Karim Ghantous

I love this but there is one thing that warrants a re-shoot: the crooked wallpaper. 😉

This is as simple as it is refined. The subjects are all well chosen and everything is in its right place.

A very nice composition. The light is very well balanced.

Lovely shot. I really like these kinds of images, of athletes in isolation. This reminds me of some of the shots I'd see in Image Bank catalogues from the 1990s. There's something oddly quieting about this kind of photo.

Although I don't agree with the title, I like this shot. The subject is posed rather elegantly.

If I may offer a minor nitpick: the highlights on the girl's dress (approximately half-way down the frame) need to be brought down. Her face is a little dark but I wouldn't worry about that. I prefer imperfect ambient light than unnecessary artificial light. Maybe a reflector could have been used, in hindsight.

Very nice, indeed! It's as effective as it is simple. Simplicity is much underrated these days.

Beautiful photo!

But it's tainted, I think, by partial desaturation. This effect is not attractive. BUT - it does not ruin the essence of the photo.

This is a wonderful shot. The colour, shape and lighting are all spot-on. Two thumbs-up!

Very effective photo. The bold reds and oranges and blues work together very nicely and the composition is almost spot-on - maybe there could be a bit more space at the top of the frame. The mood here is very nicely conveyed. It makes me feel like I am on the shore.

This is a really wonderful shot! I do think that the horizon is crooked, though. The colours and reflection are just great.

This composition is a great place to start for a potentially great photo. But as it is, there are a few things lacking.

You probably did not have a choice as to what time of day that you took this photo. But if you can ever go back, you ought to try early morning or early evening. Even the middle of the night would be nice, if you can get star trails in the background.

The colours are drab and the shadows are too harsh. Those issues would be solved with nicer light, found at the extremes of the day. The horizon feels crooked, even though the landscape itself is not flat, and I am guessing that if you tilted the camera a little bit clockwise, it would look better. Also, the rocks jutting out at the bottom of the frame are a little distracting, although I imagine that it would not be simple to change your perspective in this rough environment.

Pose and lighting are beautiful. Well done. :-)

This is such a wonderful photo! Great subject, great composition. The only minor issue is that the framing could be a bit tighter.

Nice shot, Chris. It reminds me of some of the photos you'd see from The Image Bank, or in the pages of Practical Photography back in the '90s.

Yes, I like this shot. Beautiful composition, but not so beautiful lighting (Mark Chartrand explained it very well). But the one, major flaw in this wonderful photo is the damned catch-lights. They scream at me, saying "On-camera flash!". But let me repeat: it's a wonderful composition. It's just the lighting that needs revising.

This is such a lovely shot. You have obviously taken care in your composition. Importantly, you can kept the shot 'clean' and free of clutter. That is, there are no unncessary elements which detract from the scene. The atmosphere is well preserved, too. So you've done very well, both technically and aesthetically. :-)

I am glad that you have not painted out the wires supporting the lights as some would have done. Personally I don't like manipulation of documentary images.

I would not take this photo, simply because your technical sensibilities are too far from mine. And yet... I like it - a lot. I think it's something you might see in Vogue, and if not Vogue, then Frankie at least.

The lighting may not be perfect, and the background may not be perfect either, but the mood is right, and that's at least as important as 'ideal' lighting. I like the subject, her expression and her pose. And her legs.

But... er... back to the photo. Perhaps if I were allowed to change one, minor detail, it would be to remove the chair in the bottom right of the frame (or replace it with a chair of a darker shade). And instead of a cigarette, she'd be holding maybe something else.

Overall, this photo works very well.

I'd like to comment because I see the beginnings of a good fashion shot. You have seen the value of selective lighting and have tried to do something interesting with it. If you developed this idea (which may or may not interest you) you could come up with a good photo.

But this photo is neither 'nice' nor 'mysterious'. The positive comments above are simply too generous. For example, the highlight area below the earring is too 'hot'. And the shadow area of the woman's face is marred, probably JPEG compression (not really your fault). It's as if she has bad skin.

You should be credited with the foundation of a good photo - this is the equivalent of a 'sketch'.

Astonishingly good. I just love your daughter's pose and expression. Excellent framing and composition, too. Plus I love what she's wearing - she has a very cool dress sense.

This goes to show that you don't need expensive cameras, a dozen lights, software filtration and 15 assistants to take effective, beautiful photographs.

I responded to this picture immediately - I thought that while I liked it, the image could be refined a little bit further (e.g. for me, the woman is not quite pregnant enough!). Then I thought, no, it's fine as it is. It's the immediate impact followed soon after by the subtleties that make this photo work.

The light is simple but nice and conveys a nice mood. What gets me is the pose. The subject's body is at a nice angle and her head is bowed down just enough. Her hair falls around her face just so. And the shadows just fall into place.

Lovely girl, lovely picture! Well done.

Wonderful shot. Probably the best in your whole portfolio IMO. I love the girl's hair and her pose.

I love this shot. I like how the lighting gradually fades into the clouds. I only wish there was more of it.

I can see how someone might think this was composited (I don't really know what a 'photoshop' is in this context - I don't see any retail stores in the landscape). Digital cameras tend to be a little harsh when dealing with highlights. But still, this image is marked as not manipulated and usually professionals don't need to lie about it.

Brad: nice photo, nice composition, nice framing... and nice subject. :-) It's worthy of being displayed among the work of the great PJs.

The idea for this pic is certainly right. The model is posed well and her figure is just right (i.e. not a matchstick!). So your fundamentals are very good.

The image overall, though, looks like half potential art, half rapidly taken snapshot. The location is fine, but the composition and perspective is 'boring'. But allow me to explain.

Firstly, if it were possible, you could have used reflectors to even out the shadows on the model's face and torso. They aren't that bad, but the lighting on her upper chest is too harsh, where the lighting of her left side is too dull. Also, look at her arms and determine if the lighting (i.e. sunlight) is as good as it could be.

Her left foot, on account of being buried in the grass, makes her look as if she doesn't have one!

The background completely ruins the shot. It interferes with the model - if you really want background foliage, you could render it OOF. I think the sky would be the best background - hopefully cloudless. An alternative to must over: heavy, overcast sky with a subject lit by slow-synch flash, covered with warm-up filters.

Having ground, trees and cloudy (but blue) sky all in the same shot takes away all the drama. I can't stand the pretentious, stark white backgrounds that Avedon liked (and which many younger photographers used to copy all the time) but the best type of background is an uncluttered one.

You could have shot from ground level and framed her from head to waist, and had a pure sky background. Perhaps raising her on a platform would be better still. Where your camera is now gives a boring perspective.

If you ever do another similar shot, let me know!