Critique My Image

calengor

I did some more work on the image based on @heartyfisher's crop suggestion plus @Rx4Photo's suggestions.:



I brightened her eyes, darkened the lips and eyebrows a bit, and worked on her skin some more in the low frequency layer. I also removed the lettering from the t-shirt. Thank you guys for your critiques, and if anyone has any more, I'd be glad to hear them. I'm trying to take more portraits and use photoshop, ad I have a feeling I'll be using this thread more often.

Msmoto

My first atempt at posting my first picture



Nikon D7000 / 50mm F/1.8G
ISO 100, F2.5, 1/500

heartyfisher

@jturrici its nice and light even the tilted horizon is nice.. the highlights may be a bit blown though.

sevencrossing

D800 80 -400 @ 400mm
ISO 1250 800 @ f11
I guess a higher shutter speed but how high ?

donaldejose

I am thinking differently: a slower shutter speed to blur the wings and water but keep the head sharp would be more "artsy" and more interesting. 1/250th of a second would be my guess. But I don't know.

PB_PM

A slower shutter speed would simply result in a loss of detail, I know from experience with this kind of shot. I suspect that a speed of 1/1000 or higher would help a little, if your goal is to make water drops and wings frozen in place and tack sharp. To be honest I don't see anything wrong with the shutter speed chosen here.

A polarizing filter would help reduce the glare on the water drops and in the background plants. Of course that could also be fixed in post.

WestEndFoto

@jturrici its nice and light even the tilted horizon is nice.. the highlights may be a bit blown though.

I don't know. I think it looks great. Below is my deliberate attempt to do just what jturrici has done. You will notice that I shaded the models to blow out the background even more.

I would appreciate any feedback that anybody might have on this image.

JonMcGuffin

@westendfoto - Not sure I feel qualified to critique but nonetheless, here are my thoughts...

- remove black stick camera left in sky.
- clome rest of tree background over to the left to keep background consistent

As far as what I like... A lot. Models are lit/shaded very well. Great expression. Nice processing

WestEndFoto

Yeah, that black stick is kinda ugly. I should do that. For your second point, I am going to need to work on my Photoshop skills some. I am not that good with Photoshop yet.

starralazn

got back from a convention. normally happy with the shots that i get, but i figured i could always get some feed back on portraits that i take. i'm pretty thin skinned, but the only way to get better is to have the errors pointed out, no?

Please tell me what I could do better.


D800, 58mm 1.4 @ F/1.4

heartyfisher

Hi, I just lost a bunch of comments due to my access problems so please forgive me if I am a bit terse ..
1) blue/red/white distracting on the left and doesn't balance with blank space on right..
2) blue/red/white may be nice as it repeats in the colours in her hair.. makes her part of the background.. maybe recompose?
3) Eyes are nice .. and are clearly the main subject of the image.. however the main subject is usually best not in the centre of the frame .. If possible include more of the torso?

A tight crop may solve all the points above ..

sevencrossing

@starralazn
Nice shot. my only suggestion would have been to try and get a highlight in the eyes
only other suggesting would be to crop to 1x1 or 5x4

spraynpray

Please tell me what I could do better.

Rule number one - check your background. It saves you hours of post or even tossing an otherwise good shot.

WestEndFoto

I also wonder what this could have looked like in a portrait orientation. Agree on the background comments. Getting that right is huge.

starralazn

@heartyfisher, @sevencrossing, @spraynpray, @WestEndFoto
thanks for the comments. i have to keep that in mind next time, how the background meshes with the foreground/subject.
if i can explain the image a little, the left side is an escalator with people on it, right side is a pillar.
but that shouldn't really need to be explained, i just need to take more time before i shoot (most times i'm only focused on the subject, and the background's a gamble..)

WestEndFoto

I find that subjects are usually cooperative at moving around if you let them know the picture will turn out better. You just need to be comfortable giving direction.

heartyfisher

had a quick edit crop hope you dont mind ..
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ysgioptyt4l6849/19713643061_86bc3ce441_o_m2.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ufrgw361wcxxny2/19713643061_86bc3ce441_o_m.jpg?dl=0
cant post the image due to my access issues :-(

starralazn

@heartyfisher
interesting crop! i tend to shy away from cropping hair(anything a part of the person i guess), but it works well in this image!

heartyfisher

PS: LOL that D800 file has so much cropping room !! I can see the attraction of the D8xx series ! PPS : Lovely lense !!

starralazn

lol, was just borrowing the lens for the week, might have to buy it
also, cropping at low ISOs is a dream

heartyfisher

4 shot bracket .. hand merged I think I need more practice... multiple layers and masking ...



D7000 12-24 nikkor

Msmoto

@heartyfisher

I prefer more shadow detail....but, it is really about exactly that....what we like. In looking at another's image, or in producing our own images, maybe the critical issue for each of us is to establish a basis for critical viewing our own photos, editing same. If I had access to the original I would love to play with it.

Oh, maybe that is what this thread is about...LOL

heartyfisher

Had another go.. figured out a way to do it in a more automated way ( Auto align & average merge ) .. and Auto masking .. learning new things is fun !! much faster to process and cleaner .. good ol' GIMP + G'MIC plugin.

PB_PM

Not bad, all you need to do is bring in some clouds from another shot to make the sky somewhat interesting.

JonMcGuffin

had a quick edit crop hope you dont mind ..
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ysgioptyt4l6849/19713643061_86bc3ce441_o_m2.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ufrgw361wcxxny2/19713643061_86bc3ce441_o_m.jpg?dl=0
cant post the image due to my access issues :-(

The crop on this in my mind is much improved. It was a good shot to start, the crop enhanced it a ton but I do detect a tad bit of softness there for some reason.