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Photography Critique Wanted

Apr 15, 2014

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    1. #1 shi-no-ryoushu, Apr 15, 2014
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    2. In general I think your picture are really nice shots! I like the look of the last two shots the most. In some of your shots the background is at a high exposure (brighter) than the subject (your doll). You could also explore taking different angles, as most of the pictures are from the same angle.

      For example in the second shot you could have taken it from below looking up at your doll or from a higher angle (like a diagonal if that makes sense) to convey a different mood. You could also look into researching basic photography composition (rule of thirds or framing for example). The area where you were had lots of possible locations for leading lines and other small things that could allow for more interesting shots.

      May I ask what kind of camera you have (whether it is a DSLR or point-and-shoot).
       
      #2 theBlueGrape, May 4, 2014
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    3. Straight on photos are nice but if you are doing a photoshoot different angles are important. The second one with him sitting looking at the water is good, he looks like he is enjoying the view.

      The lighting on the last few is so much brighter in the background you need to use a flash to keep your model as the primary focus. Nice photos over all.

      In your gallery you said the older people were terrible - how?
       
      #3 SteamWitch, May 4, 2014
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    4. I agree that they are generally nice photos. But the one thing I notice is that there are no closeups of the head. That's something I generally like to see; being able to see the eye color, different colors of the faceup, etc. That, and in all of the head-on photos, his head seems to have a slightly awkward pose for most of them as well. You could make that better if the eyes were looking in a different direction - maybe think about where you might be looking if your head was tilted that way.
       
      #4 AirimirOfGondor, May 4, 2014
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    5. theBlueGrape How would I fix the brightness problem? For those first two photos, I was croutched on the foot brigde he's sitting on. There wasn't much room to move around :) I know the rule of thirds, but I'll have to look up the other things and take them into account. My camera is a Canon t3I, a DSLR

      SteamWitch Any use of flash, even my detachable flash with diffuser ended in his skin blown out like a miniature sun. Is there any way to change my camera settings to darken the background? I could always photoshop it. These pictures are not shopped. I was taking these in the middle of a festival, which means there were a lot of people of varying ages around. The older people (generally above 60) would sometimes glare at me or ask snide questions. One old lady, when I was taking the pictures on the wooden bridge, asked me what I was doing. I said I was taking pictures of my doll. She mentioned the flat stanley kind of traveling dolls, and I told her my doll wasn't like that. She was pleasant enough until then. Then, she adopted a snide tone with me and was like "Well, why would you want to do THAT?" I admit, I was partially taking up room on the walkway, but I scootched out of the way when people came by, so she didn't even have to stop in the first place. Her husband looked completely embarrassed. I answered her politely and her husband dragged her away XD

      AirimirOfGondor Omg... is that a Torchwood reference in the line under your name??? o.o Thank you for the tips. I need to start carrying a mirror or a friend who is willing to try out the poses before I get my doll to do it :).I generally prefer not to do just face/ portrait shots because that seems to be a good portion of all the pictures I see in this hobby. A doll's face isn't going to change unless you redo it, so a lot of face shots just seem boring to me. (PSSST Also his eyebrow is chipped :( had to stay far away so that wouldn't be noticed)
       
      #5 shi-no-ryoushu, May 4, 2014
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    6. shi-no-ryoushu: Well if you have it on selective focus and have the little box on the doll then you may be able to get a correct exposure to make the images have equal exposure. Are you using your camera's manual settings? That could help with that problem


      Also it can help you get a minimum depth of field which can draw focus to your doll (or whatever part you want focus for).
       
      #6 theBlueGrape, May 5, 2014
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    7. theBlueGrape: I was using manual settings, and with selective focus. I think it had more to do with where I was shooting, more than the settings. I was in a little gazebo, in the shade, while the sun was shining bright outside. My aperture was set at 5.0, which is the minimum possible for my lens at that zoom amount.
       
      #7 shi-no-ryoushu, May 8, 2014
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