jaems
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 p.1 #3 · Senior Portrait Shoot (Male) | |
#1) Negative space at the top of the image doesn't do anything for me. You also got a little peice of his ear sticking out on the far side of the face.
#2) I love this one. The stairs make a nice background and posing-stool. Stairs are one of the first things I always look for when I am considering a shooting location. I like how his white shoes don't overpower the image. Here are a few 'oopses' that stand out to me, and would make the image much stronger:
The negative space at the top, again, doesn't really add to the image, it will, however, let you crop down to 8x10 easily without having to crop in on his body at all or add width that wasn't there.
Also, note that there is something poking in at the top edge of the image, but if you crop down it won't matter.
One minor nitpick is that his mouth looks as if it is slightly open. It is hard for me to tell clearly with a small res file, but sometimes people will keep their lips parted slightly and it doesn't come through in a photograph well. Generally speaking, if the subject isn't smiling, their lips need to be sealed for best effect.
His eyes, shoulders, and the lines created by the stairs are parallel with the edge of the frame, which gives it a static, symmetrical feel. I would be interested in seeing a variation of this photo with a more dynamic pose. I think the hand placement is what holds this photo together because it breaks the parallel-ness, and the symmetry.
#3) I wish this one was tighter. Including the environment hasn't added any information to the photo in my opinion. His feet seem awkwardly placed in this one. If you could have gotten a few feet higher, perhaps with the help of a stepladder, you could have replaced the background with the solid concrete ground and made a cleaner image.
#4) You did a good job framing him between the vertical lines and not having them cut through his ear or growing out the top of his head. This image could benefit from being cropped in -- there is a tuft of grass poking in at the bottom right corner.
I am not a fan of the cool treatment the colors have been given in this one. It seems out of place in the series, and just doesn't flatter him very much in general. I can only assume you were going for the "faded film" look, but I don't think it helps this particular shot.
I think this photo could use more light in the subject's eyes. You may also consider doing a spot removal on his jacket to get rid of that white dot.
#5) I think this one is the strongest image out of all of them, with #2 in second place. His ear is semi-showing on the far side. A good rule of thumb as far as body parts goes is either show it all, or hide it completely, but not in a way that makes it look amputated 
You might consider burning in the white shirt a little so it isn't competing for attention with his face.
#6) This is nearly an identical pose to #2, but I don't think it's as effective in this shot. The horizon needs a little straightening, and you might want to burn his white shoes in a little or crop in, because they are the brightest object among a sea of midtones.
#7) I like how you didn't shoot him straight-on in this one, although I think #1 is more effective because the pose is more comfortable looking. Generally speaking, it's more flattering to have the subject sit up tall or lean forward slightly, as it makes them appear more engaging. Some other things to look out for is the subject's hand position. A fist can look 'blocky' and clenched up if not posed carefully. His other hand is peeking out, and should be out of the image completely.
There is also an odd lump on his thigh that looks 'inappropriate', if you don't mind me saying :-P
This reminds me of a funny thing that happened once to me. I shot a wedding and processed all the images and uploaded them to my website and sent the links out to the guests, and I got a frantic call the next day from the bride asking me to remove one of the images. She said it showed her nipple! I didn't recall seeing any image containing a nipple, but I never know what can get by me when I just spent hours looking at a ton of photos that are from the same event. It's like I go into a hypnotic photo-editing trance.
I searched through the online album and sure enough, one of the thumbnails of the cake cutting looked like you could see a nipple right through her dress. I went into the raw file to inspect, but there was nothing obscene to be found. It turns out that resizing it to web size and sharpening it made some kind of interference pattern with the detail on her dress that coincidentally looked exactly like a nipple at first glance. I cloned it out and everyone moved on with their lives
To move on with the critique, I think overall your images are decent. I think they would benefit from tighter cropping and more attention to details in the composition, like things sticking in at the edge of the frame or a sliver of a body part showing. Keep up the nice work, I think your client is going to be pleased!
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