Simple Portrait- C&C Please!

dab_20

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Been going to some People Photography classes and I've been learning a lot. Just bought a strobe and reflector the other day and was trying it out. This photo isn't too interesting, just a simple portrait. But I would like some technical criticism... be as harsh as you like.

f051.jpg
 
Needs a different background; as it is, her hair and her undershirt are too close to the color of the brick, which makes the sweater stand out more than anything else in the shot.
To get picky, the chair really doesn't help, either; try a backless stool or something with a low back that won't show past her shoulders.
As far as lighting, I don't see anything too bad, but it's a little bland. Check Strobist for ideas on that.

There's nothing awful about it, but I'd fix the above before trying to make an 8x10 for the mantel.
 
I'm not sure which caught my attention first, but here goes.

The chair has been mention.

Use the healing brush to remove the marks on her nose made by her glasses.

Using a shallower DoF and moving her further from the wall would give more bokeh (blurring) and isolate her more.

It looks as if you left the strobe on the hotshoe. This has caused three problem areas for me. 1) The catch lights are dead center of her eyes. 2) The lighting is straight on leaving it flat without creating any kind of shadow which will create more depth to her face. 3) You have hot spots on her front teeth.

You may want to try cropping some off the bottom, say just below the top of her brown shirt.

All that being said does not make this a bad protrait. Just things to think about.
 
Its a nice shot! but i think it might go out better if you take her farther from the wall ! and a topless chair!, also use a Telephoto lens like a 200mm that will make the background blured as helL! xD
 
Thank you all very much for the comments! This is the kind of helpful critique I am looking for. I will keep all the comments in mind the next time I do a shoot.
 
I like it except for the background as was mentioned. You caught a great smile, and the frontal lighting works here. You can try a little less DOF, but don't overdo it.
 
I like it except for the background as was mentioned. You caught a great smile, and the frontal lighting works here. You can try a little less DOF, but don't overdo it.

If you can get a different background, then tightening the DOF won't be such an issue. As it is, it might make the camouflage issue worse. Either way, don't tighten it to the point where parts of the model are out of focus unless you're really trying to draw attention to only the parts that are focused.
 
As it is, it might make the camouflage issue worse.


Is this because the texture difference is what's mainly telling the subject apart from the background now? And if you get rid of that, then they're even more alike?

I'm not trying to hijack, just understand better why a thin DOF in this specific photo would be a no no.
 
Is this because the texture difference is what's mainly telling the subject apart from the background now? And if you get rid of that, then they're even more alike?

Exactly; while there is some color difference, the rough texture of the brick and mortar provides a lot of the information as to where her hair stops and the wall starts. Add to that, that with a very tight DOF, the rearmost visible part of her hair could also be slightly out of focus exacerbating the effect.

If you really want to learn the hard way with this sort of thing, work with black and white film; you don't get to see the actual BW image until it's too late, and you find out that some important part of the subject happens to be a perfect match for the background when you take away the color.
 
To me the face just doens't look sharp......

Definately take care of those nose marks from the glasses. That was the FIRST thing I noticed before reading any posts

~Michael~
 
overall nice picture....only thing buggin' me is the clasp of the necklace <3 xoxoox
 

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