Portrait: Katie - Self-Critique (C&C appreciated)

[helenjune]

I feel like working on my critiquing skills, but I don't feel truly comfortable with commenting on other peoples work yet, especially when I haven't really sat down formally to do it with my own. I think I have a lot to learn in terms of critiquing and looking at my own work critically in a formal manner like this, so I thought I'd have a practice. Also, I think it's important I be able to look at my own work and be able to consciously point out what I like and dislike - so far I've just been sitting back and passing them off as acceptable or unacceptable without really thinking about WHY.

Here is what I believe to be an acceptable portrait taken by me. I do think it's one of my better portraits, but at the end of the day it only strikes me as mediocre.

It's shot at 1/160, f2.2 with a 50mm on a Canon 5d MkII.


Positive Attributes:

* I like the colour/post processing I have done here. I like the shade of greens and yellow.

* I think the lighting is good. I like the light catching in her hair. I like the faint haze of light above her head.

* I think the exposure is good.


Negative Attributes:

* It's very boring. Her expression doesn't say anything to me and there's no emotion to connect with.

* I think I could have framed it to include a bit more of her body and a tad less head space.

* The longer I look at the arm furthest from the camera, the weirder it looks because you can't see her hand behind her hair.

* The stray hairs coming off her head at the top are a little annoying and could easily be cleaned up in PS.

* Overall composition is nothing great. The white wooden post to the right, annoys me because it's distracting to my eye and breaks the picture up unnecessarily. It's another thing I could have edited out in post.

* The green fringing around the beams, top left hand is not a good thing, I think it takes away from the quality.



I think this is all I have to say on it right now. If anyone else sees any slack they want to pick up or things they want to educate me on, they are more than welcome to and it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

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Something you may want to try...shoot really wide often. Use these to practice composition. This way you can really play with cropping, to help get a feel for it. Also for every pose, shoot both horizontal and vertical. This will again help give you a feel for what works best. Here again her head is centered. Stop that

I think you are sensing when an image fails, but are having a hard time knowing what it is.

I want to thank you for being the rare new member open to critique, and seemingly eager to soak it up. It's been a pleasure working with you and I have enjoyed the discussions.

 

[helenjune]

Something you may want to try...shoot really wide often. Use these to practice composition. This way you can really play with cropping, to help get a feel for it. Also for every pose, shoot both horizontal and vertical. This will again help give you a feel for what works best.

Those sound like good tips, I'll definitely keep them in mind next time I'm not really sure how I want to frame a shot (which is a lot of the time!) Thanks for the crops - I think if I cropped it, I would crop it vertically.

Here again her head is centered. Stop that

I swear I don't do it all the time! But you're right, I looked back through some of the pictures in my folder and I really do have a habit lately of just plonking heads in the middle. I think it speaks a lot to my being unsure of how I want to frame shots a lot of the time - I think because I want to include the environment just as much as the model and so I kind of hang around between those two with a lot of indecision, if that makes any sense. Which is a mistake I think, since logically the model/person in a portrait should always take priority. In a photo like this one anyway.

I have enjoyed the discussions also Bitter and all the things I've read from you so far. Thanks for taking the time to help me out with these, and also for making me feel even more welcome

 

[Derrel]

Your self-critique is spot on, on multiple points. Every single niggle I would have raised, you raised. And so, that to me is excellent, since it means your ability to self-critique is pretty well developed. What I like about your portrait is the quality of light and the exposure, as well as the location. The quality of light at that location is excellent. it's a really nice place to work with. One thing struck me though, and that is that a vertical camera orientation would have easily eliminated the white pole on the right hand side, and shown more of her body, which would have eliminated two of the faults you brought up. Right in-camera, with no editing! As Bitter said above, you're one of the rare newcomers who's genuinely open to C&C, and I think your attitude toward it is perhaps the very best I have seen while here the past couple of years.

 

[cnutco]

Very positive C&C!!!

You know why?

Because, that is a perfect example of a post by the OP!!! Very nice indeed.​

I wish all other posts had this structure.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[KenC]

Also watch out for bright areas in the background that will compete for attention. Both of Bitter's crops were, among other things, attempts to exclude the bright area in the upper left. It would have been better if you had moved around to put her against the dark foliage on the right side of the frame. You're going to be a terrific photographer if you continue to analyze and question as you have been doing.

 

[tyler_h]

You've done well on the c&c yourself. Only one I'd like to add:
Because of how far over her shoulder she is looking there are some pretty deep creases in her neck. I'd typically look to avoid that; can mean you have a bit of an awkward pose; not always though.

 

[The_Traveler]

 

[helenjune]

Derrel:

Your self-critique is spot on, on multiple points. Every single niggle I would have raised, you raised.

I'm happy you think so but I have to say, it was your critique in the other thread that helped set an example in my mind, of the detail at which I should critique my pictures. So that when I looked at this picture, I was also asking "What Would Derrel Do?"

I'm serious.

One thing struck me though, and that is that a vertical camera orientation would have easily eliminated the white pole on the right hand side, and shown more of her body, which would have eliminated two of the faults you brought up. Right in-camera, with no editing!

You're absolutely right, achieving things in-camera is always the best thing strive for.

Thank you very much for your helpful words and kind comments.


cnutco:

Very positive C&C!!!

You know why?
Because, that is a perfect example of a post by the OP!!! Very nice indeed.
I wish all other posts had this structure.

Thanks for sharing!

Thank you very much cnutco, I'm happy you like what I've done ^.^

KenC:

Also watch out for bright areas in the background that will compete for attention. Both of Bitter's crops were, among other things, attempts to exclude the bright area in the upper left. It would have been better if you had moved around to put her against the dark foliage on the right side of the frame. You're going to be a terrific photographer if you continue to analyze and question as you have been doing.

To tell you the truth, and it may sound strange, but I definitely have a hard time getting the balance right between light and dark. I love light and brightness, so I am always more inclined to try to bring as much of it as possible into a picture without over-doing it, but it seems I am still in the 'over-doing it' phase, so thank you very much for pointing that out to me :]

tyler_h:

Because of how far over her shoulder she is looking there are some pretty deep creases in her neck. I'd typically look to avoid that; can mean you have a bit of an awkward pose; not always though.

I agree with you on this. I was considering her neck a little bit when I was critiquing it at first, but I was pretty unsure about whether or not it was a problem and having my usual (silly) 'battle of morals' and ended up just leaving it. I say silly because I'm pretty sure that avoiding creases in necks, in a picture such as this one, is not a sleight against the human body! I'm sure creases in necks have their place though. Am I being weird yet?

I do think that if I were to take this shot again, I would want to avoid the creases. Thanks for pointing it out, I appreciate it!


Traveler:

I think you've found for me what seems like the nicest way to crop this photo. I believe I will crop it as per your suggestion/example. Thanks a lot

 

[The_Traveler]

It's very boring. Her expression doesn't say anything to me and there's no emotion to connect with.

If all the critique, I think this is the most important. There is no connection between the subject and anything, let alone the photographer.

 

[helenjune]

If all the critique, I think this is the most important. There is no connection between the subject and anything, let alone the photographer.

I think so as well, that was why it was the very first thing that I mentioned. It hasn't always been this way for me, but as of late it plagues me through everything that I do.

 

[The_Traveler]

I don't know what it is that re-forms the face when there is a connection between the subject and something but it is there.
This is a link to a picture that the patents loved because, they said, it epitomized her affect.
I don't do much posing but spend a lot of time so that the person is comfortable psychologically and engaged in some conversation; when the posture and look coincide I take the picture. Of course I have a lot of throw-away frames but 1's and 0's are cheap.

And another of an adult. un-posed but caught after a long conversation in stick drawings (he spoke only Bamar - the language of Myanmar)

 

[helenjune]

I don't do much posing but spend a lot of time so that the person is comfortable psychologically and engaged in some conversation; when the posture and look coincide I take the picture.

Yes, this is definitely my true weakness. People skills. I have to get much better at it.

I tend to come off still, as very awkward and "weird" when I approach strangers in public - my main approach is to just make them laugh or smile genuinely, so that every picture I take of a stranger, they are always smiling. I feel like this is just cheating though.

In the case of this photograph, Katie, maybe the problem was that I didn't talk to her enough while doing the shoot. We got along great and she didn't appear uncomfortable before or after the photos, but a lot of her shots ended up looking like this and I think that probably comes from me being too silent behind the camera.

 

[The_Traveler]

The way to get people to relax is to be personally as non-threatening and gender-neutral as possible.
That is easier for a middle-aged guy than it is for a young woman but still doable.
Then make the situation 'normal'; that is personal technique and not easily transferred.

I remember seeing a CSpan photographer at a series of US Senate hearing; she was young, absolutely knock down, drop dead beautiful.
She functioned very professionally in that area by dressing without flair, in working clothes appropriate to a photographer, absolutely ignoring any comments or conversation that didn't deal with her job and, in short, being the camera man rather than the gorgeous woman running the camera.
Once the eye-candy thing wore off, she faded into the woodwork.
Be the photographer, not a cute (my assumption) girl person taking pictures.