kelley

Here are some shots from a shoot over the weekend. i did my initial round of processing, looking for anything else I should fix/improve in any of these.
1

I like #5 and #7 a lot. #8 is close but the blown out highlights draw my attentinon and the posing of her right leg is off. What were you using for lighting?

Those are great!
I Love 5 6 7.

lighting was 9am sun and a reflector, in the shade nothing was used.

Kelley is a beautiful subject; you're fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with her, and she was fortunate to have the opportunity to be photographed by a fine photographer!

Image #1: You did a great job of capturing her natural beauty in this portrait. It looks like it was probably a really busy, unattractive background, yet you blurred it out so effectively that it actually works to support the subject, rather than detract from her. There appears to be a slight magenta hue throughout the entire image. Slight, indeed . . . but definitely there, at least on my monitor.

Image #2: Very effective use of the building and the garden. I like the way you lined up the dominant lines to create a dynamic composition. The green vegetation softens an otherwise "hard" backdrop, and does so most effectively. There does appear to be a slightly awkward look to her mouth, although the positioning of her feet/shoes is excellent.

Image #3: Awesome background and foreground elements - you blurred them out to just the right extent to make them look so cool! Three things do distract me: in the background, the big white horizontal blob at the upper right corner. Also, the white and green vertical elements that extend from behind her head upward into the tree. That blurred tree would be so very nice, if it weren't for those two things obscuring it.

Image #4: Love it! It works great as a companion image to #3, as both exhibit the same vision and style. My favorite part is the leaf mass . . . I could stare at bokeh like that all day - it's just so cool lookin'!!!

Image #5: A really nice composition with a natural, causal, relaxed looking pose. The thing I find bothersome is the relatively bright, very warm highlights on the inside of the left rail. Those highlights create quite a bit of contrast with the intermittent shadows between them, and lots of contrast draws the eye like a magnet. I'm not sure that's where you want your viewer's eye going. It could easily be evened out in post processing.

Image #6: Really nice hand positioning. I could tell she is walking even if I only had the hands to look at! The rail she is balancing on is really, really blurred out. The entire rail is blurred out - I can't even see a sharp portion of it where her feet are. This would be ok, except that I wouldn't really even know it was a railroad track unless I had seen the previous image. Sure, I would eventually figure it out, after scrutinizing it . . . but it is not readily apparent, and it probably should be.

Image #7: Her legs are rather prominent in this composition, and yet the color of them is pasty and chalky looking. I don't think that is a very complimentary skin tone. Also, there is a big white blob - a blurred out highlight - on the right side of her head. That highlight may be ok, if it were elsewhere in the image, but when it is placed there, it confuses the form of her head. Also, there is an overall magenta tone to this image . . . maybe just toning that down with the slider would help.

Image #8: A really fantastic composition! Great use of geometry to design the image - you really do know how to use strong geometric elements and leading lines to great effect. I really like the inclusion of the bit of grass at the very bottom of the frame, but for some reason, the big, pale blade of grass that is dissecting her right shoe is quite distracting - it could easily be cloned out.

Overall, a great set that you, and Kelley, should be proud of!

My only complaint is the dirty feet... But I hate feet !!! Other than that... I like

Lovely model and nice work.
#1 I'd go for a higher camera angle so she would open her eyes more by looking up just a little.
#2 is swell but I think that head tilt with eye contact would be much better.
#3 I think a tighter crop would be better.
#4 Ditto #3.
I hope we can see some more of her soon.

Tom, amazing critique, thank you so much for taking the time, its well relieved.

you keep making note of the magenta tones, i did that intentionally. i copied my develop settings from another image onto this one and it took me back how well it worked bring out the brown tones in the leaves so i tried to apply it to the other images to be consistent. do you think i need to pull it back more. i think it helps knock down the red and green contrast a little which is why i left it. i want it to be subtle and not too noticeable.

her legs look pasty because she has stockings on, they were nude but i guess the sunlight killed the color.

as with all of your other comments of should be able to fix some elements to improve the set.

swbkrun wrote in post #16320347
My only complaint is the dirty feet... But I hate feet !!! Other than that... I like

i actually like the dirty feet i think it gives character to the image.

mike_311 wrote in post #16320815
Tom, amazing critique, thank you so much for taking the time, its well relieved.

you keep making note of the magenta tones, i did that intentionally. i copied my develop settings from another image onto this one and it took me back how well it worked bring out the brown tones in the leaves so i tried to apply it to the other images to be consistent. do you think i need to pull it back more. i think it helps knock down the red and green contrast a little which is why i left it. i want it to be subtle and not too noticeable.

Mike,

If you did that intentionally, then I see no problem with it. Things like color tone are really a personal, artistic choice, and it's good when a photographer takes the time to make the color the way he/she wants it. I only pointed it out because in those two images it popped out to me, and, not knowing it was on purpose, I thought it was something that you should be aware of.

mike_311 wrote in post #16320818
i actually like the dirty feet i think it gives character to the image.

I like 'em dirty, too . . . gives a more authentic, earthy look to the image.

Nice critiques here, and nice photos. Tom picked out a couple of things that I missed - particularly the blurred rail in #6 and the highlight next to the model's head in #7.

Mike, your model's poses look very natural and comfortable. I don't know if it's your ability to direct or her ability to pose well, but it's something that's missing in many otherwise good photographs. Great work.