View Full Version : Critique #56 *Portrait* 5 Participants
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Thanks Ray, this is the one I was waiting for...
I'm in.
ciao
nico
No problem, Nico. If you ever get to where you're waiting for a theme critique, just let me know. I'll be glad to get it set up. :)
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JeffGreene
11-21-2006, 09:10
Count me in.
Had I only a scanned portrait taken with a RF, I would have joined about three seconds after Ray started the thread!
shiro_kuro
11-21-2006, 13:09
I am in ...
Charley
Do we have five or four participants now?
Emil, are you in?
Raid
JeffGreene
11-21-2006, 20:41
Here's mine.
ClaremontPhoto
11-21-2006, 22:30
If you need a 'five' I'm in. I'm not clear about Emil either.
Jon, for me 6 is better than 4 ...
Ciao,
Nico
well if you need a sixth one - I'll be in ;)
I'm in if I may =)
Raid, your post was at 1.30AM my time, that's why I didn't reply earlier!
well if you need a sixth one - I'll be in ;)
:D Oh my god! ... we're going to be many enough to start a soccer team!!
ClaremontPhoto
11-22-2006, 00:05
Nico: I'm out. I was only ever 'In' if Emil didn't show.
shiro_kuro
11-22-2006, 00:33
six sounds good to me :) Here is my image
I am out too,
I'll wait for the next "portrait"
I'm in if I may =)
Raid, your post was at 1.30AM my time, that's why I didn't reply earlier!
No problem, Emil. You are in.
Raid
My image is this one:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/data/500/MF_1_small.JPG
My image is this one:
Camera: Rolleiflex 2.8D TLR
Lens: Zeiss Planar 80mm/2.8
Film: Agfa RS50
My picture. Hasselblad 500C/M, 120/4 Makro-planar, Agfa APX100.
First of all thaks to Jon and Lubitel for their kindness, i hope I've been not rude with my joke on the soccer team; hope to meet both of them in one of the next critique thread :).
here is mine
Marcella B.
BessaR+Nok50+Hp5
Bye
Nico
:) Ok, first to join first to comment:
Shiro_Kuro:
what a mistery in this portrait, there are so many questions to be asked: why the cream/paint/make up on the face, why is naked, what place is this and – most of all – the expression. What are the the thoughts behind these eyes? About the tecnical elements, I like dof and composition; good exposure too. So I think this one works as it is and would not change anything ... oh sorry, did I tell you that i like it? :)
JeffGreene:
:) Very nice portrait. I like the way he’s looking at you, seems like watching from a window. You caught an interesting expression, it makes me think he’s a curious and intelligent man. I like light/exposure work, there are a lot of details (hair and beard) shown. Only the jacket in the left is a little bit distracting so it’s the only thing I’d change in the photo.
Raid:
She resembles your daughter Dana! Ehm, ... sorry :), I like this “family” portrait, she has a sweet smile and and a hint of complicity in her expression. I also like the hairs, it makes me think about a windy day on the beach. Nice exposure and colours. As possible suggestion or alternative, I’d like to see a square version with tighter cropping on the right (and consequentially on the sky above)
EmilGil:
i like it, beatiful portrait of a beatiful young lady. I like her dreaming expression, and the pose is quite natural. I also like the unusual point of view you choose. I also like tones and skin texture.
The only thing I’d like to see is more contrast between the dress and the background. :)
Ciao
Nico
JeffGreene
11-23-2006, 09:48
Shiro_Kuro:
Excellent tonality and texture. Arresting image, the eyes really grab you, loss, sadness! Superb! Great bokeh!
Raid:
Attractive woman, I do alot of 6X6 myself. I don't think color adds much here!. Compositionally I might crop the photo so she isn't so central. I'd go B&W.
EmilGil:
Great image, love the way the tree frames and draws attention to her face. Good composition, rich creamy grey tones. I might spend some time burning in the upper part of the white scarf on her head a bit as it tends to get lost in the background. Your age and ability depress me! :<)
Nico:
Spot on asymmetrical composition. Love the angle you captured and the sparkling vitality you've captured in her eyes and mouth. Great image! The shadow frames her face beautifully!
six sounds good to me :) Here is my image
shiro-kuro: This is an interesting image, as pointed out by others. Is she standing in front of the regrigerator with the door open? Her face looks sad. Why? The backdrop does not contribute to make the image stronger.
Raid
My picture. Hasselblad 500C/M, 120/4 Makro-planar, Agfa APX100.
Emil: I like this photo. The shallow depth of field used makes it OK to have a busy background. The laces on her shoes are a nice feature. The muscles in her arms look also nice. Her face has a creamy complexion, along with deep looking eyes.
Raid
First of all thaks to Jon and Lubitel for their kindness, i hope I've been not rude with my joke on the soccer team; hope to meet both of them in one of the next critique thread :).
here is mine
Marcella B.
BessaR+Nok50+Hp5
Bye
Nico
Nico: This again is an interesting composition including a theatrical expression with a tilted perspective and lots more. I like it.
Raid
Here's mine.
Jeff: This is a successful image. The backdrop is not sharp, which makes the face three-dimensional. The ladder offers an interesting framing from below.
Raid
Here is a B&W conversion of my image and cropped to square format. The focus is now on the person (my wife) and not the environment. Actually, I like this one too.
Raid
My picture. Hasselblad 500C/M, 120/4 Makro-planar, Agfa APX100.
Emil: Excuse my tampering with your wonderful image. I tried some Sepia toning to give it an old look, with a little cropping.
Raid
Nico: You too, forgive me for tampering with your photo.:-)
The revised image is less contrasty and less theatrical, which in fact could have been your strong point.
Raid
Charley: I modified your print a little bit. I am not suggesting that the modified image is in any way better, just a different look. I cropped out the busy background and I added some contrast to the face.
Raid
Raid: I certainly don't mind you tweaking my image a little bit, I might even drop it into the toner myself next time I find a darkroom =)
When it comes to comments:
JeffGreene: Nice contact with your model and well placed between the lighter parts of the background. The exposure is there and the shallow depth of field isolates him nicely from the books behind. Unlike Nico, I like the dark left corner. I think books only would have drawn the attention from his calm face and curious eyes. Unfortunately my eyes seek the sharper part of the face, the ears.
Shiro_kuro: The first thing I thought was "war paint?" Fantastic look in her eyes, caught totally unprepared in a pretty private moment (where no woman expects or wishes to have her picture taken!). Exposure is correct and focus as well but print contrast slightly low? I do find the upper bottle hats a bit too light, catching my eyes slightly too often.
Raid: Warmth and friendship, this girl knows you and trusts you (I gather from previous posts that she is your daughter?), gazing out over the beach. Exposure is spot on with plenty of detail in the black jacket while avoiding blown out clouds. On the downside, I'd like to see just a bit more of her left eye, not covering it fully with hair. The colour of her eyes is so similar to the one of her hair that I find it slightly difficult to separate the two.
Nico: This was the hardest one, I don't know where to begin. A slightly surprising angle that works very well with good contact between the two of you. The lighting is also unconventional but works equally good. Not the first setup of my choice, was I to take the portrait of an elderly woman but it definately works, especially placing her in the darker part of the background. Her hand and glasses nicely fill a void that would have taken a very large part of the image otherwise. Exposure is fine, but slightly out of focus.
Emil: This is a photo of my wife six years ago. I took several photos, and the hair was moving with the wind in each photo.
Raid
============================================
Raid: Warmth and friendship, this girl knows you and trusts you (I gather from previous posts that she is your daughter?), gazing out over the beach. Exposure is spot on with plenty of detail in the black jacket while avoiding blown out clouds. On the downside, I'd like to see just a bit more of her left eye, not covering it fully with hair. The colour of her eyes is so similar to the one of her hair that I find it slightly difficult to separate the two.
Wow, lots of fun and useful tips reading your comments.
Raid, I think your experiments are interesting so feel free to try new versions of my photos :).
From your critiques I had a couple of toughts I'd like to share with you right after Charley's comment.
Ciao
nico
shiro_kuro
11-23-2006, 14:53
Charley: I modified your print a little bit. I am not suggesting that the modified image is in any way better, just a different look. I cropped out the busy background and I added some contrast to the face.
Raid
Raid that looks great ...i really like the added contrast ... and is very close to what I originally wanted .....seems my version lost something on the upload ....as for the crop I agree about the busy background but I like the space ....I do not like to crop my images when I ask for critique ,that way I get really good composition feedback... my wish is to be able to take the shot as intended ..as seen through the range-finder ....not against cropping
shiro_kuro
11-23-2006, 16:01
@Nico ... I am not sure about the angle . I love the way you lit her eyes it really brings this photo to life. Your use of the background ..the dark and light and her position in the frame with what she is wearing really works .........nice shot Nico
shiro_kuro
11-23-2006, 16:27
@Emil...Beautiful portrait ,the lit eyes and her expression are wonderful ,use of DOF ..everything is really well done ..... What if you placed more of the tree behind her as to separate her from the white sky ? More of a question than a critique as it seems you spent sometime setting up this shot...... which leads me to my next comment which might seem a bit like i am nit picking ...but it does seem like you spent sometime setting up this shot and I feel a few details where missed that take a way from this portrait ...the unbuttoned portion of her dress .....and the way her fingers grasp her leg makes me feel like her position is not comfortable an maybe a bit unnatural for her her ... something about the way she is sitting does not convince me ...
shiro_kuro
11-23-2006, 16:45
@Raid.... Beautiful color ..she looks so natural .... as it is this is a great shot ... maybe a bit closer .... I love the wind blowing her hair and the surroundings.. on the side of critique ... I really do not feel a connection to her .. I miss the eye contact ...she seems a bit distant to me .... maybe that was your intent , a moment between you and her ...
Charley,
I wanted to show my wife in touch with Nature around her. I liked the hair blowing in her face and I asked her to leave her hair as it is and not to adjust it. Women typically adjust their hair in such situations and I always ask them not to. I like nothing to be staged.
Raid
====================================
Raid.... Beautiful color ..she looks so natural .... as it is this is a great shot ... maybe a bit closer .... I love the wind blowing her hair and the surroundings.. on the side of critique ... I really do not feel a connection to her .. I miss the eye contact ...she seems a bit distant to me .... maybe that was your intent , a moment between you and her ...
shiro_kuro
11-23-2006, 16:55
@jeff .... this is the hardest one for me as I really like him and this photo......I think you captured the moment ......I only wish there were more light and sharpness in his eyes ---it seems the focus is a little bit past his face ..more around the ears ..... also maybe a different position as to avoid the brightness in the upper right corner and perhaps more of the books as the background ...its all there I just feel you could of used the light and the surroundings more to your advantage ....
shiro_kuro
11-23-2006, 17:16
I just finished reading all the comments ....great feedback on all the images so far ...Thanks !
My image was taken at the entrance to the shower ...and the war paint is actually a facial mask .. as it is drying you cannot move your face ..so the expression is through the eyes and mouth ...with her face frozen It was interesting to me how a she would come across ... I only wish I could bring more light to the eyes .. i think that is a challenge to do in a portrait ...and I always look for that ... I am a beginner so maybe I look to much at small details and not the photograph as a whole ...... mostly my critique is more from emotional response ..my personal likes and dislikes rather than a firm grasp of the technical aspects of photography .... allowing the chance to critique your images is very helpful ... Thankyou
Charley: I find it very useful to allow us free expression of our thoughts and opinions when critiquing photos. We don't have to like what is being said here, but maybe we can become more openminded about accepting other views as input to our work.
Raid
It is an arranged portrait, taken in the middle of Gothenburg (Sweden) about two years ago, the girl is a former colleague of mine. This picture was taken on one of our first shoots, since then we've shot 4-5 times more.
One of the first things I thought about when I uploaded this shot was that I should have taken a small step to the left to put her head more in the center of the tree behind, exactly as you propose Charley. On the print, there is a just discernible tone difference between the scarf and the sky but I agree a small burn-in would have been suitable. Her dress was partially open in the back so no buttons undone by mistake. I think a similar shot today would have been much more relaxed and allowed her to look more comfortable.
As to JeffGreen's last comment, thank you :) However, I do think there is a huge difference between setting up a portrait like this and street shooting with a rangefinder. I'm but a beginner in both fields, but I find it much more difficult to point my camera at somebody on the street. I've learned lots here at RFF, but I feel that my focus has come to equipment, not pictures. I never took the time to join threads like this but this is definately not the last time!
Emil: Bergen is a very photogenic city with plenty of opportunities for street photography. Wait for the chance to observe a street musician, then oberve the observers.
Raid
I agree with Raid, Bergen is a beatiful and photogenic city. I've been there a couple of year ago and had a good time :)
bye
nico
Wow, lots of fun and useful tips reading your comments.
Raid, I think your experiments are interesting so feel free to try new versions of my photos :).
From your critiques I had a couple of toughts I'd like to share with you right after Charley's comment.
Ciao
nico
Nico: I am waiting for your shared thoughts ... :-)
Raid
Nico: I am waiting for your shared thoughts ... :-)
Raid
Ok, my friend, I've just eat a tasty pizza and i'm in the right mood :).
what really stroke me about the mistery in shiro_kuro's portrait is that in the comments I (and Jeffgreene too) did not use he/she pronoun and in two different comments were used "he" in one and "she" in another: the portrait is so misterious to hide the real personality of the subject; I think this is really great (lets go figure: a photo is shot to show something but in this case is hiding something and this - imho- is just great). The same happens with the background: as Raid I thought it was an open refrigeretor door but it was another "brilliant disguise"!
Then on Raid's portrait. I'm in a "total b/w" period so the b/w conversion is a great improvement for me.
On EmilGil portrait: I forgot to mention that I like composition because her pose perfectly cut as a diagonal the photo; i do not know if it's "correct" or break some composition rules but I really like it.
As already wrote, I have nothing more to say about JeffGreene portrait, I like it "as is"
about my shot, I took it while Gaia was chatting with our neighbour Marcella. She's a very brave woman, she did some very difficult choises recently but she has a lot life and energy to spend. I'd like to try to catch some of this dynamism changing the point of view and showing the hand with glasses (she moved it a lot while she was talking!!). Raid, even though I'm not fond of sepia toning feel free to experiment it on my photos :)
Thanks everybody for the nice comments, I had a lot of fun here,
ciao
Nico
Nico: As regard to Charley's photo of a masked person, I first commented on "him", but then read your comment and I edited my comment to be "her".
I also like my B&W conversion more than the original color one.
This discusison is flowing well. I like it.
Raid
Raid,
i did not mean that using him than her was a lack of respect (hope that Charley thinks the same) but I just wanted to point out the sense of mistery of the shot. :)
bye
Nico
shiro_kuro
11-24-2006, 18:33
Raid,
i did not mean that using him than her was a lack of respect (hope that Charley thinks the same) but I just wanted to point out the sense of mistery of the shot. :)
bye
Nico
No problem ..... as you can always comment freely on my images ... as to the gender it is interesting that you and Raid bring this up ... For me this images does come across very asexual ..
Charley: Thanks for clearing up the gender issue.
Raid
Charley: Thanks for clearing up the gender issue.
Raid
thanks Chaley, i hope I've been not unfair.
bye
nico
This thread has so far over 900 views. It has set a record in the critique forum!
Raid
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