Two portraits, opinions?

[Cyotheking]

Really happy with these photos and just wanted to see what other people thought

 

[hirejn]

Something is very overprocessed as you have colors blocking up in the background.

 

[TCampbell]

Welcome to The Photo Forum.

The background colors are vibrant and your subjects have beautiful smiles.

Your full-length shot (the vertical orientation image on the right) is just a little tight on the crop. You've nipped off the toe of the subject on the right and left very little room for framing. The subject on our left has a pleasant pose with one leg in front of the other and a slight angle to her shoulders (I would have preferred just a bit more). The subject on our right is "square" to the camera -- which is not a flattering pose. Turn her body slightly inward and have her put her weight on one leg and let the other leg relax.

I love the smiles on the left (landscape orientation) photo, although you've done a bit of a "bullseye" with centering. Avoid centering the heads when composing your frame and move the camera down a bit. I this "half shot" (half the body) go for the the waist up (lower your camera) so that their heads are in the upper-third of the frame rather than on the veritcal center.

Exposure-wise, while your background is vibrant, your subject lighting is a little dull. A boost to lighting would help here.

Thanks for posting! Keep at it!

 

[Cyotheking]

Something is very overprocessed as you have colors blocking up in the background.

Woah, I didn't even notice that...thanks for pointing that out.

Welcome to The Photo Forum.

The background colors are vibrant and your subjects have beautiful smiles.

Your full-length shot (the vertical orientation image on the right) is just a little tight on the crop. You've nipped off the toe of the subject on the right and left very little room for framing. The subject on our left has a pleasant pose with one leg in front of the other and a slight angle to her shoulders (I would have preferred just a bit more). The subject on our right is "square" to the camera -- which is not a flattering pose. Turn her body slightly inward and have her put her weight on one leg and let the other leg relax.

I love the smiles on the left (landscape orientation) photo, although you've done a bit of a "bullseye" with centering. Avoid centering the heads when composing your frame and move the camera down a bit. I this "half shot" (half the body) go for the the waist up (lower your camera) so that their heads are in the upper-third of the frame rather than on the veritcal center.

Exposure-wise, while your background is vibrant, your subject lighting is a little dull. A boost to lighting would help here.

Thanks for posting! Keep at it!

Thank you for the advice. Quite a few of the issues could have been fixed if I had a little longer to shoot. They were in a rush to get some where.
As for the bullseye, do you mean do more of a rule of thirds type thing? Sorry for my noobiness, still learning a lot of terms
Thanks again!

 

[TCampbell]

As for the bullseye, do you mean do more of a rule of thirds type thing? Sorry for my noobiness, still learning a lot of terms
Thanks again!

Yes - rule of thirds. De-centering works for a lot of different reasons. De-centering vertically helps show a bit more of their bodies -- making the image more about your subjects and less about their background (even though -- make no mistake -- backgrounds ARE important. You did well to keep a healthy distance between subject and background to allow for a bit of a background blur.) De-centering horizontally can force the eye to sweep across the image.

 

[Cyotheking]

As for the bullseye, do you mean do more of a rule of thirds type thing? Sorry for my noobiness, still learning a lot of terms
Thanks again!

Yes - rule of thirds. De-centering works for a lot of different reasons. De-centering vertically helps show a bit more of their bodies -- making the image more about your subjects and less about their background (even though -- make no mistake -- backgrounds ARE important. You did well to keep a healthy distance between subject and background to allow for a bit of a background blur.) De-centering horizontally can force the eye to sweep across the image.

Gotcha! I'll make sure to keep this all in mind for next time.