More Charlotte

[Bear]

Charlotte and I reached an accord on how best to treat the pictures from the recent shoot. The following are three of Charlotte's final choices. The final one is under consideration for the cover of the CD she is currently recording.

[Stephen]

Re: More Charlotte

What can I say, except women generally are not the best people to choose pictures of themselves. It must be said however that you have taken 3 pretty good shots of her, though imho they do have some shortcomings, but this is not critique

[Bear]

Re: More Charlotte

Stephen - although these are not posted in the critique section your comments would be much appreciated.

[Stephen]

Re: More Charlotte

Stephen - although these are not posted in the critique section your comments would be much appreciated.

OK, though I'm the first to admit that I've no idea how the photos will be used and whether you shot these in a particular way in order to fulfil the needs of a brief. In the first shot for example you are looking down on Charlotte and her eyes are half way down the frame. This may have been intentional in order to leave room for text/graphics etc. For me the second shot is better in so far as you are on a level with her eyes, but there is still a lot of space above her head, which again may be intentional.

I wonder if you chose a day to shoot when the light was not ideal, and for this reason you decided to add the graduated colour to the sky. Not sure if its a filter or if it was added later, but I'm not so sure it works that well. The second shot in particular has the colour overlapping her hair.

Photographing portraits on a beach can always be problematical, because of the lines created by the horizon and shoreline. In the first shot the shoreline is tilted, and in the second shot it intersects her head

In the first shot Charlottes head is tilted backwards, which I think is not so flattering. For me the second shot is much better in this respect as her head is tilted forward and is much more flattering IMO

In the third shot you have the horizon and shoreline divided into the thirds, which is probably the ideal, but I'm not too sure about the person walking along the shoreline, it may have been intentional, I can't say, but unless they serve a useful purpose I'd be inclined to clone them out.

These are just a few of my immediate thoughts and I don't wish to appear patronising or tell you how you should be doing the job. I wasn't there, I don't know how the photos will be used, or whether there is some theme or brief you were trying to fulfil, so I may be out of order

[Bear]

Re: More Charlotte

Thanks Stephen, not at all out of order, releveant comments and all good observations. Of these three, the only one that might be used in any way is the last which may become the CD cover.

The reaction to the bather in the shot is interesting. It is pretty much 50:50 for and against, from all those that have seen the picture. Personally I like it a lot and think it adds something to the picture even though I don't know what !

Charlotte is quite demanding to work with. She has strong ideas about how she wants to be presented and many strong views about her appearance which, in my opinion are not always correct. For example, she always thinks that she looks fat. Not uncommon, I know but misguided. Like most of us, she finds it difficult to appreciate the view of herself that photographs present. On the positive side, this does help a lot with communication !

Thanks for looking and taking the time to provide valuable feedback.

[Ian]

Re: More Charlotte

I think these are much better - in the second she looks rather like Katie Melua. The third one I think is a great candidate for an album cover.

Ian

[Ian]

Re: More Charlotte

I have to say that I like the third a lot because I know what its purpose is for. It's not a conventional portrait and I rarely find I like these for album covers, which often have an off-beat, challenging, air about them.

Ian

[Bear]

Re: More Charlotte

Ian - your reaction to the bather in the shot ?

[Ian]

Re: More Charlotte

Ian - your reaction to the bather in the shot ?

I like it - your mind is in a different state when looking at album covers and I think the bather adds a new dimension to the imagery.

Ian

[StuartR]

Re: More Charlotte

I'd say she's phat - not fat

I know that didn't help much.....I'll get me coat.

[Bear]

Re: More Charlotte

Stuart - I doubt there many that will disagree with you ! She can sing too !

[Stephen]

Re: More Charlotte

I like it - your mind is in a different state when looking at album covers and I think the bather adds a new dimension to the imagery.

Ian

Maybe it does, however there doesn't seem to be an immediate link with anything, there is no context. Now if the album title gave it context I'd be happier, or maybe a song on the album related to walking on the beach or something else, however tenuous, there would be a reason.

[Patrick]

Re: More Charlotte

Charlotte and I reached an accord on how best to treat the pictures from the recent shoot. The following are three of Charlotte's final choices. The final one is under consideration for the cover of the CD she is currently recording.

I see what Stephen means about the space above her head, some judicious cropping may help.
I do find the sky line distracting on the first two straight or sloping.
The third I like very much with the figure in, to me it adds a sense of space. The colour is complementary as well.

Patrick