I'm in a bit of a rut. I could use some sincere critique if anyone has any to offer.

[khardur]

I love the light and background in #1. As far as critique goes, a little too much blank space on the right side - could have put the lady off center toward the right of the frame a little and had the scarf trailing off to the left not so close to the edge of the frame. It's not even that much space a little crop off the right-hand side would do. My only other objection is it's a hair dark.

As far as the second one, I have the same complaint - her face is dead center. Check out all the dead space to right / above and the scarf is cut off on the left. - It's crying out to be a little tighter to fill the frame better, or camera pointed a little bit more left to include more of the scarf at the very least. If there were an awesome cliff or something that added to the scene behind her, I'd probably say it was fine - but it's so (intentionally) out of focus that it doesn't add anything.

I hope it didn't come out as harsh, I do enjoy the pictures, especially #1.

#1 might have come out better if you had taken it from a lower angle. Subject is too centred in both of them and they are a little dark.

[Heinrich Lohmann]

kunik, that are two very nice images. I like the composition and framing the way it is, personally I would straighten the horizon in the first one but in this type of picture it's not critical.

[cwood]

I hope it didn't come out as harsh, I do enjoy the pictures, especially #1.

Not to worry... Its impossible to sound too harsh when critiquing my photos. I know when I've got a great shot and when I don't. Even if I disagree strongly with the critique its always interesting to see how someone else saw the image.

You're absolutely right about too much headspace with #2... I don't know how I missed that I've been rushing through all my images recently because I've mostly been shooting events this year (I've taken 12,000 pics in the past 2 months)

here's a new crop of picture 2

[cwood]

Thanks for the critiques... it helped me re-focus my thoughts on some very basic stuff. I had been getting way too caught up in some other aspects of these images (a secret between me and the model ) and lost sight of the basics.

I may touch them up a bit more later but but I figured it was polite to at least address some of the feedback before I pack it in for the night

[cwood]

#1 might have come out better if you had taken it from a lower angle. Subject is too centred in both of them and they are a little dark.

I'd be curious Gary, what your thoughts are on the horizon line - since you brought it up. It is a huge dilemma when shooting against the ocean. If I had gotten any lower then the horizon would have cut through her head or body somewhere which can make an awkward look. If you get low enough you can eliminate most of the water but then you start to miss the point.

Anyway... I'm always curious on what people think about this.

As for the lighting - its a back lit shot that was filled with strobe but it was always intended to be a little on the dark side - to contrast the setting sun. But I appreciate your point anyway - its always good to know what others think of a setup.

[Mr Hyde]

Not that my opinion really matters all that much but I really like the rework of Photo #1. I think it's an outstanding photo. The second photo doesnt work so well for me. This beautiful woman appears to have aged somewhat in the second photo, probably because of the scarf wrapped around her head. It's not a bad photo, I just dont think it does her justice. For what it's worth....

[khardur]

I really like the rework on this as well. Feels much better compositionally, and you've got detail back in her hair - wonderful job.

edit: 12k pics in two months - nice!

[MCR]

I'm in a bit of a rut. I could use some sincere critique if anyone has any to offer.

First shot is trully amazing!

It was actually Heinrich in the post after mine that mentioned the horizon Chris.
As to my thoughts on it, the model and yourself were mobile so you could have moved around to take that in to account. It's hard from looking at your shot to see where the horizon would be if you had shot from lower. Maybe in this case, the background just isn't that great for the shot, your model is beautiful, she deserves a better background or a different aperture to blur the background more.
I just have this thing about these kind of portrait shots, maybe it's because I'm fairly tall so I've always taken that into account when taking them. Maybe it's also because your average snap shot shooter doesn't take into account their position relative to the subject and so produces generic looking shots like that one.

I hope all that makes sense to you.

I'd be curious Gary, what your thoughts are on the horizon line - since you brought it up. It is a huge dilemma when shooting against the ocean. If I had gotten any lower then the horizon would have cut through her head or body somewhere which can make an awkward look. If you get low enough you can eliminate most of the water but then you start to miss the point.

Anyway... I'm always curious on what people think about this.

As for the lighting - its a back lit shot that was filled with strobe but it was always intended to be a little on the dark side - to contrast the setting sun. But I appreciate your point anyway - its always good to know what others think of a setup.

[dosdan]

I like the reworked first shot. I wonder what it would look like if her hair had of been tossed/lifted more by the wind rather than just the scarf? It would probably require a repositioning of the right arm.

Dan.

[gawan]

I like them very much, good cropping!