Grandfather Portrait 2!

[acousticjun]

1. in what area is critique to be sought?

- Composition, lighting and toning

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?

- Want to try out and put my speedlights to good use
- Want to get better at shooting people and portraits

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)

580EXII on left + 430EX upfront

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture

My grand dad! Nearly a century old

 

[acousticjun]

no reply?

 

[small pig]

Did you over sharpen it? Btw, I feel that the subject (grandfather) was paste over the background..

 

[daniellcs]

Very good shot overall. Good enough for a magazine in my opinion.
The shot does look a bit over-processed that people think the subject was pasted into the photo.
Where was this photo taken anyway? Malaysia? Japan??

 

[acousticjun]

Noted about the overprocessing part. I was very careful on the toning as I like dramatic looks to my portraits, but may have been overzealous to achieve it.

Dont think its oversharpened because I only sharpened it minimally - more like perhaps too much details are showing after toning, that everyone thinks I oversharpened it.

I will control myself on the toning next time round

 

[pinholecam]

Noted about the overprocessing part. I was very careful on the toning as I like dramatic looks to my portraits, but may have been overzealous to achieve it.

Dont think its oversharpened because I only sharpened it minimally - more like perhaps too much details are showing after toning, that everyone thinks I oversharpened it.

I will control myself on the toning next time round

I find its a bit odd that you opted for strobing to separate the subject from bkgnd, but then need to do so much PP again to tone and yet again separate subject from bkgnd.
It seems you needed to push the processing to the point that the noise is showing up on the blue sky.
Nothing wrong, just odd to me since it defeats some of the point of using the strobes.
Typically, the bkgnd would be exposed for by the camera settings (with a slight bias to over or underexposure to taste) and then the subject will be exposed for by the strobes.


Nonetheless, I like the shot.
A bit too over processed and HDR like, but a nice shot for me still.

 

[acousticjun]

I find its a bit odd that you opted for strobing to separate the subject from bkgnd, but then need to do so much PP again to tone and yet again separate subject from bkgnd.
It seems you needed to push the processing to the point that the noise is showing up on the blue sky.
Nothing wrong, just odd to me since it defeats some of the point of using the strobes.
Typically, the bkgnd would be exposed for by the camera settings (with a slight bias to over or underexposure to taste) and then the subject will be exposed for by the strobes.


Nonetheless, I like the shot.
A bit too over processed and HDR like, but a nice shot for me still.

Hi pinhole,
For myself, the toning was not to separate the subject from the background in terms exposure - which u are right, could have been easily done by the strobe. For me, it was to really bring out the wrinkles and lines and the dramatic lighting on the subject.
I seldom push the detailing on young subjects(in fact I air brush for models), but for the elderly, in whom each wrinkle line tells a story, I become exceptionally zealous in doing so. Perhaps a little too much - a similar mistake I made previously.

Thanks for your comments. Im really glad Im getting useful feedback here so that I can continue to refine and improve my technique.

My main problem is, Im having a hard time striking with the toning- too much and it looks artificial, too little and I dont get the drama that comes with it.

 

[daredevil123]

I think you pulled off the Dave Hill kind of look pretty well. The only 2 major problems are in the blue sky and the edges of the mountain range. The sky was done quite terribly, with noise all over even at web viewing size. And the edges of the mountain are done quite badly that you can see the dark areas distinctively... even at web size.

 

[acousticjun]

Pro-ness bro, sharp eyes. I admit I wasn't particularly careful about the background. Would take more efforts next time round for every nook and cranny

 

[sjackal]

1. in what area is critique to be sought?

- Composition, lighting and toning

Composition ok, lighting ok, the midtone sharpening is way over the top that it make this picture look more like computer graphic than photo.

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?

- Want to try out and put my speedlights to good use
- Want to get better at shooting people and portraits

Appears to me the concentration seems to be on post process image adjustment than real lighting.

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)

580EXII on left + 430EX upfront

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture

My grand dad! Nearly a century old

Can look 60 years old, 120 years old, nobody knows, coz the image was obviously manipulated too much the viewer find it hard to trust the integrity of the image - photojournalism ethic. Portraiture wise, portraits supposed to portray a person, so if the pic again is manipulated too much then the viewer also skeptical. Not saying its no good, just look more like computer graphic than photo.

 

[daredevil123]

Pro-ness bro, sharp eyes. I admit I wasn't particularly careful about the background. Would take more efforts next time round for every nook and cranny

Not pro... but if can see at web size, it is already very very bad.

 

[acousticjun]

Not pro... but if can see at web size, it is already very very bad.

Okay! noted. Will be more careful next time round