Hi,

After over a 15 year break from photographing models. I've decided to get back with working with models. I would like serious critique of my profile Any and all opinions, suggestions, etc are more than welcome.

Thanks

Hi Edgeer,

https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/44726307

Out of focus and the specular in the glasses over the eye is very distracting. I recommend you delete it.

To be completely honest, the rest of your portfolio looks like snapshots. I would not keep any of them but you are required to have 4 images. Winnow it down 4 images and start over. Delete those when you have better ones.

Spend some time looking at images, especially the lighting and composition. Choose an image you admire and try to create something similar. Take some time to compare the two images and what didn't work and try again. Repeat until you are getting results that are in the ballpark. Do this with 10 different images and you will improve. 
Cheers!

do me next plz!

I find that your models tend to have either an unhappy or forced looking expression.  Watch for skin folds and awkward angles.  Choose POVs that are more flattering to the model.  Also, there is a "flat" feeling to many of them which tends to make them snapshot in appearance.  All in all, it is a nice port.

Best Regards,

B

I agree with everything that has been said up to this point.

It would take too long to do an image-by-image critique, but here are some generalizations and critiques of a few of your photos.

I see flashes of creativity and talent, but you need to be more consistent.

For example, this photo (which I’d make my avatar, if it were my portfolio) stands out.



The expression is good, and the colors pop (mainly because of the blue headpiece in a sea of orange – almost complimentary colors. I’d say it’s moving in the direction of contest material, especially with the reduced participation and competition in the forum-based contests over the past few years.

Even though you’ve created an ethereal look, I’d like to see the eyes, lips, hair and headpiece a little sharper – and a little more space at the right side of the image.

It appears that your lens was around the model’s shoulder or neck level.

While I almost always have the camera at the model’s eye level or lower (the farther away I am from the model, and the more of the model that’s included in the photo, the lower the camera is), having the camera at her eye or nose level (or somewhere in between) would have given you a more pleasing rendition of her face (and less of a view of the nostrils).

On the other hand, there are too many photos with crappy, distracting backgrounds – like this one:



The eye is drawn to the lightest part of a photo, the brightest color, the most saturated color and/or the contrastiest area of the photo.

So what pulls the eye away from the model here? The big patch of white and blue (complete with color fringing) a couple of inches to the right of the model’s hair. Again, the model isn’t very sharp.

When shooting outdoors, some people look for the most “interesting” background. When there isn’t one, I look for the blandest, least obtrusive slice of background that I can find – and then throw it as far out of focus as I can.

As a general (not hard-and-fast) rule, it’s better to have the model lit more brightly than the background (which often means finding a background that’s in shadow) to make the model stand out.

I’d toss all three photos in your “old work” folder. They don’t add anything positive to your portfolio.

This one is moving in the right direction. It’s well lit, and there’s no distracting background.



I would have cropped it bit differently (a little looser), and the model’s face is a bit oversaturated and reddish (which could have been fixed in seconds in ACR or LR). Her arm is the distraction in this one. It could easily have been darkened.

Again, the colors are too saturated. Very easy to fix, if you have the software.

In a nutshell, here are my suggestions for things to work on:

1) Before you start shooting, look at the background. See if there are distractions. See whether you can improve on it – or find a better one nearby or by moving around the model to your left and right, etc.

2) Look for the camera position (vertically as well as horizontally to the model) that will give you the most pleasing rendition of the face – and the best background. 3) Shoot with a slightly looser crop to give yourself more leeway.

(In 17 years as a news photographer, I learned to crop in the camera. Sometimes I still have to force myself to leave a little more room at times.)

3) Take a few seconds to look at what’s in (and not in) your frame, focus more accurately, etc. It’s easy to get caught up in shooting and not see these things until you upload the photos to your computer.

4) Analyze what the model is doing. Give some direction to the model when necessary – and try to get better expressions from them.

5) Learn to analyze your color balance, exposure, etc., and correct them if necessary in Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom. This will make a huge difference.

The few changes that will have the biggest impact on the overall appearance can be done in 2-3 minutes (and quickly batch-applied to all photos that were shot in the same light at the same place at the same time). It’s the skin and hair work, color grading, etc., that takes the most time.

The Adobe photographer’s software package (Photoshop, LR, Bridge, ACR, extension manager, etc.) costs $9.99 a month. It’s pretty much essential, if you want to improve your work.

Looking to do more work this year and would love a critique and some port cleaning suggestions.

Thank you in advance!

Rather than piggyback on another photographer's thread (which can cause confusion about which poster is critiquing which  photographer), why don't you start your own thread?

Btw, the exception to the above is where one person is doing a one-shot critique of various photographers, models, etc.

General impressions.

You do not credit models in many/all photos. Models appreciate credits, and showing that you will do so (even when the model is not on MM) will be appreciated.

The photos in general are not sharp. Consider resizing for MM (1000 pixel width). They look like scans from analog.

There are too many that are slight variations. Consider deleting ones that are redundant.