# My first model from Model Mayhem....C&C Requested!!



## NCAFLeo88 (Jun 26, 2011)

Hey guys! Did this photoshoot yesterday....Let me know what you guys think! 


1. 


Luke Pool Pole by KPM Photography, on Flickr

2. 


Luke Pool Bush by KPM Photography, on Flickr

3. 


Bricks 2 by KPM Photography, on Flickr

4. 


Blue Jeans 2 by KPM Photography, on Flickr

5.  


Luke Gym 4 by KPM Photography, on Flickr

6.  


Luke Atlas Pose by KPM Photography, on Flickr

7.  


Look Pool Portrait by KPM Photography, on Flickr

Thanks guys!!


----------



## e.rose (Jun 26, 2011)

What happened to his skin tone in #2?

He looks like he has BOOBIES in #3   I'm sorry... I can't help thinking that.  It was the first thing I saw in that one. :lmao:  The way he's sort of hunching over and facing straight forward... I dunno what it is... but it looks like he got implants.  

Background in #4 is no good.

#5 is probably the best one IMO, because he looks like he belongs there. 

I don't like the pose in number 6, the colors, how everything is blown out, etc.

I don't like the houses in #7 either.  Your WB seems off in this one too.


----------



## NCAFLeo88 (Jun 26, 2011)

e.rose said:


> What happened to his skin tone in #2?



I just dropped the saturation way down. Just liked the effect that it had on this particular pose. 





e.rose said:


> #5 is probably the best one IMO, because he looks like he belongs there.



Yeah lol. He is a total gym rat. 



e.rose said:


> I don't like the pose in number 6, the colors, how everything is blown out, etc.



Yeah, this one was really blurry, so instead of throwing it out, I tried to be a little artistic with it. Did I fail?



e.rose said:


> I don't like the houses in #7 either.  Your WB seems off in this one too.



Yeah, we were shooting at an apartment community. I do see now that the colors are off. I'll fix that one. Thanks!


----------



## UUilliam (Jun 26, 2011)

Your main problem;
The location.

#5 is BY FAR the best one.
The ONLY thing I would do to it would be crop it tighter to take some ceilling out.

the rest, you should have used a larger aperture (f2.8 for example, if you could.) in order to blur the background but keep the model Sharp, this would make the location problem slightly more obsolete.

The PP you done on #2 and #6 don't work well, #2 pp has potential mind you if you kept a little more saturation within the image.

#7 and #4 just looks a little bit snap shot-ish

#3, as erose said, looks like he has boobs, it is also a bit blurry looking.

#1 would have looked MUCH better (although it looks alright) if you just used a larger aperture.

Edit:

Just done a quick edit to #2, hope you don't mind (if you do I'll take it down)







I done;
I used curves to clip the blacks, this added a tad more definition in his muscles, i then dragged the curve up to brighten the image (to compensate for clipping the blacks) I set the opacity of the adjustment layer to 60% to reduce the effects.

I used Vibrance and increased to 50 to bring out the colours a little more (vibrance is weaker than saturation)

I bumped the contrast up to 25 just to get a bit more definition

I then used a black and white gradient mask to get a bit more contrast again and set it to luminosity so it only affected the light levels.
I then set that layer to 60% too, in order to reduce the effects.

I grouped these into the 1 folder / group then set an overall opacity of 60% to it all to reduce the effects again as not to over-do the effect.


----------



## NCAFLeo88 (Jun 26, 2011)

Untitled by KPM Photography, on Flickr


Is that better?


----------



## e.rose (Jun 26, 2011)

> Yeah, this one was really blurry, so instead of throwing it out, I tried to be a little artistic with it. Did I fail?


Never try to "be artistic"' with a blurry photo.  Just throw it out. The old adage "**** in, **** out"Comes to mind. Also, "You can't polish a turd" XD


----------



## Robin Usagani (Jun 26, 2011)

#5 is the only one i like.  You should have either blown out the window, or expose the window with more flash.  Nothing in the middle!


----------



## Ron Evers (Jun 26, 2011)

#4 is my pick for a shot but it has problems:

Subject is not sharp,
Should have more space in front of subject , not behind,
Keep his feet & lose the space above his head,
Way too much depth of field.


----------



## KmH (Jun 26, 2011)

Raccoon eyes (dark eye sockets) in almost all of them. Investigate fill light, posing, subject separation from background, and what makes a model photogenic, because that model isn't photogenic.


----------



## lljones (Jun 26, 2011)

# 5 is the best in my opinion I can see it in a Men's Health Magazine. I'm just a beginner myself but your WB is  off in a few of the photos. Please forgive me, but # 6 is a little corny and I don't particularly care for the cropping in it, but excellent choice on the model he is pretty hot.


----------



## Kbarredo (Jun 27, 2011)

e.rose said:


> > Yeah, this one was really blurry, so instead of throwing it out, I tried to be a little artistic with it. Did I fail?
> 
> 
> Never try to "be artistic"' with a blurry photo.  Just throw it out. The old adage "**** in, **** out"Comes to mind. Also, "You can't polish a turd" XD


Mythbusters would like to disagree with that turd saying. They actually did polish a turd and it looked really shiny.


----------



## iNick (Jun 27, 2011)

I was in starbucks and clicked on this thread not knowing it was a shirtless dude and the guy next/behind me was screen creeping on me 100% at the time, im assuming he didn't know i was browsing a photography forum but i guess now he thinks i was browsing a beefcake forum hahaha weird. Oh well, i got a kick out of it.

-Nick


----------



## UnderThePink (Jun 27, 2011)

I like the background in #3, but I think the pose could have been a little different. I like #5 a lot, but that bright light in the left window is kind of distracting. Maybe just keep on eye out for better backgrounds too =D


----------



## ramblingman (Jun 27, 2011)

Some where on here are the 25 rules for portrait photography ........... the first two he seems to be slumped over ... but over all they look good !


----------



## NCAFLeo88 (Jun 27, 2011)

UnderThePink said:


> I like #5 a lot, but that bright light in the left window is kind of distracting. Maybe just keep on eye out for better backgrounds too =D



Would a UV Filter cut down the problems with a blown out background like that? I've been having issues with that and I don't know how to fix it. If the background looks right, the model is underexposed. HELP!!


----------



## shmne (Jun 27, 2011)

Quick tips from what I've seen:

- Learn to direct your model better, he may not have been the best in the world but he has the same exact face in every photo. This is something you need to be aware of and fix immediately through proper communication and coaxing. 

- Have a purpose with your photos. None of these have a purpose from what I can tell, they are just pictures of a person. I take that back, the one of him in the gym could have a purpose but I don't think you realize why that one is probably the best of the group. Here he is doing something, modeling the gym equipment. A model generally has their photo taken with a goal in mind, and in this case you could say it is to make the gym equipment look more dynamic and "sexy" because a man got ripped by using this (obviously! Otherwise why else would he be using it?). 

- To fix a blown background you have a ton of options. Find a shaded area, and use a fill flash to increase exposure on the subject. Bring in a "key" flash (really the sun is your key, but this flash helps a lot more than just a fill) and blast your subject so that you can clamp down your aperture, thus in turn darkening the rest of the scene. 1 stop is most often all that is needed. Finally you could just use layers in photoshop. one layer properly exposed for the subject on top of a layer properly exposed for the background, then paint a mask on the top layer to bring in the bottom layer.

A UV filter blocks UV light, not overexposed light


----------

