Time for Portraiture

[Yisehaq]

Hey All,
I am trying to work on my portraiture skills these days. Yesterday, these gentlemen where kind enough to pose for me. Please give me your comments both from portraiture and PP points of view.

#1

#2

Cheers,

[Ricco]

Yisehaq,
The first guy (older) is an interesting subject but for me it doesn't stir any emotion or anything. I think the background is a little offputting also.

The second one on the other hand has a lot of mood to it and I reckon you have captured that guy perfectly. The lighting looks great and shows a "darker" mood.

[Hans]

I like the cheeky and friendly expression on the first and the drama of the second.
Well done.
First looks like it was taken in his work environment. The background could be toned down with a little burning leaving the subject bright.

[Geoff F]

Possibly, I would have liked a little bit more space above the head of the first subject; about the same as the distance between his ear and the right edge.

And maybe the highlight on the nose of the second model is just a tiny bit strong, but don't remove it altogether.

But, all in all, I like them.

[Yisehaq]

Thanks everyone!

[tihsgod]

yes these are nice shots, particularly the second. I think that you have captured them well...

A little more sharpness would raise the overall quality and impact...

[Yisehaq]

Thanks Neil. The sharpness seems to fade as I downsized it for the web.

[Yisehaq]

Thanks Neil.

[Geoff F]

Thanks Neil. The sharpness seems to fade as I downsized it for the web.

Yes I often get that sort of problem in spite of doing the resizing work strictly correctly.

[Dave Humphries]

The sharpness seems to fade as I downsized it for the web.

Hi Yisehaq,

Yes it will, you really do need to re-sharpen after a downsize. have a read of this.

Initially I preferred the first, but actually, they're both quite good in terms of dramatic lighting on the subjects.

I think you're doing alright at the 'improving' bit

[Yisehaq]

Thanks Dave.

you really do need to re-sharpen after a downsize. have a read of this.

I used to sharpen and downsize the image. That was really helpful.

[Geoff F]

I had a spell of using the Bicubic Sharpener setting for downward resizing but found that I was getting variable results so I have now reverted to using the basic Bicubic setting and adding a little Unsharp Mask afterwards to suit each individual photo.

[Colin Southern]

I had a spell of using the Bicubic Sharpener setting for downward resizing but found that I was getting variable results so I have now reverted to using the basic Bicubic setting and adding a little Unsharp Mask afterwards to suit each individual photo.

Same. Usually 100% @ 0.3 works a treat.

[Dave Humphries]

I had a spell of using the Bicubic Sharpener setting for downward resizing but found that I was getting variable results so I have now reverted to using the basic Bicubic setting and adding a little Unsharp Mask afterwards to suit each individual photo.

and

Usually 100% @ 0.3 works a treat.

Yep, I too went through those learning experiences

[wilgk]

and I am ashamed to admit that I was going along nicely jumping for joy over what I was learning in my video lessons on portraits pp with Kelby training........then (as I had 80 cast to do)...got impatient....yep I know silly me

and didn't watch to the end and just did some sharpening from the CS5 book....with some terrible results....might have looked good on a duck or a building, but hair and eyes came out very scratchy and I think showing overshrapened artefacts....
very cross with myself

will be back to 'more haste less speed' for me.