Seeking feedback for the first portrait photograph

agaoo · Nov 27, 2014

I just started to develop web gallery for portrait photography. I'm wondering if I could get any feedback on my first portrait photograph below. If so, it would be very grateful and greatly appreciated.

whvick · Nov 27, 2014

Pretty girl

Need a catch light in the eyes

Like the over the shoulder look

the split background is distracting

overall a good first try. Thanks for sharing. Read a lot on posing, and look at lots of portraits. Learn what works for you

whvick

agaoo · Nov 28, 2014

whvick said:
Pretty girl

Need a catch light in the eyes

Like the over the shoulder look

the split background is distracting

overall a good first try. Thanks for sharing. Read a lot on posing, and look at lots of portraits. Learn what works for you

whvick

Thanks a lot.

Michael Thomas Mitchell · Nov 28, 2014

Is your system calibrated? Her skin tones are very unnatural and much too oversaturated. The photo itself is neither bad nor great. And I don't know if this is simply a personal gallery you're building or a professional one, but, if it's the latter, your processing skills need some signficant work before opening up such a site with the hopes of attracting clients.

Henry Stamm · Nov 28, 2014

The basic photo is OK in terms of exposure and contrast, although it could probably be a tad brighter. There are several issues, some pointed out already by others. Choose one or the other backgrounds; the split distracts from your model. Her pose is nice except that her right hand placed as it is also pulls attention away from her face. Perhaps a better placement would be to have her touch her right shoulder, or even to have her arm crossed over the front of her body and tucked out of site a bit.

My main issue seems to be your focus point. I think the white lace on her shoulder is the sharpest part of the image; her near eye should be the sharpest. Try cloning in catch lights and see if that helps. As another poster said, her skin tones do not look correct, so maybe you need to adjust the color or white balance somewhat. Even if you do not want to do much editing to her skin, you should sharpen her eyes more than the other areas.

What lens did you use? Although I shoot with an Oly E5, I do not know anything about the micro 4/3 cameras or lenses. But you should use as narrow a focus area as you can to let your camera meter from her face and make sure her eyes are the primary focus of your shot.

Good luck and keep shooting!

agaoo · Nov 28, 2014

Michael Thomas Mitchell said:
Is your system calibrated? Her skin tones are very unnatural and much too oversaturated. The photo itself is neither bad nor great. And I don't know if this is simply a personal gallery you're building or a professional one, but, if it's the latter, your processing skills need some signficant work before opening up such a site with the hopes of attracting clients.

Thank you for the feedback, very much appreciated.

agaoo · Nov 28, 2014

Henry Stamm said:
The basic photo is OK in terms of exposure and contrast, although it could probably be a tad brighter. There are several issues, some pointed out already by others. Choose one or the other backgrounds; the split distracts from your model. Her pose is nice except that her right hand placed as it is also pulls attention away from her face. Perhaps a better placement would be to have her touch her right shoulder, or even to have her arm crossed over the front of her body and tucked out of site a bit.

My main issue seems to be your focus point. I think the white lace on her shoulder is the sharpest part of the image; her near eye should be the sharpest. Try cloning in catch lights and see if that helps. As another poster said, her skin tones do not look correct, so maybe you need to adjust the color or white balance somewhat. Even if you do not want to do much editing to her skin, you should sharpen her eyes more than the other areas.

What lens did you use? Although I shoot with an Oly E5, I do not know anything about the micro 4/3 cameras or lenses. But you should use as narrow a focus area as you can to let your camera meter from her face and make sure her eyes are the primary focus of your shot.

Good luck and keep shooting!

lefkop · Dec 1, 2014

agaoo said:
I just started to develop web gallery for portrait photography. I'm wondering if I could get any feedback on my first portrait photograph below. If so, it would be very grateful and greatly appreciated.

So here we have a situation we have to ask what is the subject, now clearly one would think its the girl. However the lighting for this does not suggest that, I am forever drawn to the lighter wall. Another way to think of it is when photographing or in a painting is light on dark (very traditional) or dark on white. We are drawn to light, so here we are drawn to the wall the image identifies this as something to look at (its also the most in focus piece). The girl is secondary because she not lit, so the relationship has reversed itself. I took a liberty, hopefully thats ok with you and will post an example of a reversal of this

lefkop · Dec 1, 2014

Here is but one idea to make her stand out first by using light play and use the various walls to create a 3 dimensional space.

agaoo · Dec 2, 2014

Your feedback is very helpful, many thanks for your precise explanation.

ForrestGump · Dec 3, 2014

While portraiting, main issue is separation between subject and background, which is, in your peculiar case, definitely impossible, since the model herself is touching the background. Even the “reverse light” version doesn’t work so effectively, mainly because it can’t wipe away some basic “confusion”.

Your model shows head, shoulders, one full arm and a bit more of half her trunk, so I think your portrait can be defined a waist-up, even if not the most classical sample.

Well, I consider waist-up portraits a treacherous midpoint between full figure (environmental) portrait and head and shoulder. In my opinion it is a very difficult portrait style, and since I’m not a pro and I often shoot in (very) less-than-perfect condition, my suggestions to manage waist-up portrait are just three:

- Try to have some space between the subject and the background, which should be as “uninteresting” as possible;

- Try to use a longer focal length, small depth of field should help;

- Try to change portrait style J. I wonder if full figure portrait would have been more effective with such a model

Obviously, this is just my humble opinion, and thank you for sharing

agaoo · Dec 3, 2014

ForrestGump said:
While portraiting, main issue is separation between subject and background, which is, in your peculiar case, definitely impossible, since the model herself is touching the background. Even the “reverse light” version doesn’t work so effectively, mainly because it can’t wipe away some basic “confusion”.

Your model shows head, shoulders, one full arm and a bit more of half her trunk, so I think your portrait can be defined a waist-up, even if not the most classical sample.

Well, I consider waist-up portraits a treacherous midpoint between full figure (environmental) portrait and head and shoulder. In my opinion it is a very difficult portrait style, and since I’m not a pro and I often shoot in (very) less-than-perfect condition, my suggestions to manage waist-up portrait are just three:

- Try to have some space between the subject and the background, which should be as “uninteresting” as possible;

- Try to use a longer focal length, small depth of field should help;

- Try to change portrait style J. I wonder if full figure portrait would have been more effective with such a model

Obviously, this is just my humble opinion, and thank you for sharing

Noted. Thanks for the feedback.

Klaus dk · Dec 3, 2014

I tried to assume the pose your model displays here, and I found it rather unpleasant. She is twisting and turning to look good, but she just looks uncomfortable. Also, her expression seems forced, she is not smiling, she is just showing her teeth. IMHO the portrait photographer's first task is to make the model feel at ease before the camera, and as far as I can see, this did not happen here.

The photographer's second task is to present the model as the most important part of the picture. In normal circumstances, this means that background should be background and clothing should be secondary. I think too much is happening here: the white lacework on the shoulder and the strong blue-white pattern of the dress attracts attention, as does the graffiti-scribbled wall.

When trying to do several things at once, you will often end up doing none of them well. I would encourage you to take out all distracting elements and focus on the nice young lady, cropping as close as you dare. As you grow, you'll learn how to add complications that will play in concert with your subject, rather than overpowering it.

Good luck and happy shooting.

agaoo said:
I just started to develop web gallery for portrait photography. I'm wondering if I could get any feedback on my first portrait photograph below. If so, it would be very grateful and greatly appreciated.

agaoo · Dec 3, 2014

Klaus dk said:
I tried to assume the pose your model displays here, and I found it rather unpleasant. She is twisting and turning to look good, but she just looks uncomfortable. Also, her expression seems forced, she is not smiling, she is just showing her teeth. IMHO the portrait photographer's first task is to make the model feel at ease before the camera, and as far as I can see, this did not happen here.

The photographer's second task is to present the model as the most important part of the picture. In normal circumstances, this means that background should be background and clothing should be secondary. I think too much is happening here: the white lacework on the shoulder and the strong blue-white pattern of the dress attracts attention, as does the graffiti-scribbled wall.

When trying to do several things at once, you will often end up doing none of them well. I would encourage you to take out all distracting elements and focus on the nice young lady, cropping as close as you dare. As you grow, you'll learn how to add complications that will play in concert with your subject, rather than overpowering it.

Good luck and happy shooting.

Thanks for the feedback. Your comment on the model's smile made me giggle. Anyway this is a good point to note about model's pose in portrait photography. Your suggestion is also appreciated. Thanks again.

Alphabart · Dec 5, 2014

hi, the background is too busy and the straight line on the background between her and her hand is really killing the photo.

Also her lower arm is pointing up, it was better if it was more outward to the right. so it formed a more diagonal line

Then there is the tension on her hand. If you look really well, you can see that it looks like she has just squashed a huge bug with her hand.

So, check your background, relax the model - then it will get better next time.

keep on shooting

agaoo · Dec 6, 2014

Alphabart said:
hi, the background is too busy and the straight line on the background between her and her hand is really killing the photo.
Also her lower arm is pointing up, it was better if it was more outward to the right. so it formed a more diagonal line
Then there is the tension on her hand. If you look really well, you can see that it looks like she has just squashed a huge bug with her hand.

So, check your background, relax the model - then it will get better next time. keep on shooting

Thanks for the feedback.

Search

Seeking feedback for the first portrait photograph

agaoo

Well-known member

whvick

Veteran Member

agaoo

Well-known member

Michael Thomas Mitchell

Guest

Henry Stamm

Senior Member

agaoo

Well-known member

agaoo

Well-known member

lefkop

Leading Member

lefkop

Leading Member

Attachments

agaoo

Well-known member

ForrestGump

Leading Member

agaoo

Well-known member

Klaus dk

Forum Pro

agaoo

Well-known member

Alphabart

Forum Enthusiast

agaoo

Well-known member

Similar threads

Keyboard shortcuts