Critique My Image

Juergen

@MSmoto: Thanks, I agree, much better crop
@Vipmediastar: As for contrast....for the sake of a better photo, I 100% agree. But for an ornithologist it is supposed to be authentic. The little grebe is now in its winter plumage. I am helping a group of birdwatchers to map the species on a local lake.
Jürgen

donaldejose

I thought this shot lacked drama but didn't now how to add some.

henrik1963

@Vipmediastar: Very good shot. Dont remove every imperfection. She is yong and good looking as is. Powerfull eyes. NeXT time I would turn her head a little to include a little of her right side and right eye.

WestEndBoy

Thank you to the following people for critiquing my image:

Msmoto, Pierre, Benji2505 and Donaldejose.

A particular thanks to Donaldejose for taking the trouble to actually process it in Lightroom.

Sports

... selective dodging and burning ...
Take a look at this tutorial ...

Thanks, looks very usefull. Apparently, a tablet with a pressure sensitive pen is highly recommended for this; well, more tools to aquire :-)

Msmoto

This is turning out to be a nice thread. And, while there are a variety of ideas expressed, the end goal of what an image should look like is what is often the determining factor.

I like the "pop" of PitchBlack's image, yet for me personally, this was not the image I was looking for. But in the 'model' shots so beautifully demonstrated by PicthBlack this works well.

One of the interesting aspects of all my 'snapshots' is I grew up in the days where the printing was all done 'four color and our clients wanted to be able to see detail and have the end photo not distract from the subject… a conservative approach. No drama allowed…in most instances.

But, lots of good ideas, so here is another for critique:



When the comments are in I will attempt to post the original….

Photobug

Msmoto...Like the emphasis on the filling area and the accent lightning of the store and laser car wash. I did not like the excessive amount of snow in the foreground but you cannot crop this photo left to right. You need both buildings and therefore, it did not make sense to reduce the amount of foreground.

Alternatively I used paper and recropped cutting off the first two pumps on the left. The 3rd pump from left is the first pump in my crop and then I removed a significant amount of the darken snow in the froeground. Better, yes - perfect no.

michael66

I thought this shot lacked drama but didn't now how to add some.

Does every shot need to have drama? When I first saw this shot, I thought, huh, a big fat bird, just sitting there waiting for spring and hoping the bough don't break. Kind of like me. When will it be over? I've eaten too much and I can't bother moving over there. If there is something I don't care for, it was the broken branches. I found them a bit distracting. PP them out or a different crop? Is that the entire shot?

Msmoto

OK, so here is the image without any post processing…

calengor

I really like the way you brought up the red on the exxon sign and border of the cover. Also how you eliminated the truck from the right and brought up the laserwash on the left.

ptrmcky

I thought this shot lacked drama but didn't now how to add some.

Maybe converting it to B&W. Here's an image I took a while back. There was something I liked about it, but it was taken in the shade so it really didn't pop. I converted it to B&W and played with a few different filters. I think I lightened the reds and oranges to get separate the bird from the background.

Vipmediastar_JZ

I was unable to get a new backdrop so I had to work with what I had for this one.

The backdrop is gray cloth like her shirt. I ended up using a Alien Bee b800 to light up the backdrop which turned it white. A alien Bee b800 with beauty dish front. In photoshop i did a layer to make the backdrop more "white" since some wrinkles showed up with a shadow.

These photos to me look better in black and white but the emphasis is the makeup especially with her make up artist friend doing the makeup session.

I made some adjustments and for a contrast brush i lowered it in her face a bit.

How can I make this image pop or add more life to it? - no pun intended

Msmoto

Maybe I would have brought the main light around to the camera left directly ahead of her nose and allowed the left side of her face to go a bit darker. This would also bring more shape into the figure.

Rx4Photo

@ VipMediaStar, I consider myself self taught, yet I've worked very hard at learning as much as I could absorb in the realm of portraiture. I will admit that much of what I know has come from paid-for as well as free seminars, books, websites, blogs, etc… So please take what I did or suggest with all of this in mind. Although my goal here is to give you only what "I" see as the potential for your above image.

First and foremost: excellent photo. Clean, sharp, detailed, nothing's wrong with it itself.Here are the things that I either see could have been done, or would have done differently with either shooting the photo or working with it in post.

1. I think, I repeat "I" think that the white background is too plain and ordinary for this photo. Had she been wearing white I can see a beautiful high key type photo resulting. Perhaps something long and flowing but still allowing the belly curvature to show.
2. Excellent lighting but perhaps a bit too much. I think allowing some shadows to fall in on the right side might have add a bit of drama.
3. Please forgive me here but you will see this in many if not all portrait photography books. Be careful when shooting a woman from below her neckline and then having her look downward at the camera. Notice the neck. Older women : look for the waddle. To fix this shoot from above her and ask her to extend her neck. Also you can shoot her from the side and above: here she will not only extend her neck but turn toward you as well thus stretching the skin even more and reducing the double chin, extra skin appearance.
4. Her face is actually darker than the arm and hand in front of the camera thus drawing your attention to the hand first.
5. Excellent makeup - I just picture darker lipstick on her. Might not be her style but it won't hurt to make a selection in LR5 or Photoshop to see what darker lipstick would look like.
6. She's got beautiful eyes and gorgeous hair.

What I did here in a nutshell:

Background layer thanks to On1 Perfect Effects 8.
Retouched skin to remove blemishes in LR5 (My mantra: if it looks like a scar or pimple that won't always be there, I remove it)
Increase clarity in LR5 because I thought too much light was used for the exposure.
Decrease exposure of the facing hand and arm to bring attention back to her face.
Darkened her lipstick for a bit of pow.
Darkened the black eyeliner a bit for more clarity and presence of her eyes.
Reduced the shadows under her neck and toned down the lines as well.
Finally added a LightRoom preset that I created and use occasionally to add a gorgeous tone to portraits.

MrsVipMediaStar


Hope you like it.

Vipmediastar_JZ

Thanks for the feedback @Msmoto and @Rx4Photo

I do like the suggestions and edit. We will be re-doing the shoot this weekend. I didn't like the the photos too much and I was stumped how to fix them before I edited most of them so i decided to seek advice.
No excuses but here is what went wrong i was congested and my wife made a late dinner plans and the makeup artist arrived an hour late so setting up and what not I was out of it.
Technical issues:
1. you are right the white is probably not great, ill let her see this post so we can make time to find a new backdrop or location, maybe a new backdrop for next winter.
2. I like the alien bees for the power they have but maybe my light meter is not working properly. ill check that out.
3. interesting when I set the camera on the tripod i thought I had it leveled and for the distance of light, background etc . normaly I can setup in landscape mode and be camera level but after i saw the pics i noticed i had too much space on top so that only says that I was not level. I'll definately pay more attention to this
4. thanks
5.it does pop
6. thank you very much.

thanks for the time and edit. Great feed back is always welcomed.

Vipmediastar_JZ

update: I called up alien bees and they said the latest firware that I installed screws up the flash meter. I have to revert the factory calibration settings or send it for repair
also my wireless remote stopped working. I think i generate too much static electricity.

mikep

OK, so here is the image without any post processing…

you seem to live in such a photogenic area, right in the heart of americana, im jealous!

i really like this garage, but i dont like when things come together in the way that the roof of the daytona building behind comes point to point with the garage roof, id probably try and edit one or both of the buildings in the background out completely. it might get an isolated and mysterious feel ... just a thought

calengor

Comments?

donaldejose

calengor: The colors seem washed out to me. Also, I think it could use more contrast. Try darkening the highlights, adding more contrast and perhaps even add a bit of increased saturation.

Growler

60 photos blended, tough work with the light pollution and trying to capture start trails at the same time.

Msmoto

@mikep

You are so right on….I noticed this only after I had posted. The wind chill was about 5 degrees F…snow blowing, and I was only catching a snapshot. But, the compositional error once seen is blatant…good catch.

Photobug

60 photos blended, tough work with the light pollution and trying to capture start trails at the same time.

Did you follow the rules for uploading pictures? Your photo took for ever to load and I have a very fast download speed for my Internet connection.

Photobug

Msmoto. I found a great opportunity for you. Are you aware that Popular Photography and Cycle World along with Sony are sponsoring a two day motorcycle and photo/video event on March 5 - 7th in Southern California?

Check it out at www.imagingedge.com/workshops

Cost is $1,299 and includes a Sony Action Cam HDR-AS30V ($300) vlaue and meals, etc.

When I saw the ad you came to mind. Sounds like a great opportunity for you and then you could share your photos on PAD. )

henrik1963

@Growler: was that 60 D800 files I was trying to download to my iPad?

Msmoto

March 5-7, Southern California, I live on the right coast…LOL….

Oh, here is a different post processed image…FYI