discussion of wanting critique

Seems about right to me... maybe a smidgen less red, but not much
PS my monitor is not properly calibrated so I'm not sure how representative the things I'm seeing are, in terms of colour
 
Here is one.. Fuji X100S.. is the skin tone like it should be? :) Critique.. I need to know what I did wrong or right..
Thanks..

My $0.02...

Details. There's a LOT of detail in the shot, both in her skin and in the background, and I think both distract from what would otherwise be an effective portrait. In the case of details on her, I don't think it's a big deal, just comes across as a little more "texture-y" than would be ideal, I guess. But the background, with the shelving and backwards letters visible, is busy. So in that case, I would probably have mandated something like f2.8, maybe even down to 2, so that it would all blur out better, leaving us with a nice crisp subject.

I would also probably have played with white balance in post, to see what it would look like warmed up a bit. Sometimes skin tones come out nicer to my eye that way. Sometimes not. I sorta don't know yet at this stage of learning until I try it out on each shot, can't really eyeball it and say ahead of time "oh this should be warmed up."
 
My $0.02...

Details. There's a LOT of detail in the shot, both in her skin and in the background, and I think both distract from what would otherwise be an effective portrait. In the case of details on her, I don't think it's a big deal, just comes across as a little more "texture-y" than would be ideal, I guess. But the background, with the shelving and backwards letters visible, is busy. So in that case, I would probably have mandated something like f2.8, maybe even down to 2, so that it would all blur out better, leaving us with a nice crisp subject.

I would also probably have played with white balance in post, to see what it would look like warmed up a bit. Sometimes skin tones come out nicer to my eye that way. Sometimes not. I sorta don't know yet at this stage of learning until I try it out on each shot, can't really eyeball it and say ahead of time "oh this should be warmed up."
Skin tone is almost impossible to say what is correct unless you know the subject, for me though you have broken one of the unspoken rules of shooting people, never crop at the wrist or ankle
 
Skin tone is almost impossible to say what is correct unless you know the subject, for me though you have broken one of the unspoken rules of shooting people, never crop at the wrist or ankle

Dammit Bob! Now I'm aware of yet ANOTHER rule that I didn't have a clue was a rule and I'm gonna do my best to ignore it, but I know over time it's gonna seep into my consciousness and I'm gonna have to THINK about it. I've never thought about this and looking through just a very small cross-section of my street work and I've lopped off scores of feet and not a few hands as well.

I never used to care about slanted horizons or letting all of the water run out of the lake or ocean and now I'm a bit of a stickler on those things (when I can see 'em). Not THIS to worry about ?!?!?

Can't catch a break... :cool:

-Ray
 
You know what really grinds my gears?
People who say "You have to learn the rules before you can break the rules" ...

thank you and good night
 
I'm forever lopping off heads. I'm guessing there's a rule about that too!
Yeah, one of my better recent street shots is two headless sets of hands gesturing. Fortunately, their feet also survived the framing...

And Paul, I agree with you man - I'm FAR better at breaking rules if I don't know 'em.

-Ray
 
I'm forever lopping off heads. I'm guessing there's a rule about that too!

One of my favorite shots from the big trip - and I don't really understand why I like it so much, for what it's worth. Headless as the day is long...

15150689295_2cf8a84b94_c.jpg
 
Hi Mr Doug. As well as the comment someone made above about not having a colour balanced monitor here are another few factors to take into consideration. First, even if a monitor is colour balanced the lighting conditions in which it is viewed will change how we perceive an image. Second, even if you allow for lighting and monitor calibration you still have to take into consideration that colour is a perception created by a combination of physiology and psychology - the make up of your eye and the way your brain interprets the signals from your eye. I'm not talking about colour blindness here. I'm just saying that there is no way of knowing that the particular hue that you see is the same hue that I see, even with the finest monitor and controlled lighting.

Why do I take this approach? Because I used to worry about getting the right colour temperature, the right hues and tones etc. which led me to worry about monitors and light which led me to think (in my very non-scientific way) about vision. The cheery conclusion I reached is that as long as it looks good to me on a monitor that is reasonably well balanced, it doesn't much matter what it looks like to anyone else, since there is no way of knowing if their particular perception of a colour ot colours is identical to mine (and we are talking about fine tuning here, not major shifts in hue). In you case, of course, it also matters what it looks like to your model:)

So the question is, does it look right to you (and your model)? If it does, you're good to go.
 
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