Toronto Night Portrait

[Wyjid]

got to stay in toronto this weekend. i took this picture for a couple of friends. took a few tries to get them to stand still long enough (4s). also tough cause all i had was a bar stool as a tripod. but i like the colours of night light.

 

[LaFoto]

Under the circumstances I must say this turned out pretty well, I quite like it and the fact that you worked with the given light only and had them stand still for long enough. You'd have lost so much of the atmosphere around them and the lights of the background, had you used any other light (which I guess you did not have in any form other than the pop-up flash? And that should be avoided at all costs, so you did WELL).

Someone might yet come and argue that the light shining from inside the room onto their faces throws some harsh shadows. Yes, I see those, too. But like I said: better those shadows than the use of the pop-up flash.

The thing I am not overly fond of is the composition. While I certainly appreciate that you wanted the Tower to be part of the background, with nothing like the tip cropped off or anything, you happened to "sever" your two subjects right through their knees, and that looks sore! Maybe a crop to the very tip of the tower from above, then in from below so "only their thighs get severed", and maybe then from the right to return to the regular print ratio (would help "fight" the effects of the barrel distortion a bit, too, in the process, for the inclined wall of the hotel would no longer show as much) might make this a slightly more balanced portrait.

 

[ShaCow]

I like it, the colours are very nice!

 

[Wyjid]

The thing I am not overly fond of is the composition. While I certainly appreciate that you wanted the Tower to be part of the background, with nothing like the tip cropped off or anything, you happened to "sever" your two subjects right through their knees, and that looks sore! Maybe a crop to the very tip of the tower from above, then in from below so "only their thighs get severed", and maybe then from the right to return to the regular print ratio (would help "fight" the effects of the barrel distortion a bit, too, in the process, for the inclined wall of the hotel would no longer show as much) might make this a slightly more balanced portrait.

yes i agree about that. i guess i was so focused on removing the biggest prob with the pic that i forgot about the rest of the composition! if you didn't notice the fix right away then i must say i'm satisfied! (unless you didn't notice because the other probs were so bad) any clues? see the fix? i don't mind the barrel effect to much but i think i will try that crop idea. how bout this?

 

[v1001]

I like the original the way it was. I think everything worked in my opinion. And I like the warm light coming from inside. But they both are good.

 

[LaFoto]

Well, I must say the cropped version looks a lot more like a portrait to me than the first did, this version is much more about THEM and the background begins to be just that: a (welcome!) background to THEIR photo.

As to you other big problem ... from my point of view you CAN be satisfied since I still don't see what you had to work on. My guess is another much bigger, nastier lens flare from the tower (and in a worse place than its purple "sibling" on the roof behind her), but I cannot tell where that might have been.

 

[Wyjid]

thanks for the help. this pic was practice (mostlt just for lighting) because i have to shoot a couple at night in a month and so i'm trying a lot of night shots with people in them. as for the big problem, here's the original. as mentioned a bar stool was the only tripod i had, and this was the only angle i could both stabilize the camera and frame them in reasonable way. as a result, i not only cut them off at their knees, i cut them in half at the waist!!!