C&C Please :)

clockwurk · Oct 11, 2011

Hello everyone,
I've been (actively) a member for a couple of months now. Still relatively green at photography, but I received some very helpful tips from the members here. For that, I am very grateful.

I wanted to to get some C&C from anyone. I figure I will get slammed but that is ok. All I ask is if you don't like the images, please give me some tips on how I can improve it.

These shots are of family and friends. The first 3 is portraits on my sister, mother and grandmother. In a weird way, I planned these as self portraits. The idea was to put together photos of what is most important to me ( my family ) and I made sure I was close enough to them, that my silhouette was very visibly in their eyes ( catch light ). Not sure if this worked....

These were relatively impromptu. I didn't want to pose them so I spoke to them as much as I can and tried to catch their sincere, distinct smiles/laughs.

The next batch are prenatal portraits of my friend and her husband. They were kind enough to let me shoot them. I've never shot people that I didn't know before. Although, I consider them friends... we don't exactly hang out regularly and I didnt know their personalities outside of small talks in parties.

I thought this was good practice for the future when I do shoot people I don't know at all. I'm fairly shy so I believe I need to get better at it.

These were all shot with a D200 with 50mm and a kit lens ( I believe 18-55 ).

KmH · Oct 11, 2011

C O M P O S I T I O N.

Rule of thirds....golden spiral.....golden diagonals.......

Posing.......Shoulder square to the camera is neither flattering, nor feminine.

I can't show you what I mean because you say My Photos Are NOT OK to Edit.

The light in the 1st 3 is flat, because it's on the lens axis.

clockwurk · Oct 11, 2011

Thx KmH. I will keep those things in mind

MTVision · Oct 11, 2011

clockwurk said:
Hello everyone,
I've been (actively) a member for a couple of months now. Still relatively green at photography, but I received some very helpful tips from the members here. For that, I am very grateful.

I wanted to to get some C&C from anyone. I figure I will get slammed but that is ok. All I ask is if you don't like the images, please give me some tips on how I can improve it.

These shots are of family and friends. The first 3 is portraits on my sister, mother and grandmother. In a weird way, I planned these as self portraits. The idea was to put together photos of what is most important to me ( my family ) and I made sure I was close enough to them, that my silhouette was very visibly in their eyes ( catch light ). Not sure if this worked....

These were relatively impromptu. I didn't want to pose them so I spoke to them as much as I can and tried to catch their sincere, distinct smiles/laughs.

The next batch are prenatal portraits of my friend and her husband. They were kind enough to let me shoot them. I've never shot people that I didn't know before. Although, I consider them friends... we don't exactly hang out regularly and I didnt know their personalities outside of small talks in parties.

I thought this was good practice for the future when I do shoot people I don't know at all. I'm fairly shy so I believe I need to get better at it.

These were all shot with a D200 with 50mm and a kit lens ( I believe 18-55 ).

You will get more response if you post no more than 3 images for cc! Also, it's really helpful if you post your settings: iso, shutter, aperture.

I'm on my phone so the images are small but I will give it a go.

The first 3 seem to be lacking contrast and/or were desaturated. Lighting looks a little flat. I was going to tell you to clone out the pin lights in the eyes until I read that that was what you were aiming for. I looked closer and could see your speedlight in the eyes. IMO I don't like it but obviously that's what you were going for.

Not to be disrespectful but the first image looks like a mug shot because of the expression on her face, the composition and the shirt. Crop some of the empty space off the top and it might look better. Seems like her eyes are pretty much centered in fame when they should be at the top 1/3rd.

I dont like the composition of the first maternity picture. The second one is nice but you should get rid of the bra showing. The pregnant girls eyes are way overprocessed and you should clone out the pinlights in her eyes. What color was the background originally? Her skin color looks a little off and she looks magenta in the last one. You should clone the pinlights out her eyes in the last one as well.

Keep practicing!!