Hi Miss Emily

[PixelRabbit]

Ok, I have taken a deep breath and reminded myself that this is just a picture of Miss Emily and anything criticized is the picture and not her.

Found her texting in the sunroom and said "Hi" to get her attention and snapped a couple shots. It turned into a mini shoot but none of them turned out as good as this one, the rest looked more posed etc.

Em has asked me if I will take pictures of her and I figure this one I'm happy enough with to use as a jumping off point to get some C&C and get the ball rolling.

Things I like and dislike.... I like the light, I like the lines and details, rip in jeans, hand on belt, heart below her face... they all keep me looking around and seem to lead me back to her face, I like her skin, I love the subject
I dislike her shirt twisted, her glasses not being pushed up on her face, unsure about the tilt of her face but love her jawline despite that.

Other than that I'm a little lost on critiquing it myself. This is the full frame so no more can be added into the crop only taken away. The only things I did post was to bring the exposure down a quarter stop (she appeared too translucent in the original) and upped the saturation a smidge.

Thanks for taking a look!
C&C very welcome!


Hi Em by Judi Smelko, on Flickr

 

[CMfromIL]

Pretty girl, I share your pain of them growing up. My 15 year old seems to spend more time with her friends than us recently!

The shirt the way it is twisted, along with the exposed skin is really, really distracting. If that were resolved, it would have been a much better shot IMHO. I like the lighting, and the background.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Hi CM and thanks
I was iffy on the skin but was unsure if it was the Mom in me lol I didn't mention it on purpose to see if others did. We will be sure to make certain all clothes are straightened next time around.

 

[Hussain Frutan]

ooh wow amazing shoot and great lighting

i love it

 

[CMfromIL]

Hi CM and thanks
I was iffy on the skin but was unsure if it was the Mom in me lol I didn't mention it on purpose to see if others did. We will be sure to make certain all clothes are straightened next time around.

BTW, I'm not advocating women be covered from neck to ankle burka style. Just this particular shot the way the shirt is bunched, and the skin is sitting it has a weird look.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Thanks Hussain

CM I totally agree. I pondered the shadow there and if it can be altered/removed without making it look altered and realized I had no clue lol I will def play with this image for practice when I get photoshop running. I will watch for things like that next time around. While I love the "imperfections" of the human body, this one obv gives off a false impression

 

[DiskoJoe]

Not too bad. You might try a bw render and see what you think. I think it would take to it well.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Thanks Disco I'll def try that, the thought didn't cross my radar.

 

[12sndsgood]

agree with what's being said about the shirt. not a bad picture, maybe straighten it a bit (window frame looks crooked) and let it just be a decent shot of your kid.

 

[MReid]

Choose your background like it is a frame for your subject.
Place the subject into the frame.
The pose in this is just really awkward...any others from this setting you can post?

Try not posing her, put her where you want her and then interact with her, when she looks good....shoot. Gives you a better chance of coming up with a natural looking shot with some energy.

 

[PixelRabbit]

agree with what's being said about the shirt. not a bad picture, maybe straighten it a bit (window frame looks crooked) and let it just be a decent shot of your kid.

Thanks 12sndsgood yep I know this one isn't going to turn into anything brilliant but thought it was a good jumping off point. I like the shot for just that, a decent shot of her and using it to learn how to take that brilliant shot

Choose your background like it is a frame for your subject.
Place the subject into the frame.
The pose in this is just really awkward...any others from this setting you can post?

Try not posing her, put her where you want her and then interact with her, when she looks good....shoot. Gives you a better chance of coming up with a natural looking shot with some energy.

Hi MReid, thank you I like that way of thinking of it, put her inside the frame, I will be more conscious of her background.

The not posing her is where we fall off the apple cart, we both seem to struggle a bit. She is poking around the internet finding pictures she likes pose wise and I'm working on my end of it
Here are a couple other shots

 

[MReid]

Put her in the frame and start talking to her about what she had for breakfast or whatever, keep the camera ready, when she looks good shoot.
Takes the pressure off everybody.

After about 15 minutes of fidgeting she will settle into it.
Make sure she is in a comfortable position.

I learned a long time ago that trying to fit one person into another persons pose just doesn't work...you can put them in the general position and then let them find their own comfort level.

Interface and keep the camera ready, shoot when she looks good, keeps it fun.
Instead of pose, don't move, smile, click, repeat, repeat, repeat. That method is no fun for anybody.

 

[PixelRabbit]

"Instead of pose, don't move, smile, click, repeat, repeat, repeat. That method is no fun for anybody."


Exactly! that is where we end up... and I find that the first shot of a new position is the most relaxed, after that first one or two shots she has her smile painted on and we go into "school picture" zone

The last one with her hands up we were talking about other ideas and she went Hmmmm and strummed her fingers. Missed focus on it and don't like the framing but like how relaxed she is and not forced/posed.

Thanks for the great tips it will definitely help next time!

 

[pgriz]

Of the three you just posted, I like the second one the best. You can clearly see her eyes, and the exposure is pretty much ban-on for her face. The first one is a tad dark, with the background well exposed, but her face is dark. In the third one, I'm having difficulty seeing the eyes and the exposure is a bit on the bright side. I'm thinking if you brought down the exposure a bit and used a reflector to shine some of that abundant window light onto her face, you'd have a winner.

 

[Derrel]

The top photo is a nice moment, but the pose just did not come together. As you said, there were some good things about it. But the angle and the positioning of her body and the camera's placement in relation to her, just did not quite work as well as maybe it should have. The shirt is wrinkled, and her belly looks a bit,well, odd...the wasy her torso is twisted looks,well, kind of weird...uncomfortable, unnatural...just a bit "off"...

If you want to see how to make that basic body position turn into a good, solid, perfected pose, I would suggest the Sports Illustrated swimwear galleries...I;'m getting used to new glasses and do not wanna type out a million-word exp. when a look at SI.com can show you how to make that a perfect pose. In any clothes-jeans and tee, dress, swimwear.