Just some photos

[Derrel]

Crops and light edits from the JPEG files... these are "sort of" the way one would frame anbd compose a formal portrait using a 6x6 cm or square-format camera...with a bit of space above the top of the head...just a different way to compose a picture, and based on what's in the frame, and not point-in-frame based. The left shot is higher in contrast, the green-backdropped shot I made lower in contrast and slightly more ethereal in its look, to coordinate a bit better with her expression.

 

[Cody'sCaptures]

awesome work! Are you shooting with the 105mm ?

A 135 mm. And thanks

Alright, all positive responses all around! I'm doing something right lol.
I been putting in the practice but I still need a lot more and posing, well.. I need a tremendous amount.
I have been wanting to learn Photoshop and was recommended a book and that book has lessons and then you work through projects and it has been wonderful! It has helped me a lot. Where the youtube videos I would get lost and couldn't find a tool, slider or whatever and would get frustrated and just quit watching. However, I been thinking about buying the Jake Olson videos and for 14 dollars, it's not that much of a gamble. But at the price, I don't know. I'm a believer in you get what ya pay for.
I still would love to learn more about colors and I guess color grading it's called.

I just signed up for the monthly"pro" membership on phlearn. He's got a lot great tutorials on Photoshop Abit some of them are on more conceptual type images. Overall learned a lot so far. I've also picked up Lindsey Adler's book on posing. It's got a lot of really good information. There's a lot of examples where it gives you a photo to pick out what's wrong then the next page the"fixed" pose. I've seen that Jake Olsen program that is invading all our social media accounts as well.. I think creative live also has some good deals (with top level eductors) going on lately

 

[Evertking]

Yeah, it was in my Facebook feed. However, I don't think Jake Olson is the way to go. I seen several bad reviews. I will check out Phlearn and the book. Thanks

 

[smoke665]

I have found this to be an excellent reference. Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies . For composition, and use of color, John Hedgecoe's books are great. I've read most of his, but if you only do one then https://www.amazon.com/Art-Digital-Photography-John-Hedgecoe/dp/1405340932 is the one.

 

[jcdeboever]

Can't help on edits in software. Derrels crop is about framing. As John Hedgecoe puts it, photography is about framing. Rule of thirds is nice and all, if your a painter. It works in photography too but don't get hung up on it. Think in terms that your framing. Derrel keenly sees this and makes a dramatic, emotional framing in that image. It wonderfully isolated the subject, that was your intent, no? Study negative space a little and you will see it's about framing and not rule of thirds. Still, wonderful lighting in these and the rendering is very impressive. Only suggestion I would communicate is think in terms of framing, because at the end of the day, that's what we do.

 

[Derrel]

Can't help on edits in software. Derrels crop is about framing. As John Hedgecoe puts it, photography is about framing. Rule of thirds is nice and all, if your a painter. It works in photography too but don't get hung up on it. Think in terms that your framing. Derrel keenly sees this and makes a dramatic, emotional framing in that image. It wonderfully isolated the subject, that was your intent, no? Study negative space a little and you will see it's about framing and not rule of thirds. Still, wonderful lighting in these and the rendering is very impressive. Only suggestion I would communicate is think in terms of framing, because at the end of the day, that's what we do.

Yes, jcdeboever sums it up elegantly: photography is about placing a limited frame area around things in the real world, and making a photo via the art of exclusion, and excluding or eliminating things, whereas in painting, the painter must decide what to include iwithin his or her painting's borders. Photography is indeed, about framing. And yes, it is how we place the photographic frame around our subjects, and not about a frame sliced into little thirds. Consider how I took your wide, horizontal frames, and lopped off the sides, and made almost-square aspect ratio images, and created dramtic "looks" at your subject. I think the eye placement within the frame is important, as is head space (above the hair), as well as body positioning, and of course, lighting and scene/backdrop. And of course, the lighting of the subject. As a general rule, one needs to give the right amount of space to a person, or a car or motorcycle, so that there is a bit more space "in front of them" as compared to the space allotted to the area "behind" them; this is true in the first shot of your father on his motorcycle too, in which a bit more space to the right would have helped a bit, I think.

I think the thing you've hit upon here though is that these two shots have ample depth of field to capture her face sharply, and crisply, as well as her arms and blouse texture, and yet you also have a neat background rendering, and good subject/background separation. No gimmicky shallow DOF tricks were used by you, but you still have plenty of defocused character in the backdrops. Same with the shot of your dad, and with the shot of your daughter in her little chair, and the backdrops well-defocused. These kinds of shots are where the 135mm focal length excels, and your lighting of the subjects with a modifier and a good light just takes reality and makes it look good! You are makiing great family photos of your loved ones,man! How awesome is that!?

 

[Evertking]

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