Hello Everyone,
New to Fstoppers and excited to join the community. I'm a photography hobbyist that has become a bit more serious over the past year and love learning from others and my various successes and failures in the field.
While I mostly shoot urban and street photography, I'm interested in pretty much anything that can have a photo taken of it.
This was really my first attempt at shooting a portrait (it's actually a self-portrait) and would be curious on your thoughts. This was shot in my living room with only natural light from west facing windows on an overcast day.
Basic editing was done with Nik Software (yes, I need to join the Adobe crowd...) but no real "touching" which I guess would be the norm for portraiture (baby steps... :))
Canon EOS Rebel T7i
50mm / f5.6 / ISO 800 / 1/500 sec
Appreciate your comments / thoughts.
Regards,
Scott
Hey there -- very nice portrait and I don´t think it needs retouching. It´s good to know how to but it´s often overdone, i.e. that´s why we tend to believe everyone has perfect skin. Especially since you come from the urban/street category of taking images, I believe it´s unnecessary to alter reality. The picture seems to be a tad out of focus (hair?), don´t know if that´s because of the exposure or your post-processing. The thing which distracts me most is the hand in the foreground: it is so obviously in the frame that it should be in focus -- or should not be there at all (or in another position, maybe resting on the right arm). Besides that it might be more interesting if the placement of the dark / light background be reversed. I mean that behind his brighter lit face the background could be dark and behind his (or your) darkened rearside of the head the background could be light. The dark vertical line on the left could be removed (or the picture be framed differently as to not have it in there from the beginning). And then there might be some who would argue that there are two lines sticking out of the top of the head -- but that´s getting really picky I think. So overall I think a very good portrait with much expression -- and some distracting moments. Keep on shooting (photos)! Heiko
Thank-you so much for your feedback Heiko. Your right about the focus and the arm. I initially didn't notice the exposure issue as this shot was almost immediately formatted for IG. But now it sticks out like a sore thumb.
I take your point about flipping the background and agree that the contrast in tones would better frame the portrait. Definitely will think about background more next time.
Thanks again Heiko! Much appreciated.
I second everything Heiko said for any improvements. For my impression of the image I think it's immediately stunning and conveys the mood quite effectively. It's only after looking closely that I notice the distractions. I do like your left hand pose, and I think it would be better if it were in focus than in any other way changed.
Thanks Matt! Appreciate your comments. Yeah, I was trying to get the hand with watch in shot in order to add a bit of interest, however, I can see how this may be a distracting element to a portrait. The fact that the watch is out of focus does become a bit of a distraction.
Thanks for much again Matt!