A serious shot of my grandma

[Jeremy Z]

I like sepia over B&W for portraits. I don't see it a lot here; any particular reasons?

 

[Jeremy Z]

... and here is one of my lovely wife:

Last, but not least, my sister:

 

[LaFoto]

If it weren't for the blown out area in your grandma's photo, I'd love it. But here I find that uneven side light a bit distracting.
Your wife is very pretty and I like the use of fill-flash here.
Her hair, however, looks a bit oversharpened - is that possible?

Do I see some family resemblance in your sister's photo? I think I do.
The hat gives her face some nicely even light.

 

[Tyson]

I Like them, thank you for shareing.

 

[Jeremy Z]

If it weren't for the blown out area in your grandma's photo, I'd love it. But here I find that uneven side light a bit distracting.

I like the uneven sidelighting, but I didn't even notice that the left side of her face was blown out. Thanks for the critique!

Your wife is very pretty and I like the use of fill-flash here.
Her hair, however, looks a bit oversharpened - is that possible?

I didn't use fill flash. The porch we were on was all painted white, so I think that is why there aren't many shadows. I did not sharpen this one at all. I think her hair just looks like that because it was resized down so much, and because the sunlight was backlighting her hair and making it very bright.

Here is a crop of the full size image of her hair, for reference:

 

[LaFoto]

How cool is that: a house with an "in-built" reflector!!! ENVY!

Well, now that I am seeing an uncropped version of the backlit hair, I believe that it must be the compression which makes it look so extremely sharp. Thanks for showing me. That does clear it up all right!

 

[Jazz]

Jeremy,

I like sepia over B&W for portraits. I don't see it a lot here; any particular reasons?

Perhaps just personal taste. I like sepia too, but prefer b&w. One of my reasons is because in digital, applying sepia covers up a lot of trouble. Good b&w is harder (for me), because it has to be neutral and that can be tricky in digital.

Having said that, I really like your photo #1. It doesn't bother me that it's too hot on one side. For this kind of emotonal shot, it works, I think. Again, personal taste, but I think it would be improved by being off centered.

The shot of your beautiful wife is not as good, I think. Again, it's too centered for me. The hair and top of chair is too hot, and a little more brightness, whether fill flash or reflected light, would help around the eyes. Finally, the background is distracting because it's too much in focus. (She is beautiful with a great smile). Forgive me if I'm being too critical. I'm still learning how to critique, and I hope you'll post more.

I say all this with respect and hope you know that this is just my personal taste. And I thank you for sharing these.

 

[LongDucDong]

Sepia, IMO, only works for certain people strangely. I think it works pretty good for your subjects, really. Id like to see a B&W version of your grandmother, just for kicks if youve got one. A little brightness adjustment and adjustment of contrast would clean up the right side of the photo. Nice shots!

 

[Jeremy Z]

Forgive me if I'm being too critical. I'm still learning how to critique, and I hope you'll post more.

Not at all. I/we post images here because we're proud of them, because we want critique, or both. Showing them to other people with a good eye for composition & lighting can help me see a more complete picture. It isn't a competition for me. I love the shots, and they are fully worth printing and framing; they don't have to be "perfect" for that. Can they be better? Always. I'm only 30, so I probably have another 40 good years of photography left in me. Maybe a bit more with anti-shake technology always improving, hehehe.

I say all this with respect and hope you know that this is just my personal taste. And I thank you for sharing these.

Understood, and I appreciate your constructive criticism. The only thing I would have a problem with is if someone said they didn't like it, but wouldn't elaborate on why not.

 

[Jeremy Z]

Id like to see a B&W version of your grandmother, just for kicks if youve got one.

Your wish is my command. *poof*

Here's a B&W version; the left side of her face looks even more blown out, but you can see why. The other side of her faces is too dark to make a correction to the whole scene.

Here's the original version, which doesn't look as blown out, but is also not quite as striking, to me at least:

Here's another shot, with her off-center, and with her more typical smile. This one's the original:

Here's the B&W (a bit too contrasty)

...and here's the sepia:

I like the sepia better on this one as well.

 

[ShutteredEye]

I think maybe you don't see as much sepia on here because it tends to be looked a little down upon I think. It is true that many people who aren't serious about photography simply convert their images to sepia as a crutch to better their photos.

I on the other hand tend to use sepia more often than some. Here I'm not sure it workds for me, it's a little too pinky of a brown, something with a little more black in it might work better. I do prefer the black and white.

And there is nothing wrong with high contrast....

 

[bluefish]

I really like the photos in sepia as well - I think the one with your grandmother works in particular.

I'm just learning so bear with me please =) : but do you adjust the photo into sepia on your computer?

 

[Efergoh]

I really like the photos in sepia as well - I think the one with your grandmother works in particular.

I'm just learning so bear with me please =) : but do you adjust the photo into sepia on your computer?

You can "make" your digital photos Sepia in most photo editing programs, even the cheap ones.

Or, you can do it old school (analog) with film prints in the dark room using sepia toner on the print itself...

(One of my classmates is experimenting with different toners in the developer...)

 

[Jeremy Z]

I really like the photos in sepia as well - I think the one with your grandmother works in particular.

It is strange, and hard to explain. To me, the color doesn't add anything. The B&W looks cold, and she is not a cold person. The sepia adds warmth, but without adding unnecessary color.

I shot those pictures in color. The original files are in color. I made them sepia or B&W with Olympus Camedia software. I just tried it in Irfanview. There is a sepia option, which is too brown for my taste. But then, I can just turn down the saturation until it has just enough "warmth".

 

[Efergoh]

Since your profile is marked that your photos are okay to edit, I played with your gram's photo. I, too, like B&W, but often, digital software isn't very imaginative when it is simply converted to gray scale. You are just throwing out all that color info...

When I make a B&W from a digital, I simply desaturate the image...which is what I've done here...

I liked the way it came out. I hope you do, too. It is soft, subtle.

using the desaturated file, I then warmed the tones...

Again using the desaturated image, this one is selenium toned...

Lastly, still using the desaturated file, this one is sepia...seems a bit orange to me.

Since that sepia felt so orangy, I took that depai toned image and desaturated it by 30% and got this...