My friends 2 person group

[Flysaiah]

1/125
f 9
ISO 1600

Here is a shot I did for a two person group that my friends are in any thoughts or critique would be appreciated..

[RLucas]

Hi Fly, the first thing I am noticing is the white balance is way off. It is too cool. Secondly, you have to be very careful when shooting a portrait with a wide angle. It's ok if the people you are shooting are ok with it, but as a general picture, it just doesn't work for me. The guys head looks elongated because you caught it in the distortion zone of the lens,and the lady's right shoulder looks about 3 times larger than her left.
The composition is good, and I like the angle you picked to shoot, and I believe it could be a much stronger image if not for the aforementioned issues I see with it. These of course, are just my humble opinions. Take em for what they're worth.

[Maik]

I agree with Luke.
One other thing.... I can see there is a large amouth of light shining on the dress. Was there a way you could get that light on there faces?

[Niresangwa]

Firstly, I really enjoy the use of wide lenses for portraits. It's way edgier and something different. If you'd shot from the traditional vantage, I wouldn't have looked twice at it; the subjects are people I don't know just standing there in a plain composition. As it is the 'distortion' that some may find distasteful make it interesting enough to look at for more than 2 seconds. So +1 for that.

Luke is right on the WB though. Unless you intended it and gelled the light, however. The lighting - is that a natural light source cam left, or OCF? Whether its a gelled strobe, or whether its just a cool natural light either way it need some fill on the right side. I'm sure someone will point out that the girl's dress is blown too. 'Big fat who cares?' on that though So while you achieved some drama with the light, I think you missed the mark a little and it could have had more impact.

Have you tried a high contrast BW conversion on this? It has that pop feel due to the wide angle and great expressionless look of the subjects.

All in all, I like it.

[RLucas]

Originally Posted by Niresangwa

Firstly, I really enjoy the use of wide lenses for portraits. It's way edgier and something different. If you'd shot from the traditional vantage, I wouldn't have looked twice at it; the subjects are people I don't know just standing there in a plain composition. As it is the 'distortion' that some may find distasteful make it interesting enough to look at for more than 2 seconds. So +1 for that.

Luke is right on the WB though. Unless you intended it and gelled the light, however. The lighting - is that a natural light source cam left, or OCF? Whether its a gelled strobe, or whether its just a cool natural light either way it need some fill on the right side. I'm sure someone will point out that the girl's dress is blown too. 'Big fat who cares?' on that though So while you achieved some drama with the light, I think you missed the mark a little and it could have had more impact.

Have you tried a high contrast BW conversion on this? It has that pop feel due to the wide angle and great expressionless look of the subjects.

All in all, I like it.

Thanks for this! I really need to start thinking outside the box. I might like it..

[Indigo November]

I totally love it!

White balance off? Love it!
Distortion? Love it!
Lighting? Love it!

I don't like that the guy's shoe is cut off though......

[Niresangwa]

Originally Posted by RLucas

Thanks for this! I really need to start thinking outside the box. I might like it..

Hopefully you're not being sarcastic ...but for what it's worth, my favorite lens, (for jobs where I can get away with it) is actually my 10-17 Fish Eye... exceptionally deep DoF and its easy to get into great low and high shooting positions with the ultra-wides that you could never (easily) do with 'regular portrait focal lengths'.

[RLucas]

Originally Posted by Niresangwa

Hopefully you're not being sarcastic ...but for what it's worth, my favorite lens, (for jobs where I can get away with it) is actually my 10-17 Fish Eye... exceptionally deep DoF and its easy to get into great low and high shooting positions with the ultra-wides that you could never (easily) do with 'regular portrait focal lengths'.

Actually, no. I was being serious, but laughing at myself for getting sucked in to the "rules" too much. Thanks for the info.

[BigFuzzy]

I'm a firm believer of outside the box... but I'm still not sure I like the distortion. This coming from a guy that for a while (until upgrading to fullframe), my favorite lens was my 10-22mm. Still, that's not really an issue... what I have issue with is the lighting. The brightness of the light in the lower left half of the image is distracting to me. Normally the viewers eyes are drawn to the brightest part of an image and if that's not your point of interested it might not be for the best.
I think if you could have gotten that light source to come across their faces, it would have been much better.

Having said that, it's still a good, non boring/traditional portrait which is a bit hipper and modern and urban.. so I like it!