PP fun on portraits

[Yi-P]

Had a short play with CS2 yesterday night...

Was about to straighten this image, but I think just leaving it uncropped added more flavour to the character and style..


A tighter crop with added grain and BW convert.



What'ya think??

[Matt. K]

Hi Yi-P!
First image is very dynamic and has a contemporary feel about it. Very good! Second image is not as striking because of the composition. Note that she is looking down at her knee and as our eyes follow that gaze the lines of the knee lead the eye directly out of the image space. Effective composition prevents that from happening. Does that make sense to you? Can you see what I am trying to illustrate ...or do you disagree? I am curious to hear your opinion.

[Yi-P]

Hi Yi-P!
First image is very dynamic and has a contemporary feel about it. Very good!

Thanks

Second image is not as striking because of the composition. Note that she is looking down at her knee and as our eyes follow that gaze the lines of the knee lead the eye directly out of the image space. Effective composition prevents that from happening. Does that make sense to you? Can you see what I am trying to illustrate ...or do you disagree? I am curious to hear your opinion.

Yes, I see what you mean now. I havent noticed this little bit of line from the knee out of the frame when doing this image

I was asked to get a few of some kind of isolated and lonely feeling themed pictures, so I was thinking about on looking elsewhere and isolate the subject with DOF so for the mood.

How about this one...

Looking straight out of the frame... or probabbly another failure in composition??

[stubbsy]

Yip

Your gut instinct on that first one is correct - it works well as is.

[Matt. K]

Yi-P
The last image...can you see where the visual energy is in this picture?...It's her eyes...and then the bright area of her leg, which is a distraction. Where do we look when we see her eyes?...Out of the image space, and that's bad. If we look down at her leg...secondary point of interest because it's bright....where do we gaze....out of the image space again. Bad again. By the way...when I say bad It is not bad if that is your intended purpose. If I say "Can you create an image that drags the viewers eye straight out of the image space?" then you have done very well! There are no rules in photography but speaking generally it should be the intention of the photographer to trap the viewers eye and then lead it around the image. The longer the viewers eye is held in the image space then the more succesful you have been.
Now...Can you create a portrait that will lead the viewers eye around and around the image space? There's a challange.

[Yi-P]

Yi-P
There are no rules in photography but speaking generally it should be the intention of the photographer to trap the viewers eye and then lead it around the image. The longer the viewers eye is held in the image space then the more succesful you have been.
Now...Can you create a portrait that will lead the viewers eye around and around the image space? There's a challange.

Oww, I'll keep that in mind next time I go out for a shoot!! Now THATS a challenge!! It's so hard to get and think everything about these elements when you have the viewfinder in front of your eyes and a breathing/moving subject... then have to worry about the technical issue of getting a right exposure with adequate DOF and have enough things filled in the frame... maybe this is what 'experience teacher' is about

[Oscar]

Hi Yi-P. I too like the treatment and composition of the first shot. Well done.
Cheers, Mick