First Portfolio(feedback needed!) and CC on photos(very specific questions!!)

[Foxx]

Yo TPF'ers

It's been awhile. I'd like to get some critique on PP and composition for a few pictures,I've asked specific questions for each shot and would really appreciate any comments or opinions you have.

I'd also like to get any feedback you'd like to give on my first portfolio Foxx Photography - This Is Me

Thanks! :mrgreen:

#1 - Taken at the local state forest. I've been experimenting with golden hour and "light leak" looks. Also with some gradient coloring. How is the composition and color combination?

#2 - An old cat I've taken pictures of before, she's a wild one I absolutely the 50mm prime but I have a hard time pulling back on the wide aperture. Does this shot need a larger DoF(on the head) or is this ok?As a more general question, when shooting a subject with a wide aperture is it better practice to get the whole subject in focus or try to focus on narrow details?

#3 - At an old burned down house. How do you decide how much ambient environment to include when taking portrait? As in, how narrow do you usually crop to keep attention on the subject while also including the environment to add character?

#4 - On GA HWY 212. Does keeping the sky blown detract from the shot?(I didn't have my tripod on me to take multiple exposures)

#5 - A friend shaved his no-shave november beard and we decided to have some fun! I was improvising with lighting(used a metal sheet to his left to get a bit of fill light, used the wall as a diffuser with off-camera flash). How could I have improved the lighting?

 

[Frequency]

My naive feelings....
#1: The wide aperture magic, i would call this..... The purple tint adds to the quality

#2: If you had the cat fully in frame and fully sharp, then that would have reduced to a snap shot
.
#3: This is as such good; i really like it; but i would have smeared some carbon on her T-shirt feel more involvement

#4:Excellent symmetry there; If sky were more blue or infested with clouds, the eyes would have locked up there..... so i like a plane sky like this

#5: I liked it; rest things about it within my capacity to comment

I liked your portfolio collection very much

 

[tirediron]

C&C per req:

1. Not doing a lot for me to be honest; the in-focus portion of the image is so small, and so far offset that you have to look to find it. I think you would have been much better served with a much closer, possibly macro shot of part of the one stem.

2. Kitty needs some fill light on her face. As far as focus goes, my preference is for the key details to be in sharp focus. Since this is a portrait, the most important aspect is the face. I see nothing wrong with the body fading out of focus into the background.

3. There's no forumula; use what looks right to you. In this case, I rather like the symmetrical frame-effect, but I would like to see a little more light image left, especially the upper LH corner. In this image the subject's pose and clothing don't really work for me. They're rather too "average".

4. Yes, I think it does. I would like to see a little detail at least in the sky, just as I would like to see at least a little detail in the deep shadows foreground. That said, this is a great location!

5. I don't think the lighting is too bad here, especially for what you had to work with, BUT I do think a slight selective exposure increase on the left (image right) side of his face would help, and perhaps an overall slight increase in contrast. His shirt, which I assume to be white shows as a light grey on my monitor. Watch your composition here; you have a disembodied hand in the centre foreground, and the pipestem (does anyone really smoke a pipe these days???) is pointing out of the image. Use things like this to accentuate the subject; shoot portrait orientation and have the pipe point to him.

Unfortunately, your 'site won't load for me so I can't comment on your portfolio.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

 

[Robin_Usagani]

All the questions you asked.. It is really up to you. You are the artist and it is your photo.

 

[amolitor]

On portraits, there are a couple of different things going on here.

Environmental portraits are about the person in their environment, and you can put quite a bit of environment in there. More than you show in #3 is fine. Normally, though, there is some connection between the subject and the environment, when I am not seeing in this one. Is that her house that burned down? What's going on? Your #3 is more surrealist than environmental portrait, since you've placed a pretty, clean, nicely dressed model into a burned out context.

Traditional portraits are all about the subject, and you come in much closer, and try to eliminate the environment. So, obviously, less than what you show in #3.

The idea of putting some background in to "add character" is, I think, basically wrong. Following this, you're just going to create confusion about what the subject is. You're either taking a picture of a person, or a picture of a person in a place. If it's a picture of a person with some stuff around them, you're going to make the subject unclear.

An interesting wrinkle is that in environmental portraits the subject is frequently NOT looking at the camera, whereas in a traditional portrait they frequently ARE looking at the camera. It's not a firm rule, and I might be simply imagining it, but it makes sense to me for a variety of reasons.

 

[Mully]

#1 ....I like this image because only a tiny portion is in focus which tell a story of look at me.

#2 .... the cat image is OK but not portfolio material

#3 I would like better tighter.... as a portrait you feature the person ....you don't need her legs and all the extra burn items to tell the story


#4 has a nice POV ...see if you can replace that sky for something that enhances the image

#5 Like the subject ...it is just a little flat

 

[Foxx]

thanks for the feedback everyone.

@Robin yes I know it differs from person to person but I wanted your opinion. I learn from understanding other perspectives.

@tirediron Yeah some people still do smoke pipes The shot looks brighter on LR, I'll up the exposure a bit