Kat - Senior 2011 <PLEASE CRITIQUE>

du8die

I had the awesome opportunity to shoot Kat's senior pictures. She's a natural! As always - C&C Welcome.

1)


2)


3)


4)


5)


6)


7)

puzzledpaul

I rarely visit the ppl forum (wildlife type) but looked at these and ... since you wanted c&c ...
It's mainly the backgrounds that caught my eye - and I suspect that wasn't the intention.

In 1,3,4 and 5 there's stuff that ideally you (I) wouldn't want to be there
1 - the 2 dark bits in the top 2 corners + lighter triangular bit
3 - Foliage + hard (nearly) horizontal line @ L and tree with its LHS sticking up from middle of head
4 - Hard-ish edge in top L corner separating 2 distinct bgs (moore oof bg'd be better imo )
5 - better ? if all grey, without foliage (L) and rocks (R)

3 - makes me wonder is football / soccer is important to her, and if not, why use this prop?
2 - for me, is too busy, bg wise
7 - ok (no fan of close, in focus bg tho) ... but isn't folded arms supposed to be giving some sort of neg message?

6 is my choice / favourite - complementary (and with an i) cols (different processing as same top as 7), nicer smile expression / comp - the only nit is (again) the darker end of the wall sticking out of her head.
Think it would've been even better (to me) if the bg had just blurred into the plain col that's already there in top R corner - or been all wall - disappearing into oof mush
Eye is also drawn to the white undergarment (bra strap?) - suspect not having that in shot would also help - from col contrast pov.

... but as I said, I know little about shooting ppl - so have a big bag of salt handy when reading this

V. attractive subject, btw.

hth

pp


Edit - also have a daughter going by same name - so that prob swung things too ...

zoomer

Every picture is tilted to the left....
1 and 4 are oversoftened/blurred.
I like the lighting in 1. 3 and 6 are a little dark.
Several of the crops feel pretty tight.
My favorite is the last one, minus the tight crop and tilt.

Pretty subject, she looks pretty relaxed, exact same smile in every photo. Imagine there is some variety in the rest of the shots.
Watch your backgrounds, pick the background first then put your subject in it.

The good part is she will probably like the shots, she looks good in them, so you did your job.

ivar

zoomer wrote: »

Several of the crops feel pretty tight.

That is actually the first thing I thought about these. Several crops already feel tight 'as is', which is going to be even more tight when printed, and possibly more if framed.

The whitebalance seems to be slightly different in all shots (#2 is intended to look different of course). Some are better than other, but as a series it is more noticeable.

#1 I like, very lovely smile, natural expression
#2 The processing doesn't work for me. Her face and arms are so bright they stick out too much for my taste.
#3 seems a bit underexposed
#4 the tilt of the background doesn't really work for me.
#5 the light is a bit less flattering as opposed to the other ones and her smile seems a bit less natural.
#6 I like, I would have made it a bit cooler maybe, but if that shot could have been combined with a smile like in #1 I think this would be the big winner!
#7 For this one it seems that the tight cropping does the most damage; If this would have been a bit wider so that her complete upper body and arms were included, this would have been much better, I think.

Overall nice set

l.k.madison

I want critique on mine, so I'll critique somebody else's. For the record, posing is one of my weakest points, so I'm not at all offering expert advice.

#1: is the clear winner of the ones posted, lighting is amazing, coloring is awesome and it's still *traditional* enough for grandmother to want a copy. In my eyes, if my grandmother hates it, it's the one that's getting blown up big - but alas, grandmothers and mothers pay for prints, so you still have to please them.

#2: She looks washed out to me, the entire picture looks very monotone and very flat, no dimension between her and the brick wall. Also, it's not the best pose, while it does make her legs look a mile long, it does the same for her feet, too - and people with large feet (or even small feet) are often self-conscious about them.

#3: Not a fan, sorry. I see what you were going after, but the lighting distracts me too much. It's too harsh in my eyes, a diffuser and a *bit* of fill flash would make this outstanding. I'll assume she's on the soccer (or football depending on what side of the pond you're on) team and she wanted that to show in a few of her shots, but that idea has been done - and over done - to me. Maybe her against the goal post or looking through the net instead? Think outside the box. Also, whatever processing you did to her face in the others, it wasn't done here, that might be why I'm not liking it as much as the other ones. I'm not asking to erase her freckles, but the others make her look like a model while this one doesn't *quite* do her justice.

#4: A-, aside from being cropped too tight, it's perfect. Either show just her face and shoulders, or her arms (including hands), it just looks weird (to me) showing parts of arms but not all of arms.

#5: Again with the harsh lighting, it's not *bad* it's just not my cup of tea.

#6: Great idea, great pose - but the focal plane looks like it's on the wall, not on her face. Had it hit her face, you would have absolutely nailed it.

#7: Great coloring, great pose, great processing!! My only nit is the *tiny* bit of her shirt that didn't make the shot, but I doubt Mom wouldn't buy it because of that.

anonymouscuban

I agree with all that's been said so I will only add one comment. Does anyone else think her hands look too large in some pics, like in the first? She may have large hands IRL or it could be lens distortion but either way, I would watch that when posing this gal.

du8die

First off, thanks for all the feedback everyone! It's been very valuable to read, and have more in-depth thoughts! I'm learning...

puzzledpaul wrote: »

I rarely visit the ppl forum (wildlife type) but looked at these and ... since you wanted c&c ...
It's mainly the backgrounds that caught my eye - and I suspect that wasn't the intention.

In 1,3,4 and 5 there's stuff that ideally you (I) wouldn't want to be there
1 - the 2 dark bits in the top 2 corners + lighter triangular bit
3 - Foliage + hard (nearly) horizontal line @ L and tree with its LHS sticking up from middle of head
4 - Hard-ish edge in top L corner separating 2 distinct bgs (moore oof bg'd be better imo )
5 - better ? if all grey, without foliage (L) and rocks (R)

3 - makes me wonder is football / soccer is important to her, and if not, why use this prop?
2 - for me, is too busy, bg wise
7 - ok (no fan of close, in focus bg tho) ... but isn't folded arms supposed to be giving some sort of neg message?

6 is my choice / favourite - complementary (and with an i) cols (different processing as same top as 7), nicer smile expression / comp - the only nit is (again) the darker end of the wall sticking out of her head.
Think it would've been even better (to me) if the bg had just blurred into the plain col that's already there in top R corner - or been all wall - disappearing into oof mush
Eye is also drawn to the white undergarment (bra strap?) - suspect not having that in shot would also help - from col contrast pov.

Great stuff - I do think about backgrounds - but for the most part in a "big picture" sort of way. This is good for me because it's more nit-picky. What do they say - the devil is in the details. I'm learning that details matter.

zoomer wrote: »

Every picture is tilted to the left....

Huh... Five minutes ago I would have argued that, while some of them are, there are some that aren't - but looking harder, I can see why you would say that. She's leaning left on the ones where the horizon is straight.

zoomer wrote: »

1 and 4 are oversoftened/blurred.
I like the lighting in 1. 3 and 6 are a little dark.
Several of the crops feel pretty tight.
My favorite is the last one, minus the tight crop and tilt.

Pretty subject, she looks pretty relaxed, exact same smile in every photo.

So - what is "ideal" cropping? These are pretty much SOOC as far as framing goes - so what do I need to learn here? I get that you lose some with different aspect ratios for printing, but how do you take print sizes into consideration when framing a shot - without each shot looking the exact same size?

Re: the smile - yeah... gotta work on that.

ivar wrote: »

The whitebalance seems to be slightly different in all shots (#2 is intended to look different of course). Some are better than other, but as a series it is more noticeable.

#1 I like, very lovely smile, natural expression
#2 The processing doesn't work for me. Her face and arms are so bright they stick out too much for my taste.
#3 seems a bit underexposed
#4 the tilt of the background doesn't really work for me.
#5 the light is a bit less flattering as opposed to the other ones and her smile seems a bit less natural.
#6 I like, I would have made it a bit cooler maybe, but if that shot could have been combined with a smile like in #1 I think this would be the big winner!
#7 For this one it seems that the tight cropping does the most damage; If this would have been a bit wider so that her complete upper body and arms were included, this would have been much better, I think.

Overall nice set

Thank you. Yeah - I noticed the WB issues...

l.k.madison wrote: »

#3: Not a fan, sorry. I see what you were going after, but the lighting distracts me too much. It's too harsh in my eyes, a diffuser and a *bit* of fill flash would make this outstanding. I'll assume she's on the soccer (or football depending on what side of the pond you're on) team and she wanted that to show in a few of her shots, but that idea has been done - and over done - to me. Maybe her against the goal post or looking through the net instead? Think outside the box. Also, whatever processing you did to her face in the others, it wasn't done here, that might be why I'm not liking it as much as the other ones. I'm not asking to erase her freckles, but the others make her look like a model while this one doesn't *quite* do her justice.

Thank you for your feedback. Now that I look at this particular shot, I realize I didn't do any PP on it - and it is dark. She really wanted this shot - huge soccer player.

anonymouscuban wrote: »

I agree with all that's been said so I will only add one comment. Does anyone else think her hands look too large in some pics, like in the first? She may have large hands IRL or it could be lens distortion but either way, I would watch that when posing this gal.

Maybe - I'd like to hear what others think about that.

Again, I appreciate the input!

d8

adbsgicom

Not sure this adds much but I'll add my 2-cents. Firstly, please post larger than M (L or XL, please) it is very hard to get a good feel. I ended up having to open each image to get a reasonable sense.
1. Really like this one, my fave of the group. Something feels a bit too soft about it, but still like it.
2. Her face is too bleached out for my taste here. I think it's Nik's rule -- no parallel legs...
3. Like the idea, but it seems underexposed overall, and therefore her eyes are really dark. The big pile of leaves seems a bit too much and crop too tight.
4. Really nice pleasant look. Has that same soft feeling as 1. Little nit is that if you knew this was your crop going in, pulling the sleeve down would have helped the wrinkles.
5. Like the idea, just too tight on the crop and the harder shadows aren't as nice as the others. Even w/o worrying about loss for print, the elbow crop at the bottom bugs me some.
6. Focus is off, even on the X3. Her neck/chest is in focus, but her eyes are really fuzzy. Like the idea and the textures.
7. Really like this one. Wish the crop weren't so tight on the CR side, but still like.

briandelion

Not much to add here. You've gotten some very insightful comments! I didn't notice her hands as being unusually large at all.
If there is one overriding impression (ok, two) I take away from this series it's the sameness of expression on every image- great smile but no variation- and the size which makes it difficult to view in detail.
By the way, this in-depth critique thing is off to a promising start, don't you think!?

reyvee61

Much has already been said here and I do echo many of the points made.
I agree about the file sizes as I'm having trouble with the eyes...I don't get the feel that any of these are really focused on her eyes and I don't mean sharpness, I'm primarily concerned of the amount of light they've caught.
Number one and seven seem to be the best with this criteria in mind and are my clear faves of the bunch.
I just feel that more emphasis needs to be made on eyes for the head-shots.

Icebear

I'm way late to the party, and others have pretty well laid on the critique, so I'll just say two things.
1. I love #1. If that were my daughter, I'd print about a hundred of them.
2. That is one butt-ugly soccer ball.

ivar

I'm going to unstick this and find some other threads to stick.

If anyone wants his/her thread stuck, let me know

du8die

Thanks Ivar, and everyone else. Great critique! I really appreciate all the feedback and ideas. I've clearly got to drink some V8.

d8