dock portrait, cc

[CouncilmanDoug]

 

[tedfoto]

Hmm...very nice exposure. I don't mind the sky being blown out if it means the skin tones are right. The colors are rich and she seems to be perfectly sharp from what I can see.

In my humble opinion, there is something 'off' about the composition, and I can't quite put my finger on it. She's dead-center, but we're not filling the frame with our subject very much. Lots of sky, trees, water...I get that we want the context of the surrounding environment, but I can't help feeling like I'm too far away from the subject.

Also, the shadows on the face seem a little harsh, not sure what kind of sky you were dealing with there.

Anyway, I enjoyed the photo. Keep up the good work.

 

[sarah_19_nz]

I like it but I agree with tedfoto, something is distracting my eye?... could it perhaps be the big patch of bright water on the right? maybe that in combination with the blown sky is really distracting me. Perhaps a closer crop to get rid of these elements? Just a thought, I may be way off. I like this image though.

 

[tirediron]

I like the shot, but not the crop. Remember that the eye is naturally attracted to bright objects, so the viewer is going to be drawn toward the blown sky and water. Additionally, a centered subject with this much empty space on either side isn't usually the best for a portrait. Here's a quick crop eliminating the blown areas, and moving the subject out of dead-centre. The dock makes an excellent leading line and works very well now to move the eye to the subect.

 

[tedfoto]

I like the shot, but not the crop. Remember that the eye is naturally attracted to bright objects, so the viewer is going to be drawn toward the blown sky and water. Additionally, a centered subject with this much empty space on either side isn't usually the best for a portrait. Here's a quick crop eliminating the blown areas, and moving the subject out of dead-centre. The dock makes an excellent leading line and works very well now to move the eye to the subect.

Well done tirediron. This seems more effective to me.

 

[Derrel]

Oh my gosh...I looked at the first shot and downloaded it to Lightroom and cropped it...then I scrolled down, and Tirediron had made a very similar crop. Here's my 5-second effort at it...

 

[The_Traveler]

This image does have a strange look to it and there are a couple of things that bother me.
The wide space around, as everyone has noticed.
The OOF part of the dock and reeds that stops in a very short span.
The relatively intense contrast of the light on the subject that doesn't seem to match the foliage behind her.

It seems a bit worked on for my tastes.

 

[tirediron]

Oh my gosh...I looked at the first shot and downloaded it to Lightroom and cropped it...then I scrolled down, and Tirediron had made a very similar crop. Here's my 5-second effort at it...

Well.... I did mine in Photoshop, so that makes it better! :greenpbl:

 

[CouncilmanDoug]

This image does have a strange look to it and there are a couple of things that bother me.
The wide space around, as everyone has noticed.
The OOF part of the dock and reeds that stops in a very short span.
The relatively intense contrast of the light on the subject that doesn't seem to match the foliage behind her.

It seems a bit worked on for my tastes.

The reason it may seem a bit off is because it is a panorama, but besides for that all I did was basic raw processing. This is the base image I worked around just because I wanted to try this idea, not sure if I actually like it better instead. I may try a different crop like those two. this was shot with a 135mm at 2.8

 

[Qveon]

The crop above this post is the crop i would purchase. I have yet to have a customer buy a crop following the rule of thirds.

 

[Derrel]

This shot proves once again, Americans almost universally loathe out of focus foreground bokeh in their photos! It takes a visually-sophisticated, open-minded person to appreciate out of focus foreground bokeh that is used as a significant compositional element,as was done in the original image shown here.

If we (we being the population of the USA at large) were more used to large-format photography, like 8x10 view or 5x7 view camera work, I think we'd be much more-accepting of OOF foregrounds, just due to familiarity with them I think. Just keep an eye out for the use of OOF foregrounds on this forum, and see what the reaction to them is...almost universally negative.

 

[CouncilmanDoug]

this is the final crop I decided on

 

[Granddad]

Hands in pockets? - Very casual, I suppose, but to me it's not a very feminine pose for a lady who is so gorgeous, or am I showing my advanced age?

 

[DanOstergren30 5]

I really like the sharpness of detail, and your exposure seems spot on. The contrast is good in my opinion, and the colors look really accurate. As well, I love your use of natural lighting; it's very soft and there is good depth to it.

For me, the out of focus portion of the dock is a little bit distracting, and I think the center placement of the girl in the frame throws off the composition just a little bit. I think this shot could be improved with a slightly closer crop and by placing the girl just a little bit lower in the frame so she isn't centered between the top and bottom. This would also cut out some of the out of focus area of the dock which would end out getting rid of some of that distraction.

Overall I really like this. What lens were you using, and what was your aperture set to?

 

[DanOstergren30 5]

This image does have a strange look to it and there are a couple of things that bother me.
The wide space around, as everyone has noticed.
The OOF part of the dock and reeds that stops in a very short span.
The relatively intense contrast of the light on the subject that doesn't seem to match the foliage behind her.

It seems a bit worked on for my tastes.

The reason it may seem a bit off is because it is a panorama, but besides for that all I did was basic raw processing. This is the base image I worked around just because I wanted to try this idea, not sure if I actually like it better instead. I may try a different crop like those two. this was shot with a 135mm at 2.8

I should have read all the posts before asking what lens you used and what f/stop. I really like this crop a lot.