Portraits of my Brother

[SheriffBubbles]

Hey, everyone!
I'm fairly new to photography, still trying to learn all the technical stuff and find my style. I persuaded my little brother to allow me a portrait shoot with him and I'd like to share a few of my favorite pictures with you all for CC. Honest opinions desperately wanted!!






A million thank yous to any CC =)

 

[Jeff15]

What the heck was he doing in the third shot.......?

 

[SheriffBubbles]

What the heck was he doing in the third shot.......?

He wanted to show off the back of his hoodie... Haha.

 

[Designer]

Hey, everyone!
I'm fairly new to photography, still trying to learn all the technical stuff and find my style. I persuaded my little brother to allow me a portrait shoot with him and I'd like to share a few of my favorite pictures with you all for CC. Honest opinions desperately wanted!!






A million thank yous to any CC =)

This is almost too many photos, but I will give it a quick, concise review.

#1. Background is way too busy. Subject is nearly lost in the greenery. Subject is too small in the frame. Subject should be "face-on" to the camera unless there is some obvious reason he is not.

#2. Centering your subject yields a "static" photo, and profile cropped oddly is not flattering.

#3. Subject's pose is not ideal. Show the back of the shirt, but have your subject "interacting" with the camera.

#4. Teeth and squinty eyes are not flattering. Your subject should be more at the one-third position.

#5. Probably the best one, but lose the sunglasses. He should be looking "into" the frame as opposed to "out of" the frame. Dangly legs and hunched shoulders are not flattering. Feet are larger than his head. Hammock is distracting. He should be sitting on something that is not so distracting.

In short: Find the light, pose your subject, watch the backgrounds, and keep on trying.

 

[SheriffBubbles]

This is almost too many photos, but I will give it a quick, concise review.

#1. Background is way too busy. Subject is nearly lost in the greenery. Subject is too small in the frame. Subject should be "face-on" to the camera unless there is some obvious reason he is not.

#2. Centering your subject yields a "static" photo, and profile cropped oddly is not flattering.

#3. Subject's pose is not ideal. Show the back of the shirt, but have your subject "interacting" with the camera.

#4. Teeth and squinty eyes are not flattering. Your subject should be more at the one-third position.

#5. Probably the best one, but lose the sunglasses. He should be looking "into" the frame as opposed to "out of" the frame. Dangly legs and hunched shoulders are not flattering. Feet are larger than his head. Hammock is distracting. He should be sitting on something that is not so distracting.

In short: Find the light, pose your subject, watch the backgrounds, and keep on trying.

I really appreciate you taking the time to respond with your critiques!! May I ask- were there any elements I've done right? I know I have a lot of improving to do, I'm just curious if there's any points that I can build on. Thank you again!!

 

[Designer]

May I ask- were there any elements I've done right? I know I have a lot of improving to do, I'm just curious if there's any points that I can build on.

Getting your subject to interact with the camera is something upon which to build. Many photographers fail to achieve this, and you've done it. Congratulations!

My main criticism in that shot is that he is "over-stimulated" in his laughter. Something like that but with less distortion of his features is what you want.

 

[SheriffBubbles]

May I ask- were there any elements I've done right? I know I have a lot of improving to do, I'm just curious if there's any points that I can build on.

Getting your subject to interact with the camera is something upon which to build. Many photographers fail to achieve this, and you've done it. Congratulations!

My main criticism in that shot is that he is "over-stimulated" in his laughter. Something like that but with less distortion of his features is what you want.

Thank you for your opinions!! My brother has a huge personality and was joking and goofing during the whole shoot. I hope I'll be able to evoke similar interactions from other subjects =)

 

[Derrel]

My main suggestion would be to frame the shots so as to give the subject more space within the picture area to look into, rather than having the subject looking into what many of us refer to as "the short side" of the frame. Your last shot is a prime example of placing the subject so that he is looking right OUT of the frame, with his gaze directed at the short side of the frame, with his body placed far off to the right of the center of the frame; this subject placement and line of gaze (those make up two things, subject placement, and line of gaze) causes visual tension. Shots 2,3,4,and 5 all have what most artists would call improper use of the compositional space for traditional portraiture, or for just general picture-making. I mean "improper" in the sense that the subject is placed too far to the short side of the frame, and is creating an off-balance or tensioned feeling to the overall photograph.

I think that from one point of view, you've sought out and found pretty good locations and decent if unspectacular lighting to shoot in. Your dark tones (like his sweatshirt for example) have a bit too much darkness to them, but the colors are mostly pleasing, and each photo conveys at least some sense of the lighting that was present at the time of the session. What you have done is something you might not fully be aware of; you have created a sense of PLACE, and then put the subject in front of that place, in each shot. Although I'm not fond of the manner you placed the subject within the frame, the fact is each shot shows us a lovely autumn "place", a location, a setting, and that's pretty good. Your backgrounds are actually quite good and well-chosen! Definitely, you've chosen the actual shooting locations quite well.

 

[Designer]

My brother has a huge personality and was joking and goofing during the whole shoot.

That statement makes me think you have missed my point.

You: "May I ask- were there any elements I've done right?" My response was in post #6, above.

In the only shot in which I saw his "personality" included, his facial expression was distorted due to riotous laughter. My comments above were intended to steer you toward getting more of your subject's "personality" into your photography (but without the distortion), and was not intended to solicit any excuses from you.

I hope I'll be able to evoke similar interactions from other subjects =)

That is something upon which to build, but seriously; your subject doesn't need to be ROTFLOL in order for the viewer to catch a glimpse of his/her personality.

Your "homework" assignment for this week is to look at study some good portraiture.

 

[SheriffBubbles]

My main suggestion would be to frame the shots so as to give the subject more space within the picture area to look into, rather than having the subject looking into what many of us refer to as "the short side" of the frame. Your last shot is a prime example of placing the subject so that he is looking right OUT of the frame, with his gaze directed at the short side of the frame, with his body placed far off to the right of the center of the frame; this subject placement and line of gaze (those make up two things, subject placement, and line of gaze) causes visual tension. Shots 2,3,4,and 5 all have what most artists would call improper use of the compositional space for traditional portraiture, or for just general picture-making. I mean "improper" in the sense that the subject is placed too far to the short side of the frame, and is creating an off-balance or tensioned feeling to the overall photograph.

I think that from one point of view, you've sought out and found pretty good locations and decent if unspectacular lighting to shoot in. Your dark tones (like his sweatshirt for example) have a bit too much darkness to them, but the colors are mostly pleasing, and each photo conveys at least some sense of the lighting that was present at the time of the session. What you have done is something you might not fully be aware of; you have created a sense of PLACE, and then put the subject in front of that place, in each shot. Although I'm not fond of the manner you placed the subject within the frame, the fact is each shot shows us a lovely autumn "place", a location, a setting, and that's pretty good. Your backgrounds are actually quite good and well-chosen! Definitely, you've chosen the actual shooting locations quite well.

Ok, so, just to clarify- the last photo would've been better if his gazed had been directed to the other side? And I should be centering my subject a bit more? Please tell me if I'm way off and I'm sorry if I am.

Would you mind explaining the concept of "place" to me a little bit more? I'm sorry I'm so new to this! Is it built of decent framing and background? Or is the lighting a huge aspect? Or is it how I took the shot that makes it stand out in a certain way? I'm sorry again.

 

[SheriffBubbles]

My brother has a huge personality and was joking and goofing during the whole shoot.

That statement makes me think you have missed my point.

You: "May I ask- were there any elements I've done right?" My response was in post #6, above.

In the only shot in which I saw his "personality" included, his facial expression was distorted due to riotous laughter. My comments above were intended to steer you toward getting more of your subject's "personality" into your photography (but without the distortion), and was not intended to solicit any excuses from you.

I hope I'll be able to evoke similar interactions from other subjects =)

That is something upon which to build, but seriously; your subject doesn't need to be ROTFLOL in order for the viewer to catch a glimpse of his/her personality.

Your "homework" assignment for this week is to look at study some good portraiture.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that statement to be an excuse. I took your comment to mean it appeared my subject was interacting with me for the shoot and was trying to explain that he was interacting heavily and I don't believe it was anything I did to make that happen. I understand that he was laughing too hard for that photo, I wasn't planning on going for shots like that in the future. I will certainly be studying, as I have been for awhile. Thank you again!

 

[Designer]

.. I don't believe it was anything I did to make that happen.

Right. Probably not. I was not there, but I will guess that there might have been a time that he was smiling impishly and looking at you. That is the shot you need to anticipate and grab it when it happens. You will see some good examples of capturing a subject's personality when you start looking for it.

 

[SheriffBubbles]

.. I don't believe it was anything I did to make that happen.

Right. Probably not. I was not there, but I will guess that there might have been a time that he was smiling impishly and looking at you. That is the shot you need to anticipate and grab it when it happens. You will see some good examples of capturing a subject's personality when you start looking for it.

Thank you for your feedback, I'll try to capture better expressions!