Composition & Lighting

This is my first post on this site by the way. I had a simple photo shoot with my friend keke, It was kinda unplanned so this was taken on his balcony.

I would like to know if the lighting and composition are good overall? I think it's pretty decent but I need another opinion.

Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XSi
Shutter Speed:1/99 second
Aperture:F/5.6
Focal Length:44 mm
ISO Speed:200

[jimmyl]

The main thing that I see is the light is a little harsh to me and has blown out the skin tones on the side of the face and chest. I've been caught by the direction of the sun myself in the past.

Hope it helps.

Cheers James

[BigFuzzy]

Agreed with the above about the blown out areas. Plus, the harsh contrast in the light hasn't allowed you to get (in my opinion) a bright enough dark part of his face, I'd like to have seen that brighter. A reflector would have helped with that.

In the end, it's the background that bugs me most about this image as it's very distracting. Plus, seeing as that door(?) edge is the brightest part of the image (along with the blown out areas) there are several things that draw my eyes away from what I should be looking at (ie his face).

In the end, i can see where this had potential, but a bit more pre-thought into a couple of the basics (composition and light) would have allowed this to be a lot more. Keep shooting!

Yes I agree with both of your comments


I guess i could see beyond the flaws at one point, but overall this is disapointing.I thought the light was slightly flattering,but now realizing its not.

I desperately need a reflector as well. Ah well majorly went in the wrong direction I guess.

I might post another shot from this shoot if I could get your feedback it's appreciated. Next time I need to be more aware of these details. I haven't been doing portaiture as much as I'd like to.

another one...and thats all I am sharing of these.

Model:Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XSi

Shutter Speed:1/64 second

Aperture:F/6.3

Focal Length:45 mm

ISO Speed:200

[TheMoons678]

looks great

I have already edited this...I mean it looks decent the way you have done it, I know i can adjust curve layers. Perhaps at the time I didn't realise how much I affected the contrast...


I prefer that no one adjusts my images. I am fully capable of editing them myself in photoshop, thanks though.

I wanted an overall opinion, which I got. Thanks for all the feedback.

[BigFuzzy]

Lighting and processing look much better on this one.

Composition is still an issue(to me) in that the background is very distracting and he's composed dead-center in the middle.

Otherwise, much better than the first.

[sjlivson]

One thing that bothered me (in addition to what was said in the posts above) in the first photograph was that the camera was the camera was tilted a bit making the vertical lines not truly vertical.