Nikki

[laam999]

I was just out for my first real practice at portrait photograpgy and my girlfriend kindly modeled for me, could you please critique the photos for me with any advice and tips you think would help?

Thanks a bunch guys

-laam-

 

[tirediron]

Comments per req:

1. Good picture, well exposed. Not fond of the hair over the left eye or the extreme angle (however I know many people do like them).

2. Nice picture, great work with the reflection, BUT she's lost in the picture. Crop out most of that unused space so we're looking at her and the reflection. I would suggest a landscape aspect vice portrait.

3. Nice, again however the hair doesn't work. In real life, I'm sure it looks cute, in a photograph, it looks like she's got a black eye.

4, 5. Nice, but too centred and the background is too sharply focused. Open your aperture up so that you have a nice, soft background, and try and compose so that it's all one colour, that is you don't have her partly in front of green, partly in front of sky (#5)

6. Very nice, my favorite of the lot, a little bright in the highlights, but that can easily be fixed in post. As a general rule, try to have empty space in an image in front of, rather than behind the person; in this case she's too close to the RH edge.

Overall, very nice work, with a few minor niggles. If you don't already have them, I'd suggest the purchase of a polarizing filter and a couple of graduated neutral density filters to improve the sky and overall colours, but again, those are minor iusses.

Just my $00.02 worth - your milage may vary.

~John

 

[Don Schaeffer]

There is a lot of love in these pictures.

 

[laam999]

Here are what I would consider the final edits (the others where just very quick crops) I know Nikki likes slightly over exposed images so her skin looks clearer, so tell me what you think of these please. The only editig I had done before the previous post is cropping.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3154/2769033084_52f91d187a.jpg?v=0

 

[tirediron]

Here are what I would consider the final edits (the others where just very quick crops) I know Nikki likes slightly over exposed images so her skin looks clearer, so tell me what you think of these please. The only editig I had done before the previous post is cropping.

If that's the issue, why not spend a little extra time on some (I'd suggest 1, 3, and 5) and touch up the skin as well? There are lots of 'skin' tutorials out there, and an hour at the computer might earn you some huge brownie points!

 

[laam999]

Thanks, I have never even thought of looking for smmmet like that - still finding my feet in photoshop

 

[dizzyg44]

Overall, pretty nice!

Be careful where you have bodies of water as your horizon though, when they are crooked it makes it seem like the waters going to leak off of the page.