Express Yourself

[RegiUsh]

 

[DGMPhotography]

What are you trying to do with this thread?

 

[RegiUsh]

Looking for a critique... What I could have done better, or this just doesn't work. I liked it, but I can't look at my stuff and not be partial. I was trying to capture some of my best friends character outside of her smiling face.

 

[jcdeboever]

The framing seems off. The exposure seems off. She is gonna need foot surgery.

 

[snowbear]

Overall, I like the idea, but it's underexposed. A little fill light (or post tweaking) would have helped. I'm not sure about the crop going across the knuckles, like that - maybe show more of the hand? On a second look, the ring might be out of focus (I can't tell); it doesn't seem to be the main subject but it pulls my eye so it seems it should also be sharp.

 

[F5 Penguin]

Tattoos to photograph well can be quite tricky. You really have 2 subjects to deal with, the tattoo and the body part. You need to photograph them both well to make the shot work. Don't be discouraged by comments, you took on a big task with this pic. Feet are about as hard as body parts get. See it as a stepping stone to learn from.

 

[tirediron]

Tattoos to photograph well can be quite tricky. You really have 2 subjects to deal with, the tattoo and the body part. You need to photograph them both well to make the shot work. Don't be discouraged by comments, you took on a big task with this pic. Feet are about as hard as body parts get. See it as a stepping stone to learn from.

Good points! ^^ As mentioned, this is significantly under-exposed. I think this would be much better as two separate images rather than trying to cram both feet & tattoos into one image.

 

[RegiUsh]

Excellent, thank you so much for your feed back. This is exactly why I joined this site. Now I have to get her to play model again lol.

 

[smoke665]

Excellent, thank you so much for your feed back. This is exactly why I joined this site. Now I have to get her to play model again lol.

In addition to the other points mentioned, I would experiment with lighting and shadows, think about what you want to reveal, and what you want to hide. If you don't have supplemental lighting, get a a big piece of white foam core, you can add a lot of fill with reflectors. Also it's not just adding fill, black foam core can be used as flags, to block light from hitting those areas that are getting to much.

Look at framing and composition, do you want this to be strictly about the feet, would a different background work better, could you use a background with color to accentuate the nail polish, or the tattoos.

Finally perspective, don't stay in one spot, move around, looking at your composition from all different angles. Sometimes a different angle makes all the difference, in highlighting certain features, and decreasing others.

 

[DGMPhotography]

Looking for a critique... What I could have done better, or this just doesn't work. I liked it, but I can't look at my stuff and not be partial. I was trying to capture some of my best friends character outside of her smiling face.

You should say so in your OP. All you did was post a picture of feet with a vague title, "express yourself." Don't be so lazy. Post the image and share your thoughts about it, and solicit feedback if that's what you want.

That said, the image is underexposed, out of focus, and and there is debris you should have cleared out, or cloned out in photoshop. Also, her foot looks broken.

 

[petrochemist]

You should say so in your OP. All you did was post a picture of feet with a vague title, "express yourself." Don't be so lazy. Post the image and share your thoughts about it, and solicit feedback if that's what you want.

That said, the image is underexposed, out of focus, and and there is debris you should have cleared out, or cloned out in photoshop. Also, her foot looks broken.

That strikes me as a classic example of how NOT to give critique. It comes across very negative, with out any suggestions for improvement.

I like the idea of the shot, but like everyone else I see it as underexposed (somewhat surprising as the dark background would encourage the camera to overexpose). Spot metering from one of the feet should cure that.
I suspect adding a little more light (perhaps from a desklight slightly to one side & a reflector such as white card to fill in the shadows on the other side - it doesn't have to be expensive photographic gear) would help improve the three dimensionality of the feet & also help with the focus.
Feet are difficult to get right, especially when they've spent time crammed into fashionable shoes. Your friends left foot suffers from this experimenting with different angles, focal lengths & viewpoints should help improve this - but it won't be easy.
Cloning out little background marks can be done in any photo editing software - I find the free FastStone much less intimidating than photoshop. It's amazing home often people don't see these but once they're pointed out they tend to become very obvious.

I would also recommend uploading images with the EXIF information intact (save for web generally strips it). This allows people to see the settings you used & helps giving suggestions.

 

[F5 Penguin]

I find it disappointing the lack of ladies frequenting forums and using them for their photography. My personal experience suggests they are out there with their cameras but I think the attitudes of males on places like this scares them off.
@RegiUsh should be commended for putting up her pics to help her learn. Trashing people in this way is not cool. It's a typically modern trait but it is not cool.

 

[DGMPhotography]

There was no “trashing” and I would have made the same comment regardless of who it was.

It’s basic forum etiquette. If you want something, ask for it. Some people don’t like critique and freak out if you give it to them. So if you want it, say so. That was my point.

 

[zulu42]

You might try shooting down across the top of the foot with ankle close to the camera and the toes further away, it would make the toes appear smaller.

Here's a relevant question about this shot that I have struggled with in my own photos:
What makes a nice, dark, low key photograph different from a photograph that's simply underexposed?

 

[smoke665]

You might try shooting down across the top of the foot with ankle close to the camera and the toes further away, it would make the toes appear smaller.

Here's a relevant question about this shot that I have struggled with in my own photos:
What makes a nice, dark, low key photograph different from a photograph that's simply underexposed?

An underexposed shot is underexposed across the board, highlights, midtones, and shadow. A low key shot emphasises the light on specific areas, with all tones properly exposed for the frame.