Noob takes headshot of model hopeful

[garynyc]

Oh yes...the image lost a lot of sharpness in the compression for this site

 

[Rob]

LOL - my first comment was going to be related to sharpness. Ok, I'll abandon that then.

Two things strike me immediately. Overbite and wonky. Oooh, I'm being harsh today! Right, I shall attempt to explain myself.

The overbite thing - her bottom lip is sitting slightly awkwardly and the set of her jaw makes her chin protrude. This should be minimised by adjusting facial expression. Make sure her top teeth are in front of her bottom teeth in shots (might be uncomfortable if she's really got an overbite).

The wonky thing - the combination of the necklace and the shoulder projecting out of frame give a sense of unevenness which makes the picture look lopsided. If either the shoulder were moved or the necklace straightened, it would fix it up nicely.

Details like jewelrey in a portrait are very tricky to keep hold of mentally as you will be shifting your model around. Take your good time to re-arrange them how you want.

It's another good shot and I'm sure she'll be very happy with it, but we're here in critique to help highlight areas which we think could be improved, so please take it with a "trying to help" frame of mind - you're doing really well for a self-professed starter, so keep going and you'll be brilliant soon.

Rob

 

['Daniel']

I think it could also do with a deeper DOF.

I think you also need to think about the colours in the shot. It's a grey background and she is wearing brown. Along with her grey eyes the colours counter-act her expression.

she had blonde hair and grey eyes. That to me says blue not brown and grey.

 

[garynyc]

I was using a canon 1.8 50mm lens at about 5.6. Do you think I should have increased the light level for smaller aperture?

She has very strong features, and this was probably her softest look out of the entire lot!

I'll think about symmetry next time as well. And color choices.

Thx Rob and Daniel. Much appreciated for the tips and encouragement!

 

[garynyc]

Here she looks a bit more mature and mysterious. She liked this one over the first shot. Should I have increased her lip saturation? I guess the ratio also increases the look of her nose, but I think its more representational of her. Any suggestions, shoot away...

 

[Rob]

With the exception of chopping the necklace off, you've done really well there. She, however, looks like you've maybe got undressed or something! Erm, I'm getting shock and horror from the expression, not moodiness or whatever. You got it right though - the model got it wrong, so no worries from a photographic pov!


Rob

 

[garynyc]

Damn I dont look that bad undressed lol. Well I missed the necklace thing! Thanks for the input Rob! I think I might have her back for some shots with her hair down. Its very unruly though.

 

['Daniel']

I think if there is a next time you should get her all in focus so yes a smaller aperture.

 

[markc]

I think if there is a next time you should get her all in focus so yes a smaller aperture.

I think that all depends on what look you are going for. I personally go for the shallow DOF, but you need to have at least the close eye in focus.

I think the small one could use some sharpening. I usually don't sharpen until after I have the size I want. If I'm printing, I leave it full-size and sharpen that. If it's for the web, I resize and then sharpen.

On the small one, her eye ridge covering some of her right eye bothers me. I probably wouldn't have her tilt her head down quite so much because of that.