Reply #1 - May 07, 2009, 02:59:04 PM
Ok, I will go first. There is an official form we were going to use once upon a time. But I find it helpful just to give ideas in the areas I think need the biggest improvement and in the areas I think I know a little something about.
It's hard to critique three images, so I am going to give some general comments and then I will make a note about each one.
It is so hard shooting with the sky as a backdrop, especially when it is overcast. The sky is ever changing and it makes it hard to plan on what you should do. I am not really fan of the location and the truck. There is nothing special about it. I am not sure what look you were going for. Perhaps for your next shoot you could pick a different location that will provide more of a backdrop so you aren't depending on the sky.
With that being said I do like the model and the blue dress. She has a pretty naturalness about her, and I do like that she just isn't staring at the camera and grinning. I can tell you are going for more of a fashion/editorial feel.
First picture: I am not sure if it editing, but her skin looks a little bright. I am actually a fan of overexposing skin to get a trendy glamour look. However, here with the plainess of everything else it's not working for me. Her pose is a little hard since the truck is too high to be stepping out of gracefully, the bent leg is not flattered, knees are hard to photograph bent so much, and your eye is drawn to hers because of the brightness.
Second picture: This one is my favorite, I like the sky, her expression and the wind in her hair. Her face looks underexposed to me, but you would have lost the sky by exposing better. This may be an image that you could take into photoshop and brighten just the shadows to see what that does.
Third picture: The cropping is odd because of her arms, if they had been straight down to her sides it would have been better, but you have a line of skin at the edge of the image where her arm is bent. The lighting is better on her face here. She is short lit, meaning that the shadow side of her face is to the camera. Unfortunately because of the overcast sky her eyes are in shadow causing dark circles under her eyes. This is where a reflector or off camera flash would come in handy.
I hope some of these ideas help you for your next shoot. Please show us how it turns out. You will be surprised how quickly you will improve just by posting images for critique from each job.
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