Headshot

[livin4lax09]

oops, i deleted it. here's the further edited shot...



redid the headshots I shot for Rachel a while back...

[Tyson L. Sparks]

Kind of looks cool to me, it looks like she is looking at you through the lens! The light on her hand looks washed out to me but I am at work on my 1910 PC with the crank start hrad drive!

Nice shot.

[Greg McCary]

I agree with Tyson, the lighting on her arm is a bit harsh and the bright spot on her eye is a little distracting. But the composition is Cover Girl, magazine quality.
Greg

[readingr]

Brent,

I'm no expert on portraits and I'll leave Alison to give you the definitive statement on this.

I like the pose, however the lighting is very harsh and there is some shine on the cheekbone and forehead which detracts from the picture. I think the use of a reflector to get rid of some of the shadow on the neck would be a good idea.

The reflection in the eye is ok by me and don't find it a problem at all.

I think the others have covered the arm.

Roger

[Xia_Ke]

I like the lighting on this one. Makes it so my eyes are instantly drawn to her face. The only thing I might change would be to bump up the color of her eyes just a hair to give them some "in your face" pop, though they are fine as is.

[livin4lax09]

by the reflection in the eye, do you mean the catchlight from the strobe?

[Mr Yuck]

Gonna have to agree with the others, pose and composition are perfect, but the lighting is a bit harsh on the arm, the black background is excellent.

[livin4lax09]

with a little work I can darken up the arm (since you are right, part of it is blown out. shouldn't be too hard to get some tonal quality back to it) and lighten the face, as well as throw an s curve boost on the eyes. thanks for the responses. Guess when you edit at 5 AM you miss these things...

here's another one i did today, that I worked a bit more on.

[Ronnoco]

I have to disagree related to the "perfect compositon". Her ear is sliced in half by the framing. Her hand is separated from her body and cut off at the nuckles. Her cheek, chin line on the right is very unflattering. There are creases in the skin of her neck...also unflattering. The hair on her shoulder is perhaps the most unflattering part and you also cut off the top of her head.

I have said several times before that the role of a photographer is to flatter the model pictorially and set up the photo in pose, lighting, composition and technique to do that to the best of his or her ability.

By the way, this is the manner in which any experienced portrait photographer would critique this photo, as I have seen in other larger forums.

Ronnoco

[Tyson L. Sparks]

I liked the first one better.

[livin4lax09]

I have to disagree related to the "perfect compositon". Her ear is sliced in half by the framing. Her hand is separated from her body and cut off at the nuckles. Her cheek, chin line on the right is very unflattering. There are creases in the skin of her neck...also unflattering. The hair on her shoulder is perhaps the most unflattering part and you also cut off the top of her head.

I have said several times before that the role of a photographer is to flatter the model pictorially and set up the photo in pose, lighting, composition and technique to do that to the best of his or her ability.

By the way, this is the manner in which any experienced portrait photographer would critique this photo, as I have seen in other larger forums.

Ronnoco

We talked about this. I don't care what you have to say about my photos. Honestly, just stay out of my threads. Anyone else is perfectly welcome to comment, but not you.

[almo]

We talked about this. I don't care what you have to say about my photos. Honestly, just stay out of my threads. Anyone else is perfectly welcome to comment, but not you.

Well said. I second that motion.

[PMW518]

Well said. I second that motion.

I third it.


I like this second b&w one that you put up now.
I don't really have any experience with protriat stuff but I'll throw in my two sense, take it or leave it.

The eyes really pull you in and the skin has great overall tone/texture to it. Did you do any post work to it?

The ear and knuckles are a little distracting in the way that they are cut off but I don't think they look horrible. A pretty easy fix with a little crop just past the ear and knuckles, and that takes out a little back/shoulder that seems a little bright.

Keep up the good work, way better than I could ever do for a portrait.

Phil

[Overbeyond]

While not wishing to get involved in your problems, I have to say that Ronocco's critique is very accurate.
I am not a portrait man myself and I have learned from his critique on this shot. Most of the things he pointed out I did not notice until I read his views.

With Ronocco mostly, it is not what he says is the problem, it's just the bloddy way he says it; and he has this down to a fine art. Nothing that a good kick in the arse would not sort out.
It's only photography after all.
Tom

[HowLowCanYaGo]

While not wishing to get involved in your problems, I have to say that Ronocco's critique is very accurate.
I am not a portrait man myself and I have learned from his critique on this shot. Most of the things he pointed out I did not notice until I read his views.

With Ronocco mostly, it is not what he says is the problem, it's just the bloddy way he says it; and he has this down to a fine art. Nothing that a good kick in the arse would not sort out.
It's only photography after all.
Tom

Agreed. But I don't see anything wrong with the way he said what he said. He was just straight-forward and offered some very helpful tips - if you ask me.

I think livin4lax09 just took it the wrong way.

[gahspidy]

Well, I see only one photo in this thread right now, so it will be the one I comment on. The strongest fault that i see with it is her hand in the shot behind her. It is only distracting and odd looking, and positioning her with her hand down and out of the picture would be much better. You should be able to clone it out with no real trouble here. The exposure as mentioned is a bit too light. The ear cut off does not bother me, and certainly the head being cut off is fine here. As a matter of fact, most commercial ads and magazine covers have portraits and headshots of celebrities and models with their heads cut off all the time. It seems to be the "in thing" It is a way of bringing the subject close up and in our face, so to speak. Not bad, but the hand out of focus in the bg is the real fault here.
My 2 cents. . .

[adina]

Clone out her hand and fix the neck wrinkles and this would be really great, chopped ear and all.

Keep in mind I'm an out of the closet head chopper....

[almo]

Keep in mind I'm an out of the closet head chopper....

I'm a chopalator too. Sometimes it's just the thing to do.

[livin4lax09]

image from the first post...



I didn't take Ron's critique the wrong way, I just honestly don't care what he has to say, whether it's valid or not. I told him a while ago to stay out of my threads and I'd stay out of his, because I'm not going to take harsh criticism from a person who has never shown work that is better than mediocrity, which he seems to deal out a lot. If anyone else had said it I would be fine with it.

Gary's comment is very welcome. Adina's comment is welcome too. So is anyone else who wants to comment (besides Ron), because it does help me get a fresh look on my photography.

and gary nailed why it's a tight crop. It's not originally so tight, but an 8x10 crop and an emphasis on the eyes made me go tighter.

[PrevailingConditions]

Wow, "interesting" comments. Being relatively new I never caught the underlying tone.

I like the casual feeling from the first B&W shot. I can understand the comments on the hand in the background as well, but I think it's a nice shot. I also like the color shot, but my first thought was that she looked as though she was ducking down to look out a window.

[adina]

On the color one, her front hand is in a funky position. You might want to try sliding it down the front of her leg a bit, so we don't see the broad back of her hand.

She is gorgeous, and looks very comfortable with you, which is a plus. And the green of the shirt with the red of her hair works really well. And again, don't mind the chopped ear. Just that front arm bothers me.