Two First Timers (Senior Portrait Critique)

[Ronie]

Alright as I stated there are two first timers here. The first is this is actually the first time I've gotten up the guts to post in the critique section, I'm kind of interested to see how this goes. HAHA. The second is this picture was from my Senior Shoot today, which was the first time I'd actually shot a guy by himself, ok so that doesn't sound so big, but for some reason it was for me, had me a bit nervous, I'm used to my sister and her girlfriends asking for shoots, at any rate... two firsts for me.

I have a couple questions about this photo, first I tried to follow the rule of thirds, did I do it correctly? Secondly, I've taken several shots like these where the subject of the photo isn't necessarily filling up the entire photo, I've seen other photographers do this, but I'm having second thoughts about it because I've had a couple people ask if the photos were supposed to look like that, so I guess I'm just making sure is that ok? What other things could I have done to make this photo better? I'm starting to get more requests it seems and I want to keep that coming, and in order to do that I've got to get better, so bring on the critique.

[DivotMaker]

Congrats on stepping out....{hands clapping}
First and foremost, don't take anything as negative, you have a great shot here. Just a couple ideas to try.

Rule of thirds - Close. Try scrolling the screen until the bottom is cropped, just below his shoe and the bottom step. Now, you have actually turned this into a landscape (framed) shot. This is closer to the "thirds" to me.

In addition, by cropping the bottom off, it removes the bright spot of the water out. My eyes keep being pulled to this bright spot, taking my eyes of your subject.

If this is a senior shoot, may I suggest you get more of the subject in. While this would be a great shot, as it is, parents spending the cash..would probably want more of their "pride and joy" in the shot.

Lastly, the young man seems to be slightly out of focus.

Just my 2c's, fwiw.

You have picked a great spot, and I applaud you for sticking your neck out. Keep up the great work.

[Nori]

nice pic.
I like the idea but for some reason I find distracting the bushes and the water around the subject (It looks a bit dirty) I like the pose, very natural and interesting but even though I would like to see him closer zooming in will not be such a good idea since he will have iron bars coming out of his head. Maybe cropping is all you need in this photo.

thanks for sharing!

[sk66]

I agree with the previous posters..
The "rule of thirds": You followed it "correctly" but not "ideally". Yes he sit's on the left 1/3 line, good. Ideally you would put the focal point at the intersection of two of the 1/3 lines and in this cae it should be his face or close to it.
The suggested crop gets it close enough...I'd additionally suggest a 5/4 crop factor (8x10) for senior portraits.

My only additional critique is the image seems flat/dark...It could use a levels adjustment. (tutorial in the forums on it, search for "getting that POP")