Night portrait

nagoshua · Nov 12, 2007

After a summer taking pictures of all things nature i realised i suck at photographing people so thats my challenge for this autumn/winter (and also to use my uber d-lite 4 flashes that have hardly seen the light of day.) So tonight i went out into town to shoot a few pictures of my friend. Found this pretty cool location with steam coming out behind him, lit up by the tetley's sign. Used a bit of bounce flash to make him stand out. I know its far from perfect, the focus is slightly off and its fustrating, makes you feel like you have bad eyes. Im not sure if i have made it a little too contrasty during post processing, i like it, but im just wanting a more all round opinion, also i was wanting more of a stern look, whereas i think he looks a lil bored, which is down to my communication which is one thing i have to work on.

Also jpeg conversion has made the colours go a lil funny, so just try to ignore that

ISO 100
50mm
f/2.8
1/4 sec

lordson · Nov 13, 2007

the subject matter is a bit boring

but the techinical side is quite good, good exposure

good positioning, just a tip:

try not to cut off people at thier joints, ie, elbows, kness like you did hear, or at the hips. do it halfway up thier limb

nagoshua · Nov 13, 2007

aah ill take that into consideration next time... i did the opposite, thought it would be better cut off at the knee than in the middle.

a5i736 · Nov 13, 2007

TOO MUCH HEADROOM!!!!

ilyfel · Nov 13, 2007

Oh that boys cute...

LaFoto · Nov 13, 2007

While I don't care too much to know the colour of his underwear, I find his stance and expression and most of all lighting quite good. But if this is the photo to go with, I feel it asks for the scissors! In other words, I feel it needs quite much of a crop ... to remedy the knee-crop as well as to work on the headroom and background things ... I find the background way busy and blown in parts.

DigitalDiva · Nov 13, 2007

I like it. Background and all. Only thing.. I wish that peak of underwear wasn't there, though.

Also, I would never crop at the joint of an appendage. Knee, elbow, shoulder. Never never.

lordson · Nov 14, 2007

he looks like the bloke from Stardust

i thinkt he headroom is okya, its just outside the rule of thirds area, if you gave it a bit MORE headroom and a bit less at the bottom the image would be great

a5i736 · Nov 18, 2007

lordson said:
he looks like the bloke from Stardust

i thinkt he headroom is okya, its just outside the rule of thirds area, if you gave it a bit MORE headroom and a bit less at the bottom the image would be great

Are you kidding me..... In a portrait of this type there should never be this much headroom.

The Phototron · Nov 18, 2007

a5i736 said:
Are you kidding me..... In a portrait of this type there should never be this much headroom.

There are plenty of portraits that include a lot of the background for a storytelling element.

a5i736 · Nov 19, 2007

The Phototron said:
There are plenty of portraits that include a lot of the background for a storytelling element.

I said a portrait of this type. Is the background in this telling a story? NO! hence less headroom. Got it?

The Phototron · Nov 19, 2007

a5i736 said:
I said a portrait of this type. Is the background in this telling a story? NO! hence less headroom. Got it?

Shut up. The OP determines what type of portrait he's going for. You might consider the background boring, he doesn't, he thinks there's cool smoke coming up behind his friend.

What's the point of going all the way out to find good locations, then cram the photo with just the model...

Digital Matt · Nov 19, 2007

Can we grow up a bit here people? Please?

#1, anything you say in here is your opinion. This is photography, and this is an artform, and there are no rules.

#2, if you can't present your opinions as opinions, and you can't respect other peoples opinions, then do not post in here.

zendianah · Nov 19, 2007

Digital Matt said:
Can we grow up a bit here people? Please?

#1, anything you say in here is your opinion. This is photography, and this is an artform, and there are no rules.

#2, if you can't present your opinions as opinions, and you can't respect other peoples opinions, then do not post in here.

:thumbup:

Thank god for ignore. I agree with your statement Matt.