portrait of my girlfriend - college assignment

[howdynick]

comments and critique?
I wanna hear it all!

 

[rocdoc]

I like the atmosphere with the softness and the grain, but I guess it will be very much a matter of personal taste, depending on who looks. The background is a bit distracting though.
I like it overall, nice job.

 

[j-dogg]

35mm? you using ADOX?

 

[howdynick]

oh yeah I meant to add what I took it with..
35mm canon ae-1
and thank you thank you,

does anyone know the best way to get rid of grain after scanning?
...I should probably search before I ask...

 

[CNCO]

too much going on in the background, use a shallower depth of field or a different background

 

[Derrel]

oh yeah I meant to add what I took it with..
35mm canon ae-1
and thank you thank you,

does anyone know the best way to get rid of grain after scanning?
...I should probably search before I ask...

Try applying a small amount of Gaussian Blur to the image to mute the grain, then apply unsharp masking to bring back sharpness.

 

[IgsEMT]

My only c/o about this is her position of the right hand. Its too masculine and angular. Angular is good but to a degree and here angles are too sharp. Have her turn it a drop towards you/camera and not press so hard on the cheek (barely touching). I'd probably shoot this vertically also.
Good for you for shooting film!!!:thumbup:

 

[howdynick]

@Darrel: ooh I'm gonna try that, thank you
@CNCO / rocdoc: Yeah I had a problem with the background too and it wouldn't have been my first choice, I never intended to develop this photo, took it more for fun and it ended up being a happy accident and one of the better ones on the roll
@IgsEMT: I never even thought about her hand like that but wow, now that you mentioned it, it kinda really annoys me haha

thank you everyone for your input

 

[burgo]

my thoughts, not very sharp but the grainyness kinda works. I would have layered a copy that was sharper and bought her eyes out more. I think I would crop it on her right side. The hand on the chin doesn't quite work for me because it is over exposed. Not a bad image and a pretty girlfriend you have. Those are my thoughts. Just an opinion. Feel free to discard it if you disagree.

 

[IgsEMT]

@IgsEMT: I never even thought about her hand like that but wow, now that you mentioned it, it kinda really annoys me haha

There's a book out there, an old one of course from the good old traditional photography days, and I don't remember its name - lots of help i know - it teaches you how to pose arms, fingers, hands, etc etc - total amazing. I need to burrow it from a friend - knowing me I'll 4get to get to this forum, can you send me a PM or email to IgsEMT@aim.com as a reminder to look it up and get back to you (if u want to)

 

[aadhils]

In the future; increasing the distance of the subject from the background makes the background more out of focus so the subject stands out more.

 

[ayeelkay]

too much going on in the background, use a shallower depth of field or a different background

Agreed. Also looks a little grainy but that's just my opinion. Other than that I think it's a great portrait.

 

[Studio7Four]

I love everything about this shot! In general I tend to prefer to see the subject off center, but here her location really works for me. I also like the background. It's blurred enough that she stands out from it but you still have context - it's a great scene, not just a picture of a pretty girl. Maybe it's a tad overexposed, maybe it's a bit grainy, but not too badly in either case and I feel it adds to the feel of the shot. And honestly, if nobody had said anything about her hand position I wouldn't have thought twice about it (and I still don't find it that bad).