Assignments, to love or hate them!!

[bigsarg7]

Well everyone i've been flat out lately don't get a chance to post much these days, but I frequently visit to see how everyone is going and to catch up on all the goss so to speak. Well whilst i've been flat out with family life i've also been flat out trying to do some assignments, they presented me with a challenge to what i would usually be interested in and well i was then given a theme to work on, "Dream" and o how i hate themes, but i must say it pushed my creativity and made me change my thought process to fulfill the assignment brief. My first part of the assignment was using a flash manually (sb800) and using multiple flashes create a image that would have impact, and it was to have a person or persons in it who were to be the subject. Here is what I came up with, my teacher loved it and thankfully passed me on it too, which was a bonus. I'd love some further critique so I can learn and take these skills i've learnt to another level.




This second image had to be once again using flash manually off camera again but only used on the side. So once again CC would be awesome so i can get better.




This third image had to have side light from a window and using my flash (sb800) on camera, bounce off a reflector to create a balanced image.




Overall I was really happy with the images, and tried to portray my view on dream and I think each photo has different elements that can represent the theme. I was especially happy with the first two images as it was all staged and it really was a freezing cold night when we did the shoot. So yeah, thanks for checking my images out, CC would be appreciated but if you don't have time thanks for looking and I can't wait to see the future images posted online from each of the members!!

[Remorhaz]

I'll start with the third image and say I love it on white (or near white) and I don't even mind that the subject is looking out of the frame. However I find the skin tones (especially on the face) are too green.

With the first I find that bright white area on the right really draws my attention - I'm constantly forced back there when I want to look everywhere else (especially since most of the image is quite dark). I'd probably also crop just a little off the left side.

[surenj]

#1 - nice concept. Maybe brighten up the areas you want the viewer to look at more. Can I see this in colour? Maybe a duotone or something may well help here.

#2 - Again quite nice. I suggest cloning out that really bright area. His hands/face show that he lives in a nice house and is not exposed to the elements at all. [not even by mistake/accident - probably takes an umbrella everwhere] But I would never judge anyone though. You can easily add some texture to his face etc.

#3 - Very nicely executed. There is a harsh shadow under the chin but it's a great image. Could you post a setup shot or a diagram?

[bigsarg7]

Thanks for all your feedback, all taken on board for future reference thats for sure. In regards to the set up for the 3rd image surenj, I had my back drop set 1 or 2 feet back from the young lady, off the the left was our lounge window at around 4pm when the sun light was filtering through at its nicest point due to the way our house faces etc. the window was approx 1.5 -2 mt from the young lady and on the right side, (her right, so the images left) leaning up againts my good old tri pod was my reflector (White side) and it was approx 1.5 mt off to the left of the young lady (to the right in the image). I had the camera bounce off it to get the image lighting more balanced.
I agree it looks a bit green now, at the time I was really happy with it but I am finding it noticeably green so thanks for pointing that out.

In regards to image #1, it had to be at night and only lighting up the subject matter, i found that quite difficult to be honest but in colour it looked more set up, where you could tell they weren't real homeless ppl. Obviously the skin and faces weren't dirty etc, so thats why i went down the black and white treatment. I was however to minimise editing process for the assignment and thats why i hadn't lightened the subjects up a bit more.

and Remorhaz, I had the young lady look out of the frame to give it that dreamy look, like she was dreaming of something special etc. So that the portrait would fit the dream theme my teacher had given me. and the harsher white part was obviously closer to the flash and as i wasn't allowed to much editing I had to leave it and it made it more obvious to my teacher where i had the flash positioned. Where as on the other homeless model it looks darker as I was unable to get the flash any closer due to it being seen in the frame, which wasn't meant to be visible in the assignment. But thanks for your comments too, they will certainly help me out in my next assignments no doubt!

So do i hate them or love them, Its a love hate relationship, i hate that I have to think so much, but I like that its teaching me to think out side the box and leave my usual genre of photography.

[zafra52]

I find the first two quite interesting, but they come
too dark on my screen and valuable picture details
are missing. The third one is good, but it will be
even better is you could eliminate some detail from
the background and make it totally white so the
attention goes and remains with the subject.

[biggerry]

I will address the second image for the sake of critique since i feel it is teh weakest. The lighting and technical aspects of the image are ok, you could do it a million different ways, ie reflector to fill teh light etc, but at the end of the day you seems to have used the light source to convey what you wanted, which as i see it, contrasty sharp shadows to accentuate the shapes and person in the frame and that is good. The area where it falls down for me is the pose, the sign and the clothing. I get a sense that the scene and person is representative of a homeless drunk in a typical footpath tunnel / alcove however the sign and the clothing are too cleancut, the shoes too new and the clothing not what you expect from a homeless drunk. I think with any kinda of photography like this there is often alot of time and effort spent in setting up the shot, more so that the actual taking the photo! Nonetheless it is a interesting image and the dark tones do work for me but the execution of the pose/clothing/sign take it down a notch.