First day with my Nifty Fifty

First one is my favorite, I might have went overboard with the pp but you guys let me know what you think. The others are pretty much untouched. Any cc welcome, just be constructive. Thanks!

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next 2.

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last one.

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#1 - well exposed but it doesn't do anything for me (sorry)
#2 - I like the composition but the over exposed sky kill it for me, and as a result the boy is also over exposed
#3 - The best of the set IMHO
#4 - Concept has potential, but doesn't quite work, maybe too little face, too much helmet. Happy to defer to others. Maybe need to be centred; ie have the both sides of his face
#5 - Face is too dark and you shopped him off on the right. Is there a reason you did that?

pelooyen wrote in post #10546557
#1 - well exposed but it doesn't do anything for me (sorry)
#2 - I like the composition but the over exposed sky kill it for me, and as a result the boy is also over exposed
#3 - The best of the set IMHO
#4 - Concept has potential, but doesn't quite work, maybe too little face, too much helmet. Happy to defer to others. Maybe need to be centred; ie have the both sides of his face
#5 - Face is too dark and you shopped him off on the right. Is there a reason you did that?

this is exactly what i would have said too

I like the first one, it looks like he just lost a game, emotion in photos is very important too me. The only problem for me is that he is not even sweating so that makes it seem a bit artificial.

Thanks for the advice guys. Now that I gave it a day to set in and look back I'm realizing I should have asked myself "why am I taking this picture" with most of them. I still like the first one a lot but I see where you're coming from with the others. I'll keep at it.

2 is quite interesting and it might be exploring more in terms of DOF and how we want to look up at the player under the face mask - perhaps a contour of jawline as opposed to nostrils?

3 is certainly the strongest. Because of the nature of the plane of focus, the part of face mask that resides in the same plane as the subject's eye is also in sharp focus. If you care to do some PP, work on softening the part of the face mask that is in sharp focus that currently competes with the eye.

Did some PP work to soften the helmet, smooth some skin and cross process. Let me know what you guys think.

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Heres one without cross processing (can't tell which one makes the eye pop more).

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I like it better without processing personally

Yup...more detail in the eye without.

theelectrician wrote in post #10554139
I like it better without processing personally

+1
The hue under the eye in the cross-processed version is exactly that of a day-old black eye.

btw. softening the portion of the face mask that used to be sharp focus really made the eye stand out. The amount of softening is perfect - very subtle.

Ok, unprocessed it is. Thanks for the feedback guys.