C&C on two portraits

[cptkid]

Shot some portraits last week. Would like some C&C on a couple of them if you guys & girls don't mind.

I do apologise for the pretty low quality, i'm away from my main computer.

 

[sarah_19_nz]

I'm not expert but my 2 cents...

I love the shots, but the first especially looks a little flat? washed out? or is this intentional? Id like to see it a little warmer and colourful. NUmber 2 is cool, but the skin is a little too soft I think, looks like his/her skin is already pretty good. This is a guy right? The focus is awesome, look how crystal clear his eyes are. Great.

 

[Designer]

Wow! You are getting their inner personality to come through! Good ones!

 

[KmH]

+1 on the overdone, plastic looking skin.

What is going on with the whites of her eyes?

On the guy shot the chain that looks to be growing out of his chin is kind of distracting.

Both look like they could stand to have some Vibrance added.

I like the light in both, but would crop a bit off the right and left of her shot.

 

[Derrel]

The young woman looks odd; especially wide-open eyes staring straight ahead, a modified duck lips expression, flared nostrils, odd horizontal framing + head chop...uggg...she looks utterly awful. it looks almost like a Facebook gag or sendup, almost as if it was designed as a very "anti-portrait portrait".

The portrait of the young man on the other hand is bordering on excellence. I hate the chain he's wearing, and it looks flat (low-contrast),and at the same time, the forehead is almost blow-out, but it has bold framing and strong diagonals, and he does not meet the viewer's gaze, so we are free to look at him. He has striking features; cleft chin, piecing eyes, full lips, great eyes, and so on; he looks like a high-payed model or movie actor. Despite the various flaws and needed adjustments, this borders on excellence I think.

 

[texkam]

I'd like to know specifically what type of critique you're after. These are not traditional portraits, so I am hesitant to critique without knowing your intent.

 

[kundalini]

I'd like to know specifically what type of critique you're after. These are not traditional portraits, so I am hesitant to critique without knowing your intent.

Wuss much? They're two photos of human beings. How difficult is it?

OP, they're both pretty good for capturing their essence, but as mentioned the chain on the guy is a miss. Looks more like a jism trail than jewelry.

 

[texkam]

the first especially looks a little flat? washed out? or is this intentional?

The young woman looks odd; especially wide-open eyes staring straight ahead, a modified duck lips expression, flared nostrils, odd horizontal framing + head chop...uggg...she looks utterly awful. it looks almost like a Facebook gag or sendup, almost as if it was designed as a very "anti-portrait portrait".

Intent?

Looks more like a jism trail than jewelry.

Lovely C&C there, kundalini.

 

[Derrel]

Intent, exactly...I could not tell what the intent was on the portrait of the young woman; I later speculated that perhaps the intent was to create a funny portrait for Facebook use, or to create an anti-portrait portrait. The eyes so wide-open and huge-looking, and the odd facial expression, which is not part of the normal repertoire of classic portraiture expressions, together those two things, which are easily controlled voluntarily by the sitter, made me think this one was some kind of a send-up or a counter-traditional portraiture shot.

 

[cptkid]

I'm not expert but my 2 cents...

I love the shots, but the first especially looks a little flat? washed out? or is this intentional? Id like to see it a little warmer and colourful. NUmber 2 is cool, but the skin is a little too soft I think, looks like his/her skin is already pretty good. This is a guy right? The focus is awesome, look how crystal clear his eyes are. Great.

Thank you, yes it is a guy =]

+1 on the overdone, plastic looking skin.

What is going on with the whites of her eyes?

On the guy shot the chain that looks to be growing out of his chin is kind of distracting.

Both look like they could stand to have some Vibrance added.

I like the light in both, but would crop a bit off the right and left of her shot.

Thank you, I agree on the skin, I think I pushed it a little bit to far. I didn't do anything with her eyes, I thin maybe the processing must have done that to the white in her eyes.

The young woman looks odd; especially wide-open eyes staring straight ahead, a modified duck lips expression, flared nostrils, odd horizontal framing + head chop...uggg...she looks utterly awful. it looks almost like a Facebook gag or sendup, almost as if it was designed as a very "anti-portrait portrait".

The portrait of the young man on the other hand is bordering on excellence. I hate the chain he's wearing, and it looks flat (low-contrast),and at the same time, the forehead is almost blow-out, but it has bold framing and strong diagonals, and he does not meet the viewer's gaze, so we are free to look at him. He has striking features; cleft chin, piecing eyes, full lips, great eyes, and so on; he looks like a high-payed model or movie actor. Despite the various flaws and needed adjustments, this borders on excellence I think.

Thank you Derrel for your C&C,

In actual fact, the picture of the girl was not the picture I ment to put up, but its in a similar style, but not shot landscape, and its a much closer crop.

I agree with you that it is not a very good photograph, and certainly not a conventional portrait (which isn't what I was going for )

I'd like to know specifically what type of critique you're after. These are not traditional portraits, so I am hesitant to critique without knowing your intent.

Model, Lighting, Composition, Processing ?

There were not supposed to be convectional, they are more going down the route or "fashion" photography.

 

[ryanwaff]

I took a quick stab at it.

Basically just increased the vibrance roughly +30 or so.
Did colour balance in the shadows changing blue/yellow to -17
And then just added a bit of texture to the skin. Not the best, but I tried haha!
Also removed the chain using the clone tool.
Also did a brightness/contrast adjustment with mask for the highlights and then the values were brightness: -23 and contrast: 56. That was just to reduce the brightness on his right side.

 

[cptkid]

View attachment 45419
I took a quick stab at it.

Basically just increased the vibrance roughly +30 or so.
Did colour balance in the shadows changing blue/yellow to -17
And then just added a bit of texture to the skin. Not the best, but I tried haha!
Also removed the chain using the clone tool.
Also did a brightness/contrast adjustment with mask for the highlights and then the values were brightness: -23 and contrast: 56. That was just to reduce the brightness on his right side.

Cool edit, I think you made his skin far to yellow though.

I like the texture in the skin.

The reason it was so low contast to begin with is that was the look I was going for. I love low contast portraits.

 

[jowensphoto]

^I kind of like that edit, in a plasticKenDoll kind of way.

 

[Photographiend]

I like these so much I actually want to attempt to charcoal sketch them, esp 2. I won't though, I mean at least not without your permission.

 

[KmH]

I corrected the white balance (ACR White Balance Tool, clicked on her shirt) .
Her eye whites still had a reddish cast, so I selected the eye whites and corrected that by making the selection a B&W layer.
I locally sharpened her eyes, nose, and lips with the Sharpen tool set to 65%, Protect Detail.
I slightly lowered the ends of her mouth (Puppet Warp).
I cropped some off the left of the frame so the right edge of her face (camera left) is on the left vertical RoT line.
I added a thin black border.