just some practice at a new location with girlfriend (the brunette) + her friend. most 70-200 2.8 but the wider ones are 28 1.8. purposely overexposed by a stop or two i expect a lot of hate on the overexposure but w/e.

1

Hi Sergio,

I figure there's a whole bunch of people thinking the same thing about the 'high-key' but don't want to be first in line, so as this thread has hit the hundred mark without a comment I'll jump in.

First up, I love your work, it has a real sense of pizzaz about it and your images often look like grabbed frames from a music video or rock 'n' roll shoot - perfect for the subject matter.

Second, that aint high-key, but I'm guessing you know that already; it's just over-exposed. But so what, you call it what you like.

You could try a 'bleach by-pass' type of effect on the over-exposed shots - that should look good.

As for the location, it's just too cool and you're really lucky to have such beautiful and willing stand-ins to practice with. My one comment would be on shot #1 can you frame it so the 'fire dept arrow' points at the girl?

Regards,

Liam.

I like em. Like em a lot. Not sure these are high key however.

Your refection in the second shot would have killed it for me normally but in this one its refreshing and off the wall. Me likes

~Sam

High key, picture a PROPERLY EXPOSED picture of a polar bear in a snow storm.

Low key, pictue a PROPERLY EXPOSED picture of Darth Vader against a black background.

liam- thanks for the nice words man.

sam - thx. yeah i thought the reflection was cool too and i didnt notice it until i started to PP.

j curtis - semantics... what about the pictures?

Not really clear what exactly you were trying to practice, but here are my reactions:

#1 - Nice flattering pose but why cut her off arbitrarily at the knees with the horizontal crop? The arrow thing would have worked just as well if we only saw the part of it behind her. Her face is turned away from the light putting the right side into shadows. Arms on hips create a distractive gap under the arms. That pose works better when the arm points backwards and the camera angle makes it appear closer to the body.

#2 - Tilting and overexposure don't really add any value to the content or message for me. The most interesting thing going on in this one is the your reflection in the glasses which the overexposure makes more difficult to see. The arm jutting out on the left just creates a gap which draws attention to her arm pit.

#3 - Call me old fashioned by I think tilting the camera is a really poor substitute for learning how to pose a subject so they look dynamic when standing on level ground.

#4 - Almost a perfect profile. Arm is an odd looking distraction. Centered composition works against the dynamic direction of the facial angle: there's just no compelling reason in a compositional sense for all that space behind the head. What is more important, her face or the dirty window effect you added? My preference in the face.

#5 - Well balanced composition, flattering facial angle and nice use of leading lines and selective focus to pull the viewer into the face and keep the attention there.

#6 - Flattering facial angle and lighting but with another arbitrary crop. You chop off her body then use the space for empty sky above the head. The space and building on the left just invites the viewer to go check it out, but there's no apparent connection to the girl so it seems counter productive if the goal is to feature the girl.

#7 - Another "chicken-wing" pose. If you had turned her body a bit more away from the camera with that same pose there wouldn't be the gaps under the arms. Why is it you think a drain pipe in the background is more interesting than the lower half of her body?

Chuck






Edited by cgardner on May 09, 2008 at 09:01 PM GMT

Sergio Mottola wrote:


j curtis - semantics... what about the pictures?

The second and third have some nice potential with a little PP, but the others don't do much for me.

Just like everyone else the below is in my humble opinion.

I like them. I think they are fun and it shows in your gf and her friends expressions. Were you really trying to work on posing, maybe maybe not?! Does a pose always have to follow the same rules as everyone elses photo or the industry standards? No. Have fun with it, unless you are selling your work or trying to make some kind of earning with your photos i think they are good.

I like the shots. The overexposure sort of gives them a 70's look...in a good way.

-Frank

to all the posing stuff, i agree to an extent. -- my main goal with all my clients is to make them feel like they look beautiful. and all of them tell me they thought they werent photogenic until they met me.

based on Liam's suggestion I threw this together. Its a bit rough given the size of the original but gives the idea. hope you like it
John