A day at Hooters

[bhall947]

Due to the fact that my wife works at the local Hooters so I am asked to come in on their dress up days to take pictures of the Hooters Girls. (Lucky Me!!!) The picture I have submitted for critique was taken while I was observing one of the Hooters Girls at the computer putting in an order. Each time a customer would walk in she would look up from the computer and smile and greet the customer. This picture was taken during one of those times. I took the picture with a Canon Xti and a Canon 50mm L lens while holding the camera. F/2.8 Exp 1/125 sec. I started in photography about a year ago and have had to learn most of the basic from here and books as well as hands on. I feel this is a pretty good photograph but thats my opioion I would like this photograph to be critiqued so I can better unstand this wonderful art! Thanks Billy Hall

[kristiwhitman]

It looks great! I especially like the composition. Did you use an external flash, reflector, or other lighting? I'm just curious how you got the lighting so nice in an indoor restaurant.

[RLucas]

Nothing to critique here.......Just looking

It may be just me, and I hope someone with a calibrated monitor will chime in, but it looks a little warm to me. Other than that, I can find nothing wrong with this image.

[bhall947]

The evening sun was low and coming thru the window that she was about 7 feet away from. The sun had a warm golden glow that lite that area of the store up.

[sk66]

Nice shot, I would be happy with it.

But to give some minor critique:
I think the focus is a bit short...DOF is good, but the area of sharpest focus seems to be her hair and not her eyes. If you had focused a bit further into the scene it would probably have been a touch better. (or slightly larger DOF)
I think you did a good job of blurring the background, but unfortunately the primary color there is red and she tends to blend in a bit. More of a contrasting color to her hair would have been better.
Last, I think a tighter crop might be better. Just shoulders and face. The longer crop to include her breast doesn't really add much to the image and detracts from her eyes/face.

[Roo13]

Nice shot. I think given the subject the crop suits. If it was an ordinary portrait i'd say yes, go for a tighter crop, but it's Hooters it's supposed to be a bit sexy, right.

[LeeR]

There is a lot to like about this image. The young lady is stunning, the lighting and composition work well and the background in pleasantly out of focus. I ran it through PS and found that a slight levels adjustment (bumped the blacks up a bit) and some sharpening helped a bit. But I also found a big no-no: camera shake. I know the prospect of taking a tripod with you next time is not a pleasant one, but it's the professional thing to do if you want razor sharp images.

[autofocus]

Don't know what you folks are talking about..calibrated monitor here and it looks great, and so does the focus. Dropped it into PS and zoomed in..it's plenty sharp, you can count her eyelashes..I would say shooting it at 2.8 you did real good.

[BigFuzzy]

Redheads make me believe there is a god.

Having said that, I can't agree the eyes are as sharp as they could be, but you did an admirable job considering the conditions (ie handheld indoors).

Color tones look fine to me but there's a chance it is a bit orangy.

I'd have liked to not see her hat cropped off. And the leaning back 'pose' feels a bit forced and unnatural.

Still, a nice capture.

PS lucky basterd.

[RLucas]

Maybe it's just my taste, or I really need to have my eyes checked, but this is the difference I see. I just went in to levels, and adjusted the mid tone setting in the red channel. On my histogram, the red was climbing way up the wall. I know Hooter's have a lot of red in their restaurants, but it just seemed overwhelming to me.
I will take it down if you wish. It's a great picture, I am just trying to see if I have issues.