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Hi all, Please check out my work & let me know what's wrong with it instead of what's right with it. Jun 28 05 05:04 pm Link I think I'd lose the flowers in the cleavage and the flower in the strap. As well, I'd lose the tat closeup. Watch your focus and work on pulling emotion from your models. Just my opinion... John Jun 28 05 05:08 pm Link Granted, I might not have much room to talk, but my initial reaction is that the lighting is flat and uneventful. Try shooting outdoors a little closer to dawn/dusk Jun 28 05 05:47 pm Link I think that aside from the photo title "Necole" there're issues with composition. I feel like often the subject being pasted on the background rather than being part of a scene. These should work together for the same objective - transmit an image, an emotion, etc. Jun 28 05 05:56 pm Link A thing called taste. Jun 28 05 06:49 pm Link Posted by Freelancer: I can see jitter (waves?) on some of your images, i.e. bad scanning? Jun 28 05 07:00 pm Link Im no super model but Ill give you my honest answer: I think your models should work on their emotions and facial expressions. If even they had better facial expressions the picture would look at least half a bit better. Jun 28 05 08:52 pm Link Well you have gotten a few good points already. To add to them, try different angles. I try and keep the model in the pose but move to diffent angles, up, down and side to side or a combination. Try it, I think you will surprse yourself. Jun 28 05 08:57 pm Link This is my 2 cents for what is worth. They are my criticisms and should be taken with a grain of salt. ⢠The lighting is not working for you. The light is cool and harsh for the skin. you need either warmer light or a warm filter for the lense. ⢠The composition is very lax. Think about the subject and how it relates the the enviorment and compose the image to maximize the pose and background. I sketch my ideas before I shoot so I know where I want to be when I start shooting. The best suggestion is look at books to help get pointers on the outdoor lighting, composition and exposure. Your camera should always be on manual and you should use the tools inside it to achieve the effect you want. Look at the books Amphoto puts out. I personally have invested allot of money in books over the years to learn more and decifer what the best photographers are doing. Ther are some great glamour books that use mostly outdoor lighting modified with bounce cards and filters. Plus read the magazines on photography. Shoot like a maniac! Keep shooting untill you get it right, or at least untill you are happy. The more you shoot the better you get. Make assignments for yourself and shoot those concepts. I hope this helps. -S Jun 28 05 09:10 pm Link First, I think it is a bad idea to ask other to tell you what is wrong with your photos. That seems to imply that you don't think they are good. One of your photos contains one of my "pet peeves" which is using the American Flag to cover a model. I am all in favor of using the flag as a background. I just don't think it is proper for the flag to be used as a covering for a nude or partically nude model. Jun 28 05 09:26 pm Link hi not a cretice but i shoot out of doors most the time myself, and please look at my site as a small sample of what i do and how i did it and remmember this is my style and how i shoot and use ideas or not and create your own stlye. Jun 28 05 10:02 pm Link I'd pitch them all and start over. All I see is a bunch of near-naked, very unattractive women, out in the woods. Oh, and maybe it hasn't hit WV yet, but your flag shot has gotta go. You don't WEAR flags. Paul Jun 29 05 10:47 am Link I think it would kick up your work if you worked with more experienced models. There is a vast difference between "model" and "pretty girl that likes to be photographed." Just keep shooting and playing with different lights...and have fun! Jun 29 05 12:09 pm Link IMHO they look more like snapshots than portraits. Jun 29 05 06:18 pm Link Jun 29 05 10:19 pm Link I've never been that impressed with people when they say they have a bunch of formal training in photography. As mentioned, the lighting is bad and your images invoke no type of emotion from me. I had to look twice when you said you specialize in outdoor glamour photography; there's a lot of outdoors in your images but nothing about your stuff is glamorous. I guess photography is an art and all art is subjective. If it looks good to you what else does it matter! Jun 30 05 07:40 pm Link lighting, cropping, models, emotion, general composition Jul 01 05 09:24 am Link yes, everything. they are nice snaps tho. You need to like them, feel them, create them if U are to be more than a snapper...U will need to really want to say something with them, the models have to be ''there'' and working NOT just..there Um U KNOW WHAT I MEAN? Maybe someone else can put this better THERE NEEDS TO Be A FEEL - A VISION THE TECHNOLOGY TO PUMP THAT UP INTO A GREAT IMAGE. iTS NOT EASY - TAKES LEARNING ALL ABOUT so much...ANGLES AND LENSES AND LIGHTING AND EXPOSURES AND COMPOSiTION after YOU KNOW WHAT U WANT TO achieve and how close you are going in.. Maybe PRACTISE WITH lighting you can control until you really know about dealing with outdoor lighting and your lenses Practise till you like it MORE than others work....then dont ask anyone!! Practise later on with MODELS not gals.IMO Jul 03 05 02:41 pm Link Yes. I scanned the photos because I don't have a neg. scanner & don't need one any longer since I have switched to a digital camera. Composition is hard to fix when you're dealing with sunlight & other imovable objects. Obviously You have to shoot where the sun isn't hitting your subject in the eyes. I bought a 20"X30" reflector. But found it absolutely worthless to manipulate the sun. And obviously you have to keep buildings, roads & power/tv/telephone cables out of the shot. I realize if I had a 4WD or AWD vehicle this "could" be easier. Assuming I could get permission to use a good spot once I found it. But I don't have a 4WD or AWD vehicle. As far as the girls I shoot. Browse "West Virginia" to see how few models, or even model wannabes, there are.(All of these sites will show basically the same results) Then check yahoo maps to see how far away they are from Kingwood. Then there is the whole problem of getting schedules to coincide with each other AND the weather. As for using the American flag in pics. I wish people would quit treating the American flag like it's some sort of God! When it comes down to it, It's just a piece of cloth people! Respect is one thing. But what most people call "respect" in regards to the American flag is what I call worship. As for the comment about my pics needing to be sharper. Using flash and a manual focus lens at your lens' sharpest aperture & using a tripod is as sharp as it gets. Hopefully the pics I do with my digital camera will be of higher quality. I don't mean to sound angry or upset. I appreciate everyone's feedback. I'm just trying to explain some of the reasons for the shortcomings I realize my work thus far has had. Thanks. P.S. I did use warming or skylight filters. Jul 03 05 03:56 pm Link They do look a lot like snapshots, and your lighting is bad as stated before. Remember the rule of thirds(compostion). Try stopping down f2.8 to emphasize the model or eyes and killing your backgrounds. Despite the fact I don't agree with your flag position, there is nothing in that background that I would want or need in the photo. Look for the details and get a ladder or try lower. Now that you have a digital cam shoot away!! Jul 04 05 12:50 am Link Posted by Freelancer: I live in Siskiyou Pop 4 ...4,300 feet elev Jul 04 05 01:05 am Link I'd like to see more real intimacy in your shots...eye contact, sensuality not just physicality eh? Love, Dp Jul 04 05 01:12 am Link Well since it is all I have heard since I got here and asked the same question I will pass it on to you as many have said above. Your images didn't "speak" to me, they didn't bring out any emotions, just girls standing/laying with flat light. Hugh here has helped me a lot with understanding what I was doing wrong, great source of info. Since you seem to be a film guy I can't even remotely pretend to help you with suggestions, hell even if you were a digital guy there are far better sources here than I. I am just now getting to the point where the private messages I receive involve comments like "Your getting there" and "I like the look but I would have just slightly tweaked _____ to make it a tad better". Though Hugh was never one of them, just stating that since I mentioned him by name already, my originals messages normaly involved "Man your work sucks" "Your lighting is total crap" "Sell your camera if that is all you can bring to this forum" and many others. I actually really like this type of straight to the point hard edged critizism, I hate beating around the bush or people not being honest and telling m "It's ok". About the only thing I can say is to start by mastering something, whether it be nudes if you have them available or casuals, the lighting is NOT the same as I have ever so bitterly figured out in my first few failures at nude/implied B/W. Jul 04 05 01:18 am Link "They do look a lot like snapshots, and your lighting is bad as stated before. Remember the rule of thirds(compostion). Try stopping down f2.8 to emphasize the model or eyes and killing your backgrounds. Despite the fact I don't agree with your flag position, there is nothing in that background that I would want or need in the photo. Look for the details and get a ladder or try lower. Now that you have a digital cam shoot away!!" My maximum aperture with that lens is 4.0 P.S. What do you have against the beauty of nature? Jul 04 05 08:08 am Link Posted by Hugh Jorgen: Posted by Freelancer: Oregon is still a huge state & borders California. Another huge state. West Virginia doesn't have a large population or border a state that does. Jul 04 05 08:18 am Link Read my posts again. I stated that I have switched to digital now. Jul 04 05 08:20 am Link "The New York Institute of Photography" Either you did not attend or deserve a refund. Jul 04 05 08:51 am Link Posted by Paul Ferrara: LOL!!! I'm not sure where you have been, but I've been seeing clothes with the stars & stripes pattern all my life. And not just in WV. TV, movies, magazines, etc... Jul 04 05 08:59 am Link Posted by XtremeArtists: My final grade was an "A" My instructor was Jerry Rice. Jul 04 05 09:02 am Link Posted by Freelancer: Posted by XtremeArtists: My final grade was an "A" My instructor was Jerry Rice. The football player? Jul 04 05 09:05 am Link Re: The football player? No. Jul 04 05 09:07 am Link Posted by Freelancer: You only took 1 class? What was your grade int he other classes? Was the one class still life or something? All joking aside I looked over what you had here and my feelings are like others that these were snap shots. I'm not going to get into the lighting issues but the models look uncomfortable they also look like they don't know what they are doing and that's when you need ot step up and instruct them. It's something we all have to deal with. You definatly need to work on the flatness of the lighting. The 3 closeups of the belly ring the flowers need to go. Jul 04 05 09:17 am Link Posted by Freelancer: Maybe it would be an improvement.... Jul 04 05 09:31 am Link Posted by Robb Radford: Posted by Freelancer: You only took 1 class? What was your grade int he other classes? Was the one class still life or something? All joking aside I looked over what you had here and my feelings are like others that these were snap shots. I'm not going to get into the lighting issues but the models look uncomfortable they also look like they don't know what they are doing and that's when you need ot step up and instruct them. It's something we all have to deal with. You definatly need to work on the flatness of the lighting. The 3 closeups of the belly ring the flowers need to go. I've been in contact with several girls from Morgantown through OMP. But so far, most want several hundred dollars/hour. With a minimum of like 3 hours. Even the ones with no experience. The ones who "said" they would do TFP never replied to TFP offers. Jul 04 05 09:51 am Link What's wrong with your work is you. You have an excuse for everything. Reread the suggestions. Each reply you made is 100% bullshit. I cannot imagine you are serious. You have to be a joke. Jul 04 05 09:55 am Link As for my lighting, Anytime I have tried playing with lighting in school & afterwards, I got comments from my instructor & a well established local professional photographer with I don't know how many years experience (He had an ad for his studio in my brothers 1968 high school yearbook) like "Insufficient lighting", "Get rid of the shadows", "Shadows are too harsh" etc... Most of what I see on here that is called artistic, I would have been instructed to re-shoot with better lighting. Jul 04 05 09:57 am Link Freelancer; you asked what was wrong with your work. People too you as honestly wanting to know; but you have defended every short coming that has been highlighted as some one elses problem... You live in an area where you can't get any good shots and the models suck, or your scanner sucks, or the reflector sucks.... You need to be more honest with yourself, it's the only way that you'll begin to get better. If you were a student of NYI of Photography; you need to re-read through your black folder, and re study lessons 1-3 at minimum. Your photos lack 3/4's rule; lack general s/h/m coordnation; negitive space is boring, you have no eye leaders; your DOF is muddy, your posing of models is less than amature. Basically it looks as if you are someones BF taking pointless pictures in the woods. They are snapshots at best... Go back and take the course again. Again you invited the critique, be honest with yourself... It isn't the models, or area, or camera, or reflector, or scanner that sucks... it's your photography. Understand that and you'll start to get better. Jul 04 05 10:02 am Link Posted by Freelancer: (He had an ad for his studio in my brothers 1968 high school yearbook) like "Insufficient lighting", "Get rid of the shadows", "Shadows are too harsh" etc... Most of what I see on here that is called artistic, I would have been instructed to re-shoot with better lighting. Harsh shadows are bad unless your going for an effect. Jul 04 05 10:11 am Link Posted by Freelancer: You made the same post in another thread for no reason as well. Jul 04 05 10:16 am Link "Your photos lack 3/4's rule; lack general s/h/m coordnation; negitive space is boring, you have no eye leaders; your DOF is muddy, your posing of models is less than amature." What is s/h/m coordination? and what do you mean when you say my depth of field is muddy? Jul 04 05 10:17 am Link |
