Photo Critique #163
tuts workshop

Photo Critique #163

on Nov 16th 2012 with 9 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 60D
  • 50mm
  • 1/160
  • f/1.4
  • ISO 200

In this photo, I was trying to capture pain, mystery, remembrance and regrets. She’s a siren battling her lost past. All she can do is try to beckon the passerbys by captivating them with her distant, hollow eyes. Her elongated, pleading hand. She has nothing left to give, but yet she’s still trying. Why?

She knows that one can’t make a mistake for each one molds us into who we are until the very end. It just takes a while to come to that realization. I think we all can relate to this at times.

Photographer: Wendy Weidemann

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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  • jofiane

    I can feel the pain, mystery, remembrance, and the regrets. The color and the model’s face & emotion is awesome (they reflect the mystery part the most), but I think it will be better if the model is on the right bottom, so the viewer can see what was above (and what she saw). I like the angle… :) Good job…

  • dbvirago

    Agree with jofiane on composition. Too much OOF foreground. Maybe crop in a little tighter and show face against background of green on the shore. Not sure I like the disembodied hand coming out of the water. Maybe if one or both arms were spread and at least partially visible. Love the expression and the lighting.

  • ChitraSivasankarArunagiri

    There are two things that I think could have been improved. First thing, there is too much of space in the foreground that is distracting the image. A little tighter image with a closely composed image could have been better. Secondly, we all know that in Portraits like this, eye is the key. But again, it is all back to the same thing, Better composition. But the picture is still awesome. I love the angle. Nice use of DOF!!!

  • Thinkeye

    Great idea and beautiful picture!

    Joining comments on composition.
    I would suggest to crop original image from starting point (1764,0) with crop size 3160×1504.

    Taking in account your comments, I would interpret the idea by shooting slightly from above letting the model to look up. In such case, I would keep more negative space than in the crop suggested above, but not as much as you have used.

    Cheers!

  • Hilndgreen

    The mechanics of the model and photographer are well done but the tension level is disconcerting with the level of foreground. Akin to drowning with the foreground context and composition. With the mechanics set, cropping to a tighter frame of the subject would ease the tension and focus more on the intended emotion.

  • http://twitter.com/thaprem Premanand velu

    I tend to agree with Chitra… The eyes are the key and the frame shows little less of it… The POV , DOF are all good but for a closer framing.

  • http://twitter.com/DanSDawson Daniel S Dawson

    The lighting is dreamy, but the tones are great and melancholy. The model’s skin looks flawless and there is a feeling of angst produced.

    Like others have mentioned, the foreground is a bit imposing here. Also, I find myself getting a little lost towards the left of the image. My main gripe, though, is that the model is kind of lost in the water. I mean, physically speaking. Personally, I would have liked to see more bare shoulder and chest exposed (not necessarily nudity) for the sake of the siren-esque, fantasy element. Maybe wet hair and not so clean looking making as well. He eyes are excellent, though.

  • http://www.facebook.com/emason Eric Mason

    The face is a bit soft. You could get away with stopping it down to f/1.8 or 2 without hurting your background blur. As others have mentioned getting closer would be good, which would compensate for the smaller aperture.

    Also, is it just me or is her hand not pointing in the same direction she is looking? If she is reaching out to someone her arm and the direction of her gaze would be parallel. Maybe this was intentional, but to me it seems disjointed.

  • http://www.wix.com/simonabarbu1/simonabarbuphotography Simona Dumitru

    I think the picture is nice. It can be improved even further by working a bit on the colors. I think it is too much green in the picture. Also a bit more space above the girl’s head would be nice.