Couple B&W photos

casey_2005 · Aug 26, 2013

Hey folks, new here and somewhat new to photography. Had a friend coming over last night so I quickly threw down a chair and set up a light, I think if I had more time they would have turned out worse. Took about 5 of me to get things dialed in and then captured this one as he came in the door, the first shot happened to be the best! I like it. C&C welcome. Second one is of me.

casey_2005 · Aug 26, 2013

Judging from the lack of response the photos must have not caused much reaction with the viewers, which I can understand, they're kind of plain jane portraits. But maybe I can get some critiques? How are the poses? Is the door and doorway distracting? How about the thermostat? I tried cropping in in post but wasn't really a fan of the result. Should I have tried to light up the stairway on the right to even things out? For the most part I like the lighting on the subjects but is there something I could have done to add a bit more? I had one head shooting through an umbrella at maybe 40 degrees to the subjects right, about 4 ft away and a foot or so over the face, pointing directly at the face. I think... :lol:

I can't say I had much direction other than clean simple lighting to try out a borrowed lens.

Ilovemycam · Aug 26, 2013

Your photos are OK, but they don't say much. At least anything that speaks interest or excitment. They look like test shots to me. If you had something interesting going on it would / could be better.

Don't know about lighting. I do street work, so I take the light as I find and build on it. Blast away more and try differnt comps and angles.

If you know a gal, shoot her. Much more interesting subjects with gals...everyone loves em both guys and other gals! Put em in a bathtub and shoot them. Light paint them nude, goosebump em, or whatever you like.

If you don't have a gal, put the guy in the tub if you got to. But do something with them. I have the same problem with my own work. I am not a stager or director. I am a doc and street photog. So I shoot what is presented to me and don't stage things. So many of my photos don't have a lot of excitment in them...yet they still have some interesting features.

Dramatic lighting helps.

Photography of Daniel Teoli Jr.: Photo

Movement, motion blur and expressions also help. Maybe tell them to make some faces, shoot them tight and hdr em. Just try all sorts of things until you hit pay dirt.

With doc photography we don't have the luxury a set up photog has. They can reshoot the scene all week. We have to come up with something in a few blinks of the eye.

Good luck!

casey_2005 · Aug 26, 2013

Ilovemycam said:
Your photos are OK, but they don't say much. At least anything that speaks interest or excitment. They look like test shots to me. If you had something interesting going on it would / could be better.

Don't know about lighting. I do street work, so I take the light as I find and build on it. Blast away more and try differnt comps and angles.

If you know a gal, shoot her. Much more interesting subjects with gals...everyone loves em both guys and other gals! Put em in a bathtub and shoot them. Light paint them nude, goosebump em, or whatever you like.

If you don't have a gal, put the guy in the tub if you got to. But do something with them. I have the same problem with my own work. I am not a stager or director. I am a doc and street photog. So I shoot what is presented to me and don't stage things. So many of my photos don't have a lot of excitment in them...yet they still have some interesting features.

Dramatic lighting helps.

Photography of Daniel Teoli Jr.: Photo

Movement, motion blur and expressions also help. Maybe tell them to make some faces, shoot them tight and hdr em. Just try all sorts of things until you hit pay dirt.

With doc photography we don't have the luxury a set up photog has. They can reshoot the scene all week. We have to come up with something in a few blinks of the eye.

Good luck!

Thank you for the feedback and that's a great photo you linked. :thumbup:

I agree there isn't much interest or excitement there, at least not for the random viewer. I'm interested in the photo because I took it and it's of a friend, because I know what the expression on his face means and what he was thinking, but few are going to know that and it's something I need to think about. I do have some from different angles and with different composition but this time I wasn't a fan of any of them. We even did some faces, monkey faces to be more precise. :lmao: Didn't turn out though. Will toss around the tub idea to him!

As I said earlier I didn't have much direction, aside from testing out new equipment I guess I just wanted a picture that represented the subject well and was pleasing to look at for people that know him. To be honest it's (the first photo) one of my favorite portraits I've taken and I'm finding it challenging to disconnect from that when judging it. :meh:

On the plus side he really liked it and offered to purchase it from me.