of this series here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rmthompson/

For now I will cross my fingers, and hope you guys can help me get better!
http://static.flickr.com/103/294626819_8c4579d0b6.jpg

spake01 · Nov 12, 2006

*Noob Opinion Warning*

In the first picture, I'd photoshop out the area where it looks like a belly-button ring was taken out for the shot. A little distracting, IMO.

Why not center the blank square over the navel? The navel itself may be what's distracting a little? Or center the F... straight down from the navel?

RMThompson · Nov 12, 2006

spake01 said:
*Noob Opinion Warning*

In the first picture, I'd photoshop out the area where it looks like a belly-button ring was taken out for the shot. A little distracting, IMO.

Why not center the blank square over the navel? The navel itself may be what's distracting a little? Or center the F... straight down from the navel?

I might do that getting rid of the extra hole, but honestly, I wasn't happy enough with the picture overall to do much with it... some of which you touched on when you said about the centering. I left it here to show the theme of the piece, but in retrospect, I should've chosen something else to show off!

Any C&C on the other two?

xfloggingkylex · Nov 12, 2006

There have been a couple full nude shots but the moderaters ask that in the title of your thread you add in "Not work safe" (NWS) incase anyways is at work checking some pictures and their boss happens in when they have a picture of a less-than-fully-clothed-person on the screen. It's really just to protect the users especially if the company you work for watches your temp internet files to make sure you aren't looking at "racy" pictures.

Another thing they may ask you to do is provide links to the picture instead of having the pictures on the page so that they are avoidable, for the same reasons.

That being said, I dont really know how I feel about number 1. I personally am a little distracted by the word "yumm" just because I normally think of it being spelled yum or yummy. I love the idea leaving out the "U". I'd probably consider (try) shooting it again with the pieces over the navel.

Number 2, I love it. It has great shadows that are very strong and do a great job accentuating her body. No "Curves" adjustment needed her if ya know what I mean

Number 3 I dont really like the apple being in color, but I dont think I'd like it all in B&W either. Have you tried also coloring in the leaves, maybe not as bold as the apple but a little green added to the picture.

So who's the girl?

Andrew Snyder · Nov 12, 2006

xfloggingkylex said:
That being said, I dont really know how I feel about number 1. I personally am a little ...

...maybe not as bold as the apple but a little green added to the picture.

So who's the girl?

Perfect critique. I'm definitely feeling the photo itself on the third, however as Kyle pointed out, the selective color thing just isn't working. I fully believe that a full color shot would look good here, but yeah if you want to do the selective, I'd have the leaves as well definitely. Good work though for sure.

I seriously love the second shot. :lovey:

Oh if you shot the third in color, and then edited it, post up the original.

EDIT: Ooh this one is sooo nice except for the (assuming) PS blur at the bottom.
http://static.flickr.com/107/294125622_a20bb0d3b5.jpg?v=0

EDIT 2: Hope you don't mind...

RMThompson · Nov 12, 2006

Andrew Snyder said:
Perfect critique. I'm definitely feeling the photo itself on the third, however as Kyle pointed out, the selective color thing just isn't working. I fully believe that a full color shot would look good here, but yeah if you want to do the selective, I'd have the leaves as well definitely. Good work though for sure.

I seriously love the second shot.

Oh if you shot the third in color, and then edited it, post up the original.

EDIT: Ooh this one is sooo nice except for the (assuming) PS blur at the bottom.
http://static.flickr.com/107/294125622_a20bb0d3b5.jpg?v=0

EDIT 2: Hope you don't mind...

Well, I have an admission... I have no IDEA how to color select. I don't even own Photoshop... :blushing:

I use Picasa, and it's selective coloring which is VERY limited! Can someone TEACH ME? : ( I looove what you did with the green and the red! How do you get a realistic green from black and white?!

Thanks for the critique... and for looking at the rest! I should lessen the blur? Or remove it altogether?

shmspac · Nov 12, 2006

I dont care about the navel ring hole, or the position of the Scrabble tiles, the point being you have a good-eye and your work is some of the most promising I have seen on this site in a long while. As for selective colorization, again whatever works for your creative process, just keep shooting and worry about the bells and whistles later. Favorite photo, number 2, her body curves flow naturally and the lighting is great, although, I like the randomness of the Scrabble tiles in number 1, they accentuate her bodys curves.

Andrew Snyder · Nov 12, 2006

RMThompson said:
Well, I have an admission... I have no IDEA how to color select. I don't even own Photoshop... :blushing:

I use Picasa, and it's selective coloring which is VERY limited! Can someone TEACH ME? : ( I looove what you did with the green and the red! How do you get a realistic green from black and white?!

Thanks for the critique... and for looking at the rest! I should lessen the blur? Or remove it altogether?

Not owning Photoshop and producing these images is far better than knowing how to color images later. It's quite simple to get the look of actual colors with PS. You simply add another layer, change it's blending mode to color, and pick a green and paint over the picture. I lower the Fill a little to so it's not so harsh.

Oh and for the blur, I would have it real slowly fade into stronger blur starting right below her chest and having the stronger blur at the bottom of the photo.

xfloggingkylex · Nov 12, 2006

Andrew Snyder said:
Not owning Photoshop and producing these images is far better than knowing how to color images later. It's quite simple to get the look of actual colors with PS. You simply add another layer, change it's blending mode to color, and pick a green and paint over the picture. I lower the Fill a little to so it's not so harsh.

Oh and for the blur, I would have it real slowly fade into stronger blur starting right below her chest and having the stronger blur at the bottom of the photo.

more like the feel that shallow DOF produces? if so I think I like where you are going with it.:thumbup:

Oh and if you dont have photoshop check out the GIMP (google it). You can get tutorials for selective coloring, its pretty nice. I did a hotrod in selective coloring on this site if you'd like to see what 10 minutes and produce... let me know

RMThompson · Nov 13, 2006

shmspac said:
I dont care about the navel ring hole, or the position of the Scrabble tiles, the point being you have a good-eye and your work is some of the most promising I have seen on this site in a long while. As for selective colorization, again whatever works for your creative process, just keep shooting and worry about the bells and whistles later. Favorite photo, number 2, her body curves flow naturally and the lighting is great, although, I like the randomness of the Scrabble tiles in number 1, they accentuate her bodys curves.

Wow, thanks for the compliment. It means a lot, because an "eye" for composition seems to be something I feel I am lacking. I know people who can walk outside and take the most interesting shots of their enviroment, house, etc, but I can't. I think this type of photography, call it sensual portrait, erotic, whatever, seems to be a niche that I fit into nicely.

The other problem I have is equipment. I need better stuff... not top of the line, just something more. Especially lighting. I am of the firm belief that any camera can take decent shots, if you compose them right!

RMThompson · Nov 13, 2006

xfloggingkylex said:
more like the feel that shallow DOF produces? if so I think I like where you are going with it.:thumbup:

Oh and if you dont have photoshop check out the GIMP (google it). You can get tutorials for selective coloring, its pretty nice. I did a hotrod in selective coloring on this site if you'd like to see what 10 minutes and produce... let me know

Sure I am always willing to learn new things! I like selective coloring, when used properly, although I know a lot of photogs who HATE it. Then again, there is a whole host of other people who dislike Black and White, where I almost prefer to do 100% Black and White!

I downloaded Adobe's Lightroom... although it seems to be pretty useless compared to Picasa 2.

oCyrus55 · Nov 14, 2006

I just want to say that for only having a table light, I think you got some pretty good shots. A little while ago I bought a 500W worklight from Lowes, and it was only 10 dollars. Maybe you should go check those out, it has worked pretty well. And I didn't read everyone's posts, but maybe you should check out The Gimp. I use it and it was free. Selective coloring with it is pretty easy. Hope I helped!