I had a chance to spend some time with Rey Jarrell and yes, that’s her name. We did the standard poses, background, etc. using a short tele lens. Out of the blue, I felt like trying different poses of her. So, one thing led to the other and I ended up using only a standard 50mm lens at a fairly close distance. In a few cases, I would capture her profile to somehow minimize possible facial distortion. Here are the images from that part of the session using a 50mm lens at almost wide open. For the sake of completeness, the last image was taken with an 85mm lens.
Thank you for stopping by and please, feel free to leave any comment,
Joshua
Greg, thank you for your comment. I forgot to include in the original post that the lipstick was deliberately done that way by the MUA. Again, we were searching for a different look and yes, I broke a few rules for portraits. But I understand where you are coming from. We moved on indoor for more flattery/glamorous poses and “normal” make up after this part.
By and large, I do not agree with your comments which are dished out mostly on a subjective assessment.across most if not all posters.
Please offers possible"correct" advise and solutions.
Whilst these pictures are quite lovely de prime abord, they are riddled with posing issues.
Her lipstick is not one of them. Although no one expects you to be a master in make up however when you make erroneous comments, you will get sharp answers.
For your info this make up technique is called Two Tones Lips.
I applaud your attempt to find the unusual poses and camera angles. That's what a creative photographer should do.
#2, #4 and #7 work for me. One can't expect large percentage of keepers when doing it.
Like greg, I have no idea why lipstick would be applied like that. I'm sure the MUA could shed some light on the reasoning, however.
I cannot offer you any constructive advice on portrait composition Joshua! I am deeply lacking in that skill! I can say, as a viewer's comment, that this is a beautiful woman and I am loving #7. Yes the poses are unusual but not to the point of being really distracting.
Jim is correct in his analysis and I really didn't notice the lipstick until it was mentioned.
Great compositions Joshua!
Dan
Always intriguing to explore ... win, lose or draw, it often offers something to be learned.
#1 Looks like she is just starting to respond to someone from behind her.
#4 also, just without a physical turn to the rear, yet.
#7 Similar to #1. Might be a kiss of cyan in her eyes / wb, so it may be tolerant to some more warmth.
#2 does a nice job of showcasing your point about (non) foreshortening / distortion, by placing things in the same focal plane (textbook example for those learning ... which can be varied to taste for how much plane you work with).
Pic one ... #7 for me, then #1. Or, maybe it's #1, then #7.
The point about the two-tone lipstick ... not my cup of tea (less stark contrast two-tone for me), but that's a fashion thing, so I'm game.
The most interesting part about that is how it plays very differently depending on angle from which it is shot, and degree of mouth open / closed. In other words, it can render a very broad spectrum from stark contrast to subtle enhancement.
Given that it is a design element specifically applied in the MUA realm, being cognizant of its "many faces" might be something that is easily overlooked, in concert with other aspects of rendering. Not a critique of what was done, just an observation of how varied it has rendered.
One of the really great portrait photographers Arnold Newman would watch the way his subjects would naturally stand when they didn't think people were looking and try and use that in his portraits to try and avoid canned, preconceived posses. And to get a little of the person he was photographing in the portrait.
Almass wrote:
By and large, I do not agree with your comments which are dished out mostly on a subjective assessment.across most if not all posters.
Please offers possible"correct" advise and solutions.
Whilst these pictures are quite lovely de prime abord, they are riddled with posing issues.
Her lipstick is not one of them. Although no one expects you to be a master in make up however when you make erroneous comments, you will get sharp answers.
For your info this make up technique is called Two Tones Lips.
Thank you very much for your feedback, Almass! I have been doing portrait for a long time, although I appreciate pointers as you suggested to Greg, but I am okay without. I was exploring some alternative poses. Thank you also for naming the lipstick/make-up technique.
Jim Rickards wrote:
I applaud your attempt to find the unusual poses and camera angles. That's what a creative photographer should do.
#2, #4 and #7 work for me. One can't expect large percentage of keepers when doing it.
Like greg, I have no idea why lipstick would be applied like that. I'm sure the MUA could shed some light on the reasoning, however.
Thank you very much, Jim! After doing that for a while, I wouldn’t call that I was bored, but I felt like doing other poses and I felt using a 50mm would be the appropriate focal length for that. Granted not all images would pass the test as portrait-worthy, let alone “glamorous”.
AGeoJO wrote:
Thank you very much, Jim! After doing that for a while, I wouldn’t call that I was bored, but I felt like doing other poses and I felt using a 50mm would be the appropriate focal length for that. Granted not all images would pass the test as portrait-worthy, let alone “glamorous”.
It is called variety Joshua!!! It helps prevent that boredom we sometimes all incur!
Keep it up!
Dan
Danpbphoto wrote:
I cannot offer you any constructive advice on portrait composition Joshua! I am deeply lacking in that skill! I can say, as a viewer's comment, that this is a beautiful woman and I am loving #7. Yes the poses are unusual but not to the point of being really distracting.
Jim is correct in his analysis and I really didn't notice the lipstick until it was mentioned.
Great compositions Joshua!
Dan
Danpbphoto wrote:
It is called variety Joshua!!! It helps prevent that boredom we sometimes all incur!
Keep it up!
Dan
Dan, thank you very much for your kind comments. To a certain degree, that’s what I was trying to achieve.
RustyBug wrote:
Always intriguing to explore ... win, lose or draw, it often offers something to be learned.
That’s it! Thank you for pointing out the purpose of my original post, Kent!
RustyBug wrote
#1 Looks like she is just starting to respond to someone from behind her.
#4 also, just without a physical turn to the rear, yet.
#7 Similar to #1. Might be a kiss of cyan in her eyes / wb, so it may be tolerant to some more warmth.
#2 does a nice job of showcasing your point about (non) foreshortening / distortion, by placing things in the same focal plane (textbook example for those learning ... which can be varied to taste for how much plane you work with).
Pic one ... #7 for me, then #1. Or, maybe it's #1, then #7.
The point about the two-tone lipstick ... not my cup of tea (less stark contrast two-tone for me), but that's a fashion thing, so I'm game.
The most interesting part about that is how it plays very differently depending on angle from which it is shot, and degree of mouth open / closed. In other words, it can render a very broad spectrum from stark contrast to subtle enhancement.
Given that it is a design element specifically applied in the MUA realm, being cognizant of its "many faces" might be something that is easily overlooked, in concert with other aspects of rendering. Not a critique of what was done, just an observation of how varied it has rendered....Show more →
I greatly appreciate the breakdown of your points, Kent! Thank you!
airfrogusmc wrote:
One of the really great portrait photographers Arnold Newman would watch the way his subjects would naturally stand when they didn't think people were looking and try and use that in his portraits to try and avoid canned, preconceived posses. And to get a little of the person he was photographing in the portrait.
Thank you for your feedback.
J. Pow wrote:
Always have loved your use of DOF. I have an affinity for that type of bokeh look. As always, i think you are a fantastic artist, great shots.
I'm pretty much in alignment with gheller's comments, but when you first try something new there will be hits and misses. You've now got a baseline with this set of photos you can use for the next set.
