Critique Self Portrait Critique

[Skaldosi]

Hi all, first time I've picked up my camera in a while. I can't seem to find willing volunteers so here I am with another self portrait.

Critique appreciated for all technical and creative considerations, both during image capture and post processing. In the mean time I'll work on trying to find someone else to practice on!

Thanks,

Darrell

 

[CraigDHD]

Hi Darrell, it's a good effort, it's hard to overly analyse on an image this size, it doesn't look overly sharp but that could be down to the jpeg compression? If you post a bigger jpeg on flickr or similar and link it bback it makes for an easier time looking at processing.

I'm not personally that keen on the light placement, a small hard light is fine for men and I like that style of lighting from the side of the face away from camera but I find the shadows it's created here quite distracting. I would either move the laight further away from camera to go more proper rembrandt where the nose shadow closes or even full on split and let the whole side of the face go in shadow. Having the light slightly lower at this angle might have helped cut the shadow from your brow over your left eye given the cheek has caught so much light.

I like dark shadows so I quite like letting it go that dark but with the whole background that well illuminated I would probably choose to either fill in the shadows a bit or else darken the background to make the image balance a bit better.

Self portraits are tough, I just avoid them tbh so good on you for doing something productive with time I'd waste in front of the tv

 

[Skaldosi]

Hi Craig, thank you for taking a look and taking the time to comment. Once I'm home I will be sure to upload a jpeg that hasn't been touched by Facebook's processors!

I completely agree regarding the light placement. I knew that it was "off" but I weren't entirely sure why. Thank you for explaining and providing alternative solutions - I'll be sure to try them next time.

I didn't think about the balance of the image - that's food for thought. I'll have another go at processing to see if I can darken the background. I think I've already boosted the exposure so filling in the shadows may be a little noisy.

I'm hoping to graduate from self portraits soon and find people who enjoy being in front of the camera! Thanks again for your help!

 

[Kodiak Qc]

•

That's pretty neat!

My only suggestion being to lower your light source
a bit to control the highlight on the forehead.

 

[Naka]

Well done on trying Darrell. I hate selfies but sometimes have no one! I find the shadow cast by the nose a little harsh. Maybe moving the light more towards your left (and further away as suggested). And moving away from the wall so the shadow behind you is less pronounced.
Can I ask what your settings were?

 

[Skaldosi]

Sorry about the lack of replies, I've been suffering from a cold over the weekend. I've edited the original post with a higher quality JPEG as requested.

The settings were - ISO100, F4.0, 1/250.

Thanks for the comments so far!

 

[pjm1]

Hi Darrell, I'm not much off a beginner to lighting myself, so please take my comments with a pinch of salt, but here goes:

1. Without catchlights (yes, there is the tiniest in the right eye), the eyes can end up looking a bit flat - if that's the intention then great, but otherwise I'd be tempted to choose the light placement and/or pose to create a catchlight?
2. Small and/or far away light source does lead to a fairly hard shadow line from the nose. It's a "look" but I find it slightly distracting personally, however...
3. Your lighting does create really good falloff on the left side of your face, which accentuates the cheek - as Craig has said, this can be a good thing for us blokes
4. As others have said, the background is good, although that does create a slightly imbalance between the shadow areas on you and the fairly light background. This could be a belter with a dark (or fairly dark) background and maybe even a touch of rim lighting from behind?
5. The gelled back hair would be worth accentuating IMO - either a hairlight or tweaking light placement to give it some?
6. The lighting on the jacket works really well for me - it really gives definition and a sense of texture
7. But I'm not a fan of the shadow of you on the background - easily fixed though my moving further away from the background so you don't cast a shadow on it (or at least not in frame)

Also worth saying I really like the processing - that slightly desaturated look works really well for me, as does the textured background. I hope you don't mind me providing my own thoughts when I wouldn't probably be able to produce as good a shot myself but to be honest, I find providing crit helps improve my own photography as it makes me really think about a photo... so I'm basically just being a bit selfish!

 

[Skaldosi]

Hi Paul, really appreciate the breakdown of the shot! Some interesting, valuable points that I feel deserve a response:

1 - Agreed, catchlights are important and I missed them here
2 - The hard light was by design and I think would have worked better had the nose shadow closed with the cheek shadow (as Craig mentioned). As it is, it's distracting and probably not particularly flattering!
3 - Thanks! I like the light ratio and at least this element proves it can be effective if executed properly
4 - Again I agree with this and I'm considering another processing approach but I'd rather reshoot and get this right in camera, otherwise I'm worried I'll cause some strange haloing effect if I try and selectively darken the background
5 - I only have the one flash and I did consciously try and get some attention on the hair (sorry, my vanity is shining through here). Unfortunately I couldn't find an angle that gave me detail in my eyes and face alongside my hair.
6 - As the self portrait was prompted by the recent purchase of this jacket, this makes me smile!
7 - Agree that the shadow is distracting - I'll work on this next time!

Once again I appreciate the feedback, if I could only find some willing volunteers I think it would increase my chances of getting these things right. Running back and forth between the camera and the standing position isn't ideal but it's the only practice I'm getting right now. Cheers!

 

[pjm1]

Just on the difficulties of taking selfies - if you output from your camera to a monitor which you can see (e.g. from the HDMI socket on the camera) and use a remote trigger (e.g. IR remote) then you can basically try different poses etc. without getting up. Obviously you have to set camera settings and leave them (including focus) but since the light(s) will be close to you, they're the easiest and quickest things for you to modify... In fact, changing light position and power etc. is easier for you as a model than it might be for the photographer since you're probably closer to them!

 

[Skaldosi]

Interesting idea! I'll see if I have the connectivity to plug into a monitor, I can see that working nicely if so! For the moment, I've ramped up the PP in regards to the background. Hopefully this evens out the image and gets rid of the shadow, however I may have completely overdone and blown this out of tasteful proportion! I quite like it and think it suits the image but it's definitely not "vanilla"

Darrell Portrait 2016-Edit by Darrell Drew, on Flickr