Artist at work (7 images)

[Rebel]

A local artist had recently seen some of my landscape images and asked me if I would take some photographs of her working in her studio/barn for her website. I was a bit reluctant as I'd never met her before and never really taken photographs of people. I accepted anyway because it was a good opportunity to get some experience.

She was very happy with the images, I on the other hand understand that these are nowhere near perfect but this is my first ever "people shoot".. my main objective was to give her some images that look good.

Any C&C would be really appreciated here, thanks.

(These are the edited/reduced blur images)

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6


#7


Thanks for viewing

[bnnrcn]

Hi Matt Your photography looks good but IMO the lady's smiling expression doesn't fit the scenes. I would expect her to look more serious and concerned about her work instead of smiling. She smiles even while watching outside in #7

[Rebel]

Hi Matt Your photography looks good but IMO the lady's smiling expression doesn't fit the scenes. I would expect her to look more serious and concerned about her work instead of smiling. She smiles even while watching outside in #7

Thanks Binnur, this is what she wanted.

She wanted to convey that her art makes her happy.

[joebranko]

+1 to Binnur.

[bnnrcn]

Well then no problem I like your processing. As far as I understand you blurred the images selectively to make her stand out and it works very well

Thanks Binnur, this is what she wanted.

She wanted to convey that her art makes her happy.

[Rebel]

+1 to Binnur.

Thanks Joe.

Just to add, none of the facial expressions are forced they are all natural. I tried to capture her when she wasn't "posing."

[Rebel]

Well then no problem I like your processing. As far as I understand you blurred the images selectively to make her stand out and it works very well

Indeed, there wasn't much room in the barn and it was such a busy area so I had to use that method.

[Donald]

I just got feedback from my tutor for my first assignment on the BA in Photography course I'm doing. He wrote:-

"It’s admirable that, from the outset, you decided to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Your work with landscape is very good indeed and to take on a series of (mostly) portraits for this assignment was quite a challenge, not necessarily from a technical view as your work is already quite accomplished at this level, but certainly from a creative and professional perspective. It isn’t easy working with people, whether they are aware of what you are doing, or even if you know them well. Developing a rapport and ensuring both their comfort and getting what you want is a tricky process."

You might feel this applies to you as well.

[Rebel]

I just got feedback from my tutor for my first assignment on the BA in Photography course I'm doing. He wrote:-

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"It’s admirable that, from the outset, you decided to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Your work with landscape is very good indeed and to take on a series of (mostly) portraits for this assignment was quite a challenge, not necessarily from a technical view as your work is already quite accomplished at this level, but certainly from a creative and professional perspective. It isn’t easy working with people, whether they are aware of what you are doing, or even if you know them well. Developing a rapport and ensuring both their comfort and getting what you want is a tricky process."



You might feel this applies to you as well.

Definitely Donald, I was quite nervous going into this but her and her friend (who was there to support her) were really nice. I also made them aware before hand that I had never done anything like this before which I think helped, rather than going in there pretending I was some sort of expert.

[Manfred M]

An interesting set of images Matt.

What strikes me about these shots are all of the wonky out of focus areas. I'm not 100% certain, but some of them certainly look like they were added in post. Having foreground areas that are out of focus can be tricky, but doable, but images that have such significant parts that are really soft is not working for me. Vertigo should not be the first thing that comes to mind when I look at the images. If you can pull back on those effects, I think you have some strong material to work with, but I think more subtlety might work better.

[Rebel]

An interesting set of images Matt.

What strikes me about these shots are all of the wonky out of focus areas. I'm not 100% certain, but some of them certainly look like they were added in post. Having foreground areas that are out of focus can be tricky, but doable, but images that have such significant parts that are really soft is not working for me. Vertigo should not be the first thing that comes to mind when I look at the images. If you can pull back on those effects, I think you have some strong material to work with, but I think more subtlety might work better.

Thanks Manfred, yes I added a blur vignette to the images to try and isolate the artist as the bg's are very busy, maybe I will try and reduce the amount of blur to see how that works.

Cheers

[Shadowman]

Nice series, #5 is the most personal as it shows her hard at work and also highlights her abilities. In all the other shots we see her toiling but the output is obscured. Was the purpose of the shots to market her work or serve as an "about me" section?

[Manfred M]

Thanks Manfred, yes I added a blur vignette to the images to try and isolate the artist as the bg's are very busy, maybe I will try and reduce the amount of blur to see how that works.

Cheers

I kind of thought that's what you did. Thank you for confirming this.

Ultimately, the image still has to look "natural", otherwise our brain will suggest there is something wrong with the shot, Blur is one of those things that has to be done extremely subtlety or it will look wrong (something I learned from my own mistakes).

I suspect that you might recognize the same issue in this shot I took quite some time ago... The blur is all in the same plane, so I incorrectly thought I might get away with it.

[Rebel]

Nice series, #5 is the most personal as it shows her hard at work and also highlights her abilities. In all the other shots we see her toiling but the output is obscured. Was the purpose of the shots to market her work or serve as an "about me" section?

Its more for an about me section, there will be separate images of her actual work.

[Rebel]

I kind of thought that's what you did. Thank you for confirming this.

Ultimately, the image still has to look "natural", otherwise our brain will suggest there is something wrong with the shot, Blur is one of those things that has to be done extremely subtlety or it will look wrong (something I learned from my own mistakes).

I suspect that you might recognize the same issue in this shot I took quite some time ago... The blur is all in the same plane, so I incorrectly thought I might get away with it.

Already working on the images to reduce the blur I'll post them up when I'm finished, might be tomorrow now though.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Manfred. I noticed the same issue but I actually didn't mind that the blur wasn't on the same plane because the artist stands out more this way. Is it not acceptable in photography because it is not correct technically or can it be acceptable in some circumstances?

An interesting set of images Matt.

What strikes me about these shots are all of the wonky out of focus areas. I'm not 100% certain, but some of them certainly look like they were added in post. Having foreground areas that are out of focus can be tricky, but doable, but images that have such significant parts that are really soft is not working for me. Vertigo should not be the first thing that comes to mind when I look at the images. If you can pull back on those effects, I think you have some strong material to work with, but I think more subtlety might work better.

[Rebel]

I have now updated the images after reducing the blur, I'm pretty happy with them now.

Acceptance is not something I've ever been interested in

I don't agree with rules in art, how can there be progression?

[bnnrcn]

They look much better now Matt

I have now updated the images after reducing the blur, I'm pretty happy with them now.

Acceptance is not something I've ever been interested in

I don't agree with rules in art, how can there be progression?

[mknittle]

I have now updated the images after reducing the blur, I'm pretty happy with them now.

Acceptance is not something I've ever been interested in

I don't agree with rules in art, how can there be progression?

If all rules were closely followed the art would die from monotony.

[Manfred M]

Hi Manfred. I noticed the same issue but I actually didn't mind that the blur wasn't on the same plane because the artist stands out more this way. Is it not acceptable in photography because it is not correct technically or can it be acceptable in some circumstances?

I'm not someone that pays a lot of attention to the "rules of photography" or whether something is "technically correct" or not. My acid test is always, "does the image work"? Once I establish whether it works or not, I try to figure out why it does or does not work.

In general, I find that most images need to be "believable" for them to work. We humans are excellent filters at looking at an image and figuring out if we what we see makes sense or not. To me this is one of the acid tests and if it fails this one, there is no use going on to the next step to determine the artistic merit of an image.