April 2009 Photography Assignment - Portraits (human)

[Crashcat]

The only way to learn is to through yourself out there.
Here is a pic of my son.

[Marko]

Lovely shot Kat - I like the angle, lighting and background.
Crashcat - very moody portrait, I like it. For portraits, watch the eye closest to the camera. It should be TACK sharp.

[Crashcat]

Thanks Marko, my bad actually posted the still in the works version I was playing around with. Here is the one I meant to post. Still by no means perfect but the eye is a lot sharper.

[Mad Aussie]

Crashcat ... if this is you 'learning' then most of us are in trouble! Great shot. I think I prefer the first 'still in the works' version. I didn't need the eye tack sharp in this case. For me, this is one of those rare shots (due to the treatment you have given it) that doesn't need a sharp eye.

[Crashcat]

Thanks for the kind words it nice to hear all my hard work and of course Marko's Podcast have helped out alot.

[nomad358]

Hi Everyone, I'm quite new to your community here and I'm still trying to find my way around your great forum. I'm really liking it so far, especially the podcasts.
Here is my contribution for April I just shot this on wednesday. I shot this using one flash and softbox at camera left. The difficult part here was black hair on a black background without a hair or separation light. I was able to fix this by using the Shadow/Highlight feature in Photoshop. Then I adjusted the tone and colour using Curves. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments! It's really great to be a part of your community!

[Marko]

I really like this shot nomad and welcome!
In terms of comments - I like the pose here, the sharp eyes, yup - the separation of hair to background, the funky treatment... what I'm not crazy about is the hand which i find to be a distraction. Your play with the tones works with the look of this model but I'm finding parts of the image (the hand in particular, and part of the forehead) just a bit too red for my taste. Hope that helps and LOVE to see more shots from you.
Best - Marko

I shot this using one flash and softbox at camera left. The difficult part here was black hair on a black background without a hair or separation light. I was able to fix this by using the Shadow/Highlight feature in Photoshop. Then I adjusted the tone and colour using Curves. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments

[Greg_Nuspel]

This is more of a grab shot at the jazz jam today. I turned and saw them enjoying the music. Oliver is a great sax player, today he played Happy Birthday with such improvisation for one of the jammers it blew us away. This is his girlfriends daughter, just too cute.

[darkness]

Haven't been posted in a while and I want to join in on the fun.

[nomad358]

I really like this shot nomad and welcome!
In terms of comments - I like the pose here, the sharp eyes, yup - the separation of hair to background, the funky treatment... what I'm not crazy about is the hand which i find to be a distraction. Your play with the tones works with the look of this model but I'm finding parts of the image (the hand in particular, and part of the forehead) just a bit too red for my taste. Hope that helps and LOVE to see more shots from you.
Best - Marko

Thanks Marko!

I couldn't see it on my monitor, then when I checked on another monitor I can sure see the reds were quite over saturated. How about now?