Latest portrait practice

chanda95 · Jun 13, 2014

My kiddo. Natural lighting, no flash. Challenge was the hat and the reflection off the fence and wall turning everything orange. It was pointed out to me that in one of my pictures he looked a little orange so with my limited software capabilities I turned the saturation down a notch and hope that helped. He wouldn't stop messing with his shirt so yeah..it's uneven. :grumpy:

I am trying to take your suggestions in..My mind is overloaded. I got some really great pictures..but then looked at the background and realized I whoopsied..I get focused on the subject and my background turns out completely unlevel. I scrapped those. Had I not been reading some of the threads here I would have (in the past) been happy with those pictures.

I know these have faults so tell me what you see that I can do to make them better next time. Thanks!

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6) I threw in this black and white for fun. I asked him who his girlfriend was..this was his response. This one looks better clicked on to make bigger I think but I do think maybe the lighting is a little harsh..the expression was funny

ruggedshutter · Jun 13, 2014

First off I think that you did a great job. Anything that I say, you can take with a grain of salt and know that these are just little things.

1. I think that you nailed this one. It's a little hot on the model's right side of his face but it still looks good. I would like to see his eyes a little higher in the frame so that it's on the upper 1/3 line of the frame. It will help with focusing there first, when looking at the photo, and the sharpness of the eyes looks good from what I can tell.

2. This one would be a hard one to crop. You lost his hands at the wrist, which going wider would more than likely make you crop at the knees. Much closer and it would be nearly the same as the first image. Hard to decide where a good crop would be because I like this image. I was going to suggest straightening this but the vertical lines on the barn are already straight and the horizontal lines on the bench are slightly leaning down to the right. Not sure how to fix this.

3. This one, IMO, would be a little stronger if you shot this from an angle. You could keep him in the same pose and just move to the left so that he doesn't look like an amputee. I would like to see the model's right leg so if you shot it on an angle you would see that there is a leg there.

4. It looks a lot like the first one but he is in a feminine pose. His head is tilted towards the high shoulder making it feminine.

5. Same as number 4. Men/boys don't tend to look good in a feminine pose. If you tilted the head towards the low shoulder, it would bring out a more rugged look that is typically more appealing to men.

6. I like it and it looks natural. If you use Lightroom, there is an option in the Black & White section where you can adjust the individual colors. I would tone down the red and oranges a bit and it should darken his face a little without changing much of the rest of the image. I'm sure that PS has a good way to do tonal adjustments.

Rosy · Jun 13, 2014

chanda95 said:
My kiddo. Natural lighting, no flash. Challenge was the hat and the reflection off the fence and wall turning everything orange. It was pointed out to me that in one of my pictures he looked a little orange so with my limited software capabilities I turned the saturation down a notch and hope that helped. He wouldn't stop messing with his shirt so yeah..it's uneven.

I am trying to take your suggestions in..My mind is overloaded. I got some really great pictures..but then looked at the background and realized I whoopsied..I get focused on the subject and my background turns out completely unlevel. I scrapped those. Had I not been reading some of the threads here I would have (in the past) been happy with those pictures.

I know these have faults so tell me what you see that I can do to make them better next time. Thanks!

1)
<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=76829"/>
2)
<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=76830"/>
3)
<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=76831"/>
4)
<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=76832"/>
5)
<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=76833"/>

6) I threw in this black and white for fun. I asked him who his girlfriend was..this was his response. This one looks better clicked on to make bigger I think but I do think maybe the lighting is a little harsh..the expression was funny

<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=76834"/>

What was your apeture at. The eyes seem a bit soft, did you focus on the eyes

chanda95 · Jun 15, 2014

Body...F9.0..ISO 500
Head..F5.0..ISO 500

To be honest no wasn't focusing just on the eyes..I was looking more at overall facial expressions and trying to get the lighting right. I probably dropped the ball on that aspect lol,

chanda95 · Jun 15, 2014

ruggedshutter said:
First off I think that you did a great job. Anything that I say, you can take with a grain of salt and know that these are just little things.

1. I think that you nailed this one. It's a little hot on the model's right side of his face but it still looks good. I would like to see his eyes a little higher in the frame so that it's on the upper 1/3 line of the frame. It will help with focusing there first, when looking at the photo, and the sharpness of the eyes looks good from what I can tell.

2. This one would be a hard one to crop. You lost his hands at the wrist, which going wider would more than likely make you crop at the knees. Much closer and it would be nearly the same as the first image. Hard to decide where a good crop would be because I like this image. I was going to suggest straightening this but the vertical lines on the barn are already straight and the horizontal lines on the bench are slightly leaning down to the right. Not sure how to fix this.

3. This one, IMO, would be a little stronger if you shot this from an angle. You could keep him in the same pose and just move to the left so that he doesn't look like an amputee. I would like to see the model's right leg so if you shot it on an angle you would see that there is a leg there.

4. It looks a lot like the first one but he is in a feminine pose. His head is tilted towards the high shoulder making it feminine.

5. Same as number 4. Men/boys don't tend to look good in a feminine pose. If you tilted the head towards the low shoulder, it would bring out a more rugged look that is typically more appealing to men.

6. I like it and it looks natural. If you use Lightroom, there is an option in the Black & White section where you can adjust the individual colors. I would tone down the red and oranges a bit and it should darken his face a little without changing much of the rest of the image. I'm sure that PS has a good way to do tonal adjustments.

Thank you so much. That is exactly the type of critique I need. I honestly didnt even think about the poses in terms of masculine or feminine..will absolutely file that info for the next practice run. I don't use light room but I will get it and give your suggestion on the black and white. You have been a big help. Thanks!!