Constructive Criticism Wanted

[Jordan_S]

I am seeking feedback on these images. Constructive criticism will be highly appreciated.

The images have been heavily processed to conform with what I saw when I took them. This is due—I believe—to a lack of preparedness, limits on when and where the images could be taken, and a need to better understand how my cameras see. It should be noted that I was told minutes before the shoot that the portrait backgrounds "should be dark". Hence, I've resorted to vignetting.

My equipment? A 7D with a Tokina 17-50 f/2.8, a 5D MKi with a Cannon 70-200 f/4 IS, and a tripod.

 

[MikeWilkinson]

Jordan, here are a few comments (I'm not a pro photog, just an amateur, take my comments as such)

I'd suggest posting yoru photos that are of a size that fit easily on the web page without having to super size the screen

Shot 1 - I think the face is just a touch hot around the nose and upper check area, but with nice falloff. Overall I'm not sure this shot says very much to me... it's framed very far on the left...

Shot 2 - Looks over saturated, too vibrant in parts. I like the painting in the image. Her skin tone looks like it might be a bit warm.

Shot 3 - Upper right corner I can see some sort fo fringing around the leaves against the blue sky. The persons shirts has some blue on it that looks weird.. not sure if that was from it being in the shadow or or an error in post processing... his face could use a bit more exposure.

Shot 5 - seems a bit noisy and not quite as sharp as it should be. Great expression and lots of detail in his face, wish it was sharper.

shot 6 - like the background lighting spot. THe face is nice and sharp but the colors seems a bit off, there's some magenta in her face that bothers me.

shot 7 is simple and good. Whether or not you knew it, you have a rembrandt lighting style going on, and it shows strength. Good background blur, the vignette might be a bit much, but if you need the background dark, you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

[Jordan_S]

Thanks for taking the time to comment, Mike. Almost every single one of your observations was made to me by that little voice that I frequently choose to ignore. Gotta start to listen to it, though I think sometimes it can be misguided. Just not as often as I had figured (or wanted to believe).

So, yeah, very helpful words.

 

[Zim]

First I'd skip the vignette. I like the girl by the blue fence. It seems to tell a story. Something about the person. The close up of the old guy is also good. Maybe just a little farther back would have been better. The other ones of him just need re-framed. To much clutter. The shots of the women would be better without the vignette and if you could back up more. You need more than their head and tops of their shoulders.