Looking for honest Criticism

[outbreakchicago]

I shot this photo at my home using my plan white wall with a canon 7d, 28-135mm lens and a one 580EX II. It was my first time using the dodge and burn tool. What do you guys think?

 

[amolitor]

Some nice styling going on here. The jacket feels a little too dark, but I think it might actually be exposed spot-on, there seems to be texture everywhere even though it *feels* like it should be flat.

I like the pose, I like the light on the torso.

The face looks really messed up, though. A little Michael Jackson dead-skin look going on there. Is there where you dodged? If so, you overdid it a bit! Also, no catchlight in the eyes creates a slightly zombified look (which might be what you're going for -- a gangsta with dead eyes is kind of an interesting idea).

 

[ghache]

The exposure on the subject is quite good, there is some good shadows at the right place. The styling, the pose is also nice. my only nitpik about this shot is it look like the subject has beenpasted on that white backdrop. there is not depth, no separation. other than that i think its a good shot and well executed. could have been a REALLY good shot if some rim light added. If you brightened that background to be that way in photoshopt, i would re try to post process it again to actually get the background less overexposed. and see from there. Seeing the background is sometime alot more appealing than having this totally white look.

 

[outbreakchicago]

Amolitor thanks for the feed back. I did use dodge a bit on his face so next time I'll be sure to go easy on it. As far as catch light I'm limited to only one flash how do I give the eyes more light without overexposing the rest of his face? Any info will be greatly appreciated I'm still trying to learn how to expose the subject correctly with just one speedlite.

 

[outbreakchicago]

Ghache thanks also for your feedback. I did try to make my background a brighter white in post because it had dark grey on his bottom right side and light grey on his top right side. I'm limited to lighting I only have one speedlite so I didn't have any light to light my background. If you have any tips on using one speedlite on a wall I would really appreciate any info.

 

[amolitor]

Not really a lighting guy but maybe place a piece of white material (mat board, foamcore) where it will be illuminated by the flash, and also reflected in his eyes? You can always just paint it on in photostop too, but it's probably going to look better if you get it in there in-camera.

 

[ghache]

1 flash photography is all about balancing your ambient light and your flash. learn how to balance, use your flash as a fill, subject placing using the sun and the available light and you are in for a good trip.



In studio, 1 flash is always a pain in the ass and you are limited. large white board or a cheap ebay reflector is a good options if you are financial tight.

here is used the sun as a back and rim light then i used a small 24X24 softbox with a speedlight to fill.

here, same softbox for fill and a small beam of light coming from a higher windows as a hair light.
I was able to get a bit a ambient light by shooting a large aperture, slower shutter speed and pumping the iso a little bit. adding a bit of fill using flash with these settings was quite easy as it doesn't take much power to light a scene like this at F3.2 1/200 and iso320.

In this shot, i could have measured 3 different light output on my model but only using 1 flash. i used the ambient light, got the flash in at maybe 1.5-2 stop more than the ambient and was lucky that the beam of sun coming from the windows was about another stop higher.