Marketing Photoshoot
by doodoohead2016

Comment by snaffles:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

I gave this image a 6 during voting, and that's because this is a very good shot that I wish had done better in voting. Though not crazy about the tilted background, at least your subject is in turn tilting slightly the other direction. The b/w is a very good call for anything with an urban background, I find; the profusion of strong, bright colours in many cities only detract from the subject.

Your subject definitely looks like he has a story to tell, and I wish you hadn't touched his face in pp. He's barely in his 20s, far too young imnsho to ever retouch the skin of anyone unless they have something that they truly wish to hide, like really bad acne, a port-wine stain, scars, tats etc. Let the character in a person's face, via their lines/wrinkles etc, show and tell us the story of their lives - please, do NOT get in the habit of pp'ing them to the extent that they look like a figure in a wax museum (or on the cover of People magazine)!

Lighting and comp are good, but once again I am wondering why you choose to use such a high ISO (and risk creating noise/grain, which you then have to remove...so avoid the hassle and shoot as low an ISO as possible) and needlessly fast shutter speeds for subjects that are hardly moving. This could have been easily caught at ISO 100 and a shutter speed of 1/200....max.

Overall, a very good shot, please keep up the good work in terms of concept and execution...but perhaps move out of your pverly high ISO, warp-speed shutter button comfort zone. Shoot slower and with less ISO. Experiment. Learn.

Feel free to PM me with any

MY BEAUTIFUL WIFE
by doodoohead2016

Comment by snaffles:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

This is indeed a lovely woman that you've captured. The mood is light and playful, the composition is acceptable with the tilt of her head and the bi-coloured hair adding interest and some dynamism to the shot. The light is a bit strong, almost bordering on flat as it was probably shot somewhere during the hours of 11am and 3pm. Be careful of that!

The settings you use mystify me. Why such a high ISO when shooting on a sunny day? And why such a fast shutter speed for essentially a stationary subject? I shoot rodeo at 1/1250 and that's plenty to capture a beast or cowboy in full flight, in crisp detail. Even shooting handheld, I'd be pressed to shoot a subject like this at any faster than 1/200.

But, as pointed out already, the post-processing work is far, far, far too obvious. Nobody's teeth are that white, no matter how much professional work they have had done. And as a result of so much skin-smoothing, she looks waxy, which also affected the bark of the tree. Though I can understand wanting to remove or minimize some lines and wrinkles, in here your model looks like a high-school senior. Surely she is older than her late teens!

I would strongly suggest that,if you are interested in portraiture, that you study the portfolio of Librodo His many portraits, which often ribboned with scores in the stratosphere...to illustrate, this one scored in the 8s, which is quite an accomplishment show lines and wrinkles in the face of his subjects...and that is what brings them to life.

Hope this critique has been helpful, feel free to pm me

Susan

Message edited by author 2016-11-23 18:24:05.

MY BEAUTIFUL WIFE
by doodoohead2016

Comment by snaffles:
.see above for parsing correction.

Message edited by author 2016-11-23 18:17:02.

Marketing Photoshoot
by doodoohead2016

Comment by PennyStreet:
I was one of your 8s. Keep up the good work.

MY BEAUTIFUL WIFE
by doodoohead2016

Comment by Kodak:
Lovely I gave a 9

Marketing Photoshoot
by doodoohead2016

Comment by lombardino:
I wish there were stronger shadows and more expression in the face, and that the background were underexposed.

MY BEAUTIFUL WIFE
by doodoohead2016

Comment by GeorgesBogaert:
Very great mood captured. I feel that you used to much softener in the PP. The natural structure of the tree is gone. It's ok on your wife's skin. A 7 from me