my first senior session!

[TCampbell]

Nice shots.

In #1, frame him a little lower (head higher in the frame) so you're not cutting off his arms. This is a good masculine pose for guys... head tilted back toward the lower shoulder.

In #2, avoid posing a subject with shoulders square to the camera. I also avoid placing a subject too close to a background unless the background is angle and provides leading lines to direct the view to the subject. Also... be _very_ careful when shooting into glass (reflections). I don't think I can see you in this shot though.

In #4, in addition to Tyler's comment (your rule of thirds placement has him facing out-of-frame... generally you want them to facing in toward the center of frame) the lower left corner is a bit of a distraction. There's something metal there (perhaps a gate) and the corner is a little distracting as well. I might have moved him farther down the wall and used the wall to create a leading line directing the vision toward your subject. In both #3 and #4 I wish you'd have cropped in a little closer.

I like #5 and I like that this is closer -- but I do agree with Tyler on that arm.

#6 has too much empty sky. I'd have lowered the camera. As I look at the lower corner details I might have gone for a full-length shot here and used the wall as a leading line (but then I can't see what that wall really looks like). His body is leaning quite a bit more than I'd like.

#7 His body is too far from the girl. Move their bodies closer. Bringing them closer and also having them gently tilt their heads together (but just gently) helps convey a warmer feeling... that they like each other.

#8 Nice facial emotion in this one!

 

[texkam]

Tim is spot on with the technical rules. Learn them. Know why they exist. However, as someone with a degree in Fine Art, I can tell you sometimes rules are made to be broken. Breaking them can create a whole different impact on the viewer. #4 and #7 are perfect examples. 4 is wonderful in so many ways. You bet he's facing out of the frame. .... proudly! The eye enters from the left and bam, there he is. The gate and the metal lintel create a nice vertical and horizontal play echoed by the buildings. This image portrays strength and confidence. Well done. #7, Sure he's too far from the girl, but as we learned, it's his sister. As a girlfriend pose, Tim is right, not so good, but as a brother sister pose, .... perfect. The framing plays on this sense of space as well. The artist in me loves the feel of this session. Of course not everyone will see it this way. That's why it's important to really know your client.

 

[paigew]

Thank you guys. I love hearing all this critique! Funny you mentioned not to shoot straight on. In my course it was specifically stated that with men you CAN shoot straight on to help bring out the broad shoulders; that shooting straight on creates a masculine feeling. (yes I was very careful not to get myself in the window haha).

 

[KmH]

You got good exposure values. Others have already commented on poses, composition.

I don't think the use of light was all that effective. Lots of dark upper eye sockets, and shadows under the eyes.
A lack of separation, from a lighting perspective, also means little 'subject 'pop' from the backgrounds.
A visual art truism is - Light Advances. Dark recedes. - so 'pop' is basically making sure your subjects are brighter than the background.

 

[TCampbell]

Funny you mentioned not to shoot straight on. In my course it was specifically stated that with men you CAN shoot straight on to help bring out the broad shoulders; that shooting straight on creates a masculine feeling. (yes I was very careful not to get myself in the window haha).

I agree it can bring out broad shoulders -- there are certainly always exceptions. The "rules" (guidelines really) are rules because usually following them will net a better result. I went looking for posed models with shoulders square to the camera. Wen I find them, they seemed to fall into two categories:

(1) although their shoulders would end up 'square' to the camera, somehow other features of their body would not be (e.g. the angle of their head, rotation of their hips, bend of their waist, arms, etc. was twisted so that basically their shoulders ended up square but their body as a whole was not square.)

(2) their whole body was mostly square and the pose was definitely designed to show off a masculine body... but in nearly every example I could find, the male model was shirtless.

I could find a few miscellaneous shots that didn't fall into one of these categories but I'm not sure they count... for example runway (fashion) shots of models faced square to the camera, but they're moving, not in a stationary pose.

What was drilled into me when I apprenticed was that posing a person 'square' to the camera (unless they have a extremely FIT body) puts 10 lbs on. Also posing them exactly sideways (profile) puts 10 lbs on. But angling their body takes 10 lbs off. ...and of course square shots resemble mug shots.

If you're going for broad shoulders, I'd consider your subject's clothing and look at how his shirt hangs on his body. It's not a snug-fit nor trim-fit shirt and it's not tucked... so it pretty much just hangs loose and drapes straight down. Does it show-off and add-to his look... or does it detract-from his look? It's just something to think about. As the photographer you usually also get to be the fashion consultant.

BTW - awesome that you managed to get the camera square to the glass and made sure you didn't catch your own reflection. That was drilled into me when I started. I used to think about it for an "obvious" reflective surface (like glass) but my boss was constantly on me to avoid doing it even for less obvious surfaces because so many surfaces that aren't things you'd think of as "reflective" will still cause a reflection if you're using flash (and we were mostly using flash). e.g. you wouldn't think of a cinder block wall as "reflective" but this is a common building material in schools and to make them easy to keep clean they're nearly always painted with a gloss-finish paint (it's easier to keep clean). The gloss finish would cause a reflection of a flash to show up. Same for wood paneling with a shiny or semi-shiny finish. These are really just problems for flash photography, but it was drilled into me so well that now I'm constantly watchful of it.