Portrait for Critique...Go crazy

[Mrsforeman1]

I love to learn. So bring it on. Don't forget the suggestions! And I know that the word "proof" is sitting dead in the middle but, please look past it. I don't have a proper watermark.

 

[Sideburns]

they look green...work on your whitebalance...

Also, in the first one, her skin looks very unnatural. I dono what you did, but there's light spots all over the place.

Good attempt though...they're not bad pictures. I like the second the best...though, I would probably crop it a bit..

 

[Mrsforeman1]

I will definately try to work on that.
The problem is that I can't see the green or the light spots.
So, I guess that I also need to learn to see what others see. But, that's how we grow right?
And forgive me for the last picture. It's on another thread.
I love the feedback!

 

[Alpha]

1) I feel that the crops are too tight.

2) The first shot IMO is too soft, and the bright background is highly distracting.

3) In the second shot, you should have focused on his eyes. That's not an option, but a necessity.

4) The third shot is the best, but she looks a bit sleepy, and the uneven lighting makes it look a bit amateur. You may be able to pull something acceptable out of it with good post-processing.

 

[spiffybeth]

the last one, whiten his eyes. they are tinted yellow.

his eyes are blurry in the second one

the first picture is very bright in a very subtle kind of way. almost like the flash lingered on her face so its brighter there despite the bright background (did that make sense?)

 

[stubbsk]

The lighting is too straight on so there's no nice shadows. We get used to sun and ceiling light coming from above so people appear unnatural when lit low from the front and sides.

That Soft focus 'thing' is horrible in the first shot. It's almost offensive because everyone including the subject knows the main purpose for it.

Max bloom is right with the cropping, the images feel too claustrophobic.

He steals the show a little, I'm not sure if you want this, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

Your depth of field is too low, low dof works fine in portraits unless something like what has happened in your pictures occurs where part of the face is focused but blur appears on the nose. Always focus on the eyes if possible and allow for a high enough aperture to get the nose in, the ears and hair usually look okay falling in to blur.

"The problem is that I can't see the green or the light spots. So, I guess that I also need to learn to see what others see. But, that's how we grow right?"

The skin tones are NOT wrong as far as I can tell. They appear wrong because you did not convert them to the srgb colour space before uploading them to the net. Most browsers will display photo's with the adobe 1998 colour space with out of gamut colours, as is the case with yours. If you need help with this feel free to ask. Lets say the colours aren't perfect. Edit them until satisfied but remember to still convert the profile to Srgb before going on to the web or sending them to an amateur printer. Adobe 1989 is a good colour space to use with a decent printer at home or away or when viewing to a client in your post processing program.

I feel mean saying all these things but hopefully I'm being constructive and positive. I know how it is in a shoot and most things are forgotten, it's all well and good analysing a picture when it's too late, I do it to myself far too frequently.

 

[Alphaem]

Hi Mrs Foreman,
I would experiment a little more with your lighting From the looks of the catch lights in the eyes it looks like your only using 1 light. If you use a main light, a fill light, and a background light you will be able to correct some of the issues that the people before me told you about. When you learn to use the lights in this way you will be able to thin people down more, and they will like that. Also try and lean your subjects forward a little which is also a way of thinning your subjects. I think your photos are great and by following some of the advice given here you will see a big improvement. Keep up the good work.