My first ever self portrait

hyakuhei · Jan 19, 2008

Hey All, This is my first ever self portrait, done for a set project on picturethis http://picturethis.channel4.com

Please C&C :-D

JaimeGibb · Jan 19, 2008

It's a little dark for me...other than that, very nice

Sw1tchFX · Jan 19, 2008

It's WAY underexposed, we're not talking about just a stop or two.

hyakuhei · Jan 19, 2008

Sw1tchFX said:
It's WAY underexposed, we're not talking about just a stop or two.

No it isn't, surely its obvious that I wanted low light levels ? meh, thanks for the feedback, just seems a little thoughtless.

Ronman · Jan 19, 2008

I love it, just the way you meant for it to look. ron

jstuedle · Jan 19, 2008

For my tastes, it IS a little dark. IMHO, if your face was exposed spot on, but the BG remained low key it would be better. But ultimately you are the one who knew what you were shooting for.

Alpha · Jan 19, 2008

I think everything about it, technically, is perfectly fine. But your gaze is emotionless and the pose is oh-so cliche. Sorry to come down on you so hard about that but the pose really does look like a bad impersonation of Le Penseur.

Trenton Romulox · Jan 19, 2008

hyakuhei said:
No it isn't, surely its obvious that I wanted low light levels ? meh, thanks for the feedback, just seems a little thoughtless.

Why did you even bother saying 'thanks for the feedback' when we can all tell you're not grateful for what he said. I'm gonna have to side with Switch on this one, it is underexposed. You can go for low-light levels without them being this low. But hey, it's your shot and if this how you want it, fine, just don't get bent out of shape when people don't like what you did. And yeah, Max is right about the pose, it's sort of tough to take you serious with that pose, which is kind of funny considering how 'serious' the pose is supposed to be.

.Serenity. · Jan 19, 2008

It is a bit too dark. You arent clear in the image because its so dark. I think adding in a small light ( like a night light lamp) where you are looking might cause some more shadowing but keep your image low key. Just bring you out of the image and clear you up a bit.
I for one, do like the image, i just wish i could see you a bit better.

Alpha · Jan 19, 2008

Trenton Romulox said:
Why did you even bother saying 'thanks for the feedback' when we can all tell you're not grateful for what he said. I'm gonna have to side with Switch on this one, it is underexposed. You can go for low-light levels without them being this low. But hey, it's your shot and if this how you want it, fine, just don't get bent out of shape when people don't like what you did. And yeah, Max is right about the pose, it's sort of tough to take you serious with that pose, which is kind of funny considering how 'serious' the pose is supposed to be.

Okay I think you're being a little high and mighty here, I hope you don't mind me saying. In terms of the absolute black-to-white scale-- yes, the shot is underexposed and the PS histogram/densitometer confirms it. However, he's well within his rights to intentionally underexpose a photo if he pleases and I think you're being a little rash in assuming that he's made a technical error and then calling him out on it. And no, you can't really have low light with more light. That shouldn't require a lot of explanation. It sounds overly simple because it is.

hyakuhei · Jan 20, 2008

MaxBloom said:
I think everything about it, technically, is perfectly fine. But your gaze is emotionless and the pose is oh-so cliche. Sorry to come down on you so hard about that but the pose really does look like a bad impersonation of Le Penseur.

Thanks man, as much as the photo may or may not be underexposed, it came out at the light levels that I wanted, thats what I was aiming for and wasn't some mistake on the camera or anything like that.

I know the pose is bad, Its my first self portrait and the first time that I've worked with backdrops in this way as well. It was fun but, the image doesn't really tell you anything about me...which, makes it a bad portrait hehe.

I have another one planned for next week, it involves lots of post-its!

hyakuhei · Jan 20, 2008

.Serenity. said:
It is a bit too dark. You arent clear in the image because its so dark. I think adding in a small light ( like a night light lamp) where you are looking might cause some more shadowing but keep your image low key. Just bring you out of the image and clear you up a bit.
I for one, do like the image, i just wish i could see you a bit better.

Thanks serenity, I think one way that the portrait reflects me is in the light levels, I'm shying away from the camera somewhat I suspect

Thank you for the feedback :thumbup: I hadn't thought about adding a face-on lightsource

hyakuhei · Jan 20, 2008

Trenton Romulox said:
Why did you even bother saying 'thanks for the feedback' when we can all tell you're not grateful for what he said. I'm gonna have to side with Switch on this one, it is underexposed. You can go for low-light levels without them being this low. But hey, it's your shot and if this how you want it, fine, just don't get bent out of shape when people don't like what you did. And yeah, Max is right about the pose, it's sort of tough to take you serious with that pose, which is kind of funny considering how 'serious' the pose is supposed to be.

Ok well firstly, I'm thankful to anyone that takes time to look at my work. I just wish that he had considered that I wanted that light level before assuming that I'd messed up. It wasn't a matter of him not liking it. As for the pose...don't assume I'm supposed to be serious. Some of my friends think that the staged pose reflects my personality quite well *but*, and its a big *but* it doesn't work on people who don't know me, so in that respect, its a bad portrait, no doubt.

Thanks for the comments

Sw1tchFX · Jan 20, 2008

hyakuhei said:
No it isn't, surely its obvious that I wanted low light levels ? meh, thanks for the feedback, just seems a little thoughtless.

It's your image we all assume, but you wanted feedback, deal with it.

It's not obvious that you wanted it dark. I have no idea if your monitor is calibrated or not. If it's not calibrated, than it might seem properly exposed on your computer, but under on everyone else's.

hyakuhei · Jan 21, 2008

Sw1tchFX said:
It's your image we all assume, but you wanted feedback, deal with it.

It's not obvious that you wanted it dark. I have no idea if your monitor is calibrated or not. If it's not calibrated, than it might seem properly exposed on your computer, but under on everyone else's.

I guess its just the presumption of fault rather than intent that upset me. I'm sorry if I over reacted, I was just looking for some constructive criticism (as the C&C guidelines).

I am thankful for the input of the others here, I'll go back to the drawing board hehe