Wanderlei Silva photoshoot with dabertphotography

[dabert07]

dabertphotography is super excited to announce its latest photoshoot for UFC legend Wanderlei Silva.
It is definitely one of the most exciting shoots by far.
be sure to check out the little behind the scenes video I made



Wanderlei Silva UFC fighter and legend by dabertphotography.com, on Flickr




UFC fighter Wanderlei Silva outside of cage web by dabertphotography.com, on Flickr

 

[Austin Greene]

Its a neat setting, and no doubt a subject with a lot of character. Good on you

That said, I'm sorry, I promise I'm not trying to be an ass but...

- The cutoff at knee level isn't working for me.
- I understand bringing some of the background in, but man is it distracting the way it stands at the moment.
- Take the clarity slider down a couple notches. I get the gritty feel, but man is it way overdone.
- Composition. You have good framing with the lettering on the foam vertical pads, but you also have a bar running straight through his head.
- Lighting wise his right arm is lost in the background, and it seems rather uninspired. Maybe next time get a darker setting, and shoot with a softened flash from above + your bare flash on camera left?

I somehow think maybe this wasn't so much of a photo shoot "for him" but "for you?" Not that there is anything wrong with the latter, but there is a big difference.

 

[joshua_]

Very cool, thanks for sharing.

I'm a long time fan of the UFC and MMA.

 

[dabert07]

Its a neat setting, and no doubt a subject with a lot of character. Good on you

That said, I'm sorry, I promise I'm not trying to be an ass but...

- The cutoff at knee level isn't working for me.
- I understand bringing some of the background in, but man is it distracting the way it stands at the moment.
- Take the clarity slider down a couple notches. I get the gritty feel, but man is it way overdone.
- Composition. You have good framing with the lettering on the foam vertical pads, but you also have a bar running straight through his head.
- Lighting wise his right arm is lost in the background, and it seems rather uninspired. Maybe next time get a darker setting, and shoot with a softened flash from above + your bare flash on camera left?

I somehow think maybe this wasn't so much of a photo shoot "for him" but "for you?" Not that there is anything wrong with the latter, but there is a big difference.

lolololol ok thanks

 

[dabert07]

Very cool, thanks for sharing.

I'm a long time fan of the UFC and MMA.

Thanks for looking joshua

 

[AaronLLockhart]

Holy crap, he doesn't even look like the same guy anymore.

 

[Buckster]

I like the first "gritty" photo the best, but the background definitely competes HARD with the subject - VERY busy and clear/sharp and lit. I'd take the background down a couple notches to darken and maybe even to throw it at least a little OOF to bring out the fighter.

 

[frommrstomommy]

That 2nd has that very distracting light in it right above his head.. drawn to that every time I look at it. Hubby is a big MMA/UFC fan.. and he'd be training for it if I wasn't so adamant about keeping his ears non-cauliflower. haha

 

[Studio7Four]

While I think that togalive made some very valid points, I'll play devil's advocate on some of them (referencing only the first photo for now).
- I don't mind the knee crop. I don't follow UFC, and I wasn't able to find good shots of his legs in a quick Google search, but I suspect that (compared to his well developed upper body), his legs may appear relatively spindly, particularly from a camera angle which emphasizes his upper body.
- I don't mind the background. I like the context it gives, and since most of the background is behind the chain link it's broken up and minimized as effectively as if it were out of focus.

I don't feel the second shot works nearly as well.
- The desaturation done to his skin doesn't work here, particularly when you have realistic skin tones on the posters on the wall.
- The knee crop doesn't work for me here thanks to a few other elements. He is appreciably smaller in the frame, with much more head room. In the first shot you could argue that he was cropped at the knees because the frame couldn't contain him - not so much with this extra space here. Also, you have an element (the ring) which has a nice foundation shown, and you show much of the facility's floor. Hence it just seems awkward not to give him that same foundation.

 

[dabert07]

I like the first "gritty" photo the best, but the background definitely competes HARD with the subject - VERY busy and clear/sharp and lit. I'd take the background down a couple notches to darken and maybe even to throw it at least a little OOF to bring out the fighter.

thank you for feed back sir. It is always appreciated

 

[dabert07]

While I think that togalive made some very valid points, I'll play devil's advocate on some of them (referencing only the first photo for now).
- I don't mind the knee crop. I don't follow UFC, and I wasn't able to find good shots of his legs in a quick Google search, but I suspect that (compared to his well developed upper body), his legs may appear relatively spindly, particularly from a camera angle which emphasizes his upper body.
- I don't mind the background. I like the context it gives, and since most of the background is behind the chain link it's broken up and minimized as effectively as if it were out of focus.

I don't feel the second shot works nearly as well.
- The desaturation done to his skin doesn't work here, particularly when you have realistic skin tones on the posters on the wall.
- The knee crop doesn't work for me here thanks to a few other elements. He is appreciably smaller in the frame, with much more head room. In the first shot you could argue that he was cropped at the knees because the frame couldn't contain him - not so much with this extra space here. Also, you have an element (the ring) which has a nice foundation shown, and you show much of the facility's floor. Hence it just seems awkward not to give him that same foundation.

I am completely with you on this one. The secon one I felt the exact same but funny thing is that he liked the second one lol.
Thank you for the feedback sir.