some portraits

[Evertking]

cc please
12 3456791011121314
6d
85 1.2
AD600
8
6d
17-40
AD600

[billtils]

Mike


You requested comments ...

It's a bit difficult to respond when there are 8 images covering a range of models and settings. I like the ones of the children best; they are nicely composed and capture the spirit of the subject well, and even the studio shots don't look "posed" (it's a pity #13 is a bit on the soft side). The composition of the adult ones suffers somewhat in comparison.

[Shadowman]

Nice efforts overall:
Image 1 and 14, both nicely exposed however the leading lines of the background don't work for me in the first image, however they work well in image 14. The model in image 1 would've dominated the composition on her own without the need for additional elements. In image 14, this image is more about the fashion than the model and the leading lines work well to bring the viewer back to the model's face even though the clothes dominate the composition.The others work well as individual portraits, however each has some severe cropping issues, image 6 leaves me a bit disorientated as I cannot see the subjects eyes.

[Evertking]

Nice efforts overall:
Image 1 and 14, both nicely exposed however the leading lines of the background don't work for me in the first image, however they work well in image 14. The model in image 1 would've dominated the composition on her own without the need for additional elements. In image 14, this image is more about the fashion than the model and the leading lines work well to bring the viewer back to the model's face even though the clothes dominate the composition.The others work well as individual portraits, however each has some severe cropping issues, image 6 leaves me a bit disorientated as I cannot see the subjects eyes.

Thanks for your honest input, both of you.
Could you elaborate more on the cropping issues? I have never really paid much attention to aspect ratio in my camera and in post I just crop free Willy style. and for awhile I would put a subject on one of the 3rds and crop it.
With all that said, should I be setting the aspect ratio in camera and compose a shot with the end result in mind, i.e, do I want this to be 1:1,3:2 or do I wanna make a 8x10 print... This is an area that I honestly have NO clue about.
Take image 14.. I left my camera in 16:9 and took this image. When I opened in Photoshop I tried mindfully crop this one but with all the options I still ended up losing information. The image posted is.. well, it's not cropped at all.

Thanks

[billtils]

... Could you elaborate more on the cropping issues? I have never really paid much attention to aspect ratio in my camera and in post I just crop free Willy style. and for awhile I would put a subject on one of the 3rds and crop it.

Mike, there are lots of sources for guidance on cropping, including right here in CIC (https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/ph...techniques.htm). However, I think the composition issues that Dan raises are not going to be solved by applying the rule of thirds or any other formulaic action.

Using image #1 as an example: here you have an attractive model nicely exposed but it would have been a much stronger image if cropped (or better still, framed when shooting) to avoid as much of the background as possible, and her pose from the hands down is out of focus and distracting. When framing try to think about where were there any distractions (clutter and extraneous highlighted areas for example) and how can I avoid them, and the converse - what do I see as the centre of attention and how can I frame to draw the viewer's eye to it. (And as Dan mentions, that's why #14 works so well).

[Shadowman]

Cropping issues somewhat covered by Bill, for me the peeve also included the cropping of limbs, for controlled shooting conditions this issue can be avoided as long as you are seeing the whole picture within the viewfinder.

[Manfred M]

A good and diverse set of images. A lot of members would be happy to produce images of this calibre. The one thing I would recommend is that you don't pay too much attention to the rule of thirds; it results in some of the wrong compositional choices much of the time. I'm going to be hyper-critical in these comments, so please take them in that vein; for the most part the issues are minor, but in a few cases, the image does not work all that well.

A couple of general comments too. Be careful when you apply frames that are complex or very stark (very dark colours) as they do detract from the image itself. A vignette that can be noticed is generally distracting, but this rule is not true 100% of the time. With respect to format, I find that a 5 x 7 ratio often works very well for single person images with a fairly plain background, otherwise there can be too much uninteresting background in the shot.

Another thing to watch is the smile. This is generally viewed as an amateur technique. Unfortunately, unless you are working with experienced models this can be an issue as some people put on a smile the moment they step in front of a camera. I had this problem with a recent model I was shooting and I could not stop her smiling no matter how much I tried to coach her.

You might want to look at the work of three masters; Karsh, Irving Penn and Richard Avedon to see how they posed and lit their subjects. Their focus was always bang on.

#1. While the eyes and face are sharp, the rest of the image sharpness drops off to quickly. The background is simple and not distracting and the whole image would have done better with a smaller aperture and a more fully focused subject. Given the angle you are shooting at, I would have gone for f/8 or f/11 here.

#2 This shot would have worked better had your model been turned a bit facing the camera. Have her bring her camera right hand around a bit so it looks less cut off and shoot it on edge. I suspect burning down the sky and the red lights might be worth considering too. Both add distractions to the image and pull the viewer's eyes away from your subject.

I find the fill light just a touch hot here and might tone the subject down slightly in post.

#3 This shot would work better if your subject had turned in towards the tree and were not standing square to the camera. Like the previous shot, the fill light is a tad too hot for my taste; in theory the viewer should not notice that you were using fill lighting. The drop off of the background light works nicely, but the sky is still a bit bright. You could definitely crop a bit off the top and right hand side to get a more balanced framing.

#4. My first impression is that it looks like there is a colour space conversion problem here; i.e. working in Adobe RGB and assigning it an sRGB colour space (rather than converting it). The dull colours are indicative of that type of issue. Warm up to face a tad to match the tone of the arms. I also find that the face looks overprocessed. Images that have been run through Portraiture Professional often have this look. Someone this young generally needs no real retouching of the face.

Good strong pose for someone this young. This one would work better in a 5:7 framing.

#5 The one thing that my eyes hone in on is the ring on the camera right hand. If you can retouch that out, this would be a stronger image. I'd also like to see a bit of burning of the eyes and eye sockets; they could have used some fill to open them up too.

I'm not loving the balance in the image; if you could shift the whole image to the left a bit and crop into the camera left should and bring out the camera right arm some more, you'd have a better overall balance. Losing a bit of the top would not hurt either.

#6 A very effective and unusual approach - a portrait that shows virtually none of the facial features we normally see in a portrait (eyes, nose and mouth). The colour grade is interesting and effective. The only thing I might consider here is a heavy crop on the left hand side as it is not adding anything to the image.

#7 A good example of short lighting and a good camera angle to enhance your subject's neck. I like what the shadows are doing on her arms and face.

This shot as some of the same issues as #1; the depth of field is too shallow for the fairly plain background and the hand is too soft. The piece that it is resting on pulls our eye there and we notice it more than we should. That vertical piece along the left hand side should be cloned out as it draws our eyes there and that not where they should go.

This shot could use a very heavy crop as the top and most of the right hand side are not adding anything to the image. The skin looks overprocessed as well.

#9 Some of the same type of colour issues as #4 - too much cyan in the skin, even with the overall colour grade you are using. Use more of a complementary colour approach on the skin and the image will work better with the clothes and background. The pose is okay but looks a bit stilted.

#10 Almost a great shot; the problem is again your very shallow dof and you've missed focus on the eyes (especially the eye closest to the camera). Burn down the bottom left hand corner and dodge the face to bring it out a bit more and you have a winner here.

Had you nailed focus here you would have had a great shot. What focus mode / technique are you using?

#11 Another good shot, but not quite up there with #10; same kind of corrections though and I would also look at burning down the top, bright edge a bit too. It looks like you have hit a bit of a back focus here; the pole looks sharp but they leading eye is hinting at a bit of softness.

#12 Unless this has a lot of personal meaning to you, this one does not work at all and I would delete it. The out of focus hands just draw us to that part of the image. This is the least effective image of the group.

A bit more dof and this could have been a great shot.

#13 Effective - a bit cropped off the left for better balance. Again, the eye focus looks a bit off. Is this something that your skin softening technique is affecting? Some of the algorithms I've seen soften the eyes as well as the skin, These studio shots should be +/- f/8 with those types of backgrounds.

#14 Good all around shot - the light's a bit hot on the face. Have you tried feathering your key light? Crop on the bottom is a bit tight and you could take a bit off the top.

#15 Definitely the strongest shot with this model - You could crop the sky a bit. I'm not loving what the hands are doing (camera right and amputation due to pose and camera left amputation of hand due to camera position). Strange lines in the face from a forced smile.

The camera angle you shot from lengthens her body nicely.