1st senior portrait session

[majic]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/playtimephotography/6287162425/in/photostream

 

[MTVision]

Most people are not going to click links. Post the picture here. Go to the share button - click grab the html/bbcode. Make sure you check off that you want BBCode. Then copy and paste here.

I clicked the link. Not being rude, but the editing on that picture is horrible. First the black and white conversion isn't very appealing. Her face is dark dark and WTH parts of her lips are colored and parts aren't?!?!?! You failed at selective coloring because of the lips, the white dress has spots of blue -where there shouldn't be. You actually have colors all over the place that obviously doesn't belong. The berries (?) are red, some parts of the leaves are colored and a couple spots on her face. Another reason you failed is because you did the selective color wrong and I don't mean technically wrong (you did that too). This is a senior portrait right? So, why is the colored parts of the dress the subject of this photo? Selective color is meant to emphasize the subject/focal point in a b/w photo. Selective color is overdone and rarely used correctly. In a portrait you want to draw attention to the person NOT their dress.

The other photos are over processed and you have white balance issues. The girls skin is varying shades of crazy orange. The saturation and vibrancy is set way too high.

You need to get some light in the eyes as well. Portraits are all about the eyes and hers are dark. I think you should read up on lighting, white balance, and definitely learn how to do a clean edit on a photo. Did you shoot these in RAW or did you shoot JPEG and then process them? Photos shouldn't look noticeably edited. They shouldn't look edited period.

 

[MTVision]

Look at the grass in this picture. Grass doesn't normally look like that. The skin tone on her face doesn't match her arms....

 

[Sw1tchFX]

I mean no disrespect, but these just reminded me of this:

But seriously, tone down the contrast and the saturation...there's a line between colorful and gawdy that's been crossed here..

Also, no matter how much mom might like it, avoid selective color. It's the comic sans of photography.

Otherwise your compositions/subject interaction are just fine

 

[tirediron]

What he said! ^^

 

[RhysPhotograph.me]

Unless you can fix the colour I'd personally go B&W

 

[cgipson1]

She looks likes she is severely jaundiced... like total liver failure! WAY TOO YELLOW!

A lot of us here calibrate our monitors.. so we get consistent color. I strongly suspect you need to calibrate yours, if you thought that was attractive!

 

[majic]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm new to photography and my classes don't start until january

 

[cgipson1]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm new to photography and my classes don't start until january

Then I would suggest you might want to wait a little while before doing senior portraits, unless it was just for fun! If you charged for this... ouch!

 

[Derrel]

I would add--back off on the tooth whitening and 'optimization'...her choppers look awfully,awfully doctored, especially in the B&W pose in front of the reeds.

 

[majic]

Funny derrel that's the only part of the photo I didn't touch. her teeth actually do look like that.

 

[ghache]

HAHAHA DERREL FAILED.

 

[Big Mike]

I just want to reiterate what Megan said above....specifically this...

Another reason you failed is because you did the selective color wrong and I don't mean technically wrong (you did that too). This is a senior portrait right? So, why is the colored parts of the dress the subject of this photo? Selective color is meant to emphasize the subject/focal point in a b/w photo. Selective color is overdone and rarely used correctly. In a portrait you want to draw attention to the person NOT their dress.

Selective color is something that many people experiment with...that's OK. But most photographers (especially those in on-line communities) have grown to hate it. The biggest reason we don't like it, is because it's so often done poorly. Not the technical side of actually doing it...but making bad choices about what color or not.
In this case, it's a bad choice because leaving the dress in color, it takes attention away from the subject. The goal of a portrait should be to draw attention to the subject, specifically their face and eyes.

Keep trying, keep learning. You'll improve.

 

[Derrel]

HAHAHA DERREL FAILED.

Yes, apparently I did. And once again, ghache, stay away from the photos of my young son on my website, you sicko!!

 

[ghache]

HAHAHA DERREL FAILED.

Yes, apparently I did. And once again, ghache, stay away from the photos of my young son on my website, you sicko!!

hahahahah! you creep.