Another Self Portrait

[PhotoGnat]

Hey Everyone! I'm back with another self portrait for some general critique. I promise I'm not that vain, just don't always have a willing model handy. I got my new strobe lights yesterday and even though I only had one trigger switch I still wanted to try them out. I used a multi-disk to try and fill in the photo-right side a bit. I'd really appreciate any feedback as far as composition, exposure, focus, levels and pretty much anything you can critique on it.

The EXIF data was lost in translation somewhere but I'm pretty sure these are the settings I used.

f/6.7
ISO 100
Shutter 200

Thanks again for any feedback!

[asaphotographer104]

Overall, I really like the picture!
The lighting is good and the exposure looks even to me.
The only thing is I would've brought the entire frame down closer to your head!
Other than that, good shot!

[PhotoGnat]

Originally Posted by asaphotographer104

Overall, I really like the picture!
The lighting is good and the exposure looks even to me.
The only thing is I would've brought the entire frame down closer to your head!
Other than that, good shot!

Thank you! yeah I was torn with how to crop the shot, I had cropped it lower but it felt off and I had remembered reading somewhere give you model space to look into which is why I cropped it the way I did, but wasn't completely sold on it. Any suggestiosn?

[graciousness]

No, I like it as is. I happen to like the space above your head and yes, I agree you usually want to give space towards where subject is looking. I think what I would have done is put you slightly to camera right so you're just a little off centre, but still the same width above your head.

Love the photo, actually, it is well shot! I even like the use of the lighting just almost above and in front of you instead of to the right or left. It serves the purpose on how you shot this.

So well done and I love your sense of play with poses instead of your usual look at camera and smile!

Cheers,

Grace

[PhotoGnat]

Originally Posted by graciousness

No, I like it as is. I happen to like the space above your head and yes, I agree you usually want to give space towards where subject is looking. I think what I would have done is put you slightly to camera right so you're just a little off centre, but still the same width above your head.

Love the photo, actually, it is well shot! I even like the use of the lighting just almost above and in front of you instead of to the right or left. It serves the purpose on how you shot this.

So well done and I love your sense of play with poses instead of your usual look at camera and smile!

Cheers,

Grace

Wow, thank you! You're making me blush, and yes I was trying to make a relaxed yet reflective pose just very sort of casual but clean. Again thank you very much for the great review.

[asaphotographer104]

I know it's hard to judge where to aim the camera when you're doing self portraits but bringing the camera view down some would help. If you crop it down to about 2/3rds of how much head space is there now, and bring in the sides to even it up, it crops out really nicely!

[mwatson]

I like the direction your camera is facing. You fill the frame well enough and gave yourself some room to look into. I get why you left the head room instead of cropping at the top of your head. I think if you try it (which I think you said you did) you will see it just doesn’t look right.

If you decide to crop it a little more, don’t bring it all the way to the top of your head like they say to in head on portraits. I think you want that negative space above your head and to the left. It works for face on portraits but I don’t think it will work on this one.

This is really an excellent shot. I like the distressed feeling of the picture. It looks like you are getting chewed out. Your glasses are down, your tie is loose and you have this look that says, “Please stop.” I don’t know if this is what you were going for but it is what I took from it and I like it.

[PhotoGnat]

Originally Posted by mwatson

I like the direction your camera is facing. You fill the frame well enough and gave yourself some room to look into. I get why you left the head room instead of cropping at the top of your head. I think if you try it (which I think you said you did) you will see it just doesn’t look right.

If you decide to crop it a little more, don’t bring it all the way to the top of your head like they say to in head on portraits. I think you want that negative space above your head and to the left. It works for face on portraits but I don’t think it will work on this one.

This is really an excellent shot. I like the distressed feeling of the picture. It looks like you are getting chewed out. Your glasses are down, your tie is loose and you have this look that says, “Please stop.” I don’t know if this is what you were going for but it is what I took from it and I like it.

Haha everything in the shot was very intentional, although I was looking for a very reflective or deep in thought look, but after hearing your analogy that's all I can see now is distressed or reprimanded. Thank you for the great feedback, you guys are definitely boosting my ego a bit today.

[Niresangwa]

Yeah, for one reason or another, it's definitely not a really comfortable shot to look at, mostly because of the expression, and also the fact there's no engagement with the camera. I guess in terms of evoking something beyond it being just another selfie, you accomplished that.

The lighting is good. Simple, but dramatic. I always wish more a rim light or hair light to bring some separation or texture,but that chair kind of kills that concept.. the chair is actually my biggest beef with the shot.. it doesn't add anything, and the fat it fills the ride side, but doesn't fill the left feels unbalanced to me.

The ears (esp. the left ear) definitely look a little pinkish and hot, were it me, i'd probably bring down the red channel a little or pull it towards a cooler skin tone rather than hot and red... it contrasts with the blue and kind of clashes to me. That's just a niggle though..

Overall it's a nicely executed shot technically..

[PhotoGnat]

Originally Posted by Niresangwa

Yeah, for one reason or another, it's definitely not a really comfortable shot to look at, mostly because of the expression, and also the fact there's no engagement with the camera. I guess in terms of evoking something beyond it being just another selfie, you accomplished that.

The lighting is good. Simple, but dramatic. I always wish more a rim light or hair light to bring some separation or texture,but that chair kind of kills that concept.. the chair is actually my biggest beef with the shot.. it doesn't add anything, and the fat it fills the ride side, but doesn't fill the left feels unbalanced to me.

The ears (esp. the left ear) definitely look a little pinkish and hot, were it me, i'd probably bring down the red channel a little or pull it towards a cooler skin tone rather than hot and red... it contrasts with the blue and kind of clashes to me. That's just a niggle though..

Overall it's a nicely executed shot technically..

As far as hair/rim light I would have had one, but for some reason my kit only came with one trigger so unfortunately I could not fire off both my strobes to execute it as I wanted. That was really the thing that bugged me the most, but nothing I can do until my other trigger comes. I felt a little awkward with the chair I won't lie so I just left it alone, the reason it fills one side and not the other is because of how I cropped it to leave the space for me to look into it didn't look right cropping both sides the same and there wasn't enough space to leave more room above my head to even it out. Any suggestions other than replacing it with a stool? I hadn't noticed the ears before but yeah my ears are always a little red, I need to keep that in mind next time in post. Thanks for the feedback, definitely helping me improve by leaps and bounds.