*Alana 3095

I'm really a little puzzled by this one. The reason I made this shot

by the red barn was because it echoed her both her hair and her dress.

But, when I look at it, I don't get that feeling of harmony that I

anticipated, and this has happened before with red barns as backdrops,

even with red on the subject. There is a disconcerting feel to it.

Is it because of how we see red, do you think? Anyway, in this

posting, the red barn has been desaturated. How does it look to you?

Would it help to see it with the background as it was originally?

I'm beginning to think I should keep away from red as a color scheme

and use it just for accents. Or maybe this should be just a black and

white. Maybe it's the lines leading out of the shot to the left? I

bet that's what it is.

maybe it's that boarded up window...?

 

I think you're right about the lines leading out to the left. For me, there's too much barn and she's too centered. I also think maybe the original saturated barn would be better. I obviously don't know what the original barn looks like, but made a guess.

I live in an area with a lot of red barns, and can understand your question about color shift. I think that a lot of it is how the angle the light hits the old paint. If you want the barn to show more red, you probably will need to shoot with direct sunlight, or add a flash behind the subject on the barn. Anyway that's my guess. dhw

I like how you used the old barn as a background . It looks good against her soft skin . But I think you should have shown more of the model and focused on her face . I think the old boards are more in focus then the model . Otherwise I like the idea , the red dress really pops .

I'll post the original later tonight. In the meantime, thanks for everyone's input.

Doug, you have mastered your "new" genre in a hurry. This is beautifully done. I cannot imagine it being done any better.

 

I like it just as you have offered it, centered and all. Any technical specs would be appreciated.

 

--Lannie

Here's the original, the way it's posted, with the barn turned brown, and with the barn turned completely neutral (desaturated). The two blue dots on the as posted version (top left) show where the plane of focus intersected the barn. A close examination reveals that *Alana's face is very sharp, and the rest of the barn is out of focus except for that side (where the blue dots are). So the appearance of the barn being sharp is an illusion we can credit to all those lines of wood grain, and the chipped paint, and the small size of the jpg. I see how the red of her dress pops out quite strongly in all but the original version. In the as posted version, where the red barn is only partially desaturated, the red pops and her hair pops. In the brown barn version, her hair doesn't seem to stand out so much (at least to me). Of course, in the gray barn version, her hair and dress stand out too much. I wonder if I can make that last gray barn version lighter? With a lighter gray? I wonder how that will look? Since my desaturation was done through a layer mask, I also tried the barn blue, green, yellow, purple, etc. All of the were horrible, as you can imagine. Maybe the red dress needs to change!

 

So many options....

Hi Lannie! You were posting as my I was hunched over my keyboard...

 

First, to Scott, this is how I also presented it to her, as a vertical, with many of those strong lines cut off. I cropped in the camera based on the those lines, but they felt too strong for use in her portfolio, so I gave her the option of the horizontal (as originally posted) and as the vertical, here. (The vertical crop actually looks like it has the original background, not the desaturated version.)

 

Let's see. The technical notes. It was overcast. The sun, if it had been out, would have been on the other side of the barn, where the chicken coops are. I had a gold reflector bouncing into her face (she may have been holding it) and otherwise, just overcast light. I used a Nikon D700 with a 24-70 zoom. Since I hate taking notes, I'm glad for the EXIF data which tells me the exposure was 1/160 at f/6.3 at ISO 400. The zoom was at 62mm. The white balance was set for Cloudy Weather. This was our very first set. We had met for the first time about 15 or 20 minutes prior to shooting.

 

Speaking of the full frame horizontal, although she is in the exact middle of the frame (her mouth marks the spot), I don't get the feeling of it being centered, I guess because of the boarded window high in the composition, and the weight of the wider boards on the right, and their darkness. I feel the composition is well balanced, but the lines that go off the page on the left, they're hard to ignore. Maybe they should be darker?

Lannie, about the new genre: I have such a hard time posting pictures like this in the critique forum because I don't' think of them as portraits, or as fashion. I really do hope they add some more categories!

Here is the as posted version with that left side burned down a bit (maybe too much?). I think it makes a big difference.

I am not sure about the reds, but I do find the lines in the barn a bit distracting. Also, imho the barn does not fit the elegance of the model.

Doug, I can see that you have really given this color thing some thought. I didn't even read your comments the first time through, but it is hard not to see the reds, even if you have my somewhat color-blind eyes. (Imagine: a would-be photographer who cannot even see colors the way other people see them.)

 

What new category would you suggest, by the way?

 

--Lannie

Doug,

 

I know you asked some specific questions and I will try to address them, but I thought I would comment on a couple of other things while I was at it. Hope you don't mind.

 

Red is difficult to work with. It will always draw the viewer's attention, as red is prone to do. Combining three shades of red is compounding your problem. It is hard enough to shoot a girl with red hair (by the way, she is a very pretty girl). Of course, black and white would help considerably, but I still see a few problems that do not concern the color.

 

Your choice to provide the girl with a vertical shot was good. There really isn't a good reason to shoot this as a horizontal. As someone mentioned, the vertical lines of the boarded widow work against the horizontal lines of the barn. It therefore draws attention away from the girl. Her eyes just don't look critically sharp to me (even though you said they are) and they need catch lights to make them come alive. Her make-up looks very nice. Good use of mascara and eyeliner, but I do think a little more blush and a bit more lipstick or lip gloss would help. Redheads often have fair skin and need a little extra help in the make-up department. She has quite an expanse of bare chest showing. I think a nice necklace would work to her advantage by breaking up all that skin.

 

Unless this is suppose to be some kind of fashion shot where you want to contrast the location with the outfit, she looks a little overdressed for the rural location. Speaking of her dress, that is some strange dress! At first, I thought it had sleeves, but her right arm is sticking out? Notice how it is puffed out at her right arm. It is pulling away from her chest. There in no definition to her breasts at all. She is shapeless. This should be corrected with lighting or pose.

 

You have posed her straight on to the camera. This shows her at the widest part of her body - shoulder to shoulder. If you would have her turn a bit to the camera (right shoulder back so that the lines of the barn lead into her body) she would appear slimmer, more feminine and would have a more graceful appearance. I'm not too sure this would go along with the location, but it would make her look better. I really have a problem with one of the lines of the side of the barn coming out of the left side of her head. I also think she could use a little less headroom.

 

Back to color. I would not use the red dress. Almost any red color will clash with the lovely color of her hair. The bright red of her dress will draw the viewer's eyes away from her face.

 

Nice shot,

 

Mark

"the barn does not fit the elegance of the model."

 

Tracy, you make a good point. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, though, as a means of contrast.

"you have really given this color thing some thought."

 

It's a variation on "marry in haste, repent at leisure," Lannie. I know the situation very well. So with this, it was, "Hey, I would like to try the red barn as a background again." I had problems with it the first time, so I don't know why I thought it would work the second time (although in hindsight, maybe it's the shirt). Regardless, I'll probably keep trying until I get it.

 

I think there should be a category for model portfolios. If there were, then shots like this, which don't make a whole lot of sense (re: dress vs rustic setting) would be more acceptable. Among other reasons.

Mark, thanks again for your precise and accurate thoughts. The weight of your words are sinking in. The straight-on posing, particularly, is sticking fast in my head; the need for a necklace, catch lights, etc.

 

About the dress, it's actually a normal design, but she said she wears it with the sleeves pulled down, so I said OK, and we started shooting.

 

The shapelessness of her body is due to the reflector (that I think) she's holding. Bye-bye shadows.

 

I'm not finished with this barn just yet....