Can We Agree On the BKG in These

Bilsen

Hi all,

My regular commenters know that I sometimes consider the background integral to the image and I don't blur it out.

These are from my shoot with the beautiful Vanessa. Can we agree or not on the bkg in these??



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zoomer

just for the record I don't hate it when complimentary backgrounds are included.

Distracting backgrounds, not so much.

Now this background works...really well.

I love love that first shot....and this model .

laurenornot

The only issue I have with this background is that my eye is confused as to what is "straight" - I encounter this a lot in my own work and I'm never really sure how to handle it, or if I'm overthinking things. If I use the barn door vertical lines as the focus, then these appear straight. However if my eye is drawn to the bottom of the photo, it seem that it should be rotated slightly clockwise to straighten out the horizontal wood lines.

Either way, great choice for a background. Love how it contrasts with her blue top!

divamum

zoomer wrote: »

just for the record I don't hate it when complimentary backgrounds are included.

Distracting backgrounds, not so much.

Now this background works...really well.

I love love that first shot....and this model .

Exactly, on all counts!

Bilsen

AHHHHH FINALLY I win one. rofl

Lauren, the verticals are the lines I chose as the straights. I could have chosen the horizontal at the base of the door but there would be the same problem with the verticals and I thought the crosshatch on the doors was more important, mostly because I framed Vanessa in the "V".

divamum

John-

For straightening, use the controls in LR or PS which let you adjust verticals, horizontals and perspective - easy peasy, and can really help (although sometimes it's not possible if there are too many variables).

As for WHY these work, consider:

hat+boots + barn = congruous styling. The clothes make sense against the background. In some of the others, the model was in a grunge look, yet there were trees, flowers and park benches clearly visible in the background; in others, there were strong colour clashes.

Colour scheme: warm hair toning with hat/boots and the red of the barn - in this context, the blue is "opposite" and pops (harmoniously), and the cream jacket acts as a neutral. Again, it all ties together as a "look", which kicks it all up a notch.

Btw, while I do really like these - and agree with Zoomer they're among your best to date - I would probably also have done some on an angle to the building with a shallower dof just to see what it looked like...

Bilsen

Thanks Mum. I may play around with that some.

Qarik

this background works. The only thng I would clone or crop is the bottom steps in some shots..where they fall off

Bilsen

Thanks Qarik. Good to hear from you again.