First Attempt

Cason

Here is my first go at portrait photography and BW conversion. Do you think I need more contrast? Does it seem flat to you? Thank you for looking.

Yvette Marie

Here's my humble critique...

WHat I have learned.. is mostly that rules are made to be broken.. but some of the rules are there for a reason. ;o)

this picture appeals to me.. in a PJ sort of way. It makes me wonder about her age.. her eyes are breathtaking!

Typically ONE catchlight is the rule in portrait photogaphy... at either 2 or 10 o clock. Any more than one catch light can really be distracting.

It's harsh lighting... not flat by any means.. Im not saying harsh lighting is bad... not the rule.. but not bad. What were you trying to convey with this image? Here Ive been touting the rule of thirds and close cropping when actually Id like to see more room around her head.. WOMEN.. sheesh.. cant make up my mind. ;o)

Anyways.. thats my take on it.. how was it lit?

Yvette

LeDude

very stark and very good work. my feeling is that this would be a more appropriate treatment for a more mature subject. the starkness of the shot runs amok with the youthfulness of the girl. this is not to say such a treatment is out-of-line for any young subject... but i'd like to see something else in the shot to match the drama of the b/w conversion

(the above thoughts are directed at achieving a 'more perfect photo'... as it is, I think this is well, well above average-like I said, very good work) (oh yes, try cropping a bit off the top and darkening the background a little; see what you think)

saurora

You asked about the contrast and should you use more....definitely no! It's close, and although I love contrasty prints, I think this one is a little too much so. You have lost detail in your shadow areas and have some blown-out highlights. The highlights may be from the lighting which, (I agree with LeDude) is a little strong for a young child. Lower the contrast a bit, which will bring out some detail and soften the look for this pretty young girl.

Cason

Thank you for your post. This picture is of my 10 year old niece. The only light I had was from the sun that was coming through the breakfast area of my kitchen...around 4:30pm. I was in front of the window so the catch light was split by my body...producing two.

I'm not sure what I was trying to convey. I just took my camera and told her to pose so I can see what kind of portrait I could take. Only way to get better is keep trying and ask others what they think.

Thank you again for looking.

Yvette Marie wrote:

Here's my humble critique...

WHat I have learned.. is mostly that rules are made to be broken.. but some of the rules are there for a reason. ;o)

this picture appeals to me.. in a PJ sort of way. It makes me wonder about her age.. her eyes are breathtaking!

Typically ONE catchlight is the rule in portrait photogaphy... at either 2 or 10 o clock. Any more than one catch light can really be distracting.

It's harsh lighting... not flat by any means.. Im not saying harsh lighting is bad... not the rule.. but not bad. What were you trying to convey with this image? Here Ive been touting the rule of thirds and close cropping when actually Id like to see more room around her head.. WOMEN.. sheesh.. cant make up my mind. ;o)

Anyways.. thats my take on it.. how was it lit?

Yvette

Cason

LeDude, I do appreciate your post. I was looking at the picture after I was done with the conversion, and I thought to myself...I think I just added 5 years to her.

I will look into darking the background and try a tighter crop. Would it be OK to crop more of her head?

LeDude wrote:

...(the above thoughts are directed at achieving a 'more perfect photo'... as it is, I think this is well, well above average-like I said, very good work) (oh yes, try cropping a bit off the top and darkening the background a little; see what you think)

Cason

Thank you for your advice! I still have the PSD. I will play around with it.
She loved the picture because it made her look older. I think it was bad thing.

saurora wrote:

You asked about the contrast and should you use more....definitely no! It's close, and although I love contrasty prints, I think this one is a little too much so. You have lost detail in your shadow areas and have some blown-out highlights. The highlights may be from the lighting which, (I agree with LeDude) is a little strong for a young child. Lower the contrast a bit, which will bring out some detail and soften the look for this pretty young girl.

R Johns

RTP,

Hello. Your focus is dead-on!

I have one suggestion to add. Since her hair appears darker, next time, try to get her to wear a lighter colored shirt. It should help soften the image, as well.

Regardless, you've gotta get the pic, however it comes to you. Right? A commendable effort, none the less...

Cason

Thank you R. Johns! Nice tip on the hair and clothes.

R Johns wrote:

RTP,

Hello. Your focus is dead-on!

I have one suggestion to add. Since her hair appears darker, next time, try to get her to wear a lighter colored shirt. It should help soften the image, as well.

Regardless, you've gotta get the pic, however it comes to you. Right? A commendable effort, none the less...

Owen

This picture would have been better if you'd left the eyes alone.

System

rtp-

I could not quite figure out what was going here until owen said you should have left the eyes alone-

they don't go with the rest of her face-maybe sharpened too much-

if you work on the eyes, it's very difficult and sometimes you have to do it incrementally-

it would help if you posted the original-

erich6

Pretty good for a "first attempt". You got some great advice on this thread.

Erich

System

erich's right; it is pretty good for a first attempt-

don't let us discourage you; most of us are well meaning and try to give constructive criticism if we believe it will help-

if you can go with the flow, it will help your picture taking and photoshop skills immensely and also quickly-

keep posting!-

george

Cason

It's cool. I wouldn't have posted if I couldn't take the CC. The only thing I did with the eyes was heal the white parts because there were some hard veins that were distracting...to me.

Thanks again for the advice.

Owen

Post the original please.

Cason

Owen wrote:

Post the original please.

System

hope you don't mind me working on this-
if you do, I will take it down-

I think the biggest thing is, when you worked on the eyes you included the irises--you probably just needed to whiten the whites of the eyes--that's what I did, and not very much-

how did you convert to bw?-

Cason

No...I don't mind at all.

I used the optikVerve plugin for CS2. I believe it was the Hollywood effect.

It looks like when I was adjusting the curves before the conversion, it lightned up the iris. Also, when I was adjusting the effect...it made even more brighter.

System

optikverve is good-

I use it quite a bit-

may I suggest you learn some other bw conversions, though-

my favorite is the channel mixer (which can be done in myriads of ways)-

i use it on the photos that I'm really trying to get to look the best-