customer service photo

[schrackman]

The company I work for needs a customer service photo and so I shot these two versions. Unfortunately the lighting we have are only two 500 watt tungsten bulbs (and flourescents above). Not your ideal lighting situation. Anyhow, please offer your critique.

[almo]

Light is harsh and really kinda cold. Other than that the frist is great! Trash the second one. Shdows are ugly, and her hand off the mouse make her seem unatentive. Also the smaller screen is somehow even more distracting.

[Seb]

The company I work for needs a customer service photo and so I shot these two versions. Unfortunately the lighting we have are only two 500 watt tungsten bulbs (and flourescents above). Not your ideal lighting situation. Anyhow, please offer your critique.

Interesting work Schrackman!

I'd choose the first one over the second picture for few reasons.

First of all, I think that skin tones are more pleasant in the first picture. The lighting was probably a bit too strong in the second picture which result in an overly white skin as I see it.

Also, I think that the composition is more interesting in the first picture. You see more of the hardware (an Apple system, way to go!!) which I believe is important for a corporate picture. Beside, I am not sure that the tilt in the second picture is suitable considering the purpose of the picture.

Overall, I think that I would like to see a softer lighting with warmer colors but I like what you have done here.


Seb

[almo]

Light is harsh and really kinda cold. Other than that the frist is great! Trash the second one. Shdows are ugly, and her hand off the mouse make her seem unatentive. Also the smaller screen is somehow even more distracting.

Here is what I saw in it. I did a lil color correction to warm it up, and I darkend it and upped the contrast a lil bit to give it depth. I also sharpened it a tiny bit. But that was personal pref. It doesn't absolutely need it.

[OldSchool]

Hmmmm....

I guess I'm going to be a contrarian.... again. I like the composition of the 2nd shot. The expression and pose of model shows that she is more interested in helping the person she is talking to than what's going on with her screen. I think you did a good job of working with different light sources, but unfortunately the image is a little over exposed. Did you shoot RAW? If so, you may be able to rescue the exposure and retrieve more skin tones. Finally, I'm not quite sure about the tilt. It adds uniqueness, but I'm not sure if it works.

The first shot looks a bit "posed"... not completely relaxed and natural.

Just my thoughts...
Tim

[jar_e]

Light is harsh and really kinda cold. Other than that the frist is great! Trash the second one. Shdows are ugly, and her hand off the mouse make her seem unatentive. Also the smaller screen is somehow even more distracting.

I agree full with almo. The first one works for me, even though for me her smile is feeling a tad fake. Nice shooting,

Jared

[schrackman]

Thanks everyone for the comments. Yes, I know the lighting is harsh...but what I can do? Mixed lighting. Should have shot it in RAW, but the deed is done already. They liked the photos and will be using the first one. So as long as they're happy with it so am I. But if they had bought me a couple photoflex softboxes like I've been trying to get them to to do we could have come out with a much better image.

[OldSchool]

We all work with what we got, eh? Congratulations to ya on the successful submission!
Cheers,
Tim

[EmbeddedMatt]

I'm late to the party, but next time lose the mouse pad.