Another alternative portrait (C&C)

AlisonB

Well i've spent the last 2 hours playing around with photoshop, bored out of my lemon tree here. Was looking through my first studio shoot and i found this. Shooting this model again on Sunday so i have to put my thinking cap on. Here's a pic anyway. As always, feel free to give me an ear bashing. The only way i will learn.

P.S Due to the limitations of Eircom (dialup). I will have to wait til tm to post the link to the original Battle of the Boyne shot.

Fionn

ok show me your ear!!!

AlisonB

lol, (*chops ear off, throws it at Fionn and runs.....*)

Fionn

just kidding!!

this is very good Alison you must be well pleased with this, nice lighting and that. Nice pose too, pretty girl nice, i'd have liked to see more of her eyes i guess!
but overall very nice

id love to see what it'd look like in highkey and a dare i say it ....

a plastic look

AlisonB

you mean the blow up doll effect :rolleyes:

Fionn

surely a little skin smoothing and that

just for experimental purposes tho!

FreeAnd..

nice photo, didnt get to have a proper look though as its a little unsuitable for me a the moment. From my quick glance though it looks well posed and shot..

AlisonB

breaks my heart to do any form of skin smoothing
but hungry fella...there ya go!. Thanks guys for comments.

Fionn

ahh bless

i can go to bed happy now!!!

The Bollox

the hair doesn't do it for me, it just doesn't go. other than that it looks good

311

I think your shots are brilliant ,don't like the outfits though.
I know it's summer ,but the odd scarf i would think would look cool.
Even if it's hanging off one side.

elven

I feel really, really cheeky posting this because I would never imagine producing a half decent studio portrait. But I'm going to throw it in for consideration, simply as a viewer of a photo, and not as someone who knows about these things.

Anyway, It's all quite nice with the girl and the clothes and the jaunty pose and the lighting and the bw... but what are you trying to get across? (again I feel like a hypocrite, with my flower pics that are devoid of any deeper meaning, but I'll continue anyway) Are you trying to get us to connect with the girl, to put across something about her personality? Or is it about the fashion? Are you trying to match the pose and the attitude to the clothes? It seems like judging by the fashion, it’s meant to be about something a bit different, alternative and edgy – and the fairly subtle lighting and static pose don’t seem to match the style of the clothes, to me.

Since you mentioned you’re working with her again, I just wondered what your plans were, what it is that you’d like to improve on and produce at the next shoot? I read somewhere that you started photography because the photographers weren’t producing the images that you wanted to see – what is it that you were after?

It’s actually quite interesting to me because it’s not something I’ve done before, so I’d like to hear what you think.

Shrimp

I'm not sure I would call this an alternative portrait, as the clothes or lack of and pose are what seem to be the main focus. Anyway, that's neither here nor there.

If you want to shoot a portrait of someone, the best way is to get them to be themselves, and not a model, she is clearly posing. Then again it depends if you want them to be playing the role of someone.

The photo does nothing for me, it's like it's trying to be something it's not. Usually when I see a great portrait, I start conjure up stories or little things about the subject. It makes my imagination run, if you can get the shot to have that affect on the viewer, then you're on to something.

Try a more natural shot maybe?.... whatever that might be.

Ok, thanks for reading, sorry my crit. is a little short. I'll be back later i suppose.

AlisonB

Thanks all for the comments. The shoot was two months ago and this image didn't really come close to being one of the best. It was just a shot i edited on a very bored night. Originally i started taking shots of her in these clothes in the studio but it wasnt working. So we changed to this:



Big Difference.

That was my first shoot ever with a borrowed camera so i pretty much took what i could to try and get familiar with the soft boxes and the light meter.

Elevn the next shoot is going to be almost burlesque. It's going to be staged to look like she's in a scene wearing Victorian outfits (cream) with using gray backdrop. Whether it will look that way when i finish i don't know

Here's my favourite shot from that shoot.

digitalbeginner

Excellent advertising shot (the first one), has an 'edgey' feel to it. Could see this in young women's mag no problem.

Models in these types of shots are just clothes hangars whereas a portrait is about trying to get into the character of a person.

Which do you think it is? and is this what you were trying to achieve?

ciaranhickey

Hi.
I think these are excellent - well composed, good use of light etc etc.

I'd be very happy to be able to take something like this... However,
as a viewer of the photographs I don't think there's enough going on
in them to keep interest besides the look and pose of the girl. Depends on
who or what the target audience is (if any)...

It's all just a matter of opinion really but I'd prefer something along
the lines of http://www.sambassett.com/ where he places his subjects in bizarre situations and good use of props & costumes.

Am looking forward to your next "burlesque" themed photos - hope you post some.
Good work!