Critique My Image

michael66

@msmoto thanks for the help and apologies for the late response. The Critique thread sort of floated off the top page.

I tried it again, focusing on the edge of the clouds, and got a better capture. Although it did take a few tries to get the focus to lock. Thank goodness for the back-button focus lock, just 'set it and forget it'.

Of course the cloud formations were uninspired, but I have a better chance next time.

The shot of the sun is quite neat. I wonder what you could get when there are solar flares. Do you still have access to that filter? I can't imagine that it would be something you would keep in your bag.

Msmoto

I do have the filter and will be pairing this up with a IR filter which is black to visual inspection and begins transmission only in the IR range. Exposure is a guess with these, but I am planning on more when at an altitude of about 6,000 feet in Colorado.

NSXTypeR

I have a cropped and uncropped version of the same photo. I personally like the cropped one because it's less messy- there might be too much stuff in the foreground.

But what do you guys think?

Cropped-


Uncropped-



I can see the merits of the uncropped one, as this is a "working kitchen".

Msmoto

I am not certain of the subject... The hand or bottle?

NSXTypeR

The bottle of soy sauce haha. I was trying to layer in stuff, but I guess it might be too cluttered to begin with.

Vipmediastar_JZ

I enjoy nature and Landscape and well I have always enjoyed viewing landscape photos but taken them has been a challenge for me.

Here is my first landscape photo with the 14-24 and D800 and CC on it to improve would be appreciated.

Sports

I can see the merits of the uncropped one, as this is a "working kitchen".

I like the cropped version much better. The single bottle in front and the hand in the background are the objects that generates the "working" effect, so it's still there (in the cropped version). In my view, the effect does not come from the added "mess".

Vipmediastar_JZ

Alright so this photo has been well received, maybe I did a good job with the editing or the model is pretty.
I want to hear your input. So far its one my most liked portraits in several social media sites including this site.

Gear D810 with 85mm 1.8g. Phottix Odin trigged a SB-910 and SB-800 both with rogue flashbenders front and camera left and right. From memory I did - exposure comp and adjusted the flash output as needed.
This is what I did for post: slight edit in Lightroom on iPad as a starting point then finished editing on the mac.
I did a slight crop, used several brushes to soften the skin, whiten the teeth, enhance the eyes and another brush to enhance the hair.

She was originally supposed to get her makeup done by my wife but she showed up late to the makeup party and to the photoshoot she was the last to arrive giving me about 5 minutes with her before the cousins went for dinner.
CC welcomed

calengor

In my opinion, I think there might be too much softening on her cheeks and chin. It could just be the makeup, but she's just too smooth there. Otherwise it's a nice picture.

heartyfisher

I think what makes the picture is the smile and the colour scheme that matches her makeup and hair to the background. her shirt is white and distracting I would crop 1/5 off the bottom. I think too that the face has lost too much texture.

Msmoto

Suggestions: crop about 20% off left and bottom. If one had this particular model for a session, getting a slightly less intense smile might be nice to avoid the gums showing. Technically it looks quite pleasing, however.

I might rotate her head to her right so as to minimize her nose. Maybe shoot with a longer lens to accomplish the same shortening of the nose.

Vipmediastar_JZ

Thanks for the tips. The photo has been adjusted with the crop, skin softening and white blouse.

Vipmediastar_JZ

It's me again.
This is a practice session with my wife and her Makeup.
I wanted to use the 105mm to focus on the Makeup but in wondering if the 200mm would have been better due to light placement.
I used a beauty dish about 3feet from her and positioned with the middle just like phlearn and Lindsey Adler showed me on YouTube. I place a reflector under the chin and she held it.

After much googling and YouTube searching I didn't find the Answer to my question. Do you soften up the Makeup? Lips and eye brows? If softening darkens the image do I also up the exposure to compensate?

I'm starting to retouch recently and this area is new.
Also is the lighting good? I got better control with the speedlights vs my rarely used studio lights



I'm working a few photos a day and here is my progress
Sunshyne Makeup Album

EDIT: after some feedback I have darkened the area under the chin. If this was an actual shoot I would be ok in the recovery area but ill keep an eye on the reflector and placement for future. I'll upload this photo to the folder for comparison purposes.

Here is the after.

Darkened the chin area and another brush in the triangle area under the chin. thanks @donaldejose

Msmoto

You asked for some thoughts.....if I were doing the capture, I would move to a higher angle. Make certain her eyes do not show white under the iris. Lighting.... one soft lights, forget the fill under chin....makes her look like those horror shows where one lights from below. If you want to open the shadows, have a soft reflector straight off her nose, allowing the main light to hit the reflector some.

I would no doubt have her looking into the camera. The looking away from the camera ends to isolate, not the lens connects with the observer, a more intimate photo. IMO.

Here is a photo... not the greatest, but the interaction with the observer is present:

spraynpray

Personally, I find that there is a touch too much light on her forehead (just between her eye-brows), cheeks (either side of her nose), chin and below her adam's apple area. Your first shot with that addressed and shot again incorporating Msmoto's observations would be very good. I like that you haven't over processed her skin. Maybe don't crop the shot so tight next time too - it looks uncomfortable to me cropped as tight as it is. Although Msmoto's shot is similarly cropped, her subject has bigger hair and the aspect ratio of the image is wider so her face is in a pleasing proportion to the image width/height.

Msmoto

Maybe one way to shoot portraits, or to find an avenue to improve our skills is to position our model, head about 1.5m from the floor, then walk around and shoot dozens of angles, up down, right left, etc, and then in the post processiong pull up two on the screen and reject one of the two until we are down to about three or four "final cut" images. We might find there is a specific angle we like to use, then do this on the next shoot.

Having said all this, i would point out on my last portrait for a friend, I had up two sets with lighting, then changed to the third setup for the final shoot. So, the time before the final was in the several hour range of set up and rejection. I suspect this all comes out of the early days when I was able to have several hours to set up a shot, working with an in house account rep and art director, the ad agency art director, and the final client. As a team there was a huge amount of feedback to get our final image.

But, feedback from folks is probably the way we can improve. And, even today i have rarely been fully satisfied by the end product always looking for ways to improve.

In my image above, I might try pulling the forehead and hair down slightly (darker), and the model's left shoulder. But, the client was happy.....LOL I do not actually work these days.... :O

Vipmediastar_JZ

Thanks for the tips. If possible we will do another shoot tonight. I will use the tape measure to ensure I have a distance of 4 feet for the beauty dish and reposition the reflector or make it minimal for the chin. With the beauty dish you get shadows under nose and chin.

this is one of my sources for setting up the beauty dish Source

Given the feedback I edited one more photo from the shoot with her looking at the camera, darkend the hot spots and didnt crop.

I hope the flash meter that i have is accurate otherwise that might be my main source of failure even after sending it in for repair twice. I don`t want to get a sekonic flash meter if i only do this shoots less than 5 times a year but that could change if my wife keeps up with her makeup goals.

Vipmediastar_JZ

Based on the feedback
I measured 4 feet from sitting position and 4 feet from head to Center of beauty dish.
I used a grey card only for WB and applied in post.
I lowered the reflector much lower than before.
Seems like the flash meter was working good this time.

Below is the picture of our practice session. She didn't do the full Makeup since it was just for practice.

Back ground is White reflector with sb-910 at maybe 1/2 Power or less. I don't remember.

Edit: I forgot to edit Out the baby hairs. I'll probably do it later.

Msmoto

See if you can see what I did to your image..... just for fun

Hammie

@msmoto -- Looks like you warmed the skin tone.

Just curious what software and settings you used?

Photobug

Nice job on the skin tone @Msmoto. Also looks like you adjusted contrast or brightness so the dress top is not so bright.

Msmoto

Well, there are changes not so much in the skin tones, but in the light distribution...the models left side is darker, right side lighter, the eyes are brighter, the skin has been made a little smoother, work was done in the chin and neck area, the lips now have a smile, and of course the shoulder is slightly darker.

What I want is to have the image come off the page somewhat...if one looks at the eyes and the mouth, these are emphasized by subtle shading. All are very small changes, but IMO can result in a more pleasing image.

There are many other [post processing changes which can be done, and on the Forum we can see this illustrated very well by PitchBlack Polo in his images.

Rx4Photo

My 2 cents...

1cent: Perhaps shooting from a slightly higher angle would open her eyes a bit more so that the beauty dish is more equally reflected in the eyes.
2 cents: To feature eye makeup more graphically you could then shoot from slightly above her, have her turn her head elegantly to the side and ask her to gently close her eyes to capture more details. Careful here as many women instinctively raise their brow when you ask them to close their eyes thus causing lines in the forehead.

slh1234

I have some photo situations that I cannot figure out. If you read my intro on that thread, you can see that I am very ignorant of how to use the camera (D7100) for anything other than auto, and how I got to this situation.

The first photo situation that I cannot do well is illustrated in this photo out my bedroom window:


That's probably the best shot I've gotten attempting this.

What I think is wrong: Auto-focus focuses on the building to the side rather than out into the bay. So I see the suspension bridge across the bay is not really in focus, and when I look farther out, the bridge far off in the distance is badly out of focus. I think none of the shops along the beach are in focus, either. I make the comment about focus timidly because if I take this shot during daylight hours, the auto-focus picks up the bridge very sharply, but I can't do that at night.

The lights blare, but this may just be them being out of focus. please offer your comment on how to sharpen the lights.

The colors along the edge of the suspension bridge don't show up at all. You can see some purple in the reflection in the bay. The lights on the edge of the bridge were purple when I took this shot. They change somewhat, but whatever color scheme I catch always shows up as white when I get the picture.

None of the colors of the lights along the beach are their true color, either.

Honestly, the picture is much brighter than what I see, and I have not been able to figure out how to adjust this down. At night, I can't really see the mountain on the horizon that you can see in the picture. For a night shot, it's not important for me to see that, I don't think. I really want to capture what I see, and that would mean the water is darker, and the lights are colored and not overpowering, there is no upward beam from the towers on the suspension bridge, and the lights are much sharper.

Those are my guesses. What I'm asking: Please help me to take this picture better.

(I have a couple of other situations I'll ask about ... one a day as the rules state.

NSXTypeR

First off, it's a nice composition! Welcome to Nikon Rumors Forum.

What part of the world are you from? It reminds me of Hong Kong or maybe Singapore.

From what I understand of your photograph, I don't think there's a problem with the autofocus. Did you take this on a tripod? The photo looks pretty clear, especially the building closest to the foreground.

I think the biggest problem is that there's a lot of difference between the lights and darks of your photo. The bridge is incredibly bright and the rest of the scene is mostly dark.

I think the way I would take this shot would be to do a HDR. I'd set the camera up on a tripod, take multiple exposures- one way darker than the bridge, and one way brighter than the bridge and then combine it.

Theoretically I know how to handle the situation, but in reality I have no idea how to do it in photoshop. Some of the other members will be more knowledgeable than I on that matter.

This is very, very speculative, but if you want to do it all in camera, I think you could get a neutral density filter and darken up the scene in general. In that case the whole scene would be darker and you might be able to catch the bridge in one shot.

Again, other members need to fact check me on this as I have no actual experience, I'm just speculating again.