young girl portrait: C&C

[kundalini]

Get down at or below the subject's eye level. That was shot from slightly above.

For traditional portraiture, the camera position should be even with or slightly above the subject's eye. The OP's camera position is okay IMO.

 

[SCraig]

For traditional portraiture, the camera position should be even with or slightly above the subject's eye. The OP's camera position is okay IMO.

It doesn't look right to me, but then I don't shoot portraits so I'll take your word for it.

 

[kundalini]

It doesn't look right to me, .......

Probably because the camera orientation should've been vertical rather than horizontal. This is one of those issues that could be resolved later, but focus is in the forefront at the moment.

 

[SCraig]

Probably because the camera orientation should've been vertical rather than horizontal. This is one of those issues that could be resolved later, but focus is in the forefront at the moment.

Good point, and quite possible. I didn't even notice that and should have.

I just don't generally like portraits that are shot from above the subject's eyes. In my opinion that puts the subject in a more subservient roll and appears to make the photographer seem more important than the subject, as in they are looking down on the subject. Shooting from at or below eye level raises the subject to a position above the photographer (or viewer) and gives them a sense of higher importance. Again, just my personal opinion though.

 

[Ernicus]

I don't think you want to get below, no one likes the "up the nose" shot. I read somewhere that also on women, it is very unflattering to shoot from below eye level. I think it works when they are looking off to the side in proper lighting etc...

 

[kundalini]

....I just don't generally like portraits that are shot from above the subject's eyes. .....

The operative word was SLIGHTLY above the eyes. I understand what you mean further down in your response and I can agree wholeheartedly. Not trying to put words in your mouth, or rather your fingertips, but what you describe is akin to shooting your pooche from a standing position and wondering why it doesn't "pop". That would certainly be a position considered above and subserviant.... and quite distasteful IMO. Yet, it is a fine line we traverse.

 

[brittanyrose864]

The image is overexposed as a whole, histogram shows.

I did a quick edit, not to show how to edit, but to illustrate how correct exposure should be. I just adjusted the levels a bit to compensate for the over exposure. Sometimes my stuff don't look right in the threads as im on laptop, but you get the idea and it looks good on my screen, lol. I also did some filters and tried to sharpen eyes a bit, for fun.

You did notice that her profile states "My Photos Are NOT OK to Edit", right?

I'm sorry britt, I don't know why I didn't even look. My appologies.

I changed that... You're welcome to repost if you'd like! I forgot I had that setting (I haven't been on the board in a while...) Thanks for the help, guys!

 

[Ernicus]

Ok, sorry for not paying attention.

Here is a side by side so you can see the differences. It's not perfect by any means, just gives an idea.

 

[Ernicus]

I was able to bring in the eyes a little bit, and you can see what even that little difference makes. It is very important to have nice sharp eyes...they can light up a photo and often make or break it.

 

[brittanyrose864]

Did you lighten her face? If so, I'd say you're pushing it -- any lighter at all and it would appear blown out. Honestly brittanyrose, there's little you can do to 'fix' a shot that out of focus. A little sharpening maybe, but other than that, soft is soft. Kids move around a lot. Are you using AF-C focus w/ single point? Also what was your F-stop for this shot?

Yes, I did! She had quite a few shadows on her face so I probably over did it... I like for my pictures to be "light and airy" which tends to make the pictures over exposed in most cases... :-/

I manually focused this shot. I'm thinking it was f 4.5?! (*sigh* I could be totally wrong on that though. I havn't had much experience with DSLR cameras. :-/ *awaits critical comments* lol jk jk

 

[brittanyrose864]

I was able to bring in the eyes a little bit, and you can see what even that little difference makes. It is very important to have nice sharp eyes...they can light up a photo and often make or break it.

Agreed! I try to bring out a person's eyes. I'm guessing in this case it was a failed attemt to fix a not-so-good picture. If I had hiked up the saturation, would that have helped?

 

[Ernicus]

I was able to bring in the eyes a little bit, and you can see what even that little difference makes. It is very important to have nice sharp eyes...they can light up a photo and often make or break it.

Agreed! I try to bring out a person's eyes. I'm guessing in this case it was a failed attemt to fix a not-so-good picture. If I had hiked up the saturation, would that have helped?

I think the moral of the story is to get focus on the eyes from your shot, not in post processing. There is not much you can do to fix bad focus, so it needs to be done with your camera, not with editing. Saturation has nothing to do with it, apples and oranges.

Focus on shooting it correctly, then editing later.

 

[brittanyrose864]

I was able to bring in the eyes a little bit, and you can see what even that little difference makes. It is very important to have nice sharp eyes...they can light up a photo and often make or break it.

Agreed! I try to bring out a person's eyes. I'm guessing in this case it was a failed attemt to fix a not-so-good picture. If I had hiked up the saturation, would that have helped?

I think the moral of the story is to get focus on the eyes from your shot, not in post processing. There is not much you can do to fix bad focus, so it needs to be done with your camera, not with editing. Saturation has nothing to do with it, apples and oranges.

Focus on shooting it correctly, then editing later.

Ah, ok. Thanks for your help! I'll definitely keep that in mind.

 

[Designer]

Well, would you mind just telling me what bothers you most about the picture and telling me how you think it could be fixed?

Hi, Brittanyrose. The first thing that I notice is that you shot in horizontal format, and IMO, you should have shot in portrait format. Also, you should get down to about eye level with the subject. Also, the shot seems over exposed, probably due to the background being so close that your camera is trying to expose for the brick wall AND the subject, so is something of a compromise in exposure.These things should be automatic, that is; you should do them/consider them intuitively.

 

[brittanyrose864]

Well, would you mind just telling me what bothers you most about the picture and telling me how you think it could be fixed?

Hi, Brittanyrose. The first thing that I notice is that you shot in horizontal format, and IMO, you should have shot in portrait format. Also, you should get down to about eye level with the subject. Also, the shot seems over exposed, probably due to the background being so close that your camera is trying to expose for the brick wall AND the subject, so is something of a compromise in exposure.These things should be automatic, that is; you should do them/consider them intuitively.

So, When shooting people, it's best to shoot in portrait mode instead of just using manual? I do see what y'all mean now by over exposed... (It might be because of the screen on my computer... It's somewhat darker on the one I edited it with.) Thank you for your input!