My attempt at shooting portraits... C&C

[thebasedsloth]

CIMG0015 by TheBasedSloth, on Flickr


CIMG0007 by TheBasedSloth, on Flickr


CIMG0014 by TheBasedSloth, on Flickr
Really wish that car wouldn't have been in that one^

But critique and comments would be highly appreciated.

 

[dxqcanada]

Questions:

How much effort did you put into the locations?
Did you pose the people, or did they just pick their own positions?
What do you like about them?

 

[tirediron]

Questions:

How much effort did you put into the locations?
Did you pose the people, or did they just pick their own positions?
What do you like about them?

^^ This! All three of these seem rather more like snapshots of strangers that you happened across. Generally speaking, a portrait is an image which is planned, posed and illuminated to acheive a certain result. All three of these suffer from exposure/lighting issues.

 

[MLeeK]

Questions:

How much effort did you put into the locations?
Did you pose the people, or did they just pick their own positions?
What do you like about them?

^^ This! All three of these seem rather more like snapshots of strangers that you happened across. Generally speaking, a portrait is an image which is planned, posed and illuminated to acheive a certain result. All three of these suffer from exposure/lighting issues.

And MAJOR distraction/composition issues.

 

[DiskoJoe]

These arent portraits. They are street scenes. Portraits have an up close emphasis on the person.

 

[chuasam]

These might be interesting photojournalism/art shots in the vein of Lee Friedlander or Robert Frank. As portraits, these fail.

 

[Josh220]

They're more street photography than portraits since none of them emphasize the person as the subject. It's more of a "scene" than a "portrait."

 

[KyraLamb]

All of these photos have an emphasis on space. I like space in my photos as well. And lighting/composition issues? Looks like life to me!

 

[ghache]

haha the first one is epic, who stand in the ****in dirt like that to talk on the phone.

 

[cgipson1]

As mentioned.. these are not portraits. Especially #3.. you can barely see the guy! You might want to google "portraiture"!

 

[thebasedsloth]

Okay, so maybe they're NOT portraits.
But as photos in general, whether they're street scenes or whatever you wanna call them, what do you guys think?

 

[DiskoJoe]

Theyre pretty boring.

 

[bazooka]

Okay, so maybe they're NOT portraits.
But as photos in general, whether they're street scenes or whatever you wanna call them, what do you guys think?

#1 Our one-legged, no-footed man, is standing (on his nub) in a flower bed on the phone. He is leaning against one of the most visually distracting patterns on earth.

#2 What's important about the sky and all the power lines? Why give them so much space?

#3 It's good that you saw the car because I was going to mention it. I think this is the most interesting of the bunch, but I still don't see any purpose to it. It looks like you might have a grasp on the technicals (or your shooting auto), so start working on how to use your backgrounds and surroundings effectively. I recommend reading lots of books.

 

[PapaMatt]

They seem to be staged candid photos, portraits they are not. Street shots, maybe if they were not staged.
# 3 I like the best even with all the problems of light etc.
Keep shooting and read, read and read and shoot some more, you can learn a lot on this site.
Good luck to you

 

[12sndsgood]

for me. if im taking a picture of someone i want them to stand out and be the piece your eyes go to and the main focus. in these the people are just sort of lost in the background. they are not standing out above there envirement. make them more the focus point in the picture. like the first one, theres nothing wrong with a brick wall, but 90% of the picture is the brick wall. so it basically becomes the subject to me. the last one, your just so far away from the guy and its so dark there isn't much to him. get closer. and show off the person and not the building.