Portrait Under Dispute

L

Lawrence

Senior Member
I had my flat mate chatting to me the other night and I asked her if I could take a few quick informal shots of her to practice my indoor technique on humans as my daughter's wedding is coming up soon and I want to take the best photos I can with my limited gear. I only have the camera and the kit lens. Thankfully any photos I take are only for my consumption.

This is the first photo of flat mate and we both so liked it I didn't take any more as she rushed off to put it on FaceBook.

Now the dispute … everyone bar two of her older friends (they consider her a surrogate daughter) like the photo. The two old ducks don't.

I would like an opinion on the technical merits of the image. A flash was not used.

Sandi.jpg
 
M

Mike D90

Senior Member
Lawrence said:
I had my flat mate chatting to me the other night and I asked her if I could take a few quick informal shots of her to practice my indoor technique on humans as my daughter's wedding is coming up soon and I want to take the best photos I can with my limited gear. I only have the camera and the kit lens. Thankfully any photos I take are only for my consumption.

This is the first photo of flat mate and we both so liked it I didn't take any more as she rushed off to put it on FaceBook.

Now the dispute … everyone bar two of her older friends (they consider her a surrogate daughter) like the photo. The two old ducks don't.

I would like an opinion on the technical merits of the image. A flash was not used.

View attachment 58848
Click to expand...






































Could be cropped a lot better and its too light particularly around the face with no shadow for drama. I will be honest, as I would expect anyone to be about any of my images, I don't like it as is at least.
 
L

Lawrence

Senior Member
Could be cropped a lot better and its too light particularly around the face with no shadow for drama. I will be honest, as I would expect anyone to be about any of my images, I don't like it as is at least.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike. I appreciate an honest opinion. Only way to learn. I may be able to do something with it in PS.

How would you crop it?
 
M

Mike D90

Senior Member
Lawrence said:
Thanks Mike. I appreciate an honest opinion. Only way to learn. I may be able to do something with it in PS.

How would you crop it?
Click to expand...


Well, you just remember to be as honest with me when I start posting my portrait work. Don't take my opinion too seriously either as I am not near advanced enough to really quantify my response. It was just what I would say about the photo if it had been one I took.
 
M

Moab Man

Senior Member
I too did not like the crop. Way too much dead space. Here is my edit on your photo..

What I did:

1. Cropped down putting the eyes on the thirds line.
2. Darkened her skin a bit to give it some color. Was too washed out and yellow.
3. Darkened the wall a bit because I could see parts with a pattern and other areas washed out.
4. Made the blue a little richer.

SandiEdit.jpg
 
M

Moab Man

Senior Member
Portrait Pro is an interesting mistress. It can do some nice things, but on this particular picture it's just too much. I am thinking about getting it but think it's really for younger skin.
 
Bob Blaylock

Bob Blaylock

Senior Member
Technically, it looks good to me. Exposure, white balance, sharpness. Nice, clean background. No problems there.

The pose doesn't seem very flattering to me. The facial expression, the position of the hands. She looks uninviting, like she wishes you wouldn't take her picture. She looks like she's tolerating you, but annoyed and wishing that you'd leave her alone and stop bothering her.
 
R

Rick M

Senior Member
Moab Man said:
Portrait Pro is an interesting mistress. It can do some nice things, but on this particular picture it's just too much. I am thinking about getting it but think it's really for younger skin.
Click to expand...

​It was a quick pass and a bit heavy handed on my part. You can go very light on the effects.
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
I would have liked to see her left elbow in the photo. It almost looks like she is getting squeezed to fit into the photo. And like the others said, it is slightly overexposed. This is a good reason why also shooting in RAW is so important. You can salvage some of the blown highlights in post processing better than working with a JPEG. Friday night I took theater photos at my local high school. The first shot is always a gamble because it has to be taken quickly--a spot light comes on and the person walks into it. No way to accurately meter ahead of time. I blew the highlights in the first photo, but to my surprise, when using Lightroom 4, I was able to regain some detail in the blown highlights making it a decent photo--but I couldn't salvage the original JPEG version by trying the same thing.

She looks nice--you captured her essence--her inner beauty which really shows through making it a terrific photo regardless! :D It's no wonder she liked it!
 
wud

wud

Senior Member
Moab Man said:
Portrait Pro is an interesting mistress. It can do some nice things, but on this particular picture it's just too much. I am thinking about getting it but think it's really for younger skin.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same. She is very pretty, no need for plastic surgery in Photoshop.

I do like the original image but Moab Man made a very good edit job.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Top