need critique...

[henryalg01]

tried to shoot sunset yesterday but i asked my wife to pose for me, and i made it B&W, edit it, i know my edit is worse , specially smoothing skin , i'm kinda rush but how about the entire photo :

 

[Jaemie]

I don't like the way the horizon cuts through her head. Also, part of the sky is blown. You already mentioned the skin smoothing in PP; it looks pretty bad I'm afraid and I can't even tell if your pretty wife is in focus. The pose is okay. I like the scene and mood and the light, and your composition aside from the head/horizon issue looks pretty nice.

 

[JoshuaSimPhotography]

It is a good photo, but i think it would look great with no edit! Unless she wants u to edit it

 

[tirediron]

What Jaemie said!

 

[Rick58]

Jaemie nailed it.
I really like the concept though. One of the first things that caught my eye was how her head is haloed by the darker coluds. I don't know if it was intentional, but I like it.

 

[Studio7Four]

I agree with Jaemie's points as well. I do have a couple additional thoughts on the composition.

I personally would have liked to see just a little more space under her feet. You didn't crop off any of her feet, but they're still so darn close to the edge of frame that it feels a touch cramped, almost as if she's standing on the edge of the frame and not on the rocks. Had she been just a tad higher in the shot (keeping much more room above her than below) it would have felt more right to me.

I know it is generally a no-no to run a horizon through your subject's head, and I don't fault Jaemie for that bugging her. On the other hand, I'm not sure how you could have shot this particular scene in a better way. I like your perspective relative to your wife, so let's assume that you're not changing your shooting angle drastically (as that would create a totally different shot). You have three scenic elements to work with - the rocks, the water, and the sky - I like their relative proportions in this shot. But let's say that you did want to not have the water/sky line run through your wife's head. You could change your perspective slightly to move it up or down. If you move it up above her head you've reduced the sky to about half of what it is now - in my opinion that is too little a portion of the shot, plus you would be cutting out the bright part of the sky and leaving only the flatter grey portion near the horizon. Conversely you could bring the sky down to just below her head, but that would put the horizon right about the middle of the frame (generally thought of as another no-no). Anything beyond these (ie, removing the sky or making it more than half the background) would require a substantial change in angle relative to your wife. So yeah, based on the location and the pose I think you composed it well. And maybe it's because her dark hair frames her face and sets it off from the background, but I don't really mind the height of the horizon anyway.

 

[Rick58]

I went back and looked at it again and I think Rob is right. I'm not sure what the photgrapher could have done differently. Keeping the horizon on the 3rd's, moving the model up or down would, IMO, have ruined the shot. Also a good call on the toes. A couple inches sure wouldn't hurt, but over all, I like it.

 

[Derrel]

I went back and looked at it again and I think Rob is right. I'm not sure what the photgrapher could have done differently. Keeping the horizon on the 3rd's, moving the model up or down would, IMO, have ruined the shot. Also a good call on the toes. A couple inches sure wouldn't hurt, but over all, I like it.

I have no issue with the horizon...the space beneath her feet is a bit skimpy....more space there would have helped I think. I say re-post with NO edit. I don't usually like much, if any, skin smoothing.

 

[henryalg01]

I went back and looked at it again and I think Rob is right. I'm not sure what the photgrapher could have done differently. Keeping the horizon on the 3rd's, moving the model up or down would, IMO, have ruined the shot. Also a good call on the toes. A couple inches sure wouldn't hurt, but over all, I like it.

I have no issue with the horizon...the space beneath her feet is a bit skimpy....more space there would have helped I think. I say re-post with NO edit. I don't usually like much, if any, skin smoothing.

Yup ...but she asked me to edit her skin or delete it...so there itis.

about Rob ...is this what you mean :


tried to put the horizon up her head...yeah i know not good enough, i can reedit. but this is what you mean ?

 

[Jaemie]

Noooooooo........ Put down the mouse and step away from the Photoshop tools!

 

[Rick58]

Noooooooo........ Put down the mouse and step away from the Photoshop tools!

Amen

 

[henryalg01]

Noooooooo........ Put down the mouse and step away from the Photoshop tools!

ahahahah....ok..bad habit ...i will ask her to come with me to the beach again to retake...ahh need a lot of patient here

but that what supposed to be...if i retake ?

 

[Jaemie]

That's a great idea: more photography AND a romantic time at the beach, as well. :thumbup:

Also, tell her she's lovely, has a beautiful face and body, and that the overwhelming consensus of photography experts (us) and those who appreciate female beauty (also us) is that skin smoothing is rarely justified and in this case totally unnecessary. Have fun.

 

[henryalg01]

for your information i know this is B&W but to let you know the reason she want me to edit her skin :

 

[Studio7Four]

about Rob ...is this what you mean :


tried to put the horizon up her head...yeah i know not good enough, i can reedit. but this is what you mean ?

Well, you actually did something I hadn't considered which is change the aspect ratio to get more real estate above her head (so the amount of sky isn't reduced to being insignificant). I have two browser open right now so I can look at this and the original side by side - I recommend you do the same. IMO you have completely different feels to each of the images now, largely due to her being so low in the new frame, but also because she is now only against a backdrop of water it feels like you shot her from higher up.

Remember, I didn't mind the horizon where it was, I was just brainstorming on how the shot would have been different had you tried to follow that rule. If you find the horizon cutting through her head to be an issue, I would recommend asking your wife to model for a reshoot. If she has the patience for it, go back to the area and shoot, shoot, shoot for composition (then, when you've figured out what works and what doesn't compositionally, you can go back yet again when you can focus on the lighting, etc). Slight differences can move that horizon around for you. Find a rock which is higher or lower than the one she's on here, have her change her pose slightly (straighten her back, or not crouch quite so low onto her heel - or have her crouch more), change your shooting height and angle slightly... For instance, I'd bet that if she were on a rock just a couple inches higher and you shot from just an inch or two lower that you could get that horizon to be at her shoulders.