Ambient light portrait assignment - help!

[vcutag]

I'm having trouble deciding between these four photos for an assignment for my Photojournalism class. The only criteria were that the photos had to be taken at ISO 100 in natural light from a window.

What do you guys think of these?

http://www.shadesofblack.org/albums/ley/ley01.jpg
#1

http://www.shadesofblack.org/albums/ley/ley03.jpg
#3

http://www.shadesofblack.org/albums/ley/ley04.jpg
#4

http://www.shadesofblack.org/albums/ley/ley05.jpg
#5

[tim]

What are you trying to say with the pictures?

[vcutag]

What are you trying to say with the pictures?

I'm not really sure... to me, they reflect different aspects of his personality. The first one is light, unpretentious, kind of laid back. The second is a little classier. The third one is a candid, I caught him off guard with a dirty joke. I think the fourth is my favorite of them, he smirks very well. The boy's an incessant flirt, so a smirk is definitely him.

So, I'm having trouble deciding. To me, they all somewhat reflect personality, but I know him. I need an unbiased opinion.

[KelliShaver]

Looking at the photos simply from the standpoint of composition, I think No. 1 is the strongest. It's definitely got character, a nice value range, and good textures/lines.

[Jetpilot]

#1 is the best of the four.

[imanewbie]

Now it may just be me, but it seems the eyes aren't sharp in #1.

[jthomason2]

#1- I like this one the best by far. I particularly like the way the diagonal lines in the background not only lead the viewer’s eyes to the subject’s face, they are in the same plane as the lines on his forehead, plus the way the shading lines in the pillow are at the same angle as his head. IMO, the focus is a little soft on his face, and should be sharper on his near eye (based on recent reading I’ve done and not because I remember to actually *do* what I read). I like the way the light falls on his face; there’s not too sharp a difference between the lighted and shadowed sides of his face. I also like his expression; to me it invites the viewer into the shot, and if I were flipping through a stack of photos, I’d definitely pause at this one.

#3 – This one just doesn’t do much for me at all. The shadowed shoulder, to me, blends a bit too much into the background. The angle of his wrist is awkward, and his dark pants draw my eye away from his face and to his forearms and awkward wrist angle. His expression is just sort of there and doesn’t make me want to know anything more about him, although I think the lighting on his face is nice. In a stack of photos, I wouldn’t pause at all because of its “just there”-ness.

#4 – I like this photo for the expression and the way the subject fills the frame. However, focus needs to be on his near eye and not on his ear. To me, the focus, the line of his jaw and shadowing, all lead the viewer’s gaze to his ear. I find the similarity of color between his teeth and the background a little distracting, though, but I do like the lighting on his face. Because of his expression, I would pause for a moment when flipping through a stack of photos.

#5 – I just don’t like the pose from this angle, particularly the foreshortened legs (a pet peeve of mine). I do, however, like the way his arms mimic the angle of the chair back and the way his hands are bracketed by the lines in the seat of the chair. I like the lighting on his face the least of all the shots. His expression, however, is what really kills this shot for me. To me, it says, “Just take the blasted photo. I’ve got better things to do with my time.” I wouldn’t pause for this photo.

[freddycr]

If I may so bold to venture an opinion, since I'm a complete rookie in this forum, I'd go for # 2 and 4...although # 2 would benefit from a tad of contrast & sharpening...;)

[eljustino]

I say #3 (there is no #2???) and #5 are very nicely lit, but the background is not ideal. I would have liked a darker background. Focus imperfect in quite a few of these but I have terrible problems with focus in low light on my 300D as well. I've found that choosing AF point and avoiding focus/recompose has seems to help with this. Oh, and #1 would be great if his face was in focus and the backdrop was darker - in my opinion.

[vcutag]

Well, there is a number 2, there were 24 in all, I just didn't throw it in the running because it wasn't that good.

A couple of people have told me I should have used a darker background, I'm keeping that in mind for the next shoot we do together.

They're out of focus slightly because I used a very tight DOF and had to manually focus because the AF wasn't working on the lens. It's since started to work right again, I'm not sure what the heck caused it, but I'm not complaining.

[cactusclay]

Technically speaking the only one that is acceptable is the last one. First one is soft, second one is missing a hand. Third is soft. But the good news is if you took these in order, you are obviously getting better as you go. Keep after it and focus on the eyes, if you're depth of field is too shallow to get the important things in focus, then close the lens down to a smaller apature.

[vcutag]

Technically speaking the only one that is acceptable is the last one. First one is soft, second one is missing a hand. Third is soft. But the good news is if you took these in order, you are obviously getting better as you go. Keep after it and focus on the eyes, if you're depth of field is too shallow to get the important things in focus, then close the lens down to a smaller apature.

Focus on the eyes... that's good advice, I'll try that the next time. Now that the autofocus works on the lens, the next set should look much better.

You said the second one is missing a hand... what's a good rule of thumb for seated portraits? I wasn't really sure how to frame the photo with that one.

And thanks for the good news. :-) This was for me to get the hang of working with a model, the next shoot should be much easier.

[cactusclay]

It's been a long time since I was in art school, but I seem to remember some sort of rule about not cutting off limbs right below the joint, which you didn't do, but in my opinion, the missing hand leads the viewer out of the image. If the hand were there and resting on the other hand fingers slightly bent, then the viewers eyes (my eyes) would follow the other arm up and back to the face, instead of leaving a static point at the bottom of the frame. This is just my opinion. If your eyes don't get drawn out of the picture by the missing hand, then it may be fine for you. If the hand were not missing I would have picked that shot as your best composition. Good luck.