Candid "Portraits" - C&C Please.

crazy_dragonlady · Apr 11, 2008

Ok, a friend of ours brought their little girl Anastasia over the other evening and even though the lighting wasn't the best I pulled out my camera. These are the best shots from that "session". I know they are a little noisy and somewhat blurry but that was from my attempt to clear up the Wally World CD quality images.

Don't have a film scanner quite yet.

What I'm most interested in being critiqued on is the composition of the shots, but feel free to comment on any other part(s) as well, please.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

TIA
ttfn
CDL.

crazy_dragonlady · Apr 12, 2008

Hmm.. 39 views and no comments yet. Are they really that bad? :er:

ttfn
CDL.

Lyncca · Apr 12, 2008

Cute kid and I like the composition on them, but like you said, they are blury and noisy and that really takes away from them. They also seem kinda flat, but that could be adjusted in post processing.

kellylindseyphotography · Apr 12, 2008

most of them, the color and tone are off. And the blurriness is just not good. The last one has potential though.

As far as composition.. I think you did alrite with 3 and 5. The others are snapshotty.

crazy_dragonlady · Apr 12, 2008

Forgive me for asking a stupid question but just what do you mean by "snapshotty"?? I never could figure out just what determines whether a photo is a snap shot or not.

As far as the color goes it was almost sunset and it was cloudy. Plus I've never received a good representation of color when I take my film in to be scanned. They always have a "cool" tone to them. I don't know why but the intensity of the film just isn't represented in these images but with my limited knowledge of PP I couldn't alter them all that much without making the image look odd.

I just received a phone call from the mother of this little girl... she just LOVES the photos... I guess that's what counts

ttfn
CDL.

skieur · Apr 12, 2008

crazy_dragonlady said:
Forgive me for asking a stupid question but just what do you mean by "snapshotty"?? I never could figure out just what determines whether a photo is a snap shot or not.

ttfn
CDL.

A snapshot is produced by simply pointing the camera in the direction of the subject and pressing the shutter release with no thought or purpose whatsoever to goals such as technical excellence...proper focus, exposure etc. or photographic composition such as proper framing, cropping, camera angle and several other areas.

skieur

crazy_dragonlady · Apr 12, 2008

skieur said:
A snapshot is produced by simply pointing the camera in the direction of the subject and pressing the shutter release with no thought or purpose whatsoever to goals such as technical excellence...proper focus, exposure etc. or photographic composition such as proper framing, cropping, camera angle and several other areas.

skieur

Ahhh... well then, in that case I have to say the images I posted in this thread are definitely not snap shots. Quite a bit of thought went into these photos and how I framed the subject. Even though I was outside and it was cloudy I was making an attempt at proper exposure by adjusting the SS and aperture.

On a side note the mother of the little girl decided to get #4 blown up into an 8X10 so she can send it to her mother. :mrgreen: Makes me feel good that I pleased the person who was supposed to be pleased. That's the ultimate goal in taking portraits right?

ttfn
CDL.

kellylindseyphotography · Apr 12, 2008

WEll, its just my opinion of course

There is a sense of "snapshot" going because and i get that feel from a few things you've posted. You developed at walmart. You don't know how to use post processing. They are blurry and noisy.

I'm not trying to be mean, just trying to give you some constructive critisism. I think its great that the mother likes them.

I also shoot childrens candids in natural light setting so I know how it is. I think you could benefit from looking more at other people's work too! Here is one person here that inspires me:
http://thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116988

If you search through her posts, some of the stuff she has posted is really amazing. She is a professional. I didn't gather from your posts whether you do this professional or not, but still cool to look at the really great stuff!!