# Critique My First Photo



## ldawson (Oct 29, 2017)

I am a new photographer and i really need some constructive criticism


  Please feel free to give tips and tricks so I can improve. FIRE AWAY


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## limr (Oct 29, 2017)

I think it's a strong portrait, although I would definitely crop much of the dark space on the right side of the frame. I'd be curious to see a square crop.


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## ldawson (Oct 29, 2017)

limr said:


> I think it's a strong portrait, although I would definitely crop much of the dark space on the right side of the frame. I'd be curious to see a square crop.



something along the lines of this?


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## tirediron (Oct 29, 2017)

Very nicely done.  I really like the lighting here, and Limr's recommendation for the square crop is spot on.


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## limr (Oct 29, 2017)

ldawson said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> > I think it's a strong portrait, although I would definitely crop much of the dark space on the right side of the frame. I'd be curious to see a square crop.
> ...



Yes, I think that works better. The negative space behind her head in the original didn't seem to serve much purpose.


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## birdbonkers84 (Oct 29, 2017)

Welcome to the forums, I really like the image, agree with Limr's feedback too


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## Designer (Oct 29, 2017)

ldawson said:


> I am a new photographer and i really need some constructive criticism  Please feel free to give tips and tricks so I can improve. FIRE AWAY


Unless, of course, she has a stylish hairdo.  In which case, you need that extra space, and a "hair light".  Since a hair light is a specifically calibrated and aimed light, it might detract somewhat from the mood of this shot.

At any rate; what this shot needs is some separation between your model and the background, and you can do that by hinting at some faint light on the back of her head.  Or a rim light on the back of her head.  

Anyway, you can keep the mood by cropping a lot of the right edge, such as you did in the square crop.  The problem with your version of the square crop is that you've actually cropped into the back of her head, which is disconcerting to a viewer.  We know the sizes and proportions of a human head, and you've indicated that this young lady might have some physical deformity causing an abbreviated head shape.

Here's my version:

I brought the shadows up a bit so we could see the shape of her head, and then cropped to (almost) square putting her eye on the "thirds".  I liked the bit of light on her neck, so I wanted to keep all the neck I could get.  That left me with a not-quite square crop.


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## smoke665 (Oct 29, 2017)

Really like this and the concept. I like the darker version with your square crop, but I think I prefer Designer's edit.


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## limr (Oct 29, 2017)

I don't necessarily disagree with Designer's reasons or edit, but for me, it just makes it an entirely different kind of portrait.


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## FITBMX (Oct 29, 2017)

I would like this portrait as much if it had a backlight, I like the lighting in this a lot! And the square crop is spot on! 
Great work, and welcome to TPF!!!


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## stevebohne (Oct 29, 2017)

Designer said:


> ldawson said:
> 
> 
> > I am a new photographer and i really need some constructive criticism  Please feel free to give tips and tricks so I can improve. FIRE AWAY
> ...



Mmmmm...the subject is past the middle of the frame. Don’t cate for that composition at all. I agree with the comment about separation but the biggest problem is that the main light is too high. A little lower would have resulted in a better catchlight in the eye.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Evertking (Oct 30, 2017)

I love the lighting too! Window light?


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## DGMPhotography (Oct 30, 2017)

Dang, if this is your first-ever portrait, you're gonna pass all of us up in no time.

Good work.

I think it would have been nice to add just the TINIEST bit of hair light, and keep your original crop.

I wonder what this was shot with?


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## Frank F. (Oct 30, 2017)

Strong composition, yet I do not think she will be very happy with it because: light that illuminates a surface in a very flat angle will bring out the surface structure prominently. Great for wood not so great for skin that has the slightest unevenness.

+1 for Leonore's 1:1

Did an edit and had trouble with JPEG Artifacts in the file I could not get rid of. So I chose to cover the artifacts with artificial noise...


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## Frank F. (Oct 30, 2017)

@DGMPhotography It is nice if you say, why you disagree for all of us to learn...


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## DGMPhotography (Oct 30, 2017)

Because it's a nice picture and I think the lady will like it.


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## Tomasko (Oct 30, 2017)

DGMPhotography said:


> Dang, if this is your first-ever portrait, you're gonna pass all of us up in no time.
> 
> Good work.
> 
> ...


You know it's not. No one does this on their first-ever try.

Also, data are included in the image: _Canon EOS REBEL T3 | 34mm F4.5 1/25 ISO3200_


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## Designer (Oct 30, 2017)

DGMPhotography said:


> Dang, if this is your first-ever portrait, you're gonna pass all of us up in no time.


He might have studied up on how to do portrait photography.  It could happen.


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## SquarePeg (Oct 30, 2017)

When I downloaded this to try my own idea for a crop I noticed that when I look at it in PSE11 I can clearly see the back of her head, neck and shoulders whereas in the TPF post #1 you can't make them out.  With that being said, the original crop, where you can see the curve of her back, makes much more sense and doesn't have all that negative space.  Not sure why the first post doesn't have the detail from the actual photo???  After seeing the photo in PSE11, I would change the crop to a 5X7 instead of the original 4X6.  In trying to upload my crop to the forum I see the detail on the right is once again not showing up on TPF so I removed it.  

More importantly, the OP is FOS.   This photo was taken July 18, 2015.


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## Tomasko (Oct 30, 2017)

@SquarePeg , maybe some setting in your editor? When I download the image, it looks pretty much the same as it does here (I can see the back of her head, neck and shoulders too). Also some loss of quality occurs if you're viewing the image scaled down and not in full size.


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## SquarePeg (Oct 30, 2017)

Maybe.  It's moot, IMO, unless/until the OP addresses the question on whether or not the post is a troll for attention using someone else's photo.  I don't see a 16 year old taking this photo 2 years ago and not as anyone's first photo either so the original post and/or OP's account is likely full of lies and not worth responding to any longer.


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## Peeb (Oct 30, 2017)

I really like it, but the noise was distracting (to me).  3200 is pretty high ISO for the T3i sensor.
Here is some fidgeting around with it...


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## smoke665 (Oct 30, 2017)

SquarePeg said:


> When I downloaded this to try my own idea for a crop I noticed that when I look at it in PSE11 I can clearly see the back of her head, neck and shoulders whereas in the TPF post #1 you can't make them out.



I've noticed this myself on some of my posts. Even linking to Flickr, the detail in the shadows is sadly lacking on images posted to TPF vs my screen. I know FB is really bad about compressing images, but apparently there's something in TPF that is as well.


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## Designer (Oct 30, 2017)

SquarePeg said:


> This photo was taken July 18, 2015.


@ldawson We need more information.  Did you take this photo?


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## jcdeboever (Oct 30, 2017)

SquarePeg said:


> When I downloaded this to try my own idea for a crop I noticed that when I look at it in PSE11 I can clearly see the back of her head, neck and shoulders whereas in the TPF post #1 you can't make them out.  With that being said, the original crop, where you can see the curve of her back, makes much more sense and doesn't have all that negative space.  Not sure why the first post doesn't have the detail from the actual photo???  After seeing the photo in PSE11, I would change the crop to a 5X7 instead of the original 4X6.  In trying to upload my crop to the forum I see the detail on the right is once again not showing up on TPF so I removed it.
> 
> More importantly, the OP is FOS.   This photo was taken July 18, 2015.



Busted. I have seen this image before, I thought on here but not sure. It was some time ago, I remembered it because it reminded me of my sister (uncanny really) and those all black silhouette things we did in high school.


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## Peeb (Oct 30, 2017)

Strange.  OP, can you help us with this mystery?


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## Ballistics (Oct 30, 2017)

They technically didn't specify that it was presently their first photo, just that it is in fact their first photo. Either way, who cares if they're lying? If I post my first photo the exif would say 2010.


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## jcdeboever (Oct 30, 2017)

Ballistics said:


> They technically didn't specify that it was presently their first photo, just that it is in fact their first photo. Either way, who cares if they're lying? If I post my first photo the exif would say 2010.


They did but changed the original post after someone called them out on the exif.
I read it early this morning prior to change.


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## Overread (Oct 31, 2017)

jcdeboever said:


> They did but changed the original post after someone called them out on the exif.
> I read it early this morning prior to change.



The original 2 posts by the OP have no editing history - they are unchanged since they were first posted. Least according to the site software. In fact in 3 pages the OP hasn't said anything since the first two posts.


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## jcdeboever (Oct 31, 2017)

Overread said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> > They did but changed the original post after someone called them out on the exif.
> ...


Strange. I must be losing my mind then.


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## smoke665 (Oct 31, 2017)

jcdeboever said:


> Strange. I must be losing my mind then.



Are you becoming "Tootles"? Searching for his marbles? lol


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## jcdeboever (Oct 31, 2017)

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> > Strange. I must be losing my mind then.
> ...


Maybe, been hanging around Gary too much....


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## SquarePeg (Oct 31, 2017)

The claim that it's the OP's first photo is in the title, not the post.  I think that is the confusion.  Overread is correct that the post was not edited.


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## jcdeboever (Oct 31, 2017)

SquarePeg said:


> The claim that it's the OP's first photo is in the title, not the post.  I think that is the confusion.  Overread is correct that the post was not edited.


Oh yeah, that's it.


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