Had a shoot today! C&C welcome :)

[elizpage]

It was a very artsy shoot, as she loved the graffiti that we found in Little Five points in Atlanta! I did this shoot for her for free, as I am doing a special on my Facebook page to advertise and she won the free shoot. She's also a friend of mine who was in my major in college. Overall--I'm happy with how this went. I think I'm actually improving, which is a huge thing.

The final results are better than I thought, but I am aware that there are many things I did wrong: such as:
1) not posing her properly & not really providing her with much direction.
2) Shooting at low apertures (again, ugh! I am so bad about this) and still not being completely comfortable with ISO.
3) Some of them are out of focus. I'm aware of this, I tried to sharpen them, but some are still not as in focus as I'd like.

Anything else you all would like to add? These are lightly edited, I just threw them in Lightroom and tried to sharpen them up and mess with the WB and exposure. Don't be too harsh ^.^ Like you all already know, I'm a new photographer without years and years of experience.

Edit; also in the second one her skin needs retouching. I'm not super comfy with this yet, though. Thank you Emily though for posting that video! It's helped me a lot.

 

[frommrstomommy]

Not too bad! Overall I really like the location and outfits and such.. #5 is completely OOF.. I would scrap that one. It is very obvious that the wall is in focus and not the subject. I love the last one.. really fun but the crop needs to change.. cropped right at her wrists. You want to avoid cropping at any joints as a general rule of thumb whenever possible. Watch for tiny little accidental crops like in #3.

 

[elizpage]

Not too bad! Overall I really like the location and outfits and such.. #5 is completely OOF.. I would scrap that one. It is very obvious that the wall is in focus and not the subject. I love the last one.. really fun but the crop needs to change.. cropped right at her wrists. You want to avoid cropping at any joints as a general rule of thumb whenever possible. Watch for tiny little accidental crops like in #3.

Ah okay, I'll completely do away with it. Now that I'm looking at it more.. I can totally see the OOFness Why avoid cropping at joints? Just unflattering?

 

[frommrstomommy]

Not too bad! Overall I really like the location and outfits and such.. #5 is completely OOF.. I would scrap that one. It is very obvious that the wall is in focus and not the subject. I love the last one.. really fun but the crop needs to change.. cropped right at her wrists. You want to avoid cropping at any joints as a general rule of thumb whenever possible. Watch for tiny little accidental crops like in #3.

Ah okay, I'll completely do away with it. Now that I'm looking at it more.. I can totally see the OOFness Why avoid cropping at joints? Just unflattering?

You know.. I don't know. lol BUT that is just what I've learned as far as "general rules of photography" go and I try to follow it. Maybe someone else will chime in who has a real answer for you to that one. lol Also.. #2 would be really nice with some more skin retouching.

PS PS PS .. lol number your images, will make life easier for people responding.

 

[elizpage]

Not too bad! Overall I really like the location and outfits and such.. #5 is completely OOF.. I would scrap that one. It is very obvious that the wall is in focus and not the subject. I love the last one.. really fun but the crop needs to change.. cropped right at her wrists. You want to avoid cropping at any joints as a general rule of thumb whenever possible. Watch for tiny little accidental crops like in #3.

Ah okay, I'll completely do away with it. Now that I'm looking at it more.. I can totally see the OOFness Why avoid cropping at joints? Just unflattering?

You know.. I don't know. lol BUT that is just what I've learned as far as "general rules of photography" go and I try to follow it. Maybe someone else will chime in who has a real answer for you to that one. lol Also.. #2 would be really nice with some more skin retouching.

PS PS PS .. lol number your images, will make life easier for people responding.

oh okay. Haha =P Numbering images is such a hassle. But I s'pose it's worth it.

 

[frommrstomommy]

You will likely get more specific CC if you number them, so yes.. worth it!

 

[Derrel]

Yes, #5 is utterly back-focused. The solution I've found is to use the magnetic lasso and select the OOF parts, then hit "Sharpen", then Fade SHARPEN, then repeat Sharpen, then fade, then repeat. This was so bad that I did that three times, and it still had not sharpened up, so I hit Sharpen More, then faded that, then did a Sharpen, then shrunk it wayyyy down in size, then applied a pass of Unsharp Mask at 80%, 1.0 pixel, threshold of Zero.



The danger in releasing files like this to clients is that they will say, "Hey, I like that picture...how about an 8x10 or 11x14 of it!" Uh-ohhh...unless it's printed on heavily-textured paper or canvas, the lack of fine detail will be revealed when printed. However, for WEB use, seen SMALL, an image that is this badly back-focused can often be salvaged by the method I just detailed.

 

[tecboy]

What shutter speed did you use for these images?

 

[tecboy]

I have the same problem. You need to pay attention to the auto-focus points, and make sure one of the points is selected on the subject. The fifth image is 1/80 shutter speed. I think it is too low. Her head may move a little causes softness. Increase the shutter speed and don't be afraid to increase the iso a little bit. You have to experiment to get it right. Hope that helps.

 

[tecboy]

The danger in releasing files like this to clients is that they will say, "Hey, I like that picture...how about an 8x10 or 11x14 of it!" Uh-ohhh...unless it's printed on heavily-textured paper or canvas, the lack of fine detail will be revealed when printed. However, for WEB use, seen SMALL, an image that is this badly back-focused can often be salvaged by the method I just detailed.

Derrel, you sound like Simon Cowell, LOL!:greenpbl:

 

[Derrel]

May be this little memory device I just came up with will help you on these types of close-in shots done with a 50mm on a real,live human being.

"f/5.6 'em, and you'll never have to fix 'em".

"Two people means enough for a date, so use f/8."

 

[TreeofLifeStairs]

The reasoning I always thought you don't crop at a joint is because if you see the joint your mind is expecting to see the rest of the limb/appendage.

 

[cynicaster]

The reasoning I always thought you don't crop at a joint is because if you see the joint your mind is expecting to see the rest of the limb/appendage.

Yes, something like that. Seriously, after having this explained to me a few years ago, I became hyper-aware of chopped limbs and appendages. So much so that it’s one of the few oft-discussed “guidelines” that I basically exercise as a hard and fast rule.

Another way to think of it is, when finger tips are chopped off or people are hacked off at the knees, it looks like an amateurish mistake, and (IMO) is just as distracting as a background tree limb protruding from a model’s ear.

When the crops are safely away from joints, I find the overall composition has a much better chance of translating as being purposefully devised and impactful. Mind you, it doesn’t guarantee any of that, but at least it does not stand in the way of it like a shoddy crop would.

 

[Derrel]

"Mom, why can't I put my elbows on the table?"

"Because we just don't do that!"

"Mom, why do I have to pick up my room and make the bed?"

"Because that's the way we do things around here!"

"Mom, why am I not supposed to chop off the fingers of a person in a portrait?"

"Because that's the way we do things around here!"

 

[robbins.photo]

"Mom, why can't I put my elbows on the table?"

"Because we just don't do that!"

"Mom, why do I have to pick up my room and make the bed?"

"Because that's the way we do things around here!"

"Mom, why am I not supposed to chop off the fingers of a person in a portrait?"

"Because that's the way we do things around here!"

So if you want your pics to score points don't chop them off at the joints,

Got it... rotfl