This photo was named after a song. Slight post-processing was done to draw attention.


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Focal Length: 30mm
ISO: 250
Aperture: f4.5
Shutterspeed: 1/60s
Flash: TTL, Fired
WB: 5600K
Metering: Spot
EC: -0.0
EV: -0.3

C&C is welcome.

Excessive noise around the facial region has been noted though. :)

Well done !

Other than the face is a bit noisy and dark, it's perfect :D

Thank you for providing us the EXIF data !

Well, a bit of grain I think makes the shot looks good and in character in a way...

In the spirit of exploration:

There are ways of beefing up your photo, try playing with contrast, artificial vignetting, and of course, opening up your composition, and having extremely long, extended background, large compositions make your shot look epic and romantic in scale... :)

For me, I like it as it is already. Good job.

Thanks bros Peter, Richard and Jeff for your reviews and compliments. :)

@ Richard
I did want to allow more of the background to be shown, but the location at which I was shooting didn't allow it.. I cropped off the feet because the foreground was grass, not a solid surface and I felt that it'd take away some focus from the main subject which is the girl in the dress..

I have also thought about artificial vignetting but I'm still trying to figure out how to achieve that in Photoshop without and Action. :)

Thank you for your insights and I will try to improve on the points you have mentioned!

Here's another shot.

I don't have a name for it, but feel free to suggest names for it. :)


View Larger Image

Focal Length: 30mm
ISO: 150
Aperture: f4.5
Shutterspeed: 1/40s
Flash: TTL, Fired
WB: 5600K
Metering: Spot
EC: -0.0
EV: -0.0

Photo was underexposed on purpose to emphasize clothing, since this shoot was done with the intent of advertising it.

If this is advertising photography, don't chop the hat laar

Next time, tell the model to look on the left (other side) :lol:

I like the way that the blue dress is brought out nicely...

Happy Birthday Isaac! Hope you will have a great day ahead! ^_^

cheers,
Benny

@ Jeff

Jeff, the main subject was actually the dress, not the hat, so I didn't think it mattered. And besides, the background(brick wall) does not cover the entire height of the hat. :)

@ Benny

Thanks for your review, and I will enjoy my postponed birthday tomorrow! :D

Hi Issac,

Well, true that it may be a tall order here, but with photoshop, a lot of stuff are possible. :) the extension of a brick wall is possible though not easy, though that will take a bit of practice - I do find myself extending walls that only lasted a few feet in real life, and take takes a bit of time, but the result is interesting (perhaps, epic in feel?) to look at at least. ;)

p.s. now I'm trying to remove ships from a horizon... O_o headache. :D





Hey Jeff,

There is some truth in that, though the industry might not be as rigid as you think it is, there is still room for interpretation (actually photographic/artistic interpretation of the product is more important than displaying it fully) - the most important thing is to of course, get a client to buy your work. :)

Well, hypothetically, if that hat is featured in an ad, if it can be described as to how the hat compliments a feel or a look, it's not actually so much required to display the hat in full. The overall composition and focus on how the feel of a shot is conjured, even if the hat is clipped somewhat it's still quite acceptable as long as your customers can identify the hat but most importantly when that shot, combined with other accessories, clothes and the two shoes hanging off the model's hands, combined with the brand tag, creates brand awareness - the whole thing starts working as a visual communication device. :D

Of course, there is a time that we'd all needed all of the hat inside - and that is a product catalog.

Eg.
Imagine a shoot for a client: Model stomps confidently on water - latest shoe line, but the water splash obscures half of the left shoe, but only reveals clearly, a hint of the awesome shoe straps, and the crisscrossing catwalk-gait of the model means the right foot is mostly behind the left. Thus it's not a full display of the product, but the cool, calm expression of the a lady in control and in power, in the show evokes a feel in the minds of the female consumer... Thing is, she'd just zoom in to a store and find the shoe with that funky shoe strap - or end up buying other things as well.

Thus, to display a product line in photography, you just need to invoke a feel with it, showing all of the product is an optional choice - if you are able to integrate it well - like many other fashion shots.

The priority is the concept, the interpretation (feel), and of course, work appraisal so the client accepts it. :P

There are pretty much no set rules in photography, and if there are, they are set to be bent or broken, as there's no limit to artistic interpretation. :D

This reminds me that I've heard from somewhere a while ago that it's a "Taboo" to shoot your video in portrait format... but yet some fashion houses display widescreen plasma/lcd screens turned portrait format, showing videos of catwalk shows, it's essentially large portrait videos running with models in full glory, stretching over the full frame of the screen with nothing else distracting - so is that Taboo, or effective manipulation of media? ;)



Cheers!

Yes, definitely almost anything is possible with Photoshop, but that really depends on your skill in it. And I wouldn't say I'm a master at it so extending backgrounds and whatnot may take a while.. :P

Your explanation to Jeff has enlightened me! :lol:

Hehe...

A curious thing happened - today, my lecturer text-ed me on my phone, and I got enlightened from it... :lol: ^_^

And enlighten me as well :)