Taken at N'Dulge day spa. Taken from behind through the mirror. She's my regular hair dresser, so she was no problem. I didn't know the customer, but she was more than happy to have her picture taken. Cropped, sharpened, played with some adjustment layers. Saved for web.
Post challenge - I had posted in the forums, but a quick note here... I was using the anti-blur setting on my camera and didn't realize that it was using ISO 800. It looked great in the preview screen on the camera. I thought I finally nailed one. Got home and uploaded and bam (nice blur). Live and learn, and learning I am. Thanks for all the great comments.
Statistics
Place: 135 out of 190 Avg (all users): 5.2064 Avg (commenters): 5.4444 Avg (participants): 4.9610 Avg (non-participants): 5.3404 Views since voting: 1184 Views during voting: 335 Votes: 218 Comments: 26 Favorites: 0
I love everything about this...except the blur (which you explained). Great expressions. (BTW, if you want to see some REAL blur wait until my next challenge - it will make your blur look like you're seeing better than 20/20 LOL). I like the colors here too. This is a very pleasant moment with people who make this shot come alive.
it seems a bit soft to me, and that will get you hit hard quick. i like the portrait and the lighting is pretty good. the woman has a great expression.
the only bit i really dislike is the picture in the background. it is bursting out of her head and i think that will get you dinged as quickly as everything else.
I think this meats the challenge very well, composition is good, nice colors, but shutterspeed is way to slow, the image isn't sharp and you can see movement in the faces.
it would be nice to see good movement in the hands, but the faces just have to be 100% frozen.
I didn't vote in this challenge, but due to the movement I would only give this a 3-4. but with higher shutterspeed, 1/60 - 1/125 this would look much better and the score would be 7-8.
Trading Post comment
I gave this a 6 in voting. I didn't see your comment in the forum, but I really liked the expressions on both the hairdresser and the customer. I also really liked that these are real people in real time, and the composition is very good. Other than the blur issue, you might have positioned yourself just enough to get rid of the light switch. I do like the poster behind the hairdresser - adds to the "environment". Hopefully you'll take a copy to your hairdresser - I'm betting she'll love it!
I gave this a 5 in the voting - it's a very well captured moment, the composition of the 2 faces is strong, and it really shows the hairdresser in her element which is the most important thing of an environmental portrait, but you've obviously struggled with enough light, and the high ISO/low shutterspeed has made it quite blurry/grainy, so the quality isn't as good as the content. I think this was the main reason it didn't score any higher.
Very interesting choice of subject, and nicely composed. As Tim said, it looks like a quick snapshot. I think this one would have scored well if the focus had been better. You hit the challenge perfectly, though.
I think your subject matter suited the challenge quite well. But it looks like a quick snapshot rather than a proper portrait. A bit too blurry overall. That really is the primary issue with this shot. Colors could have been a bit more vibrant as well.
The idea and composition of this picture are great, but it is lacking on the technical side. The focus on the models is a bit soft, and I'm not sure if it's Neat Image or Gaussian blur, but there seems to be a too heavy dose of that applied as well. It also has a slightly yellowish cast to it that can be fixed with a light touch of post processing
This would be a great shot in any case, but the title changes the view of it. Suddently the edges of the picture become a mirror's frame, or are we standing behind the mirror looking through?
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
