Critique por favor!

[pmatrisotto]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmatrisotto/

 

[cameraclicker]

IMG_1691 is over exposed, IMG_1734 has the background so dark his hair blends into it and the separation is lost. I think I like IMG_1846 best of the girl and either IMG_1843 or IMG_1833 of the boy depending on the purpose and his personality.

I think it was dont.care who said he doesn’t pose his subjects, he waits for them to start moving then he starts shooting.  The kids don’t look engaged, they look like they were dragged into nature and told to look at the camera.  It’s more time consuming but results are frequently better if you take them somewhere they can be engaged, then hide in the bushes and shoot them, or shoot them so often they are completely numb to a camera being pointed at them so you can shoot without their being disturbed.

[Brownie]

Keep shooting…

[pmatrisotto]

View post on imgur.com

[cameraclicker]

I like the turtle photos.

[fstopper89]

I only had time just now to quick look at the front page with the kid photos. They have some technical issues but are in focus. Their expressions look uncomfortable and the others were right about engaging them more for natural smiles. One more thing, you should discuss outfit choices before a photo session. Avoid graphics, words, and symbols on shirts, as well as funky patterns like stripes. Make sure colors coordinate well. They look snapshot-y when the outfits clash or have distractions.

[pmatrisotto]

I had my camera at work with me, picked up the kids, it was a nice day outside, so decided to take spring pictures of them… These are my kids!  I’m not offering to take pictures for persons (besides friends sometimes) and I’m certainly NOT going to charge ANYONE anytime soon for photo work…If I wanted more serious portraits or whatever, I’d coordinate outfits and take pics while the kids run and play…I get that!

[fstopper89]

Whoa, totally was not trying to offend you at all. I was just looking at the pics for face-value. I didn’t know if they were your kids or a friends’ kids or if the shoot was planned or not. You asked for a critique so I brought up some sound advice derived from what you offered for critique. For instance, even if I just take photos for friends for fun, I try to have them dress in clothes that work well for portraits. It’s totally understandable if the shoot was just spur of the moment.

[dont.care]

This guy is a couple of tacos short of a party pack.. He ask for critiques and gets offended 🙂

[Brownie]

Definitely a few short. I could care less who’s kids they are…I just care about the pictures. If you’re not going to go all out, why bother?

[cameraclicker]

There are record shots, and then there is art.  I could put up several hundred of the construction company repairing the deck of our parking garage.  I took a few shots whenever I walked by just to keep track of their progress.  I actually posted a few converted to B&W because the conversion showed how you could manipulate the filters during conversion to get different looks from the same scene.   I wouldn’t ask for a critique, though, they just show the scene, the way it looked at the time.

The request for critique was in the title and a link was provided.  I think our critiques were pretty reasonable given the information provided.  The OP does seem to be offended, however.

[stef]

What’s up with the masking on http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmatrisotto/8576121152/in/photostream ?

 

Is that how it came out of camera? Looks like a bad PS job darkening, or blurring the background.

 

[IHF]

I think this article will be very helpful to the OP

5 Things You Should Know About Receiving Photography Critique

[fstopper89]

There was definitely some kind of PS gaussian blurring done to that background. In my starting-out days (not when I advertised of course) I too tried that on some photos before I knew how my settings affected depth of field. It will almost never ever look natural. There is no way to virtually compress dof. That photo is quite underesposed as well, has white balance issues, and his son’s expression is caught in the middle to where it’s not a flattering expression. That image would have made the trash if it were mine. Phillip, nothing wrong with practice, and definitely keep shooting and reading up on techniques. Skip Photoshop until you can get a good swing with your SOOC shots. And take what people here have said as advice and not attacks.

[dont.care]

Gaussian blur will never substitute lens blur. To me, that blur effect, would have not looked half as bad if it weren’t for the bad shadow/mid levels being so low. Although, I realize that too, he also did a piss poor job of masking/refining the mask which would have made the levels a mute point.. Although, the simpler solution to the equation would have simply been to kill the ambient light and used fill flash to achieve a real means to an end vs. photoshop trickery 🙂 whatever tho, a failed attempt–keep your chin up and drive on

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