Portrait/Landscape BW help

[Infinite Monkey]

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or on the landscape page but I decided that the portrait was the prime element and so post it here. I'd like to get some feedback on the overall composition and also on the B/W conversion. Any suggestions as to how to improve this shot or ones like it will be appreciated. This was taken with my old P&S. I'm using a DSLR now. Thanks for any time and thought you offer.




Camera Konica Minolta DiMAGE S414
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture f/6.7
Focal Length 7.2 mm
ISO Speed 64
Exposure Bias 0 EV

[bphilleo]

I know you said you used a p&s on this, but had you been using a dslr I would suggest having manually exposed to avoid those hotspots on her skin, particularly on her face.

Also for the composition I personally would have chosen to apply the rule of thirds in this case to showcase both the subject and the landscape.

Hope that helps =)

[BigFuzzy]

What I think is more of an issue than the hotspots is the fact that you shot in the middle of the day which caused such drastic contrast differences on her face. If you did indeed manual expose (or simply use your exposure compensation) you'd still have the nasty differences in light on the subjects face. This can be solved either by having shot at a different time of day, finding/creating some shade, or using fill flash to balance out your exposure.

Compositionally I'd have considered a couple of things. I'd have moved her (or moved yourself) to make it so that the road didn't smash into her head, but made it so the road disappeared over that hill without it being behind the subject. I'd have put her head covering the deer crossing sign.
Also, your subject is dead center compositionally which, to me, is pretty standard boring to be honest.

I hope those opinions help look at things differently.. not that you need to follow them, just know what some others may see when viewing this. Cheers

[Infinite Monkey]

Thanks to both of you for the thoughts and suggestions. I agree with you both about the rule of thirds for better composition for this shot. It really was just something of a quick "grab shot" that I didn't put a whole lot of thought into, but there clearly were things that could have been done to improve it pretty easily. I'll know better next time. I appreciate the help.

[Hill Country Hack]

My two cents on the composition. I would have placed your person more to her left as to apply the rule of thirds and cover up the deer crossing sign.

[mpaulison]

It's a snapshot pic and as that, it's fine. Great background. The exposure of the woman could be richer. Maybe tone it down a little. The style of the photo and even her clothes give you a vintage option. Tone it as a vintage B&W and then the composition works as a retro snapshot!

You can't go at a different time or re-expose or ask her to move over now, so work with what you've got. It could still be a cool photo.

[Infinite Monkey]

Funny that you suggested trying this as vintage. I had the same thought yesterday. Here's my quick attempt:



Thanks for taking the time to review the shot and to suggest a fun alternative.

[UrbanCowgirl]

Hi

The first thing I noticed was that there wasn't a lot of shadows or highlights- it's all midtones. If your using photoshop to convert to B&W (never shoot in BW, always convert later). then I would use the black and white option (image-> adjustments->Black and white or alt+shift+ctrl+B) and move the sliders with preview on (NOT desturate under hue saturation.)

In any other cheaper photo editing software theres usually an increase contrast button or slider I would use.
(particularly focus on the skies maybe? to make it more interesting and draw more attention to the sky which to me means like freedom. Depends on the mood you want really.)

Model Wise I would crop out the lowe portion of her so her boobs don't look so saggy (not trying to be mean but my sis doesn't like it when it looks like she has saggy boobs in pics P: its more flattering that way)

If I was shooting it I would have either done a portrait orientation shoulder and head shot or have backed up a bit and made it so all the lines pointed more to her (the street lines, the rocks on the side of the road and the ditch for example or at least have angled up a bit to include more sky. If I wanted her to look more powerful I would have like turned her to the left, crouched down and gotten her to look up and into the distance.

Just a bunch of tips to help you for next time and for editing for right now. You get out what you put in. It is a beautiful location though.

Happy Shooting,

-M-