What's new

Portraiture Experiments - Lisah

abovenormphotos

No longer a newbie, moving up!
Joined
Jan 17, 2014
Messages
149
Reaction score
40
Hey there guys,

I'm back again with a new set to share and receive critique.
Do share your honest opinions on the composition, posing, lighting and processing.

Thanks in advance!

Model Lisah
Canon 6d, Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS MK2, YN560III in a 80x80 softbox and a reflector
This time, I was trying to go for a variety of poses using the various items in the scene to add colour to the shot.
 

Let me start by saying that this is some nice work, you've got an absolutely stunning model, and thanks for sharing these with us. Good portraits.

Now, let me offer C&C:

As an overview, let me offer two thoughts:
--she's wearing a dress with a strong visual pattern (horizontal lines, dark and white). So look to pose her with backgrounds that work with that. I'd either be looking for a background that doesn't compete with it (use narrow DoF to create a blur, or a white/uniform backdrop). Or I'd be looking to integrate her into the surroundings (with a background that has strong horizontal or vertical lines). Otherwise, the background ends up looking busy.
--she's tall (or at least looks it), slim, with heels. So....use poses that take advantage of that. Get her standing. Look for triangles (more on that later). Get lower in your shooting angle. Have her use her hands and feet to help create visual illusions that accentuate her height (more on that later).

Photo specific comments:
1. Background is cluttered (the prints on the wall specifically). You've cut off her right foot (a no-no PLUS it cuts off the line she creates). Not wild about her right hand. And I'd make her left elbow straight (so we get this terrific diagonal line--very active and dynamic in photos) running from her arm to her leg. That said, that's a terrific pose for most women and in particular this model...kickass triangle with the legs.
2. Love the pose, don't like how the table bisects it. Also, not wild about her left arm...you need to play with that a bit. Otherwise, lovely pose.
3. Effective composition (B&W with the red). Not sure about the crop/framing decision...I think you want to step back and get more of her form...she looks very short and not very flowing in the photo. I'm not a big fan of symmetry so I'd actually make the hands more uneven rather than matching in pose. The biggest thing for me is that her hair just blends in to the black background so you'd benefit from anything that would create some separation from the background. Some backlighting or a headlight would be the way to go here.
4. Lovely pose but the dress (over the knee) makes it less effective in this case. Also, the dominant line is that division between the phone booth and the wall and it feels like it's not absolutely vertical (may just be an optical illusion).
5. Great pose but the graffiti in the background detracts from the photo. If she was going grunge or edgy in her clothing or she had tats, then it would work for me.

Great work.
 
Dear JoeW.

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and help me understand how I can improve each shot. I find your sharing absolutely invaluable and it has given me a lot to digest.

One thing that puzzles me is that a lot of the concepts you mentioned make a lot of sense but is entirely different from the typical rules of composition that i'm so used to reading about. Is this perhaps based on the idea of visual design (or something like that)?

Thank you do much for dropping by. Appreciate it. Shall pay close attention to what you've said.

Best regards.
 
1 and 4 are a bit overexposed. Try to get the exposure balanced like you did in #3.
 
1 and 4 are a bit overexposed. Try to get the exposure balanced like you did in #3.

DiskoJoe- thanks for dropping by.

You know, I have a lot of trouble trying to figure out what's the correct exposure. The jogjlights on the model's face are not clipped in #1 and yet I too agree that it is somewhat too white. Cos I rely on the histogram and the camera's highlight clipping warning. Any idea how to sort if out especially when using off camera flash?

Thanks sharing !

Cheers.
 
Really nice set, thanks for sharing. I like the pose in 4 the best.
 
Dear JoeW.

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and help me understand how I can improve each shot. I find your sharing absolutely invaluable and it has given me a lot to digest.

One thing that puzzles me is that a lot of the concepts you mentioned make a lot of sense but is entirely different from the typical rules of composition that i'm so used to reading about. Is this perhaps based on the idea of visual design (or something like that)?

Thank you do much for dropping by. Appreciate it. Shall pay close attention to what you've said.

Best regards.

"Typical rules of composition"....according to that great photographer and pirate captain Barbosa "rules? They're more like guidelines really."

The point is not that you ignore the rules or break them. It's that composition elements/rules/guidelines are so numerous that at some point they conflict. And that's why photography is an art and not a science.

Let me give you two examples: leading lines (especially in the foreground) can provide perspective. So that implies we'd like to have the foreground and the background (as well as the main subject) in focus and tack sharp. But we can also use blur/bokeh produced by a narrow DoF to draw the viewer's eye to the focal point of the shot. So what is it--narrow DoF (with pleasing bokeh) or wide DoF with perspective and foreground? The photographer chooses...b/c we can't have 'em both in the same shot. That's also why some of the feedback I provided, other veteran shooters might be rolling their eyes at....b/c ultimately, we can't follow all of the rules of effective composition so our art is about each of us consciously or unconsciously choosing what rules we're going to go with (and there which rules we choose to ignore or contract).

When shooting models or portraits, it's so easy to be focused on, well, the focal point (i.e.: the person you're shooting). So part of the challenge is to figure out what parts of the surrounding environment contribute or detract from the artistic statement you're trying to create.
 
Barbossa.... Remind me never to cross lenses with him! Haha.

Thanks for sharing Joe. Shall pay heed to your tips.

Information overload!!!
 
1 and 4 are a bit overexposed. Try to get the exposure balanced like you did in #3.

DiskoJoe- thanks for dropping by.

You know, I have a lot of trouble trying to figure out what's the correct exposure. The jogjlights on the model's face are not clipped in #1 and yet I too agree that it is somewhat too white. Cos I rely on the histogram and the camera's highlight clipping warning. Any idea how to sort if out especially when using off camera flash?

Thanks sharing !

Cheers.

You fix this in post. Just eyeball it.
 
Those look spectacular!
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

New Topics

Back
Top Bottom