Taught/Attended a workshop! Photo Heavy!

Matt336

So this weekend the two photographers I work for hosted a two day photo workshop. I helped teach the beginner class on Saturday and I attended the advanced photography/marketing class today. The biggest thing I learned is consistency in my photos is key. To reach this goal, I have simplified my processing as before my processing was all over the board.:rofl Here are a few photos from this weekend, keep in mind we only had about an hour each day to photograph so most of these are in the same locations (same block as our office).C&C is appreciated!

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2


3


4


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6


7


8


9

adbsgicom

I like them a lot. #4 is just too cute.

1&2 are my favorites from that model. I like 3 a lot as well (overall 1-3 I think are the best set), but the processing needs a little smoothing on her leg (looks blotchier than someone her age should look). #4 is really cute (wish the wind hadn't blown that hair over her other eye here), and #5 I really like the capture. #6 didn't so as much for me -- interesting angle, just didn't work for me so much. I like #7, though is the clenched fist intentional? #8 has some really hard shadows, especially on his face that I think end up detracting a bit too much. #9 is nicely done, just feels a little out of context -- catcher in an alleyway (probably just me, though).

itsaduck

I think they look really good, technically. The color is lovely and they are all nice and sharp.

From a critique standpoint (and bear with me as I get back into the world of giving/receiving critique):

1. Nice color and skin tone. The dark brown stripe (I think it's where a piece of the white garage door is missing) bothers me a bit b/c it's so similar in tone to her hair. Her foreground hand's position seems slightly awkward.

2. Is an ok shot, her hair and shirt seem very, very dark to me.

3. Is my favorite of the group of her.

4. I think you could crop it much, much tighter. There is too much pebble and not enough person. In fact, you may be able to crop it portrait and get fewer animals. Even so, I'm not sure what you'd get out of it unless she was looking at the camera.

5. The limb chop in this one makes it hard for me to get behind it, but the bokeh is lovely. Maybe crop it a bit tighter so the chop occurs higher on the arm? Hard to say. Ditto for the limb chop in 9; I'd crop that one landscape across his chest or maybe even just below his shoulders.

6. Again, crop this one a little tighter so you don't have that window in the shot. (But then, I'm a fan of simple backgrounds so...)

7 & 8 are just OK for me.

Hope this helps and overall, I love the processing, light, and the consistency of them all. Well done!

Agnieszka

Oh, pretty, pretty! Love your processing & crispiness btw!

Matt336

adbsgicom wrote:

I like them a lot. #4 is just too cute.

1&2 are my favorites from that model. I like 3 a lot as well (overall 1-3 I think are the best set), but the processing needs a little smoothing on her leg (looks blotchier than someone her age should look)

This was my favorite set as well. I also noticed the blotchiness but I am unsure of how to fix it. Any ideas?

adbsgicom wrote:

#4 is really cute (wish the wind hadn't blown that hair over her other eye here), and #5 I really like the capture. #6 didn't so as much for me -- interesting angle, just didn't work for me so much. I like #7, though is the clenched fist intentional?

I agree about the hair, it didn't help that she was running and would come back to her "zoo" and look at it for half a second and be off again. The clenched fist was not intentional, I just missed it when shooting.

adbsgicom wrote:

#8 has some really hard shadows, especially on his face that I think end up detracting a bit too much. #9 is nicely done, just feels a little out of context -- catcher in an alleyway (probably just me, though).

I agree with you on these, I'm not real happy with them but I tried to make the best of them. I think the 9th one probably should have been shot over in the grass. I was helping the beginners with their cameras so I just snapped a few photos when I had a chance.

Thank you for your C&C!:D

itsaduck wrote:

I think they look really good, technically. The color is lovely and they are all nice and sharp.

From a critique standpoint (and bear with me as I get back into the world of giving/receiving critique):

1. Nice color and skin tone. The dark brown stripe (I think it's where a piece of the white garage door is missing) bothers me a bit b/c it's so similar in tone to her hair. Her foreground hand's position seems slightly awkward.

2. Is an ok shot, her hair and shirt seem very, very dark to me.

3. Is my favorite of the group of her.

Ahh yes, that dark piece of the garage door has been driving me nuts. I didn't see it when I was shooting unfortunately. I am thinking about desaturing/lightening it some. I will rework the second one and see if I can bring out some detail. The third is also my favorite.

itsaduck wrote:

4. I think you could crop it much, much tighter. There is too much pebble and not enough person. In fact, you may be able to crop it portrait and get fewer animals. Even so, I'm not sure what you'd get out of it unless she was looking at the camera.

5. The limb chop in this one makes it hard for me to get behind it, but the bokeh is lovely. Maybe crop it a bit tighter so the chop occurs higher on the arm? Hard to say. Ditto for the limb chop in 9; I'd crop that one landscape across his chest or maybe even just below his shoulders.

6. Again, crop this one a little tighter so you don't have that window in the shot. (But then, I'm a fan of simple backgrounds so...)

7 & 8 are just OK for me.

Hope this helps and overall, I love the processing, light, and the consistency of them all. Well done!

I will try your cropping ideas and see what I can come up with. Thanks for your C&C!:D

Agnieszka wrote:

Oh, pretty, pretty! Love your processing & crispiness btw!

Thanks!:D

adbsgicom

Matt336 wrote:

This was my favorite set as well. I also noticed the blotchiness but I am unsure of how to fix it. Any ideas?

Do you have something like Portraiture or something similar. I've found that sometimes one effect ends up getting the tone right, and you get blotch, but for a leg or arm, run the plugin on the skin tones in a new layer and blend it in just for the limb (since her face looks so good, I wouldn't want to mess with it). You could try the LR trick with the clarity set to -80 or so and set the flow on the brush down and try that if you don't have a skin plugin.