Comments & Opinions Welcomed

PhotoBrody · Nov 17, 2012

From a recent shoot - respectful, constructive comments and opinions are welcomed :thumbup:

All natural lighting (very overcast day actually) reflector/diffuser placed at her feet to fill in shadows. Canon 5D + Sigma 50mm 1.4

Kelly 2 by photobrody, on Flickr

MLeeK · Nov 17, 2012

It's hard to go wrong with a model and a body like that!!! Gorgeous!
Her right armpit/our left needs a touch of attention.
It's a crop issue when printing to any standard size
her eyes are way over popped on the whites. They're flat in a face that isn't flat.
Exposure on her face doesn't seem to fully match exposure on the body. She needs a little light in there. Not much.

PhotoBrody · Nov 17, 2012

MLeeK said:
It's hard to go wrong with a model and a body like that!!! Gorgeous!
Her right armpit/our left needs a touch of attention.
It's a crop issue when printing to any standard size
her eyes are way over popped on the whites. They're flat in a face that isn't flat.
Exposure on her face doesn't seem to fully match exposure on the body. She needs a little light in there. Not much.

Thanks! I agree with you on her pit.. I noticed that also, just wasn't sure exactly what to do on it. I could've smoothed it out, but I don't think that would have looked good. Any opinions on how to fix the look of it? And I see what you mean on her eyes - I did pop them out, I can easily adjust the opacity of the eye layer to take some of the pop out.

Thanks again for the opinions.

RCunningham · Nov 17, 2012

I think her stance isn't really interesting, a different pose might work.
And to me it looks like her eyes are over processed, too much white makes it look unnatural to me.

PhotoBrody · Nov 17, 2012

Alright, did some changes (also edited a new image) but let me know your thoughts on this one -

Kelly 1 by photobrody, on Flickr

jowensphoto · Nov 17, 2012

Re: the photography, the only thing I can critique is the crop ratio. Seems strange to me.

Re: great body, but the face she is making looks very forced/uncomfortable. Her hands are also much whiter than her legs, I might suggest trying to bring them closer to the same tone in post.

fjrabon · Nov 17, 2012

lighting seems sort of flat for this type of shot. I would have used some sort of fill flash to get a tiny bit more drama lighting wise. Also, white balance seems a tiny touch cool. Agree with Jowens about the pose

tirediron · Nov 17, 2012

Looks like a girl who [unfortunately] is not very comfortable in front of the camera. Agree with the comments above, and would also suggest rotating her slightly so that her shoulders are less square to the camera. Watch the details; in this case her hair really needed a combing!

PhotoBrody · Nov 18, 2012

jowensphoto said:
Re: the photography, the only thing I can critique is the crop ratio. Seems strange to me.

Re: great body, but the face she is making looks very forced/uncomfortable. Her hands are also much whiter than her legs, I might suggest trying to bring them closer to the same tone in post.

How does the crop ratio seem strange to you? That doesn't really make sense. As for her hands - my hands are whiter than my legs too. That's natural on most any one. If her hands were as dark as her legs she'd look like some kind of animal.

PhotoBrody · Nov 18, 2012

fjrabon said:
lighting seems sort of flat for this type of shot. I would have used some sort of fill flash to get a tiny bit more drama lighting wise. Also, white balance seems a tiny touch cool. Agree with Jowens about the pose

I explained the lighting situation in my OP that it was pure overcast and I had a reflector/diffuser at her feet to help fill in shadows. Also, I think you tried editing one of my pictures several months ago and destroyed it, so with no offense - I can only take what you have to say with a grain of salt. Also - not sure what you're viewing on, but the white balance is just fine on my 2 monitors. Make sure yours is properly calibrated. You can purchase a good monitor calibrator for about $200.

PhotoBrody · Nov 18, 2012

If you're going to critique, please make sure you know what you're talking about. That's all I ask..

tirediron · Nov 18, 2012

PhotoBrody said:
If you're going to critique, please make sure you know what you're talking about. That's all I ask..

It's a public forum, members are free to post their thoughts and opinions (as invited by you). Remember that opinions are purely subjective... you don't have to agree with them, and there's rarely a right or wrong.

tirediron · Nov 18, 2012

PhotoBrody said:
I explained the lighting situation in my OP that it was pure overcast and I had a reflector/diffuser at her feet to help fill in shadows...

Yes, you explained about the lighting situation, but I agree it does seem very flat, which is common on overcast days. "Flat" lighting refers to lack of shadow and hence lack of depth in the image, think "passport photo". I think the addition of even a single speedlight could have helped things 'pop' a lot more.

fjrabon · Nov 18, 2012

dude, it doesn't matter what your conditions are. You're a professional, you're supposed to get professional results, whining about it being overcast is what people who aren't being paid to do a job do. The impression I get is that you're trying to be a professional. If I turned in a senior portrait like the above, and whined that it was overcast, I'd simply be fired. You can belittle people here all you want, but the above shot is clearly not professional. If it's overcast, that's when you use lights to give a bit more drama for a shot like that.

The edited version is an improvement for sure from the original. It's a borderline deliverable product. The pose still looks awkward.

PhotoBrody · Nov 18, 2012

fjrabon said:
dude, it doesn't matter what your conditions are. You're a professional, you're supposed to get professional results, whining about it being overcast is what people who aren't being paid to do a job do. The impression I get is that you're trying to be a professional. If I turned in a senior portrait like the above, and whined that it was overcast, I'd simply be fired. You can belittle people here all you want, but the above shot is clearly not professional. If it's overcast, that's when you use lights to give a bit more drama for a shot like that.

The edited version is an improvement for sure from the original. It's a borderline deliverable product. The pose still looks awkward.

Again, I've seen your work..I actually pulled up an old post of mine on here that had a picture you edite - atrocious. Not once did I whine..lol I have a bag full of speedlites, just didn't use them. I highly doubt you're a full time photog, so whatever it is you DO, do..I hope it's better than that. I could simply continue to drill you into the ground, but I have better things to attend to. Thanks any way.. :lol: