SG Blues

The second of the series, in this one I used the reflection of the guitar to

create another dimension, but again I don't know if this is a good thing

or not so any advice would be much appreciated. Thank You

Having seen the other image of your Granddaughter first, I prefer that one to this. So I am a little biased in commenting here.

Yes, a clever use of the Gibson (to lighten the darker side of her face) and the definition in the prop is good. I prefer the skin tone you presented in the "Soft Rock" image....... can't put my finger on it though.

Great eye capture in both images.......... nice to have attractive relatives.

Still a good image though.

Well done my friend

Best regards

I really like the reflection - great thinking on your part. I wouldn't think you would have a grandaughter this age Alf!!!! But I bet you can 'rock on' with the best of them - even with her!!!! She is a beautiful girl and I imagine you are a great Grandfather! Keep it up, you have done well, don't stop now!!!

It looks like her first album, uh, CD cover!  Showing my age too.  There must be some strong genes on your wife's side, a very pretty young lady...  Mike

Alf, of the 2 images this one is my favourite. I picked up on gails comment about the reflection, I didnt actually see it prior to that, I take it that she belts out some pretty good AC/DC with that SG, just like Angus.

Now for critique of the image itself: Aprears to have a single light source, which i like for portrature, because she is young i think the angle of lighting works as well. it does put the focus of the image on your grandaughter. I think there is a little to much of the SG in the image, i find the White toggle a little distracting, I would have cropped it out along with the bottom right volume control. The tones are really good, skin tone is spot on and midtone contrast good. Lovely detail and clarity in the eyes.

Well done Alf, and image to put on the mantle piece.

Regards Richard

Alf, you may not agree but this is how i would have cropped, At the end of the day what in the image is whats important to you.

A very neat image, I like the careful composition and your control of the tones.

Of course compliments for the beautiful model.

Regarding the crop, well, I prefer yours. The reason is that the wavy shape on the guitar over the strings (it probably has a proper name that I am ignorant of) has a delicate relationship with the brow-nose curve of the model that is much weakened in the tighter crop.

Wish you to enjoy your new venture into portraiture, seems you are quite good at it!

Regards, Tibi

Very good and interesting image, the B&W is great and suits well with the details. The reflection is just fantastic and I guess the main detail of this picture. Richard´s suggestion for the crop is a good idea and will be better for overall composition (sure, it will be perfect to the composition in my eye), but in this case we luse some part of the reflection and the photo and idea will be not the same.

Alf,

  Wow...beautiful portrait of a beautiful young lady!!  I no you are a proud grand pa.  Take care, Patsy

Hello Alf, Of the two images I lean towards this one. The detail is very good as is the B&W tonality and contrast. Her perfect skin at first glance had me thinking mannequinn but after viewing for a while she's a real stunner and the light reflection worked perfectly IMHO. The other posters have stated what I'm trying to get across somewhat better than I, but the bottom line is a fine effort from you Alf. Take care.

BR,

Holger

GRAYHAM

Sincere thanks for your thoughtful and well considered comments, very much appreciated! I think I still have a long way to go with skin tones, and hopefully I'll get some tips from the talented individual off PN.  Our familly is full of very attractive people, and they take after my wife of course : - )

The reflection was to give a moody kind of side to the image, which I think has wored to some extent.  Thanks again Grayham.

Best Regards

Alf

GAIL

She is younger than she looks : - )  I actually got her to put some eye make up on for the shoot as it was going to have a Rock / Goth type theme.  I think my rocking days are over though Gail, but we did have a few moments of fun recently when she brought her "Lets Dance" game for the Wii to our house, I needed an oxygen tent by the end of it, but it was hilarious!  Many Thanks for your words of enouragement Gail, they are very much appreciated!

MIKE

I just had to show you, your not the only one that can get the good looking girls : - )  She can't actually play the guitar, but it's a good illusion. And yeah, of course those looks didn't come from my side of the family.

Many Thanks & Best Regards

Alf

RICHARD

Thank you so much for your invaluable imput, very much appreciated!

AC/DC ,  yeah, I was actually going to title this one "For Those About To Rock"  But the truth is she can't play a note : - )  But never mind I can play it and she could mime!

For the light source I used three things, I used on camera flash, adjusted to give a much less harsh light. I also used window light and the light from a radiant heater that gave a warm glow.  I agree for the most part about the crop, but think somewhere between yours and mine would be about right.  There are a few things I have learned from your observations, and for one, I would make some adjustment to the angle of the guitar if I took this shot again.

Best Regards

Alf

TIBI

Many thanks for your interest and thoughtful comments!

The scrolled edge that you can see is the rear edge of the "scratch plate" I too liked the shape of it, but  it is most interesting to note your thoughts regarding relationship it has to the contours of her brow- nose.  I must concur with Richard to some extent though as the toggle switch is a bit of a distraction, but maybe cloning that out would have been a better alternative than the crop.  I think I have a long journey into the realms of Portraiture, but I have now taken one step at least.

Best Regards

Alf

GUNNAR

Many Thanks for your interest and thoughtful feedback, much appreciated! I know just what you are saying, from a technical point of view Richards crop is correct, but it does lose something, a compromise of some sort must therefore prevail.

Best Regards

Alf

PATSY

You are right I am very proud of her, she has grown up to be a lovely young person (Thanks to my great influence) << I only added that because I know how much she will laugh when she reads it!

Many Thanks for your thoughtful comments Patsy!

Best Regards

Alf

HOLGER

Sincere Thanks for your interest and thougtful imput, much appreciated!  I think you have communicated your thoughts most eloquentlyand I agree the skin tones do appear pale. I did purposely present them that way because of the theme, but I may do it differently next time.

Cheers Holger and Best Regards

Alf

Hi Alf, I prefer the other one all this one has it strengths too. Once again the low key tones contrasting so dramatically with her fair skin. The tones of the eye shadow contrasting sharply and drawing attention to her eyes as well as the contrast of her lipstick against her skin.

The only issue that I have with this one is it seems as if the left side of her face either caught a little too much light or was slightly over processed. Her right nostril (on my screen) is almost lost against her skin.

A nice portrait with some great elements but I prefer the other one.

Of course what do I know :)

Joe

"For the light source I used three things, I used on camera flash, adjusted to give a much less harsh light. I also used window light and the light from a radiant heater that gave a warm glow."  Alf, you are really getting into this photography thing!  Your image is most interesting to me because of all the responses you have gotten that reflect emotions and empathy and pride and excitement about your budding vision.  Photographers call this seeing with the mind's eye---a type of vision full of emotion, anticipation, tingley skin, etc.  Learning the technical elements of photography requires seeing the way the camera sees.  You have much to learn and you will not learn it all in a day or a week but over time.  I only want to address your quoted comment about your lighting set-up.  You cannot adjust the on-camera flash to give a less harsh light.  It is a point light source, like the sun, and it only going to give you harsh, flat light.  Window light is a larger light source and will give you a softer light (if there is enough if it).  The on-camera flash overpowered the window light because I see no soft effect in your lighting---same thing about the heater giving a warm glow.  You could see the heater glow with your eyes and maybe even see a bit of it on your subject but it was too weak for the camera to record it.  Lighting, regardless of the source, has quantity, quality, color, and direction.  Read everything you can about how your camera works and how to think about lighting the way your camera does.  Good luck.

Many thanks for looking in and leaving your well considered comments, much appreciated. I think you are right, there is some over processing going on, it was all a bit experimental and I will have another go at the processing. The idea behind the pose on this one was to capture the reflection to give the immage another dimension, but I think that is only partly successful. Always good to get views Joe.

Kind Regards

Alf

JOHN

Sincere Thanks for your interest and observations, very much appreciated! You are so right about the anticipation and enthusiasm, I have waited for some time to get the opportunity to take some portrait shots. I did as well, have a vision of what I wanted to achieve and in part I succeeded. But it is most enlightening to read your words, particularly in relation to the flash.  There is an adhjustment for the on board flash, but perhaps I have used the wrong terminology when I described it as "less harsh" maybe "less intense" would have been more appropriate. However the interesting thing is that the flash (less intense or not) has cancelled out any of the other lighting elements that I mistakenly thought would have an influence on the photograph. I will take on board your advice relating to the lighting and hopefully make some improvements in the future. The other thing that you didn't mention that no doubt had a great deal of influence on the final appearance of the image was the processing, again something I aim to improve on.

Thanks again & Best Regards

Alf

Hey Alf, I don't think it was over processed per se, just that the her right nostril sort of disappears due to the lighting on that side. I enjoy the smoothing effect but the lighting has removed depth on the left hand (her right) side of her face around the nostril.

Yes, I can see what you mean, there is very little definition in the area you have indicated. I think it is partly due to the lighting as you have described, but there is also an element of the processing that has contributed to the loss of definition too.  Thank you for that clarification Joe!

Best Regards

Alf

Many Thanks for your thoughts and kind words, much appreciated!

Best Regards

Alf

I'm commenting before reading others' comments so as to keep my critique unbiased.  Of your two most recent similar portraits I prefer this offering.  There is enough of the instrument showing to tell the viewer what it is she plays but it's the slight turn of her head to camera right coupled with the eyes locked on to the camera that gives this one a dynamic missing in the other.  An interesting diversion from your usual landscapes.  Icing on the cake for me is your presentation in the classic B&W.  Love it for people shots.  Best, LM.

Many Thanks for your thoughtful observations and comments, very much appreciated.  I think its a good idea to comment without reading the previous critiques, I'm often torn between doing just that  or reading to avoid saying the same things as previous commentors, but on balance  I think your approach is the best one.

I also like this one because of the slight angle and the reflection of her face.  There was quite a lot of people that commented on the "Doll like" effect, some liked it, some didn't, but its someting to consider on my next attempt at processing.  As for B & W, its something I have always liked, but only recently got a grip on processing it to any degree of proficiency, and its very gratifying to read you approve.

Cheers Len!

Alf

of the two in this series i like this one best Alf......the reflection is just dark enough not to be distracting and the detail and B&W tones in the two subjects are spot on.....nice job

Alf, this is definitely a top photo with a superb lighting & smooth skin tones, the charming looking is really capture your eyes, and in my opinion usually the bright of main subject is always catch your attention first, so you clever to arrangement of stage property in dark bg. which makes model stand out & adds more elegant, also that b/w effect build great contrast adds more dimension & depth for image, sorry for my poor english :)      Best regards

Many Thanks for your interest and thoughtful observations, much appreciated! I do like the dark  reflection myself, its like another dimension of image.

Best Regards

Alf

RICHARD

Thank you so much for your warm enthusiasm and encouraging words. The dark background was arranged from items I had at home, and the guitar was black which also helped.. The B & W conversion is something which I seem to be having more success with since processing them using channels.

Your English is far better than some English people I could mention, so no apologies necessary my friend  : - )

Best Regards

Alf