Band Photoshoot (Please critique)

[LMarcia]

I went to an old train yard and they are a punk rock band so I went for a harder, less saturated color look.....

[wulf]

I love the colours on this one and the angle of shooting.

Things that I am less keen on:

1. Chopping bits off them with the framing. It looks a bit haphazard (although I suppose that could be the effect intended)

2. They don't look like they belong together (spacing, what they are looking at and choice of clothing). Again, that may be intentional but I'm not convinced.

Did you get a bunch of other shots as well?

BTW, I saw a great band shot today. It was a four piece; the two guys in the centre had their hands on the heads of the ones on the outside and the ones outside were jumping. The surreal result was that it appeared that the guys in the middle were magically lifting the others up by placing sticky hands on their heads. It was quirky but also added a sense of unity.

Wulf

[mdwsta4]

not really sure about the angle, but the person on the right's skin is completely blown out. and every other person's skintone looks way too orange/red. also, everyone except the dude on the right is looking at the camera. i would much rather see all or none. i also don't like how some of their legs are cropped out or how the 2nd guy from the left is 'peeking' out like he's not part of the group. it just doesn't look like they're together or part of the same band.
i do like the processing of the background though.

[Teewinot]

LMarcia,

First of all I want to compliment you on the creative angle and setting (railroad tracks) of this band shot. Nice job!

You said your goal was to go for a less saturated color look, but when I see your shot, I find it to feel over-saturated. The colors are a bit too blown out in spots (especially on the skin, as noted by other people). There seem to be just too many orange tones. I also find the sky color to be sort of weird since it's gray, but perhaps that's the look you were going for. And that's OK!

As far as individual band members' placement, I find myself agreeing with previous comments...the guy second from the left is only peaking behind another and seems like he's not as part of the group as the others. I also agree with wulf about not cutting off some of the body parts in the crops. I like the guy with the red shirt and I especially like that his shirt is a different color from the rest, but I wonder if placing him somewhere in the middle would be more effective...currently I get the feeling that he is also on the outside due to his shirt color difference, whereas if he were in the middle somewhere he'd blend in more. Does that make sense?

These critiques are pretty nit-picky...I want to emphasize that I think your shot is great! With a few tweaks it can be a stellar album cover!

[taykuyphotoart]

I think that you may have done a bit much in the post process do you have the original shot? Perhaps we can work on the photo a bit to give a few more in-depth recommendations.