Working on refining a technique.

Working on my style for portraits. What do you all think? All

critiques welcome.

Zach,

I'm not sure what technique you are working on, but let me comment on your portrait. There are a few reasons why this portrait doesn't work very well for me.

I don't think her eyes are in critical focus. They look like they could be a little sharper. Her make-up looks pretty good, but some eyeliner under her eyes might make her eyes stand out more.

She does have sort of a reddish tint to her skin. This may be affecting the whites of her eyes that look a bit off-white. I love the color of her hair. Even if she isn't Irish, she still looks like a beautiful Irish lass. Some of the highlights on her face and chest look a little bright.

The background is very sharp. The lines and recognizable shapes (somewhat repeated in her jacket) draw attention away from her face. The rather bold pattern in her jacket draws my attention. The partial window is quite annoying. You don't want anything in a portrait that draws the viewer's attention away from your subject's face. This is why portrait photographers often want the backgrounds to be out of focus.

You want to subtly burn in the edges of your background to help keep the viewer's eyes within the photograph. It really shouldn't be noticeable unless you are looking for it. This technique is used to just enhance the photograph. You don't want it to draw attention to itself. You also don't want it to look like some kind of ghostly presence or a vignette around your subject.

Shooting up to your subject does a couple of unwanted things. It distorts the vertical and horizontal lines that may be in the background. Vertical and horizontal lines should usually be vertical and horizontal in a portrait -- not diagonal. It somewhat distorts your subject and viewers usually do not want to look up your subjects nostrils. That area is usually best left in the dark. I will agree that slightly pointing your camera up on an executive portrait can sometimes add psychological importance to the subject. Even with an executive, angle subtly is important.

Do not pose your subject straight on to the camera. This is not a very feminine pose. Showing your subject’s widest areas (shoulder to shoulder or hip to hip) makes those areas appear wide. Your subject will appear thinner and more feminine, graceful and elegant if turned at an angle to the camera. The lines you see from an angle have more apparent motion, interest and grace. You usually do not want to have your subject turned 90 degrees to the camera. This can make the head look unsupported. It usually looks best to angle your subject somewhere around 45 degrees.

Her hair is covering much of her right eye, but it is quite obvious you have a split profile. You do not want the tip of her nose to come close to touching the far cheek line. You want to make sure the far eye is either completely showing or not showing at all. You do not want to have the bridge of her nose cut her far eye.

Your main light is coming from below her eyes. Notice the catch lights are below the center of her pupils. The name for this style of lighting is grotesque lighting. It has been (and still is) used in video and still photography to light vampires, werewolves, bad witches and other rather nefarious nocturnal nasties. Unless you are trying to make this girl out to be a very bad person, you probably should not use this lighting. I'm sure you have seen kids trying to make a scary face by holding a flashlight below their face and shinning it up to illuminate their face. It’s the same idea with this style of lighting.

You have given her too much head room. You should crop some off the top. You want to compositionally balance the left and right sides of the photograph. The compositional "rule" for this suggests that you position the tip of the subject's nose in the vertical center of the photograph. She is a vertical subject. It might be best to shoot her with a vertical format. There really isn't anything in the background that adds much to your photograph or gives you a reason to shoot this as a horizontal portrait.

I must say I don't really understand her expression. Perhaps she sees a bird and is whistling to it? A bird in what could be an alley is possible. I am also a bit confused about the background. It could be an alley or the side of a tenement. I don't know why she is there? One reason to include a background in a portrait is to establish a relationship between the subject and the background. It adds a more meaningful pictorial expression of the subject. It makes the picture more complete -- it tells a story. You may try to imply something about the person’s character or nature, or perhaps, their occupation or hobby. Everything in the picture should coordinate with everything else. Everything that is in the portrait is there for a reason and should help tell the story of the subject. You should ask yourself if the subject is relating to, and reacting to the background or setting in a meaningful and natural manner. People look more relaxed and comfortable in a location that has some sort of meaning for them. They just seem less posed and out of place.

Nice shot,

Mark

Mark,

Seeing as how she is currently my girlfriend, I may not want to admit to making her look evil.

That said, she is 5' and I am pretty sure the lowest height possible on my 13' Maxi-Stackers is 5' or more. Key light is a beauty dish from the left at the lowest height on the stand. Kicker from the side with a standard reflector on it, above the model.

Her head is tilted back, so that would be part of the reason you see the catch as from below her instead of above. The expression is more of just her goofing off, as are the other two. After art school I have kind of revolted against the idea that all images need to say something. I agree, that this would not make it as an artistic, or even a good advertising photo, but to a personal client, this would make it.

As for what I was really after was the retouching. Seeing as how she had no makeup on, I'll take the makeup comments as a compliment.

The overall feel was supposed to be moody (deep shadows) with a touch of gritty (leaving the background in focus to get the gritty from the bricks). Not to mention this was all shot close quarters with a 20mm lens on a 1.6x crop body. The eye focus is weir to me. Her mouth is in focus, and her hair is in focus. The eyes should be in focus also. This was shot at night, so maybe her pupil being so large had an influence on this?

As for the whites, I guess I have work to do. The image is tinted with brown, but I guess I need to work on the blending to allow whites to come through more. She is blonde, but had actually colored her hair with slightly red highlights. So that combo with the brown tint led to the "Irish" hair.

The edges are "burned in". Just more subtle than you may realize.

This was less a serious shoot for posing/story telling and more a playful shoot to test equipment and my own skills. When it gets time for a serious shoot, out come storyboards!