christographer Loc: Cleveland, OH

I didn't have a choice on the model or what she wore. It was simply an exercise in shooting models put on by a local camera shop.

christographer Loc: Cleveland, OH

I actually gave that idea a brief thought, but it left my mind as soon as it entered. Because i had to go grab a smoke outside ;-)

christographer Loc: Cleveland, OH

I asked for honest. I guess I got honest. And I'll never try this again <61 year old man runs down the hall crying and smashes his Nikon D810 against the wall>

sbohne

This is a big problem with just about every photographer: ego. It's the reason you are advised never to enter a photograph of someone you love in a salon competition. You are too close to the subject, and you will not accept criticism. I remember a much, MUCH younger me asked a judge why my entry didn't do better. I thought his comments were nit-picky.

He said, "Can I ask you, do you have any ugly children?"
My wife replied, "Heavens, no, they are gorgeous!"
The judge smiled and said, "I don't have any ugly children, either. But we will both agree, ugly children exist. WE just don't have any!"

SO it is possible to change without improving. However, it is IMPOSSIBLE to improve without change. You have to leave your ego at the door, swallow your pride, and only then can you improve.

FYI: when I was a working photographer, photographers would send 10 prints to me for my critique as a Master of Photography. The last one I did in 2005 cost the photographer $100. You got yours free. ;)

Have a Merry Christmas! Maybe you'll get a new Canon to replace that Nikon with!

pila

Love that 105 mm

pendennis

You shouldn't be discouraged. Lighting is difficult to master. When I started, in the 1960's, all I had were photo floods. Couldn't afford electronic flash in the power required. I bought a couple of books on lighting, and studied portraits to learn how the lights were placed, how to use available light, all things necessary, even for simple portraits. And yes, I got some brutally honest criticism when I showed the prints. I amassed notebooks full of lighting arrangements, ratios, poses, etc., and used those notes to improve my techniques and upgrade equipment. I also learned how to use scrims, backgrounds, and I even made a lot of reflectors. It's amazing what foam core and various rolls of foil can do. It was a number of years before I could afford a couple of Speedotron Brown line kits.

And that was just the lighting. The poses took a long time to master; head and shoulders, full-length, etc. How to make a woman's nose look smaller, how to make ears smaller, how to highlight the eyes, how to flatter a woman's facial lines as she moved toward age 50. How to use soft filtration, and finding lenses which provided the soft focus a lot of folks love.

It takes years to learn and put those lessons into practice.

Silkway2017

Tatoo is overwhelming... it can be appalling but... the shots are well done and they emphasize the controversy of being young and pretty while subjecting herself to eliminate your own natural beauty with manmade tattoo art all over her body... (just my feeling)

Glenn Harve

Personally, the pic of her stealing away with St Nicks bag of goodies is just fun. Dont care about much else, rather than she looks fun and i would want to be there too. Simple. No anal-ysis needed, either ya feel it or ya dont. I did, so it suceeded.

tinwhistle

To the OP. It would have helped a great deal if we had known from the start the circumstances you were working with, i.e., camera club. Other than that I have nothing to add. You got a pretty good dose of UHH already.

woodweasel Loc: bellingham Wa

Interesting

Brokenland

Although I replied earlier, I do have another couple of thoughts to add here.

1) Was wondering if the Op was using or thought about using a diffuser filter as this would have soften the models skin
2) Submitting your photos in a C&C isn't very wise as you're going to get a wide range of suggestions and most of them wrong or not so constructive. just another reason I may or may not post images online/in forums as they are not up for critique. It is what it is.

d2b2 Loc: Catonsville, Maryland, USA

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

If it has to be explained you probably won't get the answer.

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

Don't let the trolls get to you.

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

Overall well done IMHO.

The only thing I might change is moving a few more shots to the black and white column.