Just starting out and would love some critique!

Derrel · Apr 10, 2013

A few things stand out. First, that kind of direct,evening sunlight has a special look, a warm, orange-y glow to it, which I happen to like. It can make people a bit squinty, but it does produce nice eye catchlights. In these two pictures, I can see soft, open shadows, so I would not classify the light as being "harsh", but actually slightly diffused, yet still with a little bit of crispness to it. Earlier in the day, direct sunlight would be harsh, but at that time, the light's not that bad, and some people will really love the warm glow the light has; think beach portraits, picnic shots, things like that--all look good with warm light. As long as people are not squinting.

Framing on the first is too tight...you chopped her forehead off and yet showed her feet. On the second shot, there is far too much foreground and background, and you could easily crop in and improve the shot. Somewhere in-between these two shots is the 'right' framing for this kind of a pose and scene. Depth of field....honestly, f/1.2 looks gimmicky, and to me, virtually screams "noob! fascinated by ability to shoot at 1.2!". Stop it down to f/4.5 and watch the quality go wayy up, and not create distracting uber-shallow DOF, and eliminate the focusing issues that plague ultra-fast lenses used wide open.

If you want to actually be ,"Continuously training, learning and improving," then at some point you'll have to start accepting "nit-picky" C&C. The devil is in the details. The small things are what distinguish a true professional, a skilled shooter, from the mom with a camera or Facebook photographers whose work is generally "ehhhh" to "okay", but seldom rises above mediocrity.

Stefany0219 · Apr 10, 2013

Thanks Derrel. I admit I do have to stop down more when shooting. I just get caught up in the real blurry bokeh, but I realize I have to get over that. And as far as nit picking, I always welcome technical, composition, editing, lighting, etc. advice. I just don't like when I ask for this kind of advice and I get, "I don't like the face she's making" or "her hair is in her eye". I would certainly watch for these things if I was working on a client..seems like a no brainer. That's all. Thanks again

OfMikeandMen · Apr 10, 2013

Hey,

I am new to photography, so I don't have much room to talk. However, I am currently reading a book on composition. I noticed in the second picture, as mentioned, there is too much going on in the background. Bryan Peterson refers to these as "crying babies" because they move all your focus from the main subject, to something else. The light in the second photo is way too bright. If you look at the photo, at least for me, I focus immediately on the background because it is the brightest portion of your photo. When you're composing a picture, spend time looking at the background. See if there is anything distracting you from the subject, and recompose. If you're like me, you probably get trigger happy with continuous shooting. If you do this, you'll end up with some good shots, but mostly shots with distractions in it. Think before you shoot. Think about how you want the photo to look. This is something I SUCK at.

While small apertures are good for portraits, f/1.2 is more of a speed you'd want to use at night. If you're using a 85mm lens, try shooting at an aperture of 3.5 or 5.6, and slow your speed down. Shoot a test shot, and see what is in focus, see what isn't in focus, and adjust from there to your liking.

I would also recommend white balancing, if you're not shooting RAW. It might help to shoot on custom white balance. I don't know where "pros" stand on this, but I actually keep a card on me to white balance. You can buy them at photo shops or just buy some poster board and cut it out. I don't do much photo editing yet, so I don't shoot on RAW. Shoot a test shot, look at the color, and see if you need to adjust it.

I'm not an expert so if I mislead you, hopefully someone will correct me. These are just things I've noticed from reading books.

Stefany0219 · Apr 10, 2013

Thanks for the composition tips. That's one thing that I think a lot of newbies do is just shoot and shoot and shoot. I do have to take the time, slow down, and focus on how I want the image to look before shooting. When I was shooting these however, the histogram looked good(no clips on right or left side), so I kept going on those settings. I do have to stop down though. I agree on that. I also have to work on exposing for the sky if it has to be in the picture(like a field or somewhere with very little shade). I was actually shooting on raw and using custom white balance with an expodisc. The editing was post processing work, that I happen to like. It has sort of a warm, dreamy effect in my opinion, but I know that's subjective. Thanks OFMikeandMen and best of luck to you in your journey!