New photographer/model needs critique

[Toria]

Hi there! I am brand new to the forum and have only been doing photography for about 6 months now. My goal is to do fashion photography. I have done several TFP's so far and was wanting to know your opinions on my photos of the latest model I did last weekend. Please let me know what I can do to improve and also if anyone has an opinion on the look of the model, please add that too as I think that this model is very unique and beautiful. The link to her photos are:

http://www.musecube.com/maija/

I tried to post a photo from that series but don't know how. Thanks.

Toria

[Toria]

I am going to try to imbed an image from that series:

http://www.musecube.com/Maija/20833/20833-161012-large.jpg

[Warman]

First off, the pic of the girl next to the glass is very nice and the one where she is fixing her shoe is realy good.
That said, you should try to boost the colors and work better with the light. Crops also seem to be a bit off and I have also noticed that in some of your pictures, the background is distracting.
As a final and personal note, i think black & white works better for serious poses. How does this work for you?

http://bragatel.pt/warman/toriatest.jpg

[Toria]

Thank you again for your advice and help. I agree that the crouching pic looks a lot better black and white. When you say the cropping is off a bit, can you give me some examples? That is the latest thing I have been working on and perhaps I am cropping too much....or something off. Would appreciate any advice you can give...;)

Toria

[Man-Fai Wong]

There doesn't seem to be any control of DoF in these photos. If you're serious about going into fashion photography, I think you should invest in a decent DSLR. If you're not that sure yet, then maybe learn the techniques better and then try a film SLR before taking the $$$ dive.

Would be very difficult to get truly good results for this kind of photography w/out a (D)SLR for more creative control. For example, some of the distracting elements that was mentioned could've been blurred out in-camera w/ shallower DoF, but you would typically need a (D)SLR to get that ability.

_Man_

[That One Guy]

Sorry if this might have been covered already....not sure because I never read any one else's reply's before I offer my own..

Too much depth of field in all the pictures.....which leavs no sepperation and makes the models compete with everything else in the picture which takes away from her..

The lighting is too harsh IMO...for the types of pictures being taken..

Decent set aranging for the most part... although, I would try to edit / clone some of the things in the pictures that draw your eye to them...

feel free to look at my gallery in my profile.. I shoot lots of portfolios... I am not the best in the world but I know I am decent....and I see a decent photographer in the making in the pictures you have taken!

Keep it up...and never stop learning..... I have been shooting for 15 years now and I am still learning new things all the time.

Good day!

JP