Ha'way then - critique

Status
Not open for further replies.


Top Of The Goths said:
Fancy shooting a gadgey?
Click to expand...
Aye, wouldn't mind tbh, diversity for my portfolio

Jonny said:
The only time I seem to write on this forum now is to criticise. Sorry!
Anyway oROSSo first. I'm going to be reviewing these as a fashion/beauty shoot.
The poses are fine, nothing wacky or cheesy, you'd be tipping into advertising/portraiture if you went there.
If a girl has bad skin, don't side light her. Side lighting is typically a mans light, as it shows off his rugged face, on girls we expect to see flawless beauty!
So if you can fix her forehead in particular in post then do it.
I've only looked at them on my laptop which isn't the most successfully calibrated thing in the world, but I think you can tweak the colours a bit, she seems a tad warm. Actually thats not entirely true she seems healthy, but almost boringly so!
Stick a bit of cyan and blue in the picture with a hint of magenta and let me know what you think.
I also think you have overexposed on the highlights just a tad, they aren't blown out so you can pull those back easily enough.
Oh and hows this for a minor quibble, I don't like the fact you can only see one strap on the 3rd shot, just get rid of it.
These are much better than the other shots you put up previously.
The more you take, the better you will get. It really is that simple.
But you have to start spending more time in post, making the picture as perfect as it can be. You know the skin isn't right, and know that it can go plastic if over worked, so you need to fix it with out going that far. Skin work is difficult and takes time, but its usually easier than hair!
You'll need to start looking at other great photographers work to see what they do.
Again I must say that these are much better than the ones at the start of the thread, so keep working hard!

UaeExile, I'm going to review yours as adverting/portraiture.
I think you have great skin tones on the girl but the guy is underexposed.
The beauty dish is a fine choice of light, but I think you had it too high. The nose shadow on the girl is very long. If you had dropped the light by say a foot or 2 then you could have also got a bit of spill onto the background which would have helped with the separation of the model and set.
I also think the guy shot is far too warm, there is loads of yellow everywhere and a bit too much green. (Again it might just be my dodgy screen!)
Also if you are having issues with shiny heads, which you nearly always will without make up and studio lights, try these things to help. Move the light further away and turn it up, this will give you the same exposure but will soften the light. If space is an issue then don't shine the light straight at the model, I don't mean bounce the light but just angle the light off the model, all lights have a spill (unless you use a snoot or a grid set). So have the light firing past the model, and then you'll only be using the softer light at the edge of the reflector, obviously this means you need to turn the power up a bit.
Finally don't be afraid of using daylight as a fill. Instead of trying to close it out completely, let it fill in the darker shadows.
Pose wise and crop are both ideal for advertising work, as you have created an engaging and friendly shot with plenty of space for copy down the side.
Nice work, and for a first time with studio lights even more so.

I hope you both take this advice in the way I mean it to be. If not you can call me horrible names!!!
Either way I look forward to seeing more stuff from you both and how you progress.
Click to expand...
Cheers mate, I really appreciate you taking ye time to comment as in a fan of your stuff. I'll post an in edited pic so you can see what I've done PP. warmth wise, I matched the kelvin temp to my strobes so they're within 100 kelvin, they're also slightly desaturated (-10 in LR)
 
Last edited:
oROSSo said:
Aye, wouldn't mind tbh, diversity for my portfolio


Cheers mate, I really appreciate you taking ye time to comment as in a fan of your stuff. I'll post an in edited pic so you can see what I've done PP. warmth wise, I matched the kelvin temp to my strobes so they're within 100 kelvin, they're also slightly desaturated (-10 in LR)
Click to expand...

We might be able to do a bit of a collab.

I can't even begin to imagine how exciting that would be for the women on earth.
 
Genuine question.
Do you have to turn the light up when photographing black folk?
I usually see photos as either too dark to see detail, or too reflective of the light.
 
oROSSo said:
Cheers mate, I really appreciate you taking ye time to comment as in a fan of your stuff. I'll post an in edited pic so you can see what I've done PP. warmth wise, I matched the kelvin temp to my strobes so they're within 100 kelvin, they're also slightly desaturated (-10 in LR)
Click to expand...

I always found it hard to get good crit when I was starting out. Everybody always gives the usual stuff, (better girls, better stylist) but you get to a certain point and it's the fine details that start to matter. It's also important to be very critical of your own work, not enough to not like it though as you have to sell it, but to know how you would improve upon it if you were doing the same shot again.

Don't worry about colour temperature looking natural. It's about making it look good. If the shot requires healthy glow give it one. If it needs to be cool and sexy make it more blue. Obviously these things are always subtle but any one can press auto and for it to be a nice exposed colour correct image. The skill comes in knowing where to tweak the norm to enhance the image.
I tend to find if the pic is a bit boring, then I have to work harder in my colours to make it work.
Sodding Instagram filters ruined a good thing for me though. Loads of my work had to be dropped/changed as people were starting to say oh it's like an Instagram filter once that had gone mainstream!

Oh and I'm glad you like my stuff. I'm working on a lot of new stuff and doing a bit of a refresh on my site, which should hopefully be done this month.
 
Jonny said:
I always found it hard to get good crit when I was starting out. Everybody always gives the usual stuff, (better girls, better stylist) but you get to a certain point and it's the fine details that start to matter. It's also important to be very critical of your own work, not enough to not like it though as you have to sell it, but to know how you would improve upon it if you were doing the same shot again.

Don't worry about colour temperature looking natural. It's about making it look good. If the shot requires healthy glow give it one. If it needs to be cool and sexy make it more blue. Obviously these things are always subtle but any one can press auto and for it to be a nice exposed colour correct image. The skill comes in knowing where to tweak the norm to enhance the image.
I tend to find if the pic is a bit boring, then I have to work harder in my colours to make it work.
Sodding Instagram filters ruined a good thing for me though. Loads of my work had to be dropped/changed as people were starting to say oh it's like an Instagram filter once that had gone mainstream!

Oh and I'm glad you like my stuff. I'm working on a lot of new stuff and doing a bit of a refresh on my site, which should hopefully be done this month.
Click to expand...
Look forward to seeing it!

Top Of The Goths said:
We might be able to do a bit of a collab.

I can't even begin to imagine how exciting that would be for the women on earth.
Click to expand...
What type of thing you wanting like ye sexy bastard?
 
oROSSo said:
Look forward to seeing it!


What type of thing you wanting like ye sexy bastard?
Click to expand...

Dinnah like marra.

Dinnit really know much about posing for photies and that.

But if you could do with adding some male stuff to the portfolio I'd love to get involved.
 
Jonny said:
The only time I seem to write on this forum now is to criticise. Sorry!
Anyway oROSSo first. I'm going to be reviewing these as a fashion/beauty shoot.
The poses are fine, nothing wacky or cheesy, you'd be tipping into advertising/portraiture if you went there.
If a girl has bad skin, don't side light her. Side lighting is typically a mans light, as it shows off his rugged face, on girls we expect to see flawless beauty!
So if you can fix her forehead in particular in post then do it.
I've only looked at them on my laptop which isn't the most successfully calibrated thing in the world, but I think you can tweak the colours a bit, she seems a tad warm. Actually thats not entirely true she seems healthy, but almost boringly so!
Stick a bit of cyan and blue in the picture with a hint of magenta and let me know what you think.
I also think you have overexposed on the highlights just a tad, they aren't blown out so you can pull those back easily enough.
Oh and hows this for a minor quibble, I don't like the fact you can only see one strap on the 3rd shot, just get rid of it.
These are much better than the other shots you put up previously.
The more you take, the better you will get. It really is that simple.
But you have to start spending more time in post, making the picture as perfect as it can be. You know the skin isn't right, and know that it can go plastic if over worked, so you need to fix it with out going that far. Skin work is difficult and takes time, but its usually easier than hair!
You'll need to start looking at other great photographers work to see what they do.
Again I must say that these are much better than the ones at the start of the thread, so keep working hard!

UaeExile, I'm going to review yours as adverting/portraiture.
I think you have great skin tones on the girl but the guy is underexposed.
The beauty dish is a fine choice of light, but I think you had it too high. The nose shadow on the girl is very long. If you had dropped the light by say a foot or 2 then you could have also got a bit of spill onto the background which would have helped with the separation of the model and set.
I also think the guy shot is far too warm, there is loads of yellow everywhere and a bit too much green. (Again it might just be my dodgy screen!)
Also if you are having issues with shiny heads, which you nearly always will without make up and studio lights, try these things to help. Move the light further away and turn it up, this will give you the same exposure but will soften the light. If space is an issue then don't shine the light straight at the model, I don't mean bounce the light but just angle the light off the model, all lights have a spill (unless you use a snoot or a grid set). So have the light firing past the model, and then you'll only be using the softer light at the edge of the reflector, obviously this means you need to turn the power up a bit.
Finally don't be afraid of using daylight as a fill. Instead of trying to close it out completely, let it fill in the darker shadows.
Pose wise and crop are both ideal for advertising work, as you have created an engaging and friendly shot with plenty of space for copy down the side.
Nice work, and for a first time with studio lights even more so.

I hope you both take this advice in the way I mean it to be. If not you can call me horrible names!!!
Either way I look forward to seeing more stuff from you both and how you progress.
Click to expand...

No worries on the feedback mate, all very constructive and useful things for me to work on! Cheers.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Back
Top