Post workshop image critique for Jason

Jason is working towards his Licentiateship with the SWPP. Firstly, I recommend that Jason gets involved with the SWPP Mentor Me program - they give excellent advice and of course will give spot-on guidance regards putting together an "L" panel.

The SWPP Criteria are:

Impression: show a variety of poses or techniques, cohesive, no image sticks out

Technique: Clean, good tonal range, sharp etc.

Camera Craft: Getting the best of the equipment

Composition: Are they balanced, composed correctly

Lighting: Good use of studio or natural light

Input: How much is your own work, rather then the models or workshop activities.

So, with those things in mind I shall look at each of the images individually, then discuss the panel as a whole.

Hair light is nice, face lighting is OK.

Not happy about the underlighting showing as a catch light at the bottom of the eyes

Composition puts the face too far to the left of the frame, the gaze should be INTO the picture, not out of it - much better in the picture below.

Good fun portrait, not worried about the elbow crop on right, composition is nice, lighting is sweet, simple and effective.

This looks like it was shot with a zoom lens too wide, leading to distortion of the face. I like the composition, but for a panel entry you will be picked up on the hands as fists and the crop being too tight at the bottom.

Nice image, maybe just bring the white background up to a white, but be careful not to lose the shadow supporting the subject, otherwise she will "float" in space. Crop is just a fraction too tight. Probably better with the figure placed to the right rather than the left.

All a bit messy I'm afraid, no consistent eye line in the subjects, crop too tight, awkward hand shapes, some spare feet.

Again the crop is a bit too tight losing all the toes and fingers on the floor. The kids and dad look great, but Mum's expression has gone. Good fun shot thought. Dad's forehead is a bit bright.

While I quite like the use of the direct single point light in this shot it's really too low, it needs to be higher. Instead we're left with rather nasty pin-point catch lights right in the centre of the eye. I'm not sure about the make-up in this one either.

Whereas here the pin-point is better because its higher (or the tilt of the head put it in the right place)

Lovely fashion type shot

Again the main light is just a little low, but not enough to worry about. The hair light is fine, except it makes the ear look huge and obvious. The little bit of cloth on the arm needs cropping or cloning out - it is distracting. Composition in frame is good.

Nice "Golden Hour" image, it looks a little unsharp to me - but that may be because it is resized. The hands could be posed slightly better so they are not so square to camera.

Lovely moody shot, my only reservation is maybe there is too much black at the base of the image.

It's OK. I can't put my finger on why, but it looks too much like a family snapshot. I can see it isn't, but it just doesn't have any "wow" to it I'm afraid.

For me, the crop is too tight on the shoulders. The sidelighting has revealed every bit of the skin texture and I think that could do with smoothing down a bit. Otherwise, cracking shot.

Lovely shot, it's a bit bright in the hair though. A little bit of flash to put a highlight into the eyes would also go a long way. The white triangle top left of the head needs fixing.

Nice leading lines, nice pose, nice lighting, nice depth of field. Too bright on the forehead just tone that down a little

Too messy in the background, gaze is out of frame, what's all the stuff on the right for, eyes too low in frame, basically nope.

Whereas this is perfect - all the fun toys and stuff, It could maybe a little warmer in tone and I'm not sure about the shadows at the base of the image.

Crop too tight or not tight enough. Makes it looks like a grab shot. It's a nice shot, but it has nothing special.

I like the expression in this image, I like the composition, the lighting. I suspect panel judges would dislike it because of the expression though - no client would buy it and the sitter would probably not like it.

Good mum and daughter picture. Personally I wouldn't pose with all the legs curled up, but it doesn't look bad. The jumble of hands on the right hand side is a bit awkward. My biggest trouble though is that both the grins look fake - like the moment has just passed.

OVERALL:

There's a good mix of styles in there, like the fact it has studio and location. Personally I like the mix of fashion and portrait - but check with the SWPP mentor if that really is a good idea or whether you should focus on just one.

I feel like I've been very critical, but actually most of the comments I've made are about finessing the image. For panel selections the things I've pulled out are exactly what the judges will look for. The flaws may not be enough to fail you, but a lot of them can be fixed either on these images or in future images.

I'm also a little bothered that all of the fashion type images rely on just one model - I know why - but I think that makes the 'folio look less diverse than it could.

I like your understanding of light and general camera control, no worries there, just be more careful about your hairlight. I suspect you are shooting in a room where the ceiling is too low, because in general the studio lights are not high enough for me.

So:

Impression: show a variety of poses or techniques, cohesive, no image sticks out

There's some fails, but broadly speaking there show a consistent level and style

Technique: Clean, good tonal range, sharp etc.

Basically sound across the board here, but for the cropping - it's either too tight or too loose for me.

Camera Craft: Getting the best of the equipment

I would say you're fine there/

Composition: Are they balanced, composed correctly

Right ideas, but not necessarily on the right images. Your basic composition intuition is sound, but you need to reflect on how the particular image fits a particular composition.

Lighting: Good use of studio or natural light

Fine, with comments as above

Input: How much is your own work, rather then the models or workshop activities.

I think this shows as being your own work, so no worries there.

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