practicing portraits, feedback needed.

[julianliu]

just some random portraits, feedback about anything is welcome.

 

[tirediron]

Not bad! The first one has the subject slightly under-exposed. As a general rule you want the overall exposure of the subject slightly brighter (~1/3 stop) than the background. This is because the human eye is naturally attracted to bright over dark, so here the viewer is being drawn past the musician into the background. The same exposure issue applies to the second image, and this one appears to have a really nasty green cast. White balance in dim lighting can be tricky, but unless this young lady is of Martian descent, you should tweak this ASAP. The last works nicely, 'though I might try and pull just a little more detail out of the blacks below the hands. In all three of these, you've more or less centered the subject, and it works fairly well.

 

[Derrel]

Not too bad. One issue wit the horn player; his shirt collar, being one of the brightest spots in the entire photo, is improperly tucked under the collar of his jacket on one side; this is the responsibility of the photographer on every portrait; check collars, buttons, necklaces, neckties, hair, and all clothing on each and every shot. Ladies necklaces are a BIG problem, with clasps often in the wrong spot near the pendant; neckties are often poorly tied by guys who don't wear ties often; collars often get messed up on jackets when a man is not used to wearing a suit; and so on.

THe kid against the wall looks a bit "flat" in terms of contrast, but I like the pose and the general effect. The young soccer player: decent job of using the two stadium lights as plausible "sources" for the dual side-light accents on the face. Again, a bit "flat" in terms of contrast, and it's a shame the top of the head is lopped off. On the other hand, the use of the soccer pitch, and the interesting curved line behind--really nice! My main issue though is that the lighting is not set up fully in accord with reality. THe shadow on the player's face is camera LEFT. The light from the background shows the "wrong side" lighted...the left side of the background is bright, the right side is dark...that's...just...backwards. It makes for a lot of contrast; the camera right shirtsleeve is bright, but it's in front of a dark background; the camera left shirtsleeve is dark, but seen against the LIGHT side of the soccer field...

20,25,30 years ago if we saw an image like this, we'd flip out and INSTANTLY likely have a negative reaction to it, but today, with more and more amateurs shooting on-site flash work, and with the rise on "dual-sun" images from professionals, these look a bit less like mistakes than they used to, and many people without finely honed visual sophistication will overlook this kind of result.

 

[Gavjenks]

Last one is definitely best. Both of the first two my eye is drawn instantly to the upper sides where the light is. I didn't even notice the green-ness of the soccer girl until I read tirediron's post, because I wasn't looking at her face, I was looking at the stadium lights!

The first two might be good with some cropping or re-editing color and relative brightness, though. Seems like pretty post-processing-fixable stuff

many people without finely honed visual sophistication will overlook this kind of result.

I see what you did there, Derrel.

 

[Derrel]

I thought the green cast in the last and the purple-ish tint to the second were deliberate decisions to have some tint to the images...

 

[julianliu]

Thanks a lot for commenting. They are very helpful and help me can see the problems.
Derrel, I intended to cut the girl's head off. I like that and maybe I should cut it more to make it look more intentional.
By the way, If you guys can look at a couple more photos, I would appreciate that.

 

[Gavjenks]

Both of the ones you just posted look really good lighting wise, on par with the wall one above, I like them a lot in that regard.
The cowboy hat one I like overall a lot. She looks confident and interesting and in a good mood and the angle is nice and everything. The blue dress is less flattering due to a not-so-happy expression and a very closed/defensive posture

 

[julianliu]

Thanks. Gavjenks.

How about another photo,

 

[Derrel]

How about another photo,
View attachment 68141

I like this one better than the earlier shot. I brought it into Lightroom and looked at it for a couple of minutes and adjusted the exposure a bit, moved the tint slightly, added some contrast, boosted the clarity, and burned down the lower corners to add more emphasis on the player, and to simulate fall-off from the stadium lights. I tried to make it look as "real" as I could. What do you think?

 

[julianliu]

Derrel,

That looks much better than the original one!!!!! Thank you so much for the editing. I did not know how to improve the photo. But now look what you did.
I rarely change the tint once I set the white balance. What made you to change it?
I would love to see a picture of your lightroom pannel of how much you changed for each option, I have several other photos like this would love the same treatment.

Julian

 

[Derrel]

Sure, here are the before and after Lightroom panels you asked for.



Here is the image with the defaults, as shown first.

And here are the Lightroom basics shown; the burning down of corners is not reflected in the changes, obviously.

 

[julianliu]

Thanks again, Derrel.

 

[TreeofLifeStairs]

Did you flip the cowgirl image horizontally or does her shirt just read backwards. Also the blue dress one I thought was great but thought her hand should be facing downward. Her fingers curled upward is a but distracting to me.

 

[The_Traveler]

In regards the first one.

He is almost swallowed up by the background. There is lots and its bright.
In regards the subject, his suit is dark so pretty much what stands out is his shirt and the horm.
I would suppress the background, lighten his suit so he actually becomes more visible and crop it to make him larger in the frame.

 

[julianliu]

Did you flip the cowgirl image horizontally or does her shirt just read backwards. Also the blue dress one I thought was great but thought her hand should be facing downward. Her fingers curled upward is a but distracting to me.

Good eye, yes I did flip her horizontally as I prefer this way.