Reply To: Let me have it.. But as nice as possible ;) haha

[stef]

I looked at this earlier, and thought I responded. I apologize that I haven’t done any drinking for this C&C.

 

For the most part, looks like you have basic camera handling down, and are able to connect with your subject reasonably well. I liked some of your crops, and didn’t like others. One shot looked like you widened the subject’s eyes with liquify (although you probably didn’t) … https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/200757_217818945014363_228782690_n.jpg and it gets a bit of “uncanny valley” effect. I also don’t like the crop with the chopped hands.

 

The next image is a good shot, but the colors look off in this warm light. Otherwise, it would be a great shot. There’s a red spot in the center of his forehead that you might smooth out. https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/574459_217778625018395_1295910862_n.jpg

 

Your black & white images of Savannah are really good. The color ones, not as much, probably due to lack of modeling on the face and lighting. Part of this is the light, but part because of the pose — you told her to smile and it looks fake. But you converted the b/w images where she wasn’t smiling, and you did a good job with the conversion. If that was done manually, congrats. If not, you should figure out what made it good and be able to replicate it. (Hint: primarily tonality and facial modeling, combined with darkening the greens caused her to stand out better.) https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/196797_218420964954161_530571283_n.jpg

 

Some of your other b/w images are not as good, both due to the conversion and the shot itself.

Bad conversion and bad shot: https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/555642_214764115319846_1496941180_n.jpg

Good conversion, bad shot: https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/418458_214764258653165_1032016680_n.jpg

Watch for things like branches coming out of people’s heads, hair blowing across the face, etc.

 

Some of your kid shots are really pretty cute. The ability to get kids to be kids in front of the camera or to pose when desired means you have a good connection to not only them, but more importantly, the parents. It’s too easy for a parent to become domineering over a kid, especially when they’re paying for something (like shots of their kids).

 

So, while I think you need a lot of work on lighting and posing and processing, you also seem to have a lot of what it takes to be good at it. You especially need to pay more attention to your backgrounds.

You are not a fauxtographer.