"Senior Portrait" no edits.

MayndiLeigh

1. i know there's shadows, i did nothing to prevent it.
2. i know the color is a little off, still did nothing to prevent it.
3. absolutely no editing software used, no "photographic" adjustments as the picture was taken, just a raw picture.

does it look too bad raw? or not.

W.W. Webster

MayndiLeigh wrote:

does it look too bad raw? or not.

To my eye, some serious problems with this photo occurred at exposure.

Rather than the shadows being an issue, the bright spots present a difficulty as they are blown out and the detail may not now be recoverable. The top of the head has been cropped off, which is also unfortunate. Also, the arm outstretched towards the camera distorts its perspective (perhaps you intended this?), but might be overcome in the final cropping.

Just my thoughts. It's all in the eye of the beholder, but I hope this helps.

Bob&Glennie

I'm not going to comment on the composition --- that's usually very subjective.
But from technical point of view you're dealing with more contrast than your camera can likely handle. You could try to reduce the contrast in post processing but at the point of exposure you're faced with a decision and your CCD can't accomodate both extremes of that much contrast.

binghott

i think the blown highlights are a serious problem and i find the mirror reflecting the back of her arm to be very distracting. try aiming the mirror at her face, that'd be pretty cool. if this shot was done in the shade i think it would have some potential.

System

hmm alrighty here it is straight up.

1. it's way too bright
2. i really dont like the setting at all. no offense meant, but if you're going to use a car, make the lines more interesting. it just looks like you guys had nowhere better to do this. cars have amazing arcitecture and lines to work with, plus levels, so i think you could have definitely used those to your advantage.
3.both the pose and the clothes are not as flattering to the model as they could be. the clothes may just be her style so that's all about what she wants to wear. but the pose could be much better. like i said before, use the setting that you have.

i'm really sorry if this comes off as mondo harsh i totally dont mean to like rip you to shreds, i just know that the only way i've ever improved is to have people give me lists of what i've done wrong. good luck, and as much as i've said dont think that doesn't mean i dont think you have potential

mynakedsoda

I don't know if your camera is capable of shooting RAW but if so I'd suggest some negative exposure comp next time. Really atleast one shot you could try exposing just the highlights. You can usually recover suffecient shadow detail this way in post. If not then try shooting with your onboard flash. It should help balance the lighting some.