photos for CC and a question

JulieLawsonPhotography

First my question. I am constantly awed by the clarity and color of the shots I see on here. What am I doing wrong that I don't feel as if I am achieving that look. Part of me thinks it's just me thinking that my pics stink, the other part thinks that maybe they really do. Anyway, would someone be willing to tell me what element I'm missing in my photo and/or any tips that would help me to achieve that "look"?

Now, on to the photos for CC

1

2

3

4

5

Travis

Hey Julie,

I think we have all thought the same thing at one time or another (actually I think it on a daily basis! ). I'm far from an expert but here's my feedback..

Photos 1 and 2 - I like the poses and composition, especially #1. The lighting is a bit one dimensional. A little more light on her face and hair would draw the viewer to her eyes and away from the background.

Photos 3 & 4 - The people are sharp and the lighting looks good but the background detracts from the image. I honestly believe that if you put more distance between them and the background and lowered the depth of field, the subjects would really stand out.

Photo 5 - I really like this photo. Main issue is the time of year (not easy to change on the fly ) causing the dead trees in the background to be a bit distracting.

I'm sure there are others here that can offer up some much better suggestions but I don't believe you are as far off as you think.

joshhuntnm

1, 2, and 5 i would try to drop the backroud out of focus. use a longer lense or bigger apeture.

Don't be too hard on yourself, the are nice.

joshhuntnm

id warm #3 up a bit. also, it looks like the light is so close to the subjects that it is brighter on our left that the right.

Scott_Quier

All of them:

• Add a curves adjustment layer and give it a little contrast curve
• Need to make sure you've appropriately set both the black and white points. The first 4 images look like they might benefit from this.
• Background - it's in focus. Need to see what you can do to throw it out-of-focus. Use a larger aperture (smaller f-stop number) is one way.
• For the color - If one is shooting raw, it is usually a good idea to increase the saturation just a touch.

#1 and #2 - need more front light here. It appears you are using natural light (cloudy day maybe) and this is a good thing. What you have here is some raccoon eyes - a little fill light will open up the eyes and also provide a catchlight in the the eyes - almost always a good thing.

#5 comes closest to having a good contrast and appropriate white point set. As a result, it has a little more pop than the others. I don't think the black point is set appropriately.

For the C&C:

1. The pose is pretty good. I would do something to "un-fist" her hands - ladies like to appear graceful and a fisted hand is not. You have the red/white/blue building in the background and it's attached to her shoes - huge distraction. I, personally, would loose the shoes as well.
2. All the same comments as above (except for the fisted hands comment). In addition, is her head resting on her hands? Doing so can cause the face to be shortened/compressed.
3. You have some nice lighting going here - it appears you have light from three directions (1) Main light from camera left which is producing a nice depth to the photos though you might want to raise it a bit for better loop lighting (2) light source camera right to fill the shadows a bit - looks to be good ratio, (3) and something of a hair light - this might be better if it were raised and shining down on them. The hair light is doing a decent job of separating the hair from the background. There's a hot-spot on the left cheek of the lady in blue. Nice head tilts
4. Again, a good start on the light, need to raise the main light a bit. The hair light is effective. The hair light is shining through her hair and is causing distracting light/shadow patterns on her face - I think turning her face away from the hair light just a touch would solve that problem. The face/head is a little square on - head tilt maybe?
5. This is a cute moment. I think it would be better if more tightly cropped. This would remove the distraction of the background and better focus attention on the two girls. I might even apply a subtle black vignette to increase the viewer focus.

The monitor I'm using to view the photos is not calibrated so I won't even hazard a guess as to the color/tint of the photos - I'll leave that to someone else.:D

JulieLawsonPhotography

Thank you all very much. Scott, very imformative and I will be printing this out so I can look at the pictures along with the advice. Tell me this, does it get easier to spot all these things the longer you do this? I'm sure it does. I'll be posting again soon, I'm sure.

Thanks again,
Julie

Scott_Quier wrote:

All of them:

• Add a curves adjustment layer and give it a little contrast curve
• Need to make sure you've appropriately set both the black and white points. The first 4 images look like they might benefit from this.
• Background - it's in focus. Need to see what you can do to throw it out-of-focus. Use a larger aperture (smaller f-stop number) is one way.
• For the color - If one is shooting raw, it is usually a good idea to increase the saturation just a touch.

#1 and #2 - need more front light here. It appears you are using natural light (cloudy day maybe) and this is a good thing. What you have here is some raccoon eyes - a little fill light will open up the eyes and also provide a catchlight in the the eyes - almost always a good thing.

#5 comes closest to having a good contrast and appropriate white point set. As a result, it has a little more pop than the others. I don't think the black point is set appropriately.

For the C&C:

1. The pose is pretty good. I would do something to "un-fist" her hands - ladies like to appear graceful and a fisted hand is not. You have the red/white/blue building in the background and it's attached to her shoes - huge distraction. I, personally, would loose the shoes as well.
2. All the same comments as above (except for the fisted hands comment). In addition, is her head resting on her hands? Doing so can cause the face to be shortened/compressed.
3. You have some nice lighting going here - it appears you have light from three directions (1) Main light from camera left which is producing a nice depth to the photos though you might want to raise it a bit for better loop lighting (2) light source camera right to fill the shadows a bit - looks to be good ratio, (3) and something of a hair light - this might be better if it were raised and shining down on them. The hair light is doing a decent job of separating the hair from the background. There's a hot-spot on the left cheek of the lady in blue. Nice head tilts
4. Again, a good start on the light, need to raise the main light a bit. The hair light is effective. The hair light is shining through her hair and is causing distracting light/shadow patterns on her face - I think turning her face away from the hair light just a touch would solve that problem. The face/head is a little square on - head tilt maybe?
5. This is a cute moment. I think it would be better if more tightly cropped. This would remove the distraction of the background and better focus attention on the two girls. I might even apply a subtle black vignette to increase the viewer focus.

The monitor I'm using to view the photos is not calibrated so I won't even hazard a guess as to the color/tint of the photos - I'll leave that to someone else.:D

Scott_Quier

JulieLawsonPhotography wrote:

Thank you all very much. Scott, very imformative and I will be printing this out so I can look at the pictures along with the advice. Tell me this, does it get easier to spot all these things the longer you do this? I'm sure it does. I'll be posting again soon, I'm sure.

Thanks again,
Julie

It's really easy to "Monday Morning Quarterback" but I find it terribly difficult to see all these things when I'm shooting. So, don't start thinking that I have all this down - I'm still working it.

But, yes; as I view and C&C the work of other photogs, I always walk away with something I can use to correct/improve my work. That's one reason why I put the effort into the C&C I provide - it help to beat it into my head. The other reason is because I have learned so much from other's here I feel an obligation to help others - kinda like a "pay it forward" thing.

I'm gratified that my small effort has help you. Thanks.

Chrissiebeez_NL

JulieLawsonPhotography wrote:

Thank you all very much. Scott, very imformative and I will be printing this out so I can look at the pictures along with the advice. Tell me this, does it get easier to spot all these things the longer you do this? I'm sure it does. I'll be posting again soon, I'm sure.

Thanks again,
Julie

I agree with what scott sais!
i agree that some of the photos lack a bit warmth.

• Add a curves adjustment layer and give it a little contrast curve
• Need to make sure you've appropriately set both the black and white points. The first 4 images look like they might benefit from this.
• Background - it's in focus. Need to see what you can do to throw it out-of-focus. Use a larger aperture (smaller f-stop number) is one way.
• For the color - If one is shooting raw, it is usually a good idea to increase the saturation just a touch.

#1 and #2 - need more front light here. It appears you are using natural light (cloudy day maybe) and this is a good thing. What you have here is some raccoon eyes - a little fill light will open up the eyes and also provide a catchlight in the the eyes - almost always a good thing.

on these points you can work using photoshop (except of course getting the eyes more open )

i've given it a quick go (hope you dont mind).


i've selected a black and a white point, minimally adjusted the curves downward, added a bit in the red channel, made a duplicate layer with lens blur but deleted the parts i wanted 'in focus'. Using an 50% grey overlay layer i've painted important areas (eyes) lighter and less important areas (background) darker. as a final touch i added some brightness in a layer and decreased the contrast a bit to match your style some more.

i dont know if this is what you are looking for but as you can see there is a lot that can be done with simple photoshop techniques. a flash works good as well when trying to get nice colours

good luck and PM me if it doesnt work for you

PhilCollum

Chrissiebeez_NL wrote:

i've selected a black and a white point, minimally adjusted the curves downward, added a bit in the red channel, made a duplicate layer with lens blur but deleted the parts i wanted 'in focus'. Using an 50% grey overlay layer i've painted important areas (eyes) lighter and less important areas (background) darker. as a final touch i added some brightness in a layer and decreased the contrast a bit to match your style some more.... as you can see there is a lot that can be done with simple photoshop techniques.

I love Chris' idea of "simple".

J/k - Great work, Chris!