Thank you Josh for your comments.
For me this is photography,spontaneous ,emotional action and not pre set up scene.
I am not a pro but one who enjoys shooting people as they are where they are.May be it is a dad or mom P&S camera photo.. as you say.I would prefer a more constructive crit rather than this.
I don't think Josh's critique was non- constructive.
Softer light is needed here and the fly away hair does detract from the shot.
A pose where she is turned slightly to one side often shows better. Here we have a tiny slice of each ear showing. Along the right side of her face, we see "peach fuzz" that is standing out a lot in this shot. I'm not sure why it is so prominent - harsh lighting? over sharpening?
Since you enjoy shooting people and do use your flash, maybe get a flash you can use off camera and a simple modifier. That will soften the light and show the people more like they really are.
Thank you Jim for your advice.In fact I did not sharpen the image at all,just softened the skin.I agree with the details mentioned and noted down to take care next time.
Thank you.
while she is pretty this is something i'd expect from someone who just bought a 130 dollar camera because it has more megapixels and more megapixels is better isnt it?
hadji, I think the issue here is that you asked for a critique, then later said it's a spontaneous shot and you like shooting people where they are as they are. This is not that kind of forum. Maybe some forum in flickr, or something?
Not everyone is a professional photographer here, but those who post here and ask for a critique typically expect that level of feedback. We're going to break down every element of your shot, from flyaway hairs to on-camera flash to harsh lighting and over-processing (smoothing) of the skin.
Your model is lovely, but I agree that Josh was simply calling it as it is. As Jim mentioned. As David mentioned.
Hopefully you don't get discouraged from posting from the critique. We all start photography somewhere and develop skills and an eye gradually. Constructive criticism helps develop the skill. So I hope you are thick skinned and not take comments personally, but as a method to improve.
I agree with the other posters on the assessment of the image. One thing you may look at when taking a picture is see if you can bounce the flash off the ceiling. I will always try to bounce the flash first before I use a diffuser of some form. Second thing is to play with the ratio of flash exposure to ambient to bring more into the picture.
Once you understand lighting, your photos will get much better.
Thank you Red 90 .Your comments are encouraging.
Honestly I do not like comments like Chad S comment which of course is anything else than constructive.
hadji wrote:
Thank you Red 90 .Your comments are encouraging.
Honestly I do not like comments like Chad S comment which of course is anything else than constructive.
If Chad S's comment lead you to believe the hair is showing "too much", then it would be constructive. I think that's the whole point and it was mentioned by several others too. I don't think she has "too much" hair on her face, it's just highlighted too much in the photo. This is reasonable feedback for you.
hadji wrote:
Thank you Josh for your comments.
For me this is photography,spontaneous ,emotional action and not pre set up scene.
I am not a pro but one who enjoys shooting people as they are where they are.May be it is a dad or mom P&S camera photo.. as you say.I would prefer a more constructive crit rather than this.
spontaneous doesn't mean technically poor... and as far as "as they are" funny considering the botched skin smoothing...
for future reference, don't ask for a critique if you're not ready to handle the responses you get. I can promise you I wouldn't say anything here that I wouldn't say to you if we were in a group critique sitting face to face. Sometimes you need to hear something other than "Facebook critiques", it's only going to help you grow as a photographer.
Thank you Josh.I wonder why some of you ,you do not accept my comments to your feedback and critique.Is this a two way communications?If yes then it does not mean that your comments and crit is not useful and valuable to me when I respond to crit.I find almost all crit very educative and I hope to improve all points mentioned.
Since this is a photographic site and not a philosophical one lets leave it here.
Thank you all for your comments.
I will be back,I hope with better photos.
hadji wrote:
Honestly I do not like comments like Chad S comment which of course is anything else than constructive.
How is my comment not constructive?
She has a natural amount of hair on her face for a woman. You used some sort of post processing technique to smooth down most of her face, except the outline of her jaw line, and it makes her look like she's growing an Amish style beard.
Common sense would say that you probably shouldn't do that.
You've received several constructive, helpful comments about how to improve the photo. Try those techniques and take some new photographs of a lovely young lady. Make your own comparisons.
