B&W Portrait - Why does this photo look weird? I can't pinpoint it.

[jwbryson1]

Converted to B&W and tightly cropped in LR3. I can't quite pinpoint my dissatisfaction with this photo but there is something about it that is not quite right. Anybody?

Thanks.

[/URL] Katelyn B&W-1 by jwbryson1, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[Trever1t]

It seems a little 'soft' and there's some anomaly on the crown of her head. Otherwise it's a pleasant portrait, cute baby

 

[mc1979]

First of all, I'm noob so take what I say with a grain of salt..but something about the catchlights in the eyes seems off..did you manipulate those in any way? And i think maybe it's too tightly cropped? Or could be because baby is on her belly and you can still see her little bottom? Adorable baby by the way!

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Don't know if that's what makes it look weird to you but there are a couple things that bug me.

1/ the kid looks pasted on a black background.

2/ the main catchlights are too big but there seems to be smaller ones also. Should only have one in each eye.

3/ this kid seems to have a filling although too young to have any teeth.

 

[jwbryson1]

It seems a little 'soft' and there's some anomaly on the crown of her head. Otherwise it's a pleasant portrait, cute baby

I think it got soft when I cropped the much larger color photo. The crop made this photo bigger which affected the quality of the photo. I don't like it.

 

[jwbryson1]

First of all, I'm noob so take what I say with a grain of salt..but something about the catchlights in the eyes seems off..did you manipulate those in any way? And i think maybe it's too tightly cropped? Or could be because baby is on her belly and you can still see her little bottom? Adorable baby by the way!

Oh, no problem at all on the comments. I appreciate the feedback--I do not like this photo. I tried to convert a larger photo (color) to a B&W and make it just a head shot instead of her whole body, but it does not seem to have worked.

I tried to highlight her eyes a bit and sharpen them and that may have messed things up. The closer crop probably also made her eyes bigger which doesn't help.

 

[jwbryson1]

Don't know if that's what makes it look weird to you but there are a couple things that bug me.

1/ the kid looks pasted on a black background.

2/ the main catchlights are too big but there seems to be smaller ones also. Should only have one in each eye.

3/ this kid seems to have a filling although too young to have any teeth.

Yep, Yep...I think that's it. It really does look like she's pasted on a black background. I darkened the background a bit to try and separate her more but I think it backfired on me. :lmao:

I don't see the filling issue, but maybe that is my crappy monitor.

This is not a keeper photo. Owell, just thought I'd give it a shot.

 

[Kyle316]

For me, the main catch light to too large and rectangular versus round/halo, etc. Just a personal opinion and like.

Respectfully, Kyle

 

[jwbryson1]

I think the lighting is also completely off and the image lacks contrast. Bad edit. I suck! :lmao:

 

[cgipson1]

catchlight..... looks like a Warner Brothers cartoon catchlight! Too big and square. The other catchlight is so small... that it makes the eyes look beady... strange contrast!

 

[milesy]

for me even though the photo is obviously B&W - she seems almost ghostly - what i mean is the colour is off a bit -maybe play around with the B&W conversion a bit

 

[jwbryson1]

for me even though the photo is obviously B&W - she seems almost ghostly - what i mean is the colour is off a bit -maybe play around with the B&W conversion a bit

Thanks, yeah, I think I'm done messing with this one. :lmao: Just thought I'd try to experiment with a color shot I had and failed miserably. LOL. The contrast is all screwed up and it does look ghostly. Thanks for the feedback, mate!

 

[Kyle316]

I've never liked how B&W pics show up on a monitor, especially digital. I keep an old CRT calibrated monitor around just for B&W, but even that doesn't reproduce accurately--but better than my digital.

Respectfull, Kyle316

 

[DiskoJoe]

the first thing that i noticed was that you cannot see he iris of the eye. The iris blends into the pupil making a super huge looking pupil. Also there is a strange reflection off his eyes from your lights.

 

[Derrel]

The large catchlights on the right hanbd side of the eyeballs looks like a very large panel's reflection, which I myself do not mind. I saw the color shot that this originated from, and the "real" problem as I see it is that the FACE, the mask of the face, is in shadow, and the rest of the baby is lighted up quite a bit more brightly...it's just a fundamental flaw...face in shadow...

...the "filling c.cloiudwalker" mentions inside the mouth...looks to me like a highlight on a spit bubble...but whatever it is, it is "there", and kind of distracting...