1st Photoshoot: Katie C&C

[Raian-san]

My friend Katie helped me out on a shoot, and will do another shoot next week with her daughter. Did some light editing on these, some I think turns out pretty decent. What do you guys think? Comments, critique, and tips is definitely appreciated. There's 6 photos, I know it's more than people want but just trying to improve so I can do better in the upcoming photoshoot with my friend and her daughter. You can comment and tip on one or two is cool. Thanks in advance.

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

 

[Kerbouchard]

I love them. I only have a few small nits and it is regards to posing. Generally, you want your subject to be turned at an angle like in 3 and 5. For 1 and 2, with your subjects hips square to the camera, it isn't the most flattering of angles. Same thing for 6. That's a bit too much of a turn. A lot of photographers like to do the 1,3,2 technique, which is basically where your model starts off at a 45 degree angle to the camera, turns the head a little past the camera, and then looks with her eyes back towards the photographer. The key to that particular posing technique is to be able to see the whites on both sides of the pupils. In any case, nice work overall. Check out this thread on posing. It might give you some ideas and give you a few things to watch out for. The Rules Of Good Portraiture

Good luck on your upcoming shoot. I'm sure you will do great. Oh, and my favorite is #3.

 

[RauschPhotography]

First thing I noticed with this shoot is that the WB is too cool.

 

[Kerbouchard]

First thing I noticed with this shoot is that the WB is too cool.

I thought that at first, but I think the skin tones look great. I think the dress really is light blue and it is playing tricks with the way we are looking at the photos.

 

[Raian-san]

@Kerbouchard thanks for the comments. Will definitely check out that website. Also, the 45 degree angle, is it like this one? Just wanted to make sure to keep in mind.

 

[e.rose]

Your greens are pushing or ARE nuclear in all the colored ones. Number 2 especially...

I don't like your B&W conversion on number 3 either... the tone of her face looks kind of... flat. Someone may disagree with me, but something's off about it. I dunno.

Overall for your first shoot, I don't think it's bad.

1 has a nice feel to it, but I don't like that you cut off half her foot in that one.

#2 looks soft to me and the chromatic abberation caused by the strong backlighting (someone with more technical knowledge please confirm or correct that... ) bugs the hell out of me. And as mentioned... the greens are WAY too saturated and... look like they were painted with nuclear waste. :lmao:

Post in number 3 is cute, IMO, but again, the black and white conversion isn't doing it for me.

4 is a cute idea. I'm fighting with myself over whether or not I would have had her looking slightly at the camera, but I don't hate it as is... except for the processing. You've got that over-saturation nuclear thing happening again.

5 would be nice, IMO, except that her face is WAY too dark for that bright spot on her dress/leg. My eye goes there first every single time until my brain reminds it there's a head above that... mid... region.

Remember what I said about your B&W in number 3? I think I feel the same way about it in #6 too. She also look a little uncomfortable to me.

I know I pulled out a lot of negative aspects, but I really *don't* think these are bad for your first time.

Keep shooting, and keep learning! :thumbup:

 

[Kerbouchard]

That one has a different set of problems. Her right arm looks like it is coming out of her hip. Without being able to see her other shoulder at all, that arm just looks a bit awkward. When you do shots like this, try a lot of variations...For instance, I would have loved this shot if her eyes were coming back to the camera and her right arm was positioned a bit differently.

 

[Kerbouchard]

The greens don't bug me. Being that the OP is in Vietnam and I have spent quite a bit of time in that part of the world, I can tell you, sometimes the colors of the plant life is hard to believe. Couple that with the fact that the subject was in the shade and the background looks like it was lit by a sunset, and I could easily believe the colors are closer to reality than you might think.

In any case, without gels or special reflectors, it is difficult to balance the white balance between a heavily shaded shot under foliage and a background lit by the direct sun. For me to complain about white balance, it pretty much has to show up in skin tones and I think the OP nailed these skin tones...

Now, if he comes back and says the dress was actually white, than I defer to the fact that I am a guy and say that when viewing this shoot, white balance wasn't the first thing that came to mind.

 

[Raian-san]

E.rose thanks for the critiques. Yeah I did push it a little cause I wanted to get rid of the yellow which are really bright and distracting. But I will tone it down when I get home.

 

[e.rose]

The greens don't bug me. Being that the OP is in Vietnam and I have spent quite a bit of time in that part of the world, I can tell you, sometimes the colors of the plant life is hard to believe. Couple that with the fact that the subject was in the shade and the background looks like it was lit by a sunset, and I could easily believe the colors are closer to reality than you might think.

In any case, without gels or special reflectors, it is difficult to balance the white balance between a heavily shaded shot under foliage and a background lit by the direct sun. For me to complain about white balance, it pretty much has to show up in skin tones and I think the OP nailed these skin tones...

Now, if he comes back and says the dress was actually white, than I defer to the fact that I am a guy and say that when viewing this shoot, white balance wasn't the first thing that came to mind.

I'm going to take a guess and say that I think the dress is supposed to be white. But I don't really know... in the first image, the dress by her shoulders looks pink and then turns into a bluish purple as you go down the dress. Yet in the second and 4th photos there's zero presence of the pinkish hue in the shoulders of the dress and the dress is definitely white-blue rather than a purple-blue hue.... so *SOMETHING* is off. WHAT... I dunno... but SOMETHING.

And I am *REALLY* curious to see the *UNEDITED* versions of these... because in my opinion, there is a difference between really vibrant green that occurs in nature and NUCLEAR green I find it hard to believe that seeing images from around the world, on this forum and various other places, that this PARTICULAR spot the OP shot in is the only place in the world with nuclear green leaves. :lmao:

So we will have to agree to disagree on that point... and again I say, I'd love to see the completely untouched version of these photos... hint hint... hint hint hint... HINT HINT HINT...

 

[e.rose]

E.rose thanks for the critiques. Yeah I did push it a little cause I wanted to get rid of the yellow which are really bright and distracting. But I will tone it down when I get home.

I don't think the way to get rid of bright, yellow, and distracting, is by making something bright, green and distracting... to distract from the yellow... :lmao: Haha, sorry, I'm just given you a hard time.

I still wanna see the originals though...

 

[iNick]

great stuff! #3 is amazing!

 

[Raian-san]

E.rose thanks for the critiques. Yeah I did push it a little cause I wanted to get rid of the yellow which are really bright and distracting. But I will tone it down when I get home.

I don't think the way to get rid of bright, yellow, and distracting, is by making something bright, green and distracting... to distract from the yellow... :lmao: Haha, sorry, I'm just given you a hard time.

I still wanna see the originals though...

I will post the original but I shot it in raw only. When I see it in lightroom before importing, the green leaves are almost that green. Most of the editing I didn't touch the green, I only turn saturation up about 10 and adjust yellow so it'll be green. I just push a little green toward the end of editing so these might be the one. You want the original before PP or after PP?

 

[Vtec44]

I just want to drop by to say hi to my fellow Viet photographer, although I'm not 100% Viet.

 

[e.rose]

E.rose thanks for the critiques. Yeah I did push it a little cause I wanted to get rid of the yellow which are really bright and distracting. But I will tone it down when I get home.

I don't think the way to get rid of bright, yellow, and distracting, is by making something bright, green and distracting... to distract from the yellow... :lmao: Haha, sorry, I'm just given you a hard time.

I still wanna see the originals though...

I will post the original but I shot it in raw only. When I see it in lightroom before importing, the green leaves are almost that green. Most of the editing I didn't touch the green, I only turn saturation up about 10 and adjust yellow so it'll be green. I just push a little green toward the end of editing so these might be the one. You want the original before PP or after PP?

Before, If you posted the "orignal" after PP... it wouldn't be the original. :lmao:

I'm just curious, is all. :sillysmi: