Pretty Face II

[locojain]

Hey again,

This is the second post in my "pretty face" series (one of the post was deleted by Mods for reposting.. My bad )

Well for this photo I would like your critique on the basic things
1. Framing of the image. Was it wrong to cut off the chin and close up a little more?
2. Exposure : I dont really have any questions on it but if you feel otherwise, then please let me know.
3. Editing : I chose to experiment with differnt shades and colors and for that reason I chose a different shade and not B/W or original color.
4. Hair : It was planned to let her hair fall a little over her eyebrow. was a good move?
5. Focus : What do you think about the focus of this picture.

EXIF:
Camera Canon EOS 550D
Exposure 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture f/2.2
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program Manual
White Balance Manual
Creator Tool Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
Lens EF50mm f/1.8 II

Again thanks a lot for your honest comments. It is really helping me work on my mistakes. I hope to correct my mistakes and not repeat them in future.

[avishek24]

I am by no means an expert but I personally think that the focus currently seems to be on the right eye. The left one seems to be slightly out of focus. Maybe a slightly lower f number might fix that. Also, I wouldnt crop it so tightly.

[BigFuzzy]

1. Framing of the image. Was it wrong to cut off the chin and close up a little more?
can't speak for it being right or wrong, but I don't like chins being cut off. I can handle tops of heads and other parts cut off, but chins bug me. But I'mjust one dude.

2. Exposure : I dont really have any questions on it but if you feel otherwise, then please let me know.
Seems well exposed, but a bit flat.

3. Editing : I chose to experiment with differnt shades and colors and for that reason I chose a different shade and not B/W or original color.
I like the processing though, as I said, it feels a bit flat, I'd boost contrast. If you're using LR, the "clarity" slider does wonders.

4. Hair : It was planned to let her hair fall a little over her eyebrow. was a good move?
Yeah, hairs fine, but remember to focus on those details. You could have moved (or digitally removed) the couple of stray hairs that cross into her eyes just to be as clean as possible.

5. Focus : What do you think about the focus of this picture.
I think the focus sucks. Sorry, but that's where the image fails to me. Such a powerful in your face composition really needs to nail the focus on the eyes in my opinion and here it's clear you used the central focal point as the focus is at some point on her nose and not her eyes. To me (and I'm very picky about this) it kills the image. Unless it's intentional, and I somehow doubt it was, always nail the focus on the eyes. Had you, I think this image could have popped out at you. Keep trying new stuff though, kudos for that!

[locojain]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

1. Framing of the image. Was it wrong to cut off the chin and close up a little more?
can't speak for it being right or wrong, but I don't like chins being cut off. I can handle tops of heads and other parts cut off, but chins bug me. But I'mjust one dude.

2. Exposure : I dont really have any questions on it but if you feel otherwise, then please let me know.
Seems well exposed, but a bit flat.

3. Editing : I chose to experiment with differnt shades and colors and for that reason I chose a different shade and not B/W or original color.
I like the processing though, as I said, it feels a bit flat, I'd boost contrast. If you're using LR, the "clarity" slider does wonders.

4. Hair : It was planned to let her hair fall a little over her eyebrow. was a good move?
Yeah, hairs fine, but remember to focus on those details. You could have moved (or digitally removed) the couple of stray hairs that cross into her eyes just to be as clean as possible.

5. Focus : What do you think about the focus of this picture.
I think the focus sucks. Sorry, but that's where the image fails to me. Such a powerful in your face composition really needs to nail the focus on the eyes in my opinion and here it's clear you used the central focal point as the focus is at some point on her nose and not her eyes. To me (and I'm very picky about this) it kills the image. Unless it's intentional, and I somehow doubt it was, always nail the focus on the eyes. Had you, I think this image could have popped out at you. Keep trying new stuff though, kudos for that!

Hey thanks a lot..
The framing bit was intentional. but yea i do have a different shot where i dont cut any of her parts of the face..it was an expriment.
The contrast was intentionally set low as well.. coz i kind of love low contrast images these days
And the tip for hair is very helpful. i just need to see how to remove those hairs. coz i have some good photos i suppose, which have a few stray hairs running here and there.. wud fix them
and focus wasnt intentionally set on the nose.. but yea will keep in mind next time. ur tips and comments were helpful/

@avishek24 thanks for your comments too.. next shot would be better

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by locojain

and focus wasnt intentionally set on the nose.. but yea will keep in mind next time. ur tips and comments were helpful/

I'm curious as to why you'd focus intentionally on the nose. Never really heard of people doing that intentionally. What were you hoping to show/convey?

And yeah, I get it about the low contrast images, I like those as well. Maybe you could have boosted the contrast around the areas of detail, but left the rest alone?

[Sistereinstein]

I'm having problems with the expression. With such a closeup, I'm expecting the eyes to be expressive and she looks bored. I want to breath life into this image

(edit after looking a photostream) - these are better compositions in my opinion:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/locojain/5368879695/

[locojain]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

I'm curious as to why you'd focus intentionally on the nose. Never really heard of people doing that intentionally. What were you hoping to show/convey?

And yeah, I get it about the low contrast images, I like those as well. Maybe you could have boosted the contrast around the areas of detail, but left the rest alone?

erm i belive i said "wasn't"

@Sistereinstein -- It was a part of my series of pictures where i had asked the model to be expressionless and in the other smile n be sad and so on.. a lot of emotions invovled..
n i dont really belive in having an expressive face in the photo every time..

[locojain]

Originally Posted by locojain

erm i belive i said "wasn't"

@Sistereinstein -- It was a part of my series of pictures where i had asked the model to be expressionless and in the other smile n be sad and so on.. a lot of emotions invovled..
n i dont really belive in having an expressive face in the photo every time..

Thanks a lot again for your comments..

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by locojain

erm i belive i said "wasn't"

haha.. ooops. My bad. sorry! Now I have no reason to try to understand!
Again, sorry for misreading.

[SwissJon]

LoL.. And here was me thinking you're an ENT spe******t or plastic surgeon or something!

You've got her eye's half way down the photo.. Dead centre.. Seems a wierd place to put them.. I'd have stuck them up towards the top 1/3rd and then you could have kept the same close crop but kept the chin in. I'm with BigFuzzy on that one.. Chin crops make me grit my teeth.

I like the low contrast.. It's completely the opposite to where I am at the moment, I'm going towards very high contrast images.. but the low contrast, with the clse crop and most of the models face a similar colour and shading, would have brought out the models eyes beautifully... If only they'd both been in focus! Grrr..