Father & Son @ 5000 ft

This is a self-portrait of me and my father at the top of a firetower in NC at around 5000 feet. I've received criticism before on "self-portrait" posts, but I'll say now that I don't care about your comments so save your fingers some work.

I'm here looking for constructive criticism on the shot and how I set it up and exposed it. I tried to position us with our backs to the sun for backlighting while still capturing the magnificent view behind us. Do you think I succeeded? Does my exposure look good, or does the contrast between us and the background seem a little odd (my gf thinks it does).

Thanks in advance!

Exposure looks good could up the vibrancy or saturation a touch. Could have maybe used a higher fstop to get the background a bit more sharp. Only complaint I would say is on the next one remove both your sun glasses. It's a big distraction and makes photos look like a snap shot. Unless that's what u were going for.

Loxley wrote in post #16828505
This is a self-portrait of me and my father at the top of a firetower in NC at around 5000 feet. I've received criticism before on "self-portrait" posts, but I'll say now that I don't care about your comments so save your fingers some work.

I'm here looking for constructive criticism on the shot and how I set it up and exposed it. I tried to position us with our backs to the sun for backlighting while still capturing the magnificent view behind us. Do you think I succeeded? Does my exposure look good, or does the contrast between us and the background seem a little odd (my gf thinks it does).

Thanks in advance!

WHAT!?!?! lol. That makes no sense at all.

Ratjack wrote in post #16828746
WHAT!?!?! lol. That makes no sense at all.

I'm sorry? What doesn't make sense?

Loxley...I have to admit I had to read this a few times and am not sure of what you are looking for. On one hand you start off by saying you have rec'd criticism before & don't care about comments and then you turn around and are asking for constructive criticism....this is a forum for comments and critiques.
Regardless, I agree with gene that you should have removed the sunglasses covering your eyes and also to bump up the contrast. Nice expressions and background.

Ratjack wrote in post #16828746
WHAT!?!?! lol. That makes no sense at all.

You just took 2 parts of 2 different paragraphs and tried to put them together.

What I'm saying is, all the people who think posting "self-portraits" is a dumb idea, can save their time, because I don't care about their "self-portrait posts are lame" comments.

NEXT PARAGRAPH

I'd like constructive criticism on my photo. (opposed to useless comments about what type of photo it is)

Sorry for my poor choice of words in the initial post.

Doesn't have pop. WB is a tad cool. darken the blacks a tad and boost the vibrance a smudge. I agree the background needs to be sharper. There is a haze in the sky which there is nothing you can do about that but it's there. Great memory for sure and even though it's not something you would find from some of these wedding photogs on here it's still a great shot and I take a ton like these to capture the moments.

Loxley wrote in post #16828505
This is a self-portrait of me and my father at the top of a firetower in NC at around 5000 feet. I've received criticism before on "self-portrait" posts, but I'll say now that I don't care about your comments so save your fingers some work.

I'm here looking for constructive criticism on the shot and how I set it up and exposed it. I tried to position us with our backs to the sun for backlighting while still capturing the magnificent view behind us. Do you think I succeeded? Does my exposure look good, or does the contrast between us and the background seem a little odd (my gf thinks it does).

Thanks in advance!

LOL... You don't care about my comments, but you want criticism. This is oxymoronic and made me laugh.

I will give you some suggestions on the composition. I think your girlfriend is right, the perspective is not as good as it could be. I would have backed away a little bit, used a circular polarizing filter, brought the two of you off center, and taken the image at f/8 so the background is sharp. The further spacing from you and the camera would have given more space to the majestic background. As it stands now, it's mostly you and your pop standing there in the shot, but I want to see the scene behind you and you're covering it up.

Original post should read

"As soon as I clicked the shutter to capture this beautiful view, these two vagabonds thought it would be funny to jump in front of my lens"



Joking aside it's one for the album

wowza!

A great moment for sure... Memories....It appears you both are leaning to your left, and your dad seems to be very stiff.. Since your from out of state, I don't think you have another opportunity to reshoot. Unless you are still there...However I agree about the rule of thirds and stepping back a bit, or moving camera back a bit, and setting at least and f8 and using polarizer.

In PP you could get a lot more contrast from this shot, if you have those skills.