I Think I'm Getting Better at This Thing Called Photography

[JanJan]

Because photography has been on the brain 24/7 for the past few months, I think I’m getting better and better as I go. I posted this picture on digital-photography-school.com for feedback and have gotten a couple responses, but because new ones come in all the time, mine gets lost in the shuffle.

The responses from digital-photography-school.com were for the most part pretty well, albeit with some nit-picky stuff. I would like some feedback from you all. Well here it is:
http://www.photosbyanjanette.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/tasha1.jpg

My comments about this picture:
– It was taken at an old mining town / ghost town.
– The chair was broken, but I didn’t want to move it because I was afraid I was going to break it and get the owner mad.
– One comment from digital-photography-school.com was that my subject was too much in the center and would have been better off to the left. I honestly feel that her being in the center works in this case because it balances out everything on both sides. Also, this was shot in a corner of a room, so I don’t know how you would achieve the rule of thirds composition.
– Just want to make a note on my awesome subject. She was an old high-school classmate who I haven’t seen in 14 years. She is 150 pounds lighter since high school, and her confidence really shined during my shoot with her. She has never modeled before, but she knew her body so well.

[cameraclicker]

I think it is half a stop over exposed generally and even reducing exposure by half a stop some areas are still burned out.  I think she is fine more toward middle, however it could be recropped to put her at rule of thirds.  It depends on the shape you want for the photo and how you feel about the surroundings.  She is supposed to be the star, so the background may not be that important?  To get it in camera, and keep the background you chose, you could have backed up a little and panned the camera right.

It could look like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54048679@N07/8621245205/

If you saw her all through high school, she should be about 32.  The veins on the back of her right hand stand out too much and her upper arms have a lot of loose skin.  This is not too surprising based on her history, but slightly different posing or lighting may have made both features less obvious.  Her face and the rest of her body look great so it might be nit-picking, but your job is to make her look better than she does in person by paying attention to all those little details.

[AndreCosto]

I don’t know much about portraiture, but just as a viewer, I would say great model and setting. The light is a bit harsh and the overexposed bottle next ot the fan especially distracts the eye. I like the original crop. I am not fond of the half lamp in camerclicker’s crop. I almost wish this was black and white, slightly dark, and less smily.

[JanJan]

Thanks for all your responses! I agree with Andre about the keeping the original crop, but I do agree it’s a tad bit overexposed. Here is the image again, lowering the exposure from +.10 to -.30. (I’m not sure if that is 1/2 stop down or not).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anjanette_ablis/8623767338/

I uploaded this in my Flickr account this time because I think my website (which is a WordPress website that I built) somewhat alters the image colors upon uploading. I programed it where it adds a watermark to any images automatically, and I think in the process, it modifies the colors. The Flickr upload showed its true colors.

I guess I revealed my age when I mentioned how long it has been since high school! LOL

I know I need to work on lighting (especially with a fill flash) and posing. I basically let her pose how she wanted, but I gave some directions here and there. I need to work on posing for people who does not know what they’re doing. I really need to work on my flashes. I’ve been more of a natural light shooter, but I need to work on the flashes more.

Because I started off as a landscape photographer, I tend to look at the “bigger picture” in photos, and now I need to start looking at the little details.

[Author]

Posts