Critique My Image

Msmoto

Gosh, and here is mine.... Edward Hopper is IMO one of the great American painters, maybe even the best. His ability to portray loneliness and isolation is without equal. In some of my photos I have attempted to do the same thing, but really struggle. Here is one I have attempted, but only to find I missed the mark. Thoughts?



As to the above shots:
@slh1234

Download and read the camera manual. https://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/18247

This allows one to search for topics and answer questions. For one, setting how the camera utilizes the autofocus... for your shot, you may wish to manually focus the camera on whatever you want, but first read the section on how the camera focuses in your manual.

Also, p 115 in your manual discusses High Dynamic Range photos, which may be useful in your capturing an image more to your liking.

Also, if you do not wish to use HDR, in post processing you can pull up the shadows, pull down the highlights, then increase contrast to obtain a pleasing image.

Good luck.

Msmoto

A note on camera angle and choice of lens focal length.... in females, the size and shape of the nose is critical, along with facial shape. A long nose suggests to me a longer focal length to foreshorten somewhat, also avoiding a high angle for long nose, or long face is helpful.

Round face, sometimes a lighting which pulls the tonal range down on the sides so as to pull the center of the face out...

But, all so very subjective. Sometimes it works to simply try multiple camera angles, different lighting, and after about twenty or so trials, choose the best for a final shoot.

calengor

@slh1234

Are you shooting through a window? That may be part of the problem.

Read the manual to find out how to get the camera to focus on what you want, e.g. the bridge, or the shoreline, etc. To try to get everything in the scene in focus, with a DX camera like the D7100 you'll want to be shooting at an aperture of f/9 or f/10 and focus on an object about 1/3rd of the way into the scene. That should get you most everything near and far in focus.

Are you shooting with a tripod? I see that you're at ISO 3200 with a shutter speed of 1/25 sec. If you have a tripod you can shoot at a lower ISO with a slower shutter speed for less noise.

Another part of the problem is that the difference in brightness between some of the lights and the darkness may be too much for the dynamic range of the camera, look into the in-camera HDR that the D7100 has, or bracket your shots (read the manual for bracketing and use a tripod) and do an HDR merge one you have them in the computer.
If you want the lights to come out not overly bright in a single exposure, you could increase your shutter speed and expose for the lights then bring up the shadows in post.

If the light colors are not being rendered the way you see them, it's probably a white balance issue, and that can be corrected in post or you could try to select a WB setting that works for you in camera.

Like others suggested, take the time to read your manual. Also, check out the following link: www.r-photoclass.com which has a lot of information on getting out from using auto mode and learning to use all the modes available on your camera.

Hammie

@slh1234 - Can you post the EXIF information for that photo?

That photo looks great, but it could look better without the AUTO. Also, depending on the software you use, you may be able to clean this up. I hope you are shooting RAW and not JPEG. RAW will allow you to shoot and make the most changes that you can. As you are learning RAW and the software you will be using, I would recommend that you shoot RAW + JPEG (Basic). Then, try to get the RAW to look like the JPEG. This will help you understand what settings in your software controls what aspects. Also, you may need to only alter parts of the photo and not a global change, such as exposure (burn = darken, dodge = lighten), sharpening, noise reduction, etc.

When taking a photograph, you need to think about how you want the shot to look. As mentioned, HDR (if done right) can look spectacular. You want to move out of AUTO and into the M, A, S and P modes.

You should read up on how to control the above modes. I would recommend the book, 'Understanding Exposure' by Bryan Peterson. This is a very easy to follow book and does a good job explaining how to use the modes and why things change if one setting is changed.

I would say that this shot should be a tripod shot using M mode. This will allow you to control EVERYthing.

Personally, most of my shots are using the A (90%) or S (10%) modes.

slh1234

HDR was a new term for me (See. I told you I was ignorant of photography outside of auto.).

Thank you. And thank you for the focus in WHERE to read.

I toyed with the HDR tonight, and I got some different results. I'm out of time tonight, so I'll give that some more tries on the next clear night. Thank you for the tips on white balance, etc.

I actually did not do any post-processing on that photo, so thanks for the tips on that.

In answer to the question on what part of the world I'm in, I live in Busan, South Korea.

It's time for me to go to bed, but please don't stop the suggestions if other have them. I'll read them all.

@Hammie, I'm not sure what EXIF means. I am shooting through a window. I wouldn't mind posting the EXIF if I know what that is .

Thank you.

Msmoto

Exif

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchangeable_image_file_format

Pages 227, 346 of the D7100 Manual

Hammie

EXIF includes the settings of the shot. I did not realize that it was linked to your flickr account. I just looked at your settings for the shot.

This was shot with the D7100 and 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 lens

0.4 sec shutter speed, f/3.5 aperture, 18.3mm focal length, and ISO 3200. The sacred triangle for exposure include the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

Since this was shot through a window, the whitish haze you see is most likely from the window dirt and/or glare. You will rarely ever get a 100% clear shot through a window, IMO.

spraynpray

@Msmoto: Perhaps the isolation aspect would be better served by a less close-up perspective of the house?

Ironheart

@msmoto, A somewhat higher perspective too, will serve to minimize the structure in relationship to it's surrondings.

donaldejose

msmoto: To portray Isolation use a wide angle lens to make the subject appear small in a large environment and select an angle which minimizes other items cluttering up the environment. To portray loneliness chose a time or angle or both to eliminate other humans or even animals.

slh1234

Guys, thank you for your critique on the picture I posted last night. That gives me a lot to experiment with.

For the one I post today, let me post one I actually think is pretty good, and get suggestions both on pre and post processing.



Post processing I did was:

Cropped the top of a head from the bottom of the picture, and some sky out of the top of the picture.
Made the shadows a bit darker to bring some detail out of the mist in the distance.
adjusted brightness down slightly.

Location: from the trail hiking up Mt. Deogyu (Pronounced Duh-gyoo) in Deogyusan National Park in South Korea (pronounced Duh-gyoo-sahn - san means "Mountain") .

What made me want to take this particular picture was the sharp, blade-like ridges running down the left side of the mountain, and the cloud sweeping over the top of the ridge line where we had passed just a short time before ... and the fact that I was just enjoying the heck out of that hike, especially after we got above most of the peaks around us.

heartyfisher

@msmoto ... loneliness and Isolation ? I think the bright cheery pink may not help .. :-)

I can think of 2 possibly ways off the top of my head ... 1) being a "tele" guy - I would focus on something in the foreground like a gnarled branch, old toy or solitary old shirt hanging off a clothesline and have the house in the background a bit blurry and with shadows at some twilight or evening time of day with long shadows.

2) I guess you can use a wide angle lense too to bring more of the foreground up and reduce the size of the house .. but thats not me , (I am not a wide angle person) :-)

PS just googled Edward Hopper. Thanks..

Vipmediastar_JZ

I wanted a 3 speedlight setup for lightweight situations and a quick setup at home when the kids nap I can take advantage of shots like ones below.

Here is one of the test shots that I tried while I was testing the Yongnuo only to releasize it is not compatible with the Phottix system. Its in the back trying to light the background but it doesnt fire the correct flash value.

Lights used: Sb-910, Mitros +, Yongnuo YN-568EX, Generay Led light (for the light on the lens) Triggered b Phottix Odin



I switched the lights around and the Yongnuo is on the right now.



I have a final shot with just the sb-910, mitros + and Generay video light that I will share later after I touch it up a little bit.


The final shot has a velvet background but I will be re-arranging furniture to use the other bacground instead.

Yes the Df is on a video tilt head.

And I will probably be doing focus stacking too.

I'm going to re-do the shoot anyways using the alien bee b800 but I just wanted to get your input on how I did so far.

spraynpray

The first thing I see is that the camera is at its most unflattering angle IMHO. Higher and right or left would look better.

Vipmediastar_JZ

thanks and i agree. the final image is facing right. hows the light?

spraynpray

Some shadows that need filling, but not bad, how about a reflector in front?

Vipmediastar_JZ

Heres the final image with darth vader of my original shoot

Sb-910 mitros + with softboxes and generay led light.
Black glossy mirror below.

Ill be re-arranging my setup for the next shoot. Maybe a light over head and keep the left and right setup.

Msmoto

Gosh, I just did this on PAD. Light high opposite the camera so as to highlight the Df and Darth

Vipmediastar_JZ

I tried adding a small LED flash light for that purpose but the background was not the best choice. Ill add the other background on the next time I set this up. The other background will not observe all the light. I tried fixing in post without making it look weird. I'll add the Iightsaber to the photo as well and do focus stacking. Which will lead to another question in another thread.

calengor

Tried to take advantage of some soft light coming through a window to take a friend's portrait. Edited it in photoshop as I'm trying to learn that and use the skills I've been picking up. I wish I'd had a reflector to act as a fill light. Please let me know what you guys think I can improve:

D750 | 50mm f/1.8 | f/1.8 | 1/160 sec | ISO 100

tcole1983

@slh1234 Ill start by saying this is a picture I would probably just make black and white. I say this because the lighting isn't great. There isn't really anything you can do in post to make the lighting better IMO. I have lost too many landscape pictures because it just isn't the right time of day. If it was somewhere you could go back to...early morning and evening seem to work best. To me making it black and white and moving some of the sliders around could probably bring out some of the ridge lines more. As it sits I think I would want to see more definition in the shadows or either make the darks darker to lose the definition of the trees and stuff, but to help define the ridge lines.

I downloaded a copy. I messed with it in color and couldn't get anything I thought looked much better, but here is a black and white one.

tcole1983

@calengor...you lost half of her face with the over exposure and an F stop of f2.2 or 2.8 might have kept more of her face in focus. Seems like you would maybe want the light directly at her face to be evenly lit throughout or behind and spot meter her face. I could see it working how it is, if such a large portion of her face wasn't lost with the lighting. As you said a reflector to get better lighting might have helped.

heartyfisher

@calengor .. I think the main issue is the over exposure... the skull is also a jarring contrast to the portrait's mood.. the composition can also be improved by cropping..

calengor

this is a lightroom/nik quick edit I did before I did the photoshop one because I don't have photoshop on the computer I was on, but this is mostly to show a cropped version - Do you think this crop is better, @hearthyfisher ?



This is the color version of the one I edited in photoshop, not sure if it's any better as it still suffers from the overexposure on the right side of her face (our left):

Rx4Photo

@calengor, I certainly hope you don't mind but I took the liberty of saving your image to my computer to try to tweak a few things and show you what I did.
I'll try to be brief and to the point.
Also, these are just my opinions, there will always be many ...

Crop: As others have stated, and as you have done, a crop of the image would make a better composition. Especially being that only her left eye has most of the focus. My crop is a bit tighter than yours above. Yours actually might be better.
Skin: To me this photo wants to be smooth and pretty. Be sure not to make her skin too harsh and always be careful with any presets in these programs. My practice is every time you edit a photo exclusively in LR (excluding spot brushes and such), save those settings as a User Preset, give it a unique name, then you can use it to test on later images.
Exposure: The upper right side of her head, tip of nose, and chin are blown out but if kept as a B&W you can (and did) have something to work with. Perhaps you can desaturate the reds a bit and use the color one as well.
Hair: Hair is difficult to edit. I'm certainly no expert - but you can see what I did to a few strays to make things a little better.
Lips: They're a little too washed out. I used dodge and burn to give them a bit more detail in the final edit. Lightly burning the edges mostly.
Eyes: She's got pretty eyes. Bring them out with one of many methods. Watch a few tutorials on that. Usually the lower half is brightened but many will often get technical and brighten the part of the iris opposite from where the light is coming in from. Also, in the original she's got shadows under the eyes and those two shadows inside of her left eye. Practice very subtle strokes with the brush with reduced "flow" to brighten shadows. I totally blended the lower one near the left eye into her skin as you can see. Burned the eyebrows a bit.
Overall: Yes, you probably could have used a reflector but I think the biggest issue is overexposure and probably metering. I like a more moody look so the shadow on her left side is good in my opinion. I think what you did to your second B&W is taking away from the personality of the photo. IMO, not everything has to be evenly brightened. That can be boring.
Lastly: if she's a friend, invite her back to try different looks and exposures. You'll eventually nail it.