Got my computer going

special kid · December 7, 2004

I haven't posted anything for about 7 to 8 month so you might not remember me. I'm 24 in the navy in San Diego, just got back from deployment and trying to get started in photography. I have been shooting for about 7 years (SLRs) and decided to make it a career. I'm trying to go to Art Institute of Philadelphia next fall. I'm interested in sports, fashion, modeling, and all other kinds of stuff. I did some portfolio shots this weekend and had a couple of photos I liked and would like a second set of eyes.

I like constructive criticism so don’t feel shy

special kid · December 7, 2004

sorry about the size wasn't thinking

Tim Kirkwood · December 7, 2004

The top one is awsome, the middle one looks a bit underexposed and the bottom one to me looks a bit over exposed.

VERY beautiful model

Goood shots and well composed.

Tim

P.S. Don't know ya but welcome back:D

DJ-S1 · December 7, 2004

Hey Kid -
Thanks for posting, nice to have you back. I'm no expert, but I played with your last one a bit, here are my thoughts. First, the original:

Now the mods:

It seemed way overexposed to me, even considering you were looking into the sunset. So here's what I did;

Ctrl-J to copy the background to a new layer.
change the blending mode to "overlay" to boost saturation.
masked out the background on the overlay layer.
flatten layers.
Ctrl-J again.
change blending mode to "linear burn" to darken up the background some.
masked out the girl and board.
flatten layers.
burn (highlight, 18%) around the edges to focus interest on the girl

That's it, took 2 minutes on it so the masks are pretty rough but you get the idea. You may not like the changes I made, there are many other ways to do it, this is just my stab at it. I really like the composition of the shot, and I like the blown out sun right in the middle behind the surfboard. I think it works in this case.

I noticed that border is not even around the image and drop shadow, maybe you would consider scooching that a bit to make it more even.

In the first shot, I would try to do something with the blown area in the lower left, it's kind of distracting. Same with the blown area just above the lifeguard shack in the second one.

But overall, these are nice portraits, pretty model, nice depth of field...er, I'm rapidly running out of things I kinda know about!

I'll let the experts chime in. Thanks for posting these, nice job!

special kid · December 7, 2004

Thanks for the input. The last one was supposted to be a little over exposed but i like what you did to it. And i see what you meen about the first one. I don't do any digitial work after i take the picture usually, just add my name. The pictures are for the model she is some what of a friend and wants to get into modeling. This was her first shoot also, she did an amazing job and was really easy to work with.

Got my computer going

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