I need you, tell me what's wrong :)

[Derrel]

No hate, just a correction. Many people get confused that moving the aperture control toward the higher numerical values (like f/8, f/11, and f/16) is what is meant by stopping down.

"Opening up" the aperture means moving to a wider aperture....a bigger hole...and lower numerical values, like f/4, or f/2.8, or f/2.

These days, we're moving toward a situation where many people just learning the craft are using the wrong terms to describe the most-basic aspects of photography, such as referring to "higher" and "lower" in terms of f/number value, as opposed to the way aperture control has been described for a hundred years.

Faster and "slower", stopping down or opening up, "higher and lower", and so on. We're closing in on the point now where it is becoming so commonplace to see the long-time conventions used bass-ackwards that written communication is becoming less clear, and what's been written in books and articles and forum posts for years is now confusing many beginners.

 

[DiskoJoe]

yeah this is a lot better. Would had like to have seen more separation between him and the bookshelf behind him to accentuate the shallow depth of field more. Maybe try a similar shot at more of an angle going down the book case instead of the straight forward shot like this. maybe set him off center too would help if you want to use the horizontal orientation.

 

[DiskoJoe]

If your lens can do it, maybe stop down the aperture, that, or move the subject further away from the bookshelf. To me they are too much in focus and are distracting. For example: Right now your friend is lost in the books and I'm drawn instantly to look at "BLACK HOLE". I almost miss looking at him and can only focus on that red book.

You need to do something to pull the subject into "focus". Maybe a more interesting pose, a different color shirt, a rim light, just something to draw your focus to him. I would try to shoot this in portrait as well, your subject is only taking up like 1/6th of the image. If you really want to keep it in landscape, I'd at least crop out the top of the book shelf. And try to move him/you so the vertical shelf isn't jutting out of his head.

I quickly googled "library portrait" and found this image: http://blog.bdocktorphotography.com.../06/Roe-Jan-Library-Community-Portrait-96.jpg

Maybe something more like this? It still clearly communicates he's a librarian or a book reader of some sort, but the person's face is the focus of the image.


Other than that, your lighting is pretty good, maybe slightly under exposed (but that is any easy fix) and maybe just a touch soft focus.


Also, remove the NES Zapper from the bookshelf next time. (Like I said, background is too distracting.)



I only have MS Paint to work with on this computer, but I'd much rather see it like this:

View attachment 57754

The shot in the link here is more of what I was referring to. Thats a really nice shot.

 

[Derrel]

I just looked at the original shot with the top of the book case's upper edge eliminated...removing that thick, 2-inch piece of wood from the top of the frame really changes the "feel". Cropping out that whole piece of wood makes the book case/book shelving unit much less of an "entity"....weird...

 

[polars]

Once again, thank you for your feedbacks. You have no idea how much you help me.

I've read every messages once again carefully this week end, I brought my photos to my work place (they have perfect calibrate screens) and i was very surprised... The photos appears very differently on a calibrate screen..

So, I think I need a new monitor with a calibration system..

 

[polars]

Ok I think my screen is (almost) ok now..

Here another picture I would like to show you.

It's quite the same type of framing, but I feel like it work better with an emptier background.

What do you think about it?