Reply To: Critique

[cameraclicker]

Positive critique, not so much.  Helpful, perhaps.

http://s822.photobucket.com/user/AbionaKatia/media/Shared/DSC_0393.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0  : I like that it is in focus.  I’m not crazy about what either of them are wearing.  She looks like she is having major wardrobe malfunctions.  Also, you can barely see any of her face.  Great photo if she is in the witness protection program!  A rim light would help.  His jeans and her hair blend into the dark background so you can’t tell where they end and background begins.

http://s822.photobucket.com/user/AbionaKatia/media/Shared/DSC_0204.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1 : A couple of nice Canada Geese by the pool.  Why are there people in the photo?  The background is covered up by your watermark, which is good because it is pretty busy.  This is a good example of why so many photos are taken with a really big aperture to blur the background.   If the photo is supposed to be about those people instead of the geese, then the composition should change somehow so they are really the focus.  Presently, her dress is burned out and they are way over at the edge, they look like they are intruding on a photo of birds.

http://s822.photobucket.com/user/AbionaKatia/media/Shared/DSC_0150.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2 : I bet she is a really cute kid.  Too bad she has been over processed until she looks like plastic.  If you are shooting for journalism, editing is limited to noise reduction, white-balance, brightness, contrast and cropping.  Someone her age should not need skin smoothing, and no one needs the amount of smoothing she received.

http://s822.photobucket.com/user/AbionaKatia/media/Shared/DSC_0224.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3 : Is it me or is there a green tint?  You need to get a lens hood, and use it.  She looks pretty, it would be nice if we could see her clearly.

http://s822.photobucket.com/user/AbionaKatia/media/Shared/DSC_0087-2.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4 : It would be nicer if they were away from the wall so there was no background shadow.   The watermark really messes up the image.  I understand you have redesigned it.  I hope the redesign is some unobtrusive text stuck in a corner where it doesn’t detract from the image.

http://s822.photobucket.com/user/AbionaKatia/media/Shared/BC1of1-46.jpg.html?sort=3&o=5 : The exposure is weird.  Her face is too bright, too smoothed.  She is featureless.  Her clothing is over exposed.  The vest, or what ever the white thing is, is burned out.  So is her hair, and the strap at her belt buckle.  The wrinkles in her brown shirt make her look fat, and also make it appear her belly button has slipped well below her belt!  How much of this is post processing?  How much is wardrobe choice/execution?   Pose matters.  You make her look like a Plus size girl.

http://s822.photobucket.com/user/AbionaKatia/media/Shared/DSC_0592-Edit.jpg.html?sort=3&o=6 : I like the high key.  I don’t like the smoothing/lighting.  Where is the line between her nose and right cheek?  Her head is turned too far to her right, there is no skin between her right eye and the background.  She should turn her head a few degrees toward the camera and possibly look at the photographer’s left shoulder, or a little past it, to get the eyes right.  You don’t want to show her right ear, but you want to show skin beside her eye.  Keep the notch.

http://s822.photobucket.com/user/AbionaKatia/media/Shared/DSC_0006.jpg.html?sort=3&o=7 : Not nearly the best turtle photo I have seen.  Unless you are also shooting pets, it does not belong with your portraits.  Same for the cat photo.

http://s822.photobucket.com/user/AbionaKatia/media/Shared/BC1of1-4.jpg.html?sort=3&o=9 : Way over processed.

http://s822.photobucket.com/user/AbionaKatia/media/Shared/DSC_0212.jpg.html?sort=3&o=10 : It could stand some rim lighting.  The hot spots should be dealt with.

http://s822.photobucket.com/user/AbionaKatia/media/Shared/DSC_0237.jpg.html?sort=3&o=11 : This could be cropped to bring her closer.  Try cropping half or two thirds through the rock at left, and take some off the top to keep the same height to width ratio.  See how it looks.  It would be better if the background had softer focus because it is busy.  If you are really good at editing, you can apply blur and get it looking like the lens did it, but it is time consuming to get it right.  Her knees are dirty.    I would dodge a little to brighten her face.

I have seen better flower and bird photos.  These should not be in your portraits portfolio.

Sorry I’m not gushing over your photos.  Hopefully there are a few ideas that will help improve future photos.