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Mason Galindo Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #1 · First post. CC welcome. Hi all, After spending an evening reading some critiques provided by the community to other aspiring photographers, I feel confident that sharing a few of my own photos will be beneficial to me after having a chance to read and understand the feedback. What did I do well? What needs improvement? It's worth noting that a couple of PP styles were experimented with here to see which look the client most preferred. A B/W variant is included of one of the shots. Thank you, Mason Dec 05, 2008 at 01:33 AM

sbeme Online Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #2 · First post. CC welcome. Hi Mason, BTW, welcome! Not an expert by any means, esp in portrait photography, but I'll share my thoughts. Beautiful, elegant model dressed to kill in a rich setting. So if this is staged, chosen, many points! Eye contact is great and in the last image, her pose still is interesting. I generally like the processing. Sharpness is excellent, BW's are nice and contrasty. Framing/crops are very good, if a bit tight. She is so strking, I'm not sure that I am troubled by losing a bit of her elbow in the first, and the pinky in the last. But you might want to loosen up some of the crops ever so slightly on those. Middle 4 look great. My biggest problem: I find the darkness under her lower lip in 2-5 disturbing, distracting. You can probably soften some of the shadows in PS. Skin color is hard to comment on, but the second and the last appear a bit yellow to me. Skin smoothing I think generally works but might be a bit much for some. Last image appears to have some overly bright highlights. In the first you have nearly lost separation between the bright background and her gown, far left. But these are all minor. I'd be proud to have taken these images and look forward to seeing more. Scott Dec 05, 2008 at 01:52 AM

Mason Galindo Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #3 · First post. CC welcome. Scott, I'm thankful for your thoughtful opinion. You've made some really good observations. After I've received some more input, I'd like to share the SOOC photos for comparison. For the moment though, I'd like to focus on the finished products. A little info on the shoot. No studio lighting was used and this was photographed under fluorescent lighting in a dress/clothing store. The post-processing is, in large part, what creates the illusion of a rich and elegant setting. If you'd seen the actual location, you'd know what I mean. Funny how altering tones, cropping and applying make-up in post can really transform a photo. All things considered, for my first photo shoot I'm happy with the outcome. I have a lot of learning left to do and hope some of the more experienced photographers here are willing to lend a hand by sharing their opinions here. Thanks again Scott for taking the time to help me! -Mason Dec 05, 2008 at 03:26 AM

AuntiPode Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #4 · First post. CC welcome. I particularly like the first image. It's quite striking. Did you intend a sallow skin tone for artistic reasons? If not, I'd suggest adding blue to the color balance in PS to reduce the yellow cast to her skin. Dec 05, 2008 at 07:05 AM

sbeme Online Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #5 · First post. CC welcome. Mason, Just takng a further look. I think you should lighten the neck in images 2-5, esp 3 and 5. Great job with flourescents! How did you work on the color temp/balance? Scott Dec 05, 2008 at 11:51 AM

matonanjin Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #6 · First post. CC welcome. "Hi Mason, BTW, welcome! Not an expert by any means, esp in portrait photography, but I'll share my thoughts." Notice how I cut and paste sbeme's comments? That's because it is exactly the case with me! I would venture to say, however, that I know even less about portraiture than him The first thing that stricks me is that in the very last one the white above her right shoulder makes her look "hunchbacked". I know it is part of the sofa but the brightness really draws my eyes. I am also not sure about the top of her head being cut off. I also agree with Auntipode that they have a yellow cast to them. But knowing you shot these under flourescent I can appreciate how much you already helped these. She is a striking woman and your posing and capture really brought that out. Keeping in mind what I know about this, I think these are good enough you ought to post these in the "People Forum" . You will get the opinions of some people that actually know what they are talking about. (Speaking for myself only.) Dec 05, 2008 at 02:31 PM

sifpandor Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #7 · First post. CC welcome. Hi Mason and welcome to FM. I think overall these really are wonderful. Two things that I would do differently: 1) In many of the shots the bridge of her nose hides a small part of her right eye, and with her looking at such an extreme angle it makes the hidden eye look a little off. (This is especially pronounced in shot #1) All she would need to do it turn her head slighty towards the camera and keep looking exactly where she was and that should take care of that problem. (I realize that nothing can be done about this now.) 2) In a couple of the shots there is a bright area in the upper right hand corner that is a little too distracting for my taste. If you tone that down just a little bit I believe it will make these images even stonger. Well done. I would love to have been able to make these images! -- Mark Dec 05, 2008 at 04:43 PM

Scott Stoness Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #8 · First post. CC welcome. Portraits are not my thing but I will provide my comments in case they are helpful: 1: Nice pose, very elegant, but I miss her elbow. 2a I don't like the busy stuff on left and feel that it would be better with more space left and less right. But obviously the busy would be even more prominent. 2b a bit tight on left to her head and too much forehead and her eyes do not look attractive. For me the processing you chose is good when it is far back but looks bad to me near up. 3a, 3b similar to 2a,2b but I like better on 3b because it improves her eyes. 4 does not work for me. The compositoin is good but she is looking directly out of the frame and looks like a vampire. I am being picky above in case it is helpful. Good job above. Scott Dec 05, 2008 at 08:47 PM

Mason Galindo Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #9 · First post. CC welcome. Everyone, thank you for your observations and opinions. I tend to agree about the yellow color of her skin but found this was difficult to correct. I tried negating it using blue but couldn't make it look natural while preserving the overall warmth of the image. Scott S., funny remark about the last image. I happen to feel I processed this image too much which is likely what resulted in creating a vampire like appearance. I included it though because I thought the composition would redeem it. Also - the above images were captured using a Canon Rebel XTi with Speedlight 430EX attached. This was my very first time using the flash and third time shooting with that particular body. For a fairly impromptu arrangement, I think it went ok. I'll keep the aforementioned ideas in mind for my next shoot. I have a lot to learn about portraiture and how to properly light my subjects and that's what I'm here for. Thanks, Mason Dec 05, 2008 at 11:41 PM

zatomik Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #10 · First post. CC welcome. I think you said you added some makeup in PP, but regardless of whether it was on the client during the shoot or added in PP it's a bit too heavy. I would lighten the makeup everywhere and bring out the eyes which look buried to me at this point. All of the photos could benefit from lightening around the eyes (also in 2b - her right iris is almost completely black except for a slight reflection- need to lighten this up if there is any color information there to show). After lightening up the eyes/mouth/under the lip, I'd also suggest smoothing the lines under the eyes and on the forehead a bit. This will go a long way toward bringing out her features. Dec 06, 2008 at 01:46 AM

AuntiPode Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #11 · First post. CC welcome. One way to correct the skin tone without altering the reminder of the image is through masking, but it is work. Dec 06, 2008 at 02:23 AM

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