Young man - portrait

Please let me know what you think about it

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ummmm nice saturation but it looks like he's eating a pear,, not a portrait. Sorry

maybe not a portrait Picture of a young man....-)

shilophoto wrote in post #5418097
ummmm nice saturation but it looks like he's eating a pear,, not a portrait. Sorry

Ferrari_Alex wrote in post #5418103
maybe not a portrait Picture of a young man....-)

sure, and his pear? lol

I like the candid of the young man eating an APPLE (NOT a pear). The only criticism is that there are some areas that are a bit too dark.

Yes, apple
How to avoid those areas next time? What would I need to do differently?

bill boehme wrote in post #5418142
I like the candid of the young man eating an APPLE (NOT a pear). The only criticism is that there are some areas that are a bit too dark.

The back of his neck and his hands are blown, while his face and front generally are underexposed. To avoid this, you need a light source below - a reflector or off-camera flash fill, to move him, or to hope he's still eating it when the sun's behind a cloud or otherwise less powerfully, directly and lopsidedly exposing him. (Apologies for not being particularly useful - but that's the photographic reality). Cheers, Tony

If you are starting with street candid photography, try and include more of his environment -- the street he is on, the place that he is sitting for this apple -- so it is not such an anonymous picture. This could be anywhere, right? Show us where it is! Typically focal lengths of 24 to 35 are best for environmental street portraits.

Ferrari_Alex wrote in post #5418231
Yes, apple
How to avoid those areas next time? What would I need to do differently?

Have you seen this - http://software.canon-europe.com …ocuments/FlashW​ork_EN.pdf or the HTML version here - http://web.canon.jp/im​aging/flashwork/index.​html?

Check out pages two and three of the .PDF file, and the difference with and without flash for the guy on the balcony with the viola. Also look at page four, with the young girl. I see points in common between these examples and some of your portrait work.

A Speedlite gives you more power and more options for positioning the flash off camera but the builtin flash is at least a start.

In general, I like this capture. I really don't understand the difference between a portrait and how the term applies to 'situational portraiture and occupational portraiture and pet portraiture. This capture has minor issues with exposure and light ratios as mentioned above, but these issues can be eradicated for the most part in post edit. I think it's still a keeper as is.

A capture with composition this strong is never a throw-away. Notice the strong diagonal lead-in line from the lower right corner that leads the eye into the picture and around the guy's back and continues to the guy's head which is highlighted to create an anchor. His head is placed stragetically at the intersection of a third. Then the direction of is gaze extends the lead-in line from his head to the object of his attention which is also highlighted and is on a third. The highlights however blown out they may be are consequently tools that keeps the eye within the frames.

In my opinion the composition is stronger than the issues that might detract from the total capture. The boka is decent, too. The shadow/highlight filter in photoshop could possibly improve the blownout hands. A conservative application of the dodge tool could improve or eliminate completely the shadow issues. But the shadows as they currently exist are not really an issue for me. Probably they would bother me if I knew his jeans were $500-dollar designer slacks and the shadows concealed logo that would identify their uniqueness.

I think your image showboats your natural ability to compose the elements that you're looking at into a meaningful composition.