2 for C & C

mc1979 · Dec 10, 2011

And yes, they are portraits again!

does the 2nd one being in landscape work here?

My white balance is a tad off from each pic as well, *sigh*

1.

zoe (3 of 1) by mchatham79, on Flickr

2.

zoe (5 of 1) by mchatham79, on Flickr

fjrabon · Dec 10, 2011

I like the composition on both, but they both seem overexposed to me. Especially the face and sweater, which have lost a lot of color.

Robin Usagani · Dec 10, 2011

Looks good. I can tell right now #2 will look good B&W.

paigew · Dec 10, 2011

I think they should both be b&w. The bright colors of the sweater pulls your focus away from her eyes which are beautiful.

mc1979 · Dec 10, 2011

I think the over exposure is actually me getting a little trigger happy in LR..they were properly exposed..I sometimes tend to over do it! And yes, B & W were my thoughts too..already had one coverted

zoe (4 of 1) by mchatham79, on Flickr

tirediron · Dec 10, 2011

C&C per req:

As noted, both images are over-exposed, with #1 being more so, probably 1/2 stop or even a little more. #1 is a bit of a close crop for my tastes, but it's not too bad; #2 I find a very odd crop. You have a great deal of unused space image left and yet you've "pushed" her off of the right side. I don't think the landscape crop works. In both cases the backgrounds seem very distracting. The monochrome conversion is very much over-exposed, to the point where there's a significant loss of skin detail in her face.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

mc1979 · Dec 10, 2011

Thanks John, I will go back and redo edit, I got carried away with the exposure sliding scale I think! I agree with the landscape orientation, but I had nailed focus and didn't want to send it to the bin. Plus, she has a tendency to give a fake smile, and this was a genuine one, so I kept it.

tirediron · Dec 10, 2011

Fair enough... keep a close eye on your histogram any time you're making exposure-related adjustments. I'm guessing in that monochrome you've pushed it pretty much all the way to the right.

KmH · Dec 11, 2011

FWIW, properly exposed skin highlights are between 235 and 240 in the red channel.

On the landscape question. No.

On television, and to much the same extent in the movies, they have no choice and can only use a horizontal framing. Fortunately, we still photographers aren't so limited.

The horizontal framing provides space that almost always detracts, in some compositional way, shape, or form, from the intended single portrait subject.
Horizontal framing is often appropriate if the subect(s) is reclining, or there are multiple subjects, like a group.

rambler · Dec 11, 2011

The faces are really washed pale. They lack skin tone. Look up the use of gold "gels" to go ovewr the flash, or trying bouncing some light off a gold reflector. Try some closer shots or put the eyes in the upper third even though you lose some of the top of the head. I kile the look of #2 having the camera in horizontal rather than vertical.. You give the subject a little more room to breath. You have done a nice job of blurring an unimportant background, so it does not take our eyes of the girl.

Looks like you have a willing subject with a wonderful smile.

I just noticed when I tip the screen back on my laptop, a lot more contrast apears on the face which really helps!

BTW If you shoot inraw you can easily play around with the white balance in editing..

MrsLittle · Dec 11, 2011

I like the B&W better. She has gorgeous eyes!

badbronco · Dec 11, 2011

She does have very pretty eyes and an excellent smile

Tried to highlight her eyes, but they came out a tad bit overdone I think - like my wife's...just before lasers shoot out of them at me

My daughter has similar eyes, and i'm always trying to capture them!

mc1979 · Dec 11, 2011

Rambler, I do shoot in RAW, and I just adjusted a little too much WB.
I just have to learn when enough is enough when adjusting skin tones, ect. As the originals are properly exposed, I just wanted to brighten up a little and got carried away, also used the luminance sliders which took some of the detail out I think, played around with red and orange.
I have definitely got to work on composition, thankfully I have 5 kids to practice on... So just when u all get tired of seeing one of them, I'll change it up LOL

photo guy · Dec 12, 2011

1st one is too bright, 2nd one is better

fjrabon · Dec 12, 2011

badbronco said:
She does have very pretty eyes and an excellent smile

Tried to highlight her eyes, but they came out a tad bit overdone I think - like my wife's...just before lasers shoot out of them at me My daughter has similar eyes, and i'm always trying to capture them!