What could be improved?

[fsendel]

Hi everyone,
This is the second time I'm posting here after getting a bunch of useful feedback. There is a project called photopedia which seeks to gather photo representation from many different subjects. So, I included these to be voted into the project under the label "arab people" (except the one with the nun, who is not arab...) I thought they were good portraits but they were all voted out so I'd like to know what is your opinion about them. What do you think is wrong with them?

The one with the nun I've always liked and is from the same trip (to Israel, Palestine, and Jordan).

Critique away!

Thanks,

[Bambi]

okay here's my

#1. Positives: Nice composition, good colour contrast and GREAT expression on the child's face.
Negatives: her face is not sharp enough. Also the back of her headdress is cut off but the biggest issue is the lack of sharpness.

#2. Positives: interesting face,
Negs: same as above it's blurred.

#3. Positives: great composition, love her expression, love the simplicity of the photo.
Negs: her face is too dark. If you can brighten it up with the dodge tool. Maybe boost the curves a bit as well.

#1 and 2 probably can't be saved which is too bad. But I have reams of photos like this and each one has taught me something. That and getting feedback like you are doing. I would play more with #3 to see if it can be improved.

and now you'll know what to do next time.

[edbayani11]

i find all three images to my liking. as bambi says, they are blurred. a pity since they are all good photos regarding composition, color and expression.
i don't know if you can reshoot these but if ever they won't have the same expressions.
i hope you don't mind, i took the liberty of processing them. in the first two images, i blurred the bacgrounds a bit to emphasize the subjects. i also straightened the background in image 1

[MoinMoin]

I totally agree with Bambi and edbayani11. As you can see, your pictures do have good potential.

[Marko]

Good critiques ed and bambi! Nice fixes ed!

Shot 3 is by far the strongest shot here imo despite the noisy background. Notice how there are no distractions, notice how your eyes go straight where you want them to (face). Notice how this image sets a 'mood'.

The man with the Kafia - he's just gazing off somewhere, out of context. Had we seen what he was looking at OR if he was looking at the viewer, it might be stronger.

The one with the nun is almost the same thing - who is she looking at - what is she doing? IF she wasn't so cropped, the colours of her VERY INTERESTING/COLOURFUL clothing could make a nice juxtoposition against the green; but as it stand now, imo, it's neither here nor there.

Hope that helps - Marko

[fsendel]

Thanks a lot to everyone. Ed, I like what you did with them! How did you blur out the background? I know there are several ways to do this in PS but which do you think is the easiest? The one with the old man, how did you sharpen it? It looks much better!

Marko, thanks for the critiques too. The one with the green background and the older man, I thought that the fact that they were looking away was somewhat interesting, to emphasize the fact that these are not posed portraits. Don't you think? I agree with the "mood" set in the third shot. That's why I like it so much, it feels very intimate, a little dark and thoughtful.

[Mad Aussie]

Wow Ed's fixes really made these work very, very well!!

I have to agree with the compositions ... all three are very good compositions.

[edbayani11]

fsendel, i duplicated the image of the old man and applied unsharp mask at 40% amount and radius at 1.
then with the sharpen tool, set at 40% strength. brushed the beard and moustache. clicked on the skin blemishes. the eyes, with rubber stamp tool set to the hardest, size at 2 pixels, i cloned the white of the eyes brishing the edge of the black to sharpen it. with burn tool set to the hardest and range set to shadows, exposure at 40%, 2 pixel size, brushed the lines on the face.
the garments embroidery, i brushed with the sharpen tool and the burn tool alternately to sharpen it. then applied layer mask and with a hard brush, i brushed away the background. i went to the original layer and used gaussian blur to blur it. flattened.

[edbayani11]

Marko, MA, glad you liked the pp on the photos.

[Marko]

Marko, thanks for the critiques too. The one with the green background and the older man, I thought that the fact that they were looking away was somewhat interesting, to emphasize the fact that these are not posed portraits. Don't you think? I agree with the "mood" set in the third shot. That's why I like it so much, it feels very intimate, a little dark and thoughtful.

I'm likely in the realm of just my opinion here but ....no, the looking away, for me, is the least interesting part of the image. Although the man looks interesting and is wearing very interesting clothing...for me the interest ends there.

Had his expression been more intense, or had we seen what he is gazing or pondering at (the context) that's where the extra interest would have been. Compare the intensity of shot 3 to this shot - no comparison imo. The man shot has no 'story', the nun in shot 3 definitely does.