Photo Critique #1: “Camden” | Portrait Critique

Aaron

What a great first photo to begin our blog! Thank you so much for submitting this Jolee! Let’s jump right in to the evaluation of your photograph. The first thing I gravitate to in most images I view is the light. Your light here on the subject is flattering and soft. It looks like you positioned the boy underneath an overhang which would cut down the bright light coming from directly overhead and force the available light to fill the boy’s face. Great use of directional light! This creates a beautiful shine in his eyes.

For portraits, the face should be the most interesting element in a scene. And this child’s face is very captivating. Every tool you possess should be utilized to hold the viewer’s gaze on the face of the subject. Anything that distracts from the face, or gives the eye anything more interesting to look at, is competing with our subject for attention. In this photo, two things compete with the boy’s face for our attention. Our eyes tend to find linear elements interesting – this is why leading lines are so effective in composition. It might seem that the little boy is wearing a shirt with leading lines on them, giving the eye somewhere to go other than the subject. Maybe think to have him wear a solid shirt as opposed to stripes. Another element that could be addressed is the bright background by the boy’s head. The human eye is drawn to the brightest part of the scene. One suggestion to ensure the boy’s face is the brightest part of the scene is to frame his face so that a dark element is behind him. This would give a sense of separation. This is also known as “chiaroscuro,” using light and dark elements to establish a sense of depth. You’ve achieved some sense of depth already with your shallow depth of field – and the outcome is quite beautiful.

In portraiture, it’s advised to photograph the “open side” of the subject’s face. This means the side of the face with the most distance between the corner of the eye and the corner of the mouth. It looks like that’s what you did here. You’ve also composed the shot using the rule of thirds. The little boy is precisely on a vertical third and his eyes and face are on a horizontal third. Speaking of framing, the only area where I would suggest improvement is where you cropped off the tips of the subject’s left hand. Ordinarily, it’s not very aesthetic to crop so tight to things like fingers, ears, toes, etc. Ensure that you crop so that it looks deliberate and not accidental. My last suggestion would be to photograph the little boy doing something natural. Leaning back up against a wall just doesn’t look like something a little boy would do. I’d like to see a shot of him playing in the dirt, running, holding a frog, etc.

Great image Jolee! The passion you have for photography is evident and I hope that my comments are received as I intended them – to help you gain a different perspective.

Megan

What draws me into this portrait is the shallow depth of field and the catch of light in the young boys eyes. I think that black and white was a good choice to simplify the image keeping the focus on the subject and not the background elements. The focus and gaze of the the little boy is sweet and intriguing.

Things to consider: The boys facial expression. There is a bit more grit to the image because of the choice of black&white and the facial expression. Because the child is up against a wall, with that expression, it makes me think he could be in “time out” or in some sort of trouble. My guess is that this is a straight forward portrait, so to consider these aspects that a viewer with no context could read.

I am a tiny bit distracted by where you cropped his hand. I want to see less or more. Revealing the rest of the hand comfortably in the frame would eliminate that minor issue. But also I would consider a slightly tighter crop. Depending on where and how this image is being shared/displayed would guide me better in how to crop the image successfully.

Since the image is in Black&White, it emphasizes shapes and forms in the image. With that said. The dark spot in the top left feels a bit to strong to me. I would remove or lighten that area to keep the focus and weight of the image on the face. There is another similar situation with a light patch in the bottom left as the images as wells.

David

I’ll admit I’m sort of flying blind on this one. With no before to look at it’s difficult to see what was manipulated in post and where one can make improvements. I’ll say that as a general rule I do very little in the way of manipulation when it comes to photos of children. I view a photograph of a child as a brief sliver of time, a chronicling of who they were as they spring up like weeds. Black and whites also pose their own interesting set of challenges when critiquing because so much information has been stripped away.

For most, a black and white conversion is nothing more than clicking a button or two, but the colors present in the original shot allow us a great deal of latitude where it comes to creating visual appeal when converted to black and white. For example, a shift of the green slider can take what would be drab gray and push it into rich dark tones or eye catching highlights if adjusted the opposite direction. It’s a benefit of black and white conversions that is often overlooked.

With this shot in particular I’m very happy with the amount of sharpening and contrast around the mouth and eyes. It’s just enough to help draw the viewer in without going to the extremes of what I like to call ‘alien eye.’ The play between dark and light in the hair is also nicely done and provides for a wonderful bit of texture. It’s also nice to see that the eyes and teeth are close to being the whitest parts of the photograph, again, drawing the viewer in.

As to what could be improved upon, for myself I’d like to see even greater contrast. To me, a black and white should have a healthy helping of black with bright whites drawing us into the subject. It’s one of the rare occasions where pushing that histogram is acceptable. As a general rule, in a black and white portrait I try to have my subject be the lightest part of the portrait when dealing with Caucasians. Here our skin tone is more of a muddied gray and I think this shot would benefit if that range of color were pushed brighter. Overall, I’d say that while there is room for improvement, this is a good B&W conversion well on its way to being a very good one.

Jason

This photograph portrays a candid moment of a young boy’s life. My eyes immediately go to the young boy’s eyes, which have good contrast and are a key factor that draws you into the photograph. The decision the photographer made to have this photo in black and white helps simplify the image. This aesthetic choice removes any potential color distractions and isolates the subject, to help bring focus on the child.

The expression of the face isn’t a full smile and appears strained and forced. This portrait evokes a fleeting moment that gives a sense of the subject’s demeanor. The image left me wanting a stronger gesture from the face or the body posture. There is little additional information is provided below the shoulders. With so much space given around of the subject, it gives a lot of weight and importance to an empty area that doesn’t provide supportive information to the photograph. A tighter crop on the face can really connect emotionally by making the space more intimate for the viewer. This would also eliminate the darker shadow areas and provide direction back to the subject’s face.

Overall this photograph is a good portrait of a young boy, but lacks any greater signifiers, iconography or themes to represent a larger concept.

Guest Evaluator – Emily Teague

The first thing in this image that stands out to me is the child’s eyes- great work done with the contrast and clarity in them. While the boy’s expression does make me want to look at the photo longer, it also distracts me from the overall cute feeling. I love the shallow depth of field that makes my eyes go straight to the subject, but for me the black line coming down into the white in the top left hand corner is distracting. I wish the frame were just a bit larger so that I could see the boy’s entire hand. Currently with the crop it feels a bit tense. It’s a good rule of thumb to try and never crop off appendages. The boy’s pose and the texture within his shirt and hair really adds to the contrast between the soft background and clear subject.