Nicole

[rub]

Met Nicole for the first time at 6am on a rooftop. I am venturing into the world of off camera lighting and would appreciate any critique

Thanks!
Kristal

I should note these are linked from Facebook - sorry for the poor quality

1)

2)

3)

4)

 

[Neil S.]

#1 I feel would be better if her head wasnt cut off. The pose is nice on this one though.

#2 had quite a bit of potential I think. The pose is a bit awkard though. It almost looks as if she is stalking something, and this just confuses me.

#3 I think would be great if she was sitting facing the camera, and had a more natural pose. The light on the wall is a bit distracting as well.

#4 again I think you are cutting off too much. It would be better if shot/cropped looser. The pose looks fake to me, and a more natural one would be better.

A lot of this is just my opinion/style. Hope it helps.

 

[manaheim]

2 made me chuckle for the very same reason as mentioned above... if she has a quirkier personality ( and I suspect she does ) this may work very well. If she doesn't, this might be odd.

1 and 4 seemed nice to me... the pensive look in 4 was a little odd/forced, but interesting. The crop on 4 strikes me as questionable, but not overly so. I might experiment with more crop (or less if you can).

In 3 she looks uncomfortable to me.

Overall not bad, IMO.

 

[kundalini]

Really like the first one. Excellent camera position. I think it's perfectly fine to take some off the top. Nits: having both shoulders rolled forward diminishes the impact. Had you directed her to shift the left shoulder rearward, this would've created a nice angled line. The lighting is purposed I'm guessing.... beauty lighting. This does not create shadows to give depth. Nothing wrong with it, just commenting. I could see how the jewelry could cause unwanted shadows. The bra strap.

I'm undecided on the lines she is creating in #2. I think it's the chicken wing. Had she rolled the left shoulder a bit more...... maybe, not sure.

#3 - Bend the left elbow, turn the torso away from the camera, raise the chin, lose the left arm.... I mean to hide it from view.

If you have more room at the top, that could help. If not, take off some more.

I must say that you have done very well at capturing her facial positions combined with your camera position.

 

[DanFinePhotography]

These are nice, perhaps with a little different lighting they may have been dramatic

 

[Derrel]

1 and 4 would have made excellent verticals. #4 is especially odd...it's 25% subject and 75% empty, out of focus nothingness. The background contributes absolutely nothing in shot #4.

 

[njw1224]

Well, I won't hammer you on pose and composition any more as above. But you did seem to ask about C&C on your off camera lighting. Overall I think you did a good job with this. I don't really notice it much, which is a good thing. Any added lighting should look natural and believable. So if it jumps out to the viewer, it may not be a good thing. You seem to have balanced ambient and artificial lighting well in these.

 

[rub]

Thank you everyone for the feedback - always is appreciated.

As for the compositional comments, I have one heck of a time directing models, but I am working on it - I will use all the suggestions though. She indeed has a very quirky personality, and the one of her crouching is her favorite - she said its very much her.

As for number 4 - I was really drawn to this image, but not sure why. This was not posed, I was actually having some speedlight issues at the time and she was just looking out, waiting for me to get my act together. I agree about the 25/75 ratio, but I am always drawn to dead space images. This may have been taking it a little far though.

Thanks again
K