Headshots with Keely

[max3k]

I'm not swayed by forum peeps. I shoot what I like, how I like, and in the orientation that I like.
L]

It should've ended right here.

I forgot to add "for profit"

Paying customers trump forum jockeys any day

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Question? I assume you have see the work of the masters? Those paintings that are considered the epitome of art? The portraits that are so beautiful, they evoke emotion even in people that don't know art?

Any cut off foreheads in those? NO! Maybe there is a reason! Amateurs, noobs, rookies and MWAC's shoot that way a lot... and they advocate it just to be different!

so what are you going to do?

I loves me some dead space!

More room for the big pro watermark

 

[Derrel]

Show us the woman...NOT some boring, evenly lighted seamless paper.

Every square millimeter of PAPER background one shows subtracts from the amount of the person shown. Orienting the camera "wide" to shoot a headshot against seamless paper compounds the loss of the "person". People LOVE, they absolutely LOVE, to look at photos of faces. Handsome male faces, and pretty female faces,and cute babies of either gender---people love looking at those things! Evenly-lighted, light-hued seamless paper in a photo studio....

Ehhhhh....limp....

 

[amolitor]

An important reason that paintings never chopped anything is that you (mostly) don't paint larger than life size, traditionally.

A painting cropped this close would be a very small painting indeed.

 

[mjhoward]

Pretty girl! Too bad only one of these is in portrait orientation, and all the rest have her head chopped off!

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Ironically your avatar is in landscape with the head chopped off.

 

[Derrel]

Paying customers trump forum jockeys any day

McDonald's is the best restaurant in America. WalMart is the best store. Why? They have LOADS of paying customers--the MOST customers in America in their respective categories. "Paying customers" who buy low-quality stuff are not really a good judge of what is or is not first-rate quality. I know a lot of chefs who some day dream of working at Mickey D's.

 

[MTVision]

I forgot to add "for profit"

Paying customers trump forum jockeys any day

I just have to add something about paying customers. Just because they are paying and they are happy doesn't mean that you are doing a good job. Now I'm not talking about you in particular.

I just had my pictures done by a local photographer. EVERYBODY uses her and absolutely loves her. Thinks she's the best thing since sliced bread. And she is crazy busy and has tons of happy, paying customers <----- which is great right? Now I come along and get some pictures done by her - I'm not a great photographer by any means but I know what good photography looks like. I'm just talking the basics here - exposure, focus, color, etc. stuff you should have nailed down before you go into business. My pictures aren't the worst pictures in the world but they are far from great. I'm not happy with them at all. The exposure, colors are all over the place. The poses suck and she gave no direction.

I feel like this photographer settled for mediocrity. People pay her and like her work so she doesn't need to work any harder to improve.

People are always/usually going to be happy with pictures of themselves and/or others they have an emotional attachment too. Of course you want your paying customers to be happy and satisfied but don't you also want to know that you are doing the best possible? I'm not saying to take what everyone says here as gospel but the advice/opinion of other photographers is important IMO.

 

[cgipson1]

An important reason that paintings never chopped anything is that you (mostly) don't paint larger than life size, traditionally.

A painting cropped this close would be a very small painting indeed.

And one reason there is no need to do it in photography is that you can print as large as you want to..... within reason of course.

 

[MTVision]

McDonald's is the best restaurant in America. WalMart is the best store. Why? They have LOADS of paying customers--the MOST customers in America in their respective categories. "Paying customers" who buy low-quality stuff are not really a good judge of what is or is not first-rate quality. I know a lot of chefs who some day dream of working at Mickey D's.

^^^ this is basically what I was getting at

 

[mjhoward]

Paying customers trump forum jockeys any day

McDonald's is the best restaurant in America. WalMart is the best store. Why? They have LOADS of paying customers--the MOST customers in America in their respective categories. "Paying customers" who buy low-quality stuff are not really a good judge of what is or is not first-rate quality. I know a lot of chefs who some day dream of working at Mickey D's.

I think, like shaq at the free throw line, you missed the point. max3k's point was that McDonald's is the HIGHEST GROSSING restaurant in america. They have loads of paying customers because they deliver the product that customers want, not because that's McDonald's idea of top quality food.

 

[cgipson1]

I forgot to add "for profit"

Paying customers trump forum jockeys any day

I feel like this photographer settled for mediocrity. People pay her and like her work so she doesn't need to work any harder to improve.

Maybe she should copy the style of a famous, successful photographer.. that way she doesn't have to be original, or improve!

 

[cgipson1]

Paying customers trump forum jockeys any day

McDonald's is the best restaurant in America. WalMart is the best store. Why? They have LOADS of paying customers--the MOST customers in America in their respective categories. "Paying customers" who buy low-quality stuff are not really a good judge of what is or is not first-rate quality. I know a lot of chefs who some day dream of working at Mickey D's.

I think, like shaq at the free throw line, you missed the point. max3k's point was that McDonald's is the HIGHEST GROSSING restaurant in america. They have loads of paying customers because they deliver the product that customers want! Which in their case turns out to be crap!

You are right, CRAP! And appropriate!

 

[mjhoward]

You are right, CRAP! And appropriate!

I ninja edited on you.

I don't want any confusion here but I wasn't trying to imply that the OP's shots or technique is crap.

 

[amolitor]

An important reason that paintings never chopped anything is that you (mostly) don't paint larger than life size, traditionally.

A painting cropped this close would be a very small painting indeed.

And one reason there is no need to do it in photography is that you can print as large as you want to..... within reason of course.

But in the first place we no longer paint or print life sized, and in the second place a life sized close crop of a face is still a reasonable print size. It's a bit intimate, but it's not ridiculously tiny, which it would be in oils. Not to say that there are not very small oil paintings, but in general, most of the time, it would have been considered quite tiny.

 

[MTVision]

Maybe she should copy the style of a famous, successful photographer.. that way she doesn't have to be original, or improve!

I don't think that would even help her!