Not Sure if I Like This or Not...

[DGMPhotography]

Hi there!

So this is one of the images from a recent shoot... and I'm not sure if I like it or not. I tried doing a hair light thing, but I'm afraid it might be too harsh.. What do you think?

 

[tevo]

This doesn't really work for me for a couple of reasons:

The blown highlights on her legs and arms don't work for me, and the vertical lines/poles echo her height and make her feel like a stick figure. The pose/expression also seems pretty unnatural. I think the idea is definitely there but I wouldn't bother with a hairlight in a natural lighting scenario, and this location may not be the best for what you tried to do. Just my two cents.

 

[DGMPhotography]

This doesn't really work for me for a couple of reasons:

The blown highlights on her legs and arms don't work for me, and the vertical lines/poles echo her height and make her feel like a stick figure. The pose/expression also seems pretty unnatural. I think the idea is definitely there but I wouldn't bother with a hairlight in a natural lighting scenario, and this location may not be the best for what you tried to do. Just my two cents.

Yep, cool. I think you pretty much just put into words what I was trying to think of were the reasons I didn't like this. I think I really wanted to like this, but it's just not going to happen.

Thanks! Thread closed! xD

 

[TheNevadanStig]

I don't do portraits or shoot people outside of sporting activities at all, so feel free to completely dismiss. But it seems like you weren't centered on the walkway. The railing on the right side is much more prominent, and it keeps pulling my eye towards it, and not the subject.

 

[Derrel]

I don not mind it. It might look good with the shadow parts darkened a bit too, so that the highlights still look bright, but the "shadows" have a bit more density. It's not "great", but it's a loooong ways from being "bad". She looks long and lean and young and well-dressed and well-presented. It's a lot better than the all-too-common her-girlfriend-snapped-her-picture-with-an-iPhone kind of shot that we so often see for this type of picture. You had the camera height pretty spot-on, to make her look taller and more-commanding, and you have a decent foreground/background separation going on. It makes 'sense' to me. I dunno...I'd give it a solid B+ if it was an assignment.

 

[DGMPhotography]

I don not mind it. It might look good with the shadow parts darkened a bit too, so that the highlights still look bright, but the "shadows" have a bit more density. It's not "great", but it's a loooong ways from being "bad". She looks long and lean and young and well-dressed and well-presented. It's a lot better than the all-too-common her-girlfriend-snapped-her-picture-with-an-iPhone kind of shot that we so often see for this type of picture. You had the camera height pretty spot-on, to make her look taller and more-commanding, and you have a decent foreground/background separation going on. It makes 'sense' to me. I dunno...I'd give it a solid B+ if it was an assignment.

I like that! Thank you for your feedback.. I may have to reconsider it now..

 

[FITBMX]

I don't like the shadow from the light, but could you change that in Photoshop? I know nothing about that, so maybe you can't.

But I love everything else about it! As for the railing making her look tall, she's tall I like that, so why not show it off!