Photographer's Comment: Does this work or is it distracting. Thanks in advance! Carl

Tags: senior portrait carl bromberg visions photography

Viewer Comments:

By maureenyoung52 (2007-11-06 03:07:53 ): Doug, How do you know these things? You even know all the technicals terms. Are there books about this? I have never heard about the things you bring up. If you have names of books could you share them or if not you should write a book. Maureen

By Jim915 (2007-11-04 21:38:55 ): Doug - this is very valuable information! Thanks for sharing it.

By smokeydawg (2007-11-04 14:23:53 ): I REALLY appreciate the input Doug, what you said about the tangents and trapped space makes a lot of sense, I wasn't aware of these and really appreciate sharing this with me. This advice will truly help me the next time I do this effect. Something about this was bothering me and I now know what and was what I was hoping for when I posted this. Thanks again!!!!

By DougWilkening (2007-11-04 12:38:35 ): Two major technical flaws in the composition here: (1) Bad tangents, and (2) Trapped space. 1. A bad tangent occurs when the edges of two objects in the comp just barely touch one another. This has two bad tangents, first the two heads bumping, and second the faded face against the shoulder. Most viewers do not find such tangents pleasing but they can't explain why. 2. Trapped space is blank space surrounded by compositional elements, in this case the triangle bounded by the two heads and the shoulder. Almost always creates viewer discomfort. I think these comp flaws probably explain the general negative reaction among the viewers. The suggested crop would not address either of these issues, but moving the faded background face to the viewers left to eliminate the tangents as well as the trapped space would.

By smokeydawg (2007-11-03 23:14:03 ): Yup, we were going for more of a glamour look, just started working with this effect as it seems to be popping up in some other markets I watch and thought I'd see how it goes over here. Like all first tries, just looking for feedback for fine tuning purposes so I can get it better next time. Appreciate the input and time! :)

By smokeydawg (2007-11-03 23:10:31 ): Thanks Tina, the feedback means a lot. I do tend to oversoft females somtimes maybe more then I should and admit I need to work on that. Thanks again.

By smokeydawg (2007-11-03 23:08:26 ): Thanks Andrew, yea I agree the lighting is a little flat, but we were going for more of a glamour look, as far as the faded bg, about the only purpose is the effect seems to be popping up in some other markets, so thought I'd try it in my market. Seniors seem to like it and I just started playing with this so like any first tries, just looking for feedback for fine tuning purposes. Thanks again for the time and input.

By smokeydawg (2007-11-03 23:01:30 ): Thanks for the input Jim, I really like your crop, I'll try one with the combination you talked about. As I was telling Mark above, I've just started playing with this effect, I tend to watch what's going on in other markets and it seems to be popping up in a few places, so essentially trying to be one of the first in my market to do this stuff. Same with the image I put in your forum post. But like all initial tries at something new, just looking for input to fine tune things a bit. So once again, appreciate the time and the input.

By smokeydawg (2007-11-03 22:57:37 ): Hi Mark, thanks for commenting, this was done as a quick duplicate layer, flipped then opacity adj, mainly for proofing purposes, if she decides she likes it the teeth would be whitened. Just couldn't make up my mind if the bg image was too distracting, and needed some other input. Just started playing with this effect as it seems to be getting popular in other markets, hadn't made it here yet, but trying to one of the first here to do it. Thanks again.

By Jim915 (2007-11-03 17:55:31 ): Carl - the lighting is excellent and placing the girls at the left edge creates a stong composition. Every photo that I've seen which use this composition has been strong. I also think the fade at the right side works well but her face has too much real estate and so it does distract. I'm not sure the suggested crop works perfectly. Another idea is to slide the right side to the left so that the face appears to be peeking out from behind. Combine that with a crop similar to what I suggested.

By mschacter (2007-11-03 16:07:40 ): Once you're doing all of that fiddling around in Photoshop, why not whiten the girl's teeth -- they look so yellow.

By maureenyoung52 (2007-11-03 14:51:14 ): The light is a little flat, but I think she probably likes the" glamorous" look. I think they are too close up and too similar for this to work. I want to see more of both.

By Tina (2007-11-03 03:24:13 ): I agree, the lighting does seem flat. Sort of like there is not much depth and dimention to the face. I like soft, but it seems a bit overly soft to me.

By adykeman (2007-11-03 01:59:55 ): I'm not sure about this one Carl. The lighting seems flat and I don't quite understand the concept of the background faded image.

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