Critique please

[neverhood311]

About a month ago I posted one of my first portraits done with my new Canon 50mm f/1.4. Now I'm back for more. I decided to do this little portrait project to see if I liked this important branch of photography. This is the first of many (hopefully) because I enlisted the help of my roommates and another apartment in the complex to be my models.

I'd love to get some feedback on how I did. What works and what doesn't? Keep in mind that I'm just barely getting into portrait photography. This is the first formal photo shoot I've attempted. And I just got an extra monitor for my laptop so the colors and contrast between the two are slightly different. Personally, I think the colors look great on my new monitor, but you never know what kinds of variations there are between mine and others.

Feedback would be excellent!

[ktuli]

Justin,

I am horrible at portrait photography, so take this with a grain of salt... or maybe a half grain...

First, the shadow she is in seems confusing me to. The lines of it are far too distinct, and oddly placed - almost like you forgot to remove a mask or something after PP. If it needs to stay, I'd at least crop up from the bottom to remove that portion at the bottom edge of the frame. Get rid of that phone number on the awning in the background - even blurred, it is a distraction. And lastly, and probably the biggest for me is the feeling that her forehead and right hand are over-exposed (or over worked in PP). I'd tone them down just a shade and see how that looks.

Aside from that, it really does look pretty nice. I'd very easily see it in a magazine ad. Nice shot! Keep at it!

- Bill

[neverhood311]

First, the shadow she is in seems confusing me to. The lines of it are far too distinct, and oddly placed - almost like you forgot to remove a mask or something after PP.

I actually added that. It's just a grey bar so my logo stands out a little more from the photo. I wonder if I should make it more obvious that it's a bar that I added. I guess it does kinda look like a shadow.

I knew I should have taken out the phone number on the awning. I'll do that. Thanks.

[speedneeder]

I like the perspective and the background. Her expression is good too.
Her seat looks uncomfortable, but it's a pretty good shot.

[jiro]

Since the background doesn't seem to help that much, I'd probably add some dark vignettes so the focus would be on the bright areas on the woman's face. Just an idea.

[MiniChris]

I think the entire background is distracting...tone it down considerably and lose the logo. If you are going to go there, go for an inconspicuous watermark. Yours stands out more prominently than the work and as it sits, ten times easier to copy the work and dump the original logo.

The pose is fine and the lighting is pretty evenly disbursed. You might want to move her slightly to the left to give her eyes more room to look outside the frame. This would help to make the background less conspicuous and the offending phone number disappear.