[kaiserz]

Please let me know what I can improve on, what I did correctly, what I did wrong so I can improve some more, Thanks (:

Just a random spontaneous portrait of my friend.

From this



to this

[vievetrick]

I would still crop more off the top but do like what you have done with the second one

If it is a portrait, make it all about her, If it is about the place, make it all about the place. Half of each is leaving the viewer halfway. If it was me, I'd crop a lot tighter to her. She's engaged, open, interesting, someone you'd like to know. The rocks, not so much.

[Ash]

Certainly your worked edit is better however the framing in this shot s not effective. She should be the prominent subject in the frame, so fill the frame with her and avoid placing her head in the centre of the frame.

[Schraubstock]

Hi

The picture has background with surplus to requirement. The fence at the top must go. The picture looks to me as if your girlfriend is about to slide toward the bottom out of the frame. I have suggested many times, cropping is often the cheapest way to improve an image. Don't hesitate to experiment.

You say: "Just a random spontaneous portrait of my friend" and because of this you are forgiven for taking this photograph in front of such an unsuitable busy background with its hard edged rocks. Next time try place her in front of something a bit more evenly textured, so it does not compete so much with the portrait subject.

Also, both colour renderings to my eye (and monitor) is off.
The first one is a tad dull and could benefit from less blackpoint. It lacks vibrancy.
The second image is too red, too green, too yellow, too black, to contrasty too everything. I have reduced a bit of all of these in OLONEO which allows you to work directly with individual colour channels and observe the result in real time. But please don't forget that JPGs have their PP limitations.

This is my evaluation of of the two pictures and relies on a proper colour system. It is only meant as a pointer. Don't know how it comes across your monitor.

Greetings

[Velja]

Hi,
I see that your "portraits" filled with too many items around the model, that too many distracting the viewer! Without a grudge, that's just my humble opinion!
greeting

[D4rknezz]

Hi...

As others have suggested - I would crop close. Really close. Like, right by her hair for the edge of the frames. Closer than what schraub suggested.

Schraub's image comes across too cool on my monitor.

[jcamero]

Showing her left knee is awkward, (compared to her right), Maybe blurring the background a little.

[kaiserz]

Thanks for the tips guys! btw she's not my girlfriend. . . Anyway if I'm going to take portraits = more of the face less of the background. In my defense I really like the background that's why I tried to show more of it because it makes the photo much more interesting to me. So I guess this photo is not a portrait but more of a?

Note to self*

*Fill the frame with the subject
*Make it all about the subject
*Avoid placing the subject's head in the centre of the frame.
*Background doesn't have to compete with the subject

Anyway how about this one?

[Ash]

The same issues apply to that portrait.
His face is in the centre of the frame - no need for all that space above his head - frame it such that the head is in the top third of the frame (generally).
There is a distracting orange band across the frame, but only a little distracting.
The background is a little busy but would be better applied if the subject did fill the frame better.

[kaiserz]

Thanks ash. That was shot with my super program and I and I made a newbie mistake opening the film door before rewinding the whole film thus the orange band was formed.

Notes*

Frame head on the top third of the frame.

Also I have a question here. They say we focus on the eyes for portraits, but the thing is I use MF all the time (M lenses) I'm worried that w/o focus confirm, or my program plus' focus screen, I won't be able to hit the focus right if I want my subject not in the center of the frame. Should I not be worried in focusing the subject in the center and then re-composing?

[jbuck92]

Not at all. I generally focus with the subject dead center in the frame, then recompose. If using manual focus, you can move the camera around all you want to recompose as long as you don't move position or touch the focus ring. If using auto focus, I focus on the eyes, press the shutter halfway to focus, then while still holding the shutter halfway, recompose, snap the picture.

My 2 cents on the second portrait you showed:

Like the others have said, crop it a bit closer. It'd be interesting to see this shot from even a bit further beneath the subject looking up at him. I get the feel from this picture that you were trying to capture a slightly intimidating look? Having the subject look down to the camera would capture that feel a bit more, with the hard look in his eyes staring directly into the lens.

[kaiserz]

Thanks. I really appreciate the input. I've been reading a lot on how to shoot portraits and I've been also taking a look on my idol photographers on how they do portraits, I'm hoping that I get my own style in the near future

[millesr]

You may want to lighten the dark areas. Notice the skin tones and background are well lit, but you loose detail in her dark hair. I'd recommend playing with the tonal curve to lighten the darkest areas a bit.

[kaiserz]

You may want to lighten the dark areas. Notice the skin tones and background are well lit, but you loose detail in her dark hair. I'd recommend playing with the tonal curve to lighten the darkest areas a bit.

Agreed.

Note to self I really need to start shooting raw