My C&C Thread

[Jeatley]

From time to time I want to get opinions on some of my work. Should rename myself 4EverLearning!

I will start with two Portraits that I did. One was for a Belly Dance Studio. The 2nd is a Couples shoot.

The Belly Dancer I was going for simply beautiful.

The couples shoot was at night with only one sb600. We were supposed to shoot sunset but they got there late. I was forced to get it done in the dark!
So I went for very dramatic! Let me know what you think! If you have questions feel free to ask!

Belly Dancer

Couples Shoot (Yeah it is just here but what can I say)

 

[Jeatley]

13 views and no comments.... ahhh I am dissapointed! Oh well heading to bed! Goodnight all!!! LOL

 

[Derrel]

The woman in the first photo looks very alluring and sensual and natural. The woman in the second photo is shown with what I think is rather unflattering lighting coming from below and off to the side; the dark shadow on the right hand side of her nose looks kind of bad to me. The low-on-the-eyeball catchlights are also unflattering, especially on the eye to the camera's right... As far as 13 views and no comments so far--it's pretty late in the day...most people in the USA are asleep already...

I like the natural look of the first subject; I can see "real" skin detail. Today, many people would retouch the daylights out of her skin, but I do not think that is always a good thing. There is a bit of unexplained white, or light-colored skin in spots on the neck of the belly dancer...not sure what that is...that seems to be some type of anomaly.

The skin on the woman in the second photo doesn't look as appealing, I think due to the extremely steep angle that she is lighted from, which is causing more skin texture and makeup texture to be revealed.

 

[Jeatley]

Thank you Derrel and yeah I know it is late... I was just joking around with the second post.

I agree with alot of what you are saying. The 2nd photo I did notice that she had a ton of make up on and it did hurt the shoot. I am sure you read the top that this shoot was suppose to be 1 hour before sunset not the hour after. LOL I have never shot portraits outside in the dark and I was trying to pull a rabbit from a hat. Told her that a number of times. I have many more but I fell in love with her eyes in this one. This was the last shot of the shoot and she was standing infront of her car. I know that the shadow on her nose is kinda bad but I hoped that the eyes would sell the shot. I have been lookin at the shot for a few weeks and still trying to learn more from it. The reason I posted it. So thanks for the comments. ALWAYS LEARNING. I will post one more from this shoot if you care to comment again!

This one I like except the Shadow behind her head. I was working with one sb600 with umbrella, could I have done anything else?

 

[cnutco]

Once again I think Derrel nailed it.

1. I think the light area on her neck is the reflection from the clothing that she is holding up. Yes, it is bothersome.

2. Nothing else to add.

3. I agree with you on this one. The only thing I can think of would have been to add more lighting to the shoot. Maybe soft continuous lighting... not sure though. I am still learning too.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Derrel]

In this third photo, you are right about the shadow on the wall...it is a bit bothersome to me...it just adds a kind of ominous, gloomy feeling to the photo...she's giving off a sexy-eyes kinda' vibe,but the shadow is sort of Lon Chaney (old horror movie actor). Again, I think what is making that shadow feel ominous, and gloomy, or kind of spooky is the way it goes higher than her head, not so much the fact that there is a shadow. Lighting from below has a profound psychological impact on modern viewers. I am not sure if it is from conditioning, or if it is inherent to humans, but when the shadow of a person goes above the head level, we know, instinctively that the lighting source is low...low light sources put the shadows "up"...firelight is a a natural, ages-old source of light...anyhooo...thinking a bit, perhaps if you gave this image a very reddish, warm color cast that simulated fire light, maybe it'd look more alluring. Because, the shadow itself would have been fine, expected even, if it were coming from a light that was placed camera-left and higher,instead of camera left and lowish. I think applying some type of imitation firelight effect to this shot might salvage it.

yeah...people showing up for a twilight shoot after the sun has set...rabbit out of the hat,indeed...people showing up three hours late for photo sessions...calling people and hearing them say, "Oh was that supposed to be *today*???"...etc,etc. Yup.

 

[Jeatley]

I think I will have to give it a try when I get a chance and do that fire light idea. I was going for dramatic so once again the hard shadows dont bother me as much
In this shot. She was standing low in the stairs leading down to the ground floor. The flash was sitting about chest hight or maybe even as hid as collar bone hight. That makes me wonder why the shadow casted that high in the first place? Once again I thank you for taking the time to respond to my photograph

 

[Jeatley]

Ok Made a trip to Global Wildlife Center in Louisiana. Opinions and comments please! What could I have done better, or what did I do wrong. I was in a wagon with 15 other people. We had room to move around but I had to shoot down on most of the animals. Here are two of my favorites!

 

[Jeatley]

Ok I was hoping for a few comments cause I dont want to start a new thread each time I want to talk about some photos but I will try again! HEre are two new shots I would like opinions on!!