Photo Critique #121

Photo Critique #121

on Jan 27th 2012 with 11 comments

Friday Photo Critique is our weekly community project, where we publish a photograph submitted by one of our wonderful readers, then ask you all to offer constructive feedback on the image. It’s a great way to learn more about photography, express your viewpoint, and have your own image critiqued!

Quick Ground Rules

  1. Play nice! We’ve deliberately chosen photographs that aren’t perfect, so please be constructive with any criticism.
  2. Feel free to offer any type of advice – composition, lighting, post-processing etc.
  3. You can also link to photographs that you feel offer a great example of this type of image shot exceptionally well.

Without further ado, here is this week’s candidate for Friday Photo Critique!

The Photograph

Photo Details & Inspiration

  • Canon 400D
  • 18mm
  • f/11
  • 1/50
  • ISO 200

I used three strobes. One softbox in front of them, one umbrella with yellow gel to the right, and one snoot with blue gel at the back. This shoot is from a band promo photoshoot. I wanted to give a dramatic look to this punk-rock band. I think I got it pretty right, but I love to hear what people think.

Please let us know what you think in the comments – how would you have approached the scene or taken the photo differently? A massive thank you to everyone who commented last week.

The most constructive and helpful comments will be featured on the site. Interested in submitting your own photo? You can do so here!

 
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By

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

I was raised in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio. After high school, I left for Western Kentucky University where I obtained degrees in photojournalism and cultural anthropology. I am currently employed by CityBeat, an arts and entertainment weekly in Cincinnati. The work I am doing here is very rewarding and I suspect it will continue to be. I am available for freelance work in all areas of photography.  

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  • Red

    I am not a professional photograhper. But as a lay person, I just want to say that my eye is first drawn to the bright light. Then because of its its brightness, I tended to look away from your photo. The person on the left seemed to just disappear due to the light being the focal point. The person 2nd from left seems to be the main person due to his glow. I would think that if the light was removed, it would have the effect your were after, of putting focus on the person in front.

    Red

    • Jess

      Same here.

      Not a professional photographer, but the bright light kind of hurts my eye. It is not a picture I want to look at.

  • http://www.dehaan.cc/jeroen/ Jeroen

    Brighten the shadows a bit (there is a lot of detail there) and get rid of that white spot next to the second guy (it distracts too much) and you got yourself one hell of a promo-picture! Good work.

  • http://cmfolio.com cmfolio

    It’s so nice to see a photo that someone actually set up and put thought behind. I think having photos where someone tried to achieve something are better for critiquing otherwise we’re just giving advice for a photo that they just shot out of nowhere.

    So, I agree the light in the back is distracting and the glow its giving is covering the guys face too much. Also, I think it would be better to get all their faces lit evenly — the two guys on the right seems to have the brightest faces so maybe tone down that light a little bit. If the light on the right was flagged to block out lighting up from waist down it would even out the shadows with the other side as well. But, really only the light in the back needs to be fixed and the rest would be ok.

    I think you did a great job as is, but there is always one or two things to change. The tones look good and it does have a great band feel to it.

  • iluvhatemail

    less guyliner, more punk

  • Kimberly

    For me the very first thing that I notice that is a huge distraction is the reflection between the two guys in the middle. It seems to wash out the one guys face. My other issue is the amount of light on the two guys on the right side. Seems a bit to much to me. Maybe tone that down a bit.

  • Youkai

    I am not a pro photographer by any means so this critique is just purely with in my own tastes.

    As everyone has pointed out the light on the second man from the left is too distracting. As was also pointed out, the shadows do seem to not have enough detail especially on the left. The illuminated corner and jacket on the right doesn’t seem to quite fit in with everything else light-wise and seems to throw the balance off though it certainly fits in with the “local bar” feel to the shot. A slightly different angle and a little more light on left side and background might balance everything out.

    What makes this photo is the poses and expressions. Very nice capture.

  • http://benoitchabert.com Benoit C

    It’s a cool photo, as others said, the bright light is maybe too much. Also as for the angle of the camera, maybe this shot in the same settings but a bit from a tilt down position would be more dynamic and work better with the lights of the scene.

  • George D

    I wont go on about something others have said, so instead I will try to include something I think that know one else has noticed, the background seems a little unbalanced, it weighs a little too much to the left. The positioning of the subjects has weight towards the left right, from the person in reds position. I don’t know if you want to have this done for emphasis for him, but it (for me) it drains the attention from that person, this is because the two people on the left are forming an arc, not overlay noticeable, however it is here, whilst the people on the right are layered, causing a split between the image. A final thing, the background seems a little too detailed, if the image was taken with a higher aperture, or if you were to manually blur the background the little, this would also help the said problem about the balance of the background.
    Overall a good photograph. I am only noting a small problem, I hope I helped.

    • George D

      I am sorry about my bad English, I don’t have much time…

  • http://www.mfacci.com MFacci

    Thank u all for the critique!

    I’ll keep thoose thing in mind :) !