B/W Portrait, compoistion Input...

[Dennismc]

Looking for a little critique here. Mostly on composition and crop.


DSC_0235bwa by Thezaphod042, on Flickr

Taken at:

Exposure (1/60)
Aperture f/1.8
Focal Length 35 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV


Only post was to convert to b/w and bump the contrast a very little..

Thank you..

[Ambrosia76]

I like it. the background is a little distracting to me though.

[graciousness]

I like it, too, although it feels a little too tight. Her arm had been chopped off to the left though and that's a little issue. I don't have a problem with her in the centre, although I think it would have been better if she was off centre, a little bit more to the right of the photo. Then I think it would have a bit more dynamic effect, as oppose to the centre shot where she looks a bit more posed. It's best to play around with different subject positions/composition when taking shots and a little bit wider to get more of everything in. You can always crop later. If everything is shot tight in the beginning, then you can't salvage the little issues such as a chopped out arm in editing.

I don't mind the background, but perhaps she needed to be a little bit further away from it for better DOF and the background would have been a little bit blurrier.

Her face is nice and soft and I like that. I do prefer grittier shots though esp with that background and her leather jacket - when I say grittier, I meant sharper and a little more contrast. In looking at this photo, though and the softness on her face, I can't help but think that perhaps, it's just a little out of focus?

I've just had a look in your flicker and you do have nice photos there. But your portraits are mostly (if not all) centred. I think it would really help if you look at the rules of thirds and start playing around with your next shots. Whilst I don't think all shots need rules of thirds applied, this rule is quite golden most of the time.

Cheers and I hope this helps!

[Dennismc]

Thanks for the input. I will go back and work on the crops of a few of those as well as this one.

The softness might have came from missing the focal point, as I shot with the 35mm wide open.

Being this was one from my first ever photo shoot where I actually had to plan shots of real people, I thank you for the compliments and critique.

[zona5101]

I like it very much, especially the pose and framing. I can not help but be drawn in to imagining what she is thinking/dreaming/experiencing. What ever it is seems soft and romantic, touching and embracing...that's good when you can get your viewer to draw in and have a reaction to your image! Compositionally, the background has me spinning the other way...the industrial background and the subject seem opposed. And maybe that juxtaposition was exactly what you were going for. Also lighting is good and the B&W conversion is nice and contrasty and fits the feel of the leather and background.