Andrew Welsh
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 p.2 #4 · Nicole's Senior Portraits - Equestrian | |
Thank you again everyone for your comments.
gowhow wrote:
The only observation from me is in #12 her legs are a completely different shade to her arms/face. Is that just down to the angle of the light?
Her forearms were much lighter. Could be because her palms were turned out showing a less tanned underside of her forearm in combination with the lighting angles. And I even burned/dodged both...
ZALMY! Thank you for the thoughtful and lengthy analysis image-by-image!
zalmyb wrote:
Disclaimer: I've never shot a senior (insert some sort of Paul Ryan joke here) and generally haven't clue what I'm talking about.
Portraits are portraits, only difference with seniors is they are portraits of 17 & 18 year olds.
zalmyb wrote:
3. Good set but a. Seems out of order and b. the enter photo here, especially since its in a deferent orientation looks like its the most important. Is there a way of having them all portrait and switching up the order a bit?
I was kind of going for a this-is-what-an-album-spread-would-look-like look. I see what you mean though that it can be a bit jarring / out of place. I took those photos of "parts" with the intention of an album layout. I tried cropping the horse photo in portrait, but it just loses it's impact-- so does the boot shot. I didn't think to try square crops, but I suspect the same problem will be there. I should've shot more loose =/
zalmyb wrote:
4. I want to like this one so badly. Especially with the horses expression matching hers fairly well. But that skyline/tree line is bugging me. I thinks t would be a lot stronger either completely against the trees or against the sky (or at least having the line between me intersecting the horse or girl).
Good point. I wasn't thinking much beyond just getting her covered by the trees in the background. Partial factor was getting too 'posey' by asking her to turn the horse 30 degrees to her left... but if I want a great shot, gotta do what it takes.
zalmyb wrote:
5. Nice. Side question: is this her horse? Like does she want any special,empties of her and HER horse? Or just of the fact that she rides. If the former maybe a few of her touching it's face somehow or leaning against it...
They don't own the horse (or if they do, the stables does all the care). She has done show riding with this horse for 4 years. Some affection for the horse, but not a pet either.
zalmyb wrote:
6. I think you already know how awesome this one is  I'd rather the bw treatment be more contrasty (like the first two). But that's a personal thing. Though I see you do this a lot, having a lot of different "looks" in one set. Is that part of your brand, or are you looking for something you really like?
Whenever I do something like this, I deliver to the client a more "straight up" version-- she got this version, a version in regular color and a contrasty B&W like my other contrasty B&Ws.
zalmyb wrote:
7. You do that holga proud! This one is really good. Has a nice isolated feeling. Big field. Big sky. Their moving but not quickly. And it has a little of that holga romanticism in there. If you're not against photoshopping film, that bush right in front of her face is a bit distracting. Makes her feel a bit crowded (even though the viewer knows its way behind her).
I hadn't even noticed that bush, but yes, I am not above 'shopping something like that out. With the rangefinder camera, minute parallax composition goofs like that will go unnoticed Now that you point it out, I would like to fix it. What bugs me more is that white dot in the upper left corner (small hole in the film)
zalmyb wrote:
8. Nice and sweet. Like the interaction here. There's a bit of extra space on the left...
Indeed there is.. I tried cropping and lost the leading line of the fence. Hard to choose 
zalmyb wrote:
9. Is good, but I like 10 better. Inline both the doorpost and the window/door behind her haven't context. I.e. you don't know what they are so they seem to just detract from a strong portrait. In 10 I'm like "oh, horse, barn, stable, cool!" though I'd like to see these in bw (there's something at barns and wood that just look awesome in bw)
I do have B&W and color versions of all these. #9 was intended to be more 'yearbook' style pose (some schools have strict guidelines on crop, framing, outfits, backgrounds, and poses).
zalmyb wrote:
11. Cute! Shows her personality. Though I just noticed her nails. Totally doesn't match the scene... (INMSHO)
Those nails are atomically pink, aren't they? Its why she wore gloves in her riding outfit
zalmyb wrote:
12. Oh hell yeah! This is where I thinkose crazy fast long lens shine. Not in headshots, where the background just disappears, but in these full body shots where you get this great painterly look. And the processing fits (the id still like to see a harsher contrast version ) these photos need a bit of I focus frame to make them work (like you did here with the flowers). If there was a way to have her centered while still having some sort of frame/anchor it would have been even better. But still. Crazy good.
Does have a medium-format-ish feel, right? The trail we were standing on was a car lane wide, so getting something on her left side with the same framing was impossible here... but that's great feedback going forward, something to keep in mind.
zalmyb wrote:
13. Nice. Where her shirt meets the background there's a weird transition going on.
 Not sure which part you mean.. maybe its the highlight recovery/fill light slider artifacts from Lightroom?
zalmyb wrote:
14. I feel like these two go together, so maybe if they were both bw or both color... Also in both of them the area under her arm could use a bit of photoshop love.
Yeah, with my logo being right there it does make her armpit seem 'worse'
zalmyb wrote:
15 and 16. I never really understood the "girl standing with flowers up to her wazoo" look. But these are still nice. There's a bit of aqua tingearoundthe trees (more in 15.) a slight desaturation the aqua slider in lightroom should help.
My 5-in-1 reflector translucent screen sometimes puts a weird color cast on the subject (especially around sunset).. adjusting the WB to "normal" skin tones yields aqua colored skies. Thank you, I will adjust that in the future.
zalmyb wrote:
17. Uh yeah, no.
Can't win them all
zalmyb wrote:
18. Love that white dress, barefoot, on horse look. Great lighting and composition also. Contrast this with 4. Having her and the horse intersect the tree line give a certain coherence here that's lacking in 4.
Good point. And I gotta PS her left foot out 
zalmyb wrote:
19. Good but nothing special. Especially with the other killer shots.
She chose it for her FB profile picture haha.. can never predict these things
zalmyb wrote:
20. I really want to like this me but there seems to be a bit of distortion with the horse that just doesn't do it for me. Great color though.
Horses for courses... (apropos idiom here) she chose this for her FB timeline photo. Yes, it was shot at 24mm... I like the WA distortion on the horse for this one, gives the hind legs sort of a 'walking' or 'authoritative' stance. Thank you for your feedback.
zalmyb wrote:
Overall I only do this to sets I really like (or see potential for)... Really awesome stuff Andrew.
You're making me think of getting a 400 f/4 for my Pentax 6x7...
THANK YOU again Zalmy, I truly appreciate your thorough feedback on this set. I appreciate your work so it is meaningful that you took the time to respond to this level of detail.
I can only imagine the epic portraits you could make with that 400/4. The 200/2 would cost you less.. scary thought
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