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Would like some thoughts on these images
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Jan 18, 2018 10:49:59   #
AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!
 
LouV wrote:
I like the shadow in one. It adds interest to an otherwise fairly ordinary shot. Though I would have put a little more lateral space between the model and the shadow

In two I like the diagonal shadow on the wall but would crop out the model’s shadow.

Three is just not good for a number of reasons.

It’s obvious none of these women are professional models so the poses are all a bit stiff. It’s particularly noticeable in how they are holding their hands.


Thank you for responding, LouV and expressing your views. It's interesting that you do like the shadow in the first one and partially in the second one. None of these women are professionals. But the leader of the workshop has worked with them for about 10 years, hiring them to pose for photography groups. He and members of the group would tell the women where to stand and how and where to put their hands. That is one of the reasons I was interested in knowing what actual portrait photographers thought about these, because they looked like very stiff and very unnatural poses.

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Jan 18, 2018 10:53:21   #
AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!
 
dmeyer wrote:
As for #1, while it is an intriging concept, the shortcoming, IMHO, is that the model's mouth and chin just morph into the shadow, so the value of the image as a portrait is lost. Just a few inches further left and the model's profile would have been nicely defined. But my opinion isn't worth much since I do landscapes.


Thanks, dmeyer. I've always been told that the only time you want a harsh shadow of someone is when you're shooting the shadow, so your comment is interesting. I do portraits, but of dogs, cats, horses, etc. People are SO hard! That's why I'm sort of taking this poll - trying to learn.

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Jan 18, 2018 11:00:42   #
AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!
 
suntouched wrote:
This is coming from a person who doesn't do portraits so take it for what it's worth- I'm not a fan of any of the images posted. And what's with the first lady looking at the wall? I'm not a "it has to tell a story" person but in this case I would say if leader had set it up with the women doing something representative of their culture it would have had some meaning but to pose them awkwardly against the wall with distracting shadows doesn't do it. Seems more like material for "how not to do it". What a disappointing workshop this was.
This is coming from a person who doesn't do portra... (show quote)


Suntouched, you have expressed exactly what I felt. We spent hours doing this type of work. I don't know how much he paid the ladies, but I'll bet it was a good bit of our workshop fee. Several of us did suggest that we shoot people actually working or playing or doing something natural. Finally one day he sort of let us have our way. But when we critiqued the day's work that night he was quite harsh in his comments about the unposed shots.

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Jan 18, 2018 11:02:58   #
AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!
 
blacks2 wrote:
Since I am a novice in portrait photography my input might not be great, but I like all of them the way they are.


Thank you, Mike. I was hoping to actually learn a bit on this workshop. They are interesting faces and costumes.

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Jan 18, 2018 11:15:41   #
suntouched Loc: Sierra Vista AZ
 
AzPicLady
Open mouth - insert foot :(
Sorry my above criticism was not meant for you personally but for the leader of the workshop not directing and setting up the shoot for success. I was reacting more to the composition and lack of interesting poses than to the images themselves.

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Jan 18, 2018 12:08:59   #
AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!
 
suntouched wrote:
AzPicLady
Open mouth - insert foot :(
Sorry my above criticism was not meant for you personally but for the leader of the workshop not directing and setting up the shoot for success. I was reacting more to the composition and lack of interesting poses than to the images themselves.


I understood. Thanks!

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Jan 18, 2018 12:18:03   #
angler Loc: StHelens England
 
I'm no expert on portraits but it seems to me that with just a little bit of planning with the backgrounds i think it would have helped to improve the photos of the ladies.

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Jan 18, 2018 13:24:35   #
donziska
 
The dress and the lady are beautiful. Shadows not so. Move her away from the wall and try to get he to relax and perhaps look at jewelery or something native to her. Don Z.

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Jan 18, 2018 13:49:34   #
AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!
 
donziska wrote:
The dress and the lady are beautiful. Shadows not so. Move her away from the wall and try to get he to relax and perhaps look at jewelery or something native to her. Don Z.


That was my thought, but I was the "student" so didn't have much voice.

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Jan 18, 2018 13:56:25   #
AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!
 
angler wrote:
I'm no expert on portraits but it seems to me that with just a little bit of planning with the backgrounds i think it would have helped to improve the photos of the ladies.


What's interesting about your comment is that this is the exact spot chosen by the workshop director and has been for many years. The one caveat this year was that the church had been damaged by the earthquake, so part of the front was walled off. I assumed that the director, who is a portrait photographer, would know the best place to do this. Thanks for looking in, Angler.

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Jan 18, 2018 14:16:28   #
MjTahoe Loc: Napa Valley / Lake Tahoe / California Sierra
 
I like the profile image best...
Have taken the liberty to crop and define the profile, by dropping the background and shadow to B&W to give separation, yet giving connection of the overall image
Hindsight... If you had composed the image a bit more to the left allowing the shadow to show a full headshot/hairbun, it would give a good shadow split image effect


(Download)

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Jan 18, 2018 15:11:06   #
AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!
 
MjTahoe wrote:
I like the profile image best...
Have taken the liberty to crop and define the profile, by dropping the background and shadow to B&W to give separation, yet giving connection of the overall image
Hindsight... If you had composed the image a bit more to the left allowing the shadow to show a full headshot/hairbun, it would give a good shadow split image effect


My concern was that there was a shadow at all. That was where I was directed to shoot the image. I had been trying to get a different angle, but couldn't. Thanks for your suggestion. I'll keep it in mind when attempting this again. So just to understand you, it would be better if the entire shadow were visible, right?

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Jan 18, 2018 15:16:22   #
MjTahoe Loc: Napa Valley / Lake Tahoe / California Sierra
 
Yes... full shadow

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Jan 18, 2018 15:22:35   #
AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!
 
MjTahoe wrote:
Yes... full shadow


Thanks. And by the way, I like your changing of the wall colour from its natural icky yellow to white. I've been trying to do that but don't know how.

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Jan 18, 2018 16:27:27   #
MjTahoe Loc: Napa Valley / Lake Tahoe / California Sierra
 
Simple, inexpensive program called Color Strokes.

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