My teenage son

[Rhee Williams]

Hi All! I'm new to photography and forums all together. I posted a photo of my niece earlier and got great feedback. I'm now posting one I took of my son today.

Please any and all critique me, as I would like to develop my skills as a photographer.

Thank you [emoji182]


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[Rhee Williams]

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[Derrel]

Good-looking kid you've got. I think this shot might work cropped to a square, maybe filtered in a sort of Instagram way, to play up the earbuds and the sideways glance.

 

[Rhee Williams]

Good-looking kid you've got. I think this shot might work cropped to a square, maybe filtered in a sort of Instagram way, to play up the earbuds and the sideways glance.

@Derrel Thank you so much for the compliment of my son. [emoji4] sounds like a great idea!


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[Designer]

Please any and all critique me, as I would like to develop my skills as a photographer.

Depending on how easy it will be to get him to pose again, pay attention to the background. There are cars and a tree which are distracting elements in the shot.

When your subject is mostly a vertical subject (such as a person), turn your camera to "portrait" format. I would have put the bottom of the frame just above his elbows at a minimum, and much lower if I could. And maybe not quite so much sky.

Note; this is sometimes fixed later by cropping off most of the unneeded portion of the frame to make a "tall" format, but you might as well get used to doing it early on. Eventually it will become second nature.

I don't know what camera you have, but some will do "fill flash" with the built-in flash. Just a bit more light on your subject would help a lot.

 

[photo1x1.com]

Hi Rhee,
I´m with Derrel, your son has quite some potential .
The tree and the cars are somewhat disturbing though, so as he suggested a crop would work better. For my taste it is also slightly underexposed.
As a newspaper image that is supposed to show a rather bored teenager, it would work great. But for a family style image, I´d try to shoot images of him of things he likes doing. Then he would probably not mind when you are taking pictures.

 

[expeditedf]

Wow, such quality on Iphone, it's great

 

[alexis.alvarez]

Love his look -- such a great moment. If you can replace the background (maybe with just sky or sky+trees), the photo would be so much better.

 

[Rhee Williams]

Please any and all critique me, as I would like to develop my skills as a photographer.

Depending on how easy it will be to get him to pose again, pay attention to the background. There are cars and a tree which are distracting elements in the shot.

When your subject is mostly a vertical subject (such as a person), turn your camera to "portrait" format. I would have put the bottom of the frame just above his elbows at a minimum, and much lower if I could. And maybe not quite so much sky.

Note; this is sometimes fixed later by cropping off most of the unneeded portion of the frame to make a "tall" format, but you might as well get used to doing it early on. Eventually it will become second nature.

I don't know what camera you have, but some will do "fill flash" with the built-in flash. Just a bit more light on your subject would help a lot.

@ Designer Thank you so much for your comment. I have a Canon 80D, do you recommend using the built in flash outside? Or just change the aperture or ISO? I will work on my portrait format. It gives me more incentive to get it right the next time. [emoji4]




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[Rhee Williams]

Hi Rhee,
I´m with Derrel, your son has quite some potential .
The tree and the cars are somewhat disturbing though, so as he suggested a crop would work better. For my taste it is also slightly underexposed.
As a newspaper image that is supposed to show a rather bored teenager, it would work great. But for a family style image, I´d try to shoot images of him of things he likes doing. Then he would probably not mind when you are taking pictures.

@photo1x1.com Thank you for saying my son has potential. I'm going to make him my main subject that I post frequently, follow him with my camera and keep shooting..

I get motivation from the feedback and look forward to improving.


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[Rhee Williams]

Love his look -- such a great moment. If you can replace the background (maybe with just sky or sky+trees), the photo would be so much better.

@alexis.alvarez thank you for your comment. [emoji8] not so sure how to replace the background with just the sky + trees. I hope to learn a lot being apart of this forum. [emoji4]


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[Designer]

.. do you recommend using the built in flash outside? Or just change the aperture or ISO?

I recommend using whatever flash you have. I know it seems counterintuitive, what with all the daylight and all, but fill flash will "fill in" the shadows under people's chins and eyebrows. See if your camera has that setting. Use it outdoors whether it's bright or cloudy.

Just making correct exposure with aperture and ISO will do nothing about erasing shadows.

BTW: just so you'll know more than many photographers; ISO is applied gain and has nothing to do with exposure. The reason many people put it into the exposure equation is because if your aperture and shutter don't give you a good exposure, you can bump up the ISO which will have the apparent effect of increasing exposure.

 

[Designer]

Love his look -- such a great moment. If you can replace the background (maybe with just sky or sky+trees), the photo would be so much better.

@alexis.alvarez .. not so sure how to replace the background with just the sky + trees.

I think alexis.alvarez is suggesting you use Photoshop and get into some highfalutin editing. Same shot, just wiping out the cars and tree.

Personally, I don't have Photoshop, so I don't do that. I just learn to watch out for extra stuff in the background. Sometimes I ask my subject to move a few steps left or right to get a better background. Or I move.

 

[Designer]

Thank you for saying my son has potential. I'm going to make him my main subject that I post frequently, follow him with my camera and keep shooting..

If your son is willing to spend time helping out his mom, then you should count yourself lucky. Work with him in setting up shots with him doing something he is interested in. He can be looking at the camera or not, depending on what he is doing. Tight head shots, full-length shots, invented poses, with a friend, whatever.

 

[Rhee Williams]

.. do you recommend using the built in flash outside? Or just change the aperture or ISO?

I recommend using whatever flash you have. I know it seems counterintuitive, what with all the daylight and all, but fill flash will "fill in" the shadows under people's chins and eyebrows. See if your camera has that setting. Use it outdoors whether it's bright or cloudy.

Just making correct exposure with aperture and ISO will do nothing about erasing shadows.

BTW: just so you'll know more than many photographers; ISO is applied gain and has nothing to do with exposure. The reason many people put it into the exposure equation is because if your aperture and shutter don't give you a good exposure, you can bump up the ISO which will have the apparent effect of increasing exposure.

@Designer
I know it's part of learning, but not sure what all that means... Sounds like I need to do lots of research. [emoji53]


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