latest seniors

newrmdmike · Mar 19, 2007

this first shot was kind of cool bc there is no backdrop, i had him stand just inside of the laundry room doorway and bounced my flash insideto his side and up . . . didn't escape into room behind him and left it nice and dark.
1

2

3

4

5

and the other set

6

7

8

9

i know thats alot of pics, but please let me know what you think!

Big Mike · Mar 19, 2007

Of the guy shots, I like the first one best.

I like the girl shots much better, she is really looking into the lens and engaging the viewer.

AprilRamone · Mar 19, 2007

I LOVE the last two. They are creative and fun. I agree, I definitely like the female shots better. Why did you choose to chop off the guy's head in the first?

Tangerini · Mar 19, 2007

The last two are fantastic!

JonnyVPA · Mar 20, 2007

1,4,7,8,and9 are killer.... great stuff..... as the weather gets better here and the Senior buisness gets up and running again i'll have some of mine up. Do you use any studio lighting or just a flash?

theusher · Mar 20, 2007

Another fan of the last 2. The last one is young, and fun. But 8 is just a great photo, colors, angle...everything seems right.

thebeginning · Mar 20, 2007

i agree, i think 8 is my fave of the girl's set. nice stuff mike!

newrmdmike · Mar 20, 2007

big mike and everyone else who like the girls better, thanks, thats an interesting point you make about engaging the viewer.

aprilramone, i chopped his head off for some variety, and i think it helps lead you to his eyes.

johnny vpa, no studio equipment really . . . in some of the shots of the girl i used an id light to warm her up a bit, but i could have just used a reflector. all the flash i use is off camera.

thanks everyone for the kind comments!

and daniel, we should start a thread with pictures we took at the wedding with each other in them.

emogirl · Mar 22, 2007

I like 1, 5 and 8...but what the heck is that thing in his pocket??

thebeginning · Mar 22, 2007

emogirl said:
I like 1, 5 and 8...but what the heck is that thing in his pocket??

haha i was wondering that too...

and yeah we should start a wedding thread! not for the actual wedding though, i haven't edited any of those yet

newrmdmike · Mar 23, 2007

man . . . i am not at all sure about what that was in his pocket, but i didn't want to offend, i kind of messed with him about it.

apparently its his piece of emo flare . . . so ok

and shame on me for not telling you which pics i need edited yet!

JubbaKing · Mar 24, 2007

Mike, you have some nice stuff here. Here's what I noticed:

1) You bounced the light off the wall to the left and got an interesting result. The light hit him at a rather low angle and the collar shadow is distracting for me. Maybe had you angled the flash more you could achieve a 45 degree angled light source from the wall. I think if you retouched under his eyes a but it won't be as noticeable.
Another thing is that he is basically square to the camera-shoulders and face. I think if he had turned his face towards the wall slightly, you could have gotten more light pattern and/or catchlights in both eyes.
I've always been taught that if the shoulders are square to the camera, the head should be turned and vica versa.
I do like the fashion-shot quality of this portrait (ie: shirt and red thing in pocket take up more of the space). It's interesting.

#2 His heads is tilted towards his high shoulder, making it more of a feminine pose. Also, his hand is dead on towards the viewer. This foreshortening effect makes it lack depth and distract from his face. See how it is just a big hand there with not rest or forearm to see? It just looks odd sometimes.

#3 The crotch shot here doesn't distract me. I just wish he had been looking at the camera.

#4 I'm not liking the lighting in this one. The window light is giving him a nice accent light, yes but it is also hitting his nose and not his face. The nose and his ear are all I can see because they are the point of greatest contrast. Did you take any other poses with him so the light could illuminate more of his face?

#5 This looks like it could be a great location to photograph at. I think a lower angle could have made this portrait more dynamic...if you could keep the sky from blowing out that is.

#6 Beautiful expression. Her hair's a bit messy. Next time, consider throwing the side that's closest to you behind her shoulder...ask her first though.

Other than that, watch out for strays (ie: running down her arm).
Her shirt is quite bright and distracts from her face so maybe consider putting a vignette on this one.

#7 I'm not sure what I would have done with her arm here...maybe rest her forearm on her thigh... anyway, after getting the hair out of her right eye, I think it might have been beneficial to turn her face to her left (towards the direction of the light) to help illuminate her face more and give more of an S shape to her body.

#8 I like the composition and the way the rock subtracts the light from her left side of the face, giving the lighting more direction.

#9 Cute. I like happy portraits like this to have a lot of color and punch personally.

Nice work! I think they'll be happy.

danalec99 · Mar 25, 2007

Another vote for 8. :thumbup:

newrmdmike · Mar 26, 2007

jubba, thanks for the critiques, is always nice to hear that kind of stuff!

RMThompson · Mar 26, 2007

I like these, especially the girl ones since they seem more fun and playful, but the large name up and down them really distracts from the photo for me. I get the feeling I am looking more at an advertisement for Calvin Kline than I do an artist's rendition.

I'm all for putting your name on your photo so someone doesn't steal it, but in this case, I find it distracting.

Am I crazy?