New Model Mayhem Pics!!! CnC please :) 2nd time shooting models

[shortpballer]

Looking for some critiquing Please
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

 

[mJs]

great shots...especially like #4... i think the only one i'm not huge on is #2... just too extreme of the angle and body position

 

[Derrel]

What? Only 1 C & C so far?

1: Two cute, young hotties, yet, there seems to be little erotic value. I dislike the hand cut off on the LRC. This young woman lying on back, tilting head up to look back at camera thing is just not flattering...it does not "read" very well. The desaturation is not doing much for me.

2: Gorgeous body, great rack, nice makeup, but again, an odd camera angle and an odd model positioning. Just does not do anything for me...

3: I really like the black lipstick, dark hair, and her immaculate makeup. I wish she had more room to "look into". She needs more space to the direction her eyes are gazing. Nice makeup work. Great hair too!

4: Pretty cool-looking photo. The cracks in the plaster at the top, behind her head, are distracting. This photo has some potential I think; with a bit of different processing, it could be taken several ways. Artistically, probably the best of the bunch is #4.

5: WOW--that young woman has got some lovely bits...but the photo doesn't do much to show off her great qualities. Nice bone structure on her, and that killer hair again! I think the lighting on hr is too bright for the background, and wish we could see a bit more of "her". She's a model I'd like to work with. Your MUA did a great job with her.

I know this is early days for you, but you're doing okay. You seem to be working with pretty good people so far.

 

[timfrommass]

This stuff is way over my head so I don't have much C&C, but you sure got some good models! In the opinion of "a man looking at a magazine" #2 appeals the most to me

-tim

 

[inTempus]

"Great rack"? That's my favorite critique so far.

I agree, great kick-off and some nice looking models. I don't care much for the editing in them, but you're doing a good job trying different angles and compositions.

It takes you a while to find your grove in working with people, but after a couple of shoots you start to get things working for you.

I suggest you take some of your better shots and make a deal with a PW on MM. They can help you develop your images, and some will do it TFP. Others, the really good ones, might charge you $30 to make a good image great. It's something to consider.

Meanwhile, polish those PS skills. They're almost as important on the photography skills in bringing all the elements of a shoot together.

 

[shortpballer]

Derrel, thank you as always for the in depth critique. I will try to keep all that in mind. I have quite a few more shoots coming up in the next week. I will post some of those as well.

InTempus- I agree with you 100 percent about the photoshopping thing being almost as important as the photography aspect. I've thought about contacting a photoshop wizard. However, I've come to the conclusion that asking someone else to photoshop my work, is basically making it their work. I've only been doing photoshop for about 3 months now, so I'm learning slowly but surely

Eric

 

[inTempus]

InTempus- I agree with you 100 percent about the photoshopping thing being almost as important as the photography aspect. I've thought about contacting a photoshop wizard. However, I've come to the conclusion that asking someone else to photoshop my work, is basically making it their work. I've only been doing photoshop for about 3 months now, so I'm learning slowly but surely

Eric

Obviously the ideal approach is to do all of your own post work. I only proposed the PW to get you through the learning phase. I do almost all of my own post work and have forced myself to learn photoshop (taking local courses, reading lots of reference books, and spending plenty of time editing.

Two things that helped me the most early on was first buying this book:
Amazon.com: The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers (9780321501912): Scott Kelby: Books


And this book:
Amazon.com: Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature (9780321534163): Matt Kloskowski: Books


Then I picked up the entire Nik Software suite:
Professional Photographic Tools

That got me rolling very quickly and within a week or so I was producing much improved images through my post work.

I look forward to watching your skill improve and seeing the resulting images. Be sure to keep the RAW's of these pics and revisit them in 6 months after you've honed your PS skills - you'll be surprised how you can breath new life into them.

 

[Big Mike]

While it is absolutely a good idea to learn what you can about post processing...give a thought to where you are going and where you want to be.

inTempus said

Obviously the ideal approach is to do all of your own post work.

But I disagree that that is the 'ideal'.
I'd say that the ideal scenario is that you (the photographer) spends as much time behind the camera as possible. The more of 'the rest of it' that you can out source, the more time you should have for shooting.
This may not be an issue for you now...or even an issue for many of he here. But if you talk to a working pro photographers, especially those who run their own business. They make their money behind the lens, not in front of a computer.

 

[Nikkor]

great shots...especially like #4... i think the only one i'm not huge on is #2... just too extreme of the angle and body position

I agree. It'd be a good shot, just not keen on the angle.

#1. I'd crop it a little less next time, she lost some fingers
#4. Excellent work, I love that one.

What technique do you use for the airbrushed skin? I'm still trying to perfect that. I have CS3.

 

[inTempus]

But I disagree that that is the 'ideal'.
I'd say that the ideal scenario is that you (the photographer) spends as much time behind the camera as possible. The more of 'the rest of it' that you can out source, the more time you should have for shooting.
This may not be an issue for you now...or even an issue for many of he here. But if you talk to a working pro photographers, especially those who run their own business. They make their money behind the lens, not in front of a computer.

Mike, my comments were made under the assumption that he's doing this for the artistic side. He's made no statements that he's doing this for profit. Perhaps he is, and at that point I might agree with you.

But if he's trying to improve his art and not his business (one he doesn't have at this point, I believe) then he should take the time to learn PS. I know that for me, as an aspiring artist, only I know what I want out of my images. It's hard to convey your artistic vision to someone else I've found. Every single time I've worked with a PW I've made concessions in the final image as it wasn't entirely what I was thinking - despite how many emails and phone calls we exchanged.

As sportpballer said, it makes it their art and not his in his view. That also tells me he's doing this for the art and not for a business.

 

[inTempus]

What technique do you use for the airbrushed skin? I'm still trying to perfect that. I have CS3.

I know you didn't ask this of me, but I'll chime in. Hopefully you don't mind.

I use the manual method outlined in the first book I liked to in my previous post. It's done through several layers, Gaussian blur, using the high pass filter, adjusting opacity, etc.

I've found that this method, once refined, preserves skin details like pores and minimizes the porcelain effect common with other methods or by using automated tools such as Nik Softwares "skin" tool.

Here's an example of my methods end result:

Before:

After:

 

[shortpballer]

I use guassian blur then throw an overlay in there then adjust opacity. That way it warms up the image a bit and makes it a little more contrasting as well. These pictures look WAY better on my computer than they do on this site. This site seems to wash out the colors and soften my images quite a bit.
And I do plan on turning this into something down the road. I'm not working to make the quick buck by charging models small amounts on model mayhem. I'm looking to possibly turn this into a career, so I'm doing TFP work until I get to that point.

Eric

 

[RPetterson]

Wow number 5 is just awsome make me want to look just like her!

 

[inTempus]

I use guassian blur then throw an overlay in there then adjust opacity. That way it warms up the image a bit and makes it a little more contrasting as well. These pictures look WAY better on my computer than they do on this site. This site seems to wash out the colors and soften my images quite a bit.
And I do plan on turning this into something down the road. I'm not working to make the quick buck by charging models small amounts on model mayhem. I'm looking to possibly turn this into a career, so I'm doing TFP work until I get to that point.

Eric

What's your plan for turning this into a career? Are you wanting to take a job with an agency, freelance, do strictly models? Weddings? Little of everything or specialize?

 

[rifhulqui]

I will try to keep all that in mind. I have quite a few more shoots coming up in the next week. I will post some of those as well.