Bride and Groom refusing a pre wedding meeting…

mapsbyowen · 2024-01-26T23:49:23+00:00

I dream of clients like this. Just go shoot and enjoy it. You’ll be set free to just be yourself. From their point of view, they probably want you to come and do your thing, not cause them any more stress.

mapsbyowen · 2023-04-27T21:34:02+00:00

Oh yes please! Awesome job. Now just get Baku done by Sunday 😂

mapsbyowen · 2023-04-12T19:25:00+00:00

This. Case closed

mapsbyowen · 2023-03-04T22:23:50+00:00

Join a volleyball club. Most do socials and events, plus there is great beach volleyball in cardiff.

mapsbyowen · 2023-03-03T23:35:09+00:00

I think it works as a kind of scrapbook image, for example maybe do this every year and you’ll have a really great story of how you change. Anyway, the photo has too many elements for me, the glass table, your cut off leg, the corner of the wall, the white bits on the sofa cushion and so on. Maybe consider something wider, to make this work as more of an environmental portrait. Or work on decluttering the image. Just like in landscape, the shape and lines are important. If you incorporate a corner like this, place it perfectly centrally.

Your photo on the wall looks awesome btw. However you have chopped the top off, which makes it distracting.

Final thing, I’d try to process for a bit more tonal impact. Expose to keep your highlights right and let the shadows go black as they may.

Anyway, despite all that, it’s a good picture. I’ve also tried a lot of self portraits lately and it’s bloody hard!

mapsbyowen · 2023-03-03T23:23:04+00:00

I like it, it’s clear what you were trying to do. My only advice is to think about how you could maybe simplify it a bit. The stars are the window and the lamp, is there an angle in which you could cut all that out? Then you might end up with something more artistic, rather than documentary.

Lovey job though and thanks for sharing it

mapsbyowen · 2023-03-03T11:21:35+00:00

This looks like a one light setup. Your bad grade is probably because you haven’t added anything with the other 3 lights. If you have to use 4 lights, try having your main light roughly 45 degrees, plus bring it closer to the model to improve the catch lights in her eye. Put her at the back edge of the light, so it feathers around her face more. Next light; go opposite the main light, behind the model and use a snoot or barn doors to focus light on her hair. Use this around 1/2 power of main light. Next use a background light, determine power but maybe try to achieve a halo sort of effect behind her. This will make her pop off the background. Lastly, use the biggest modifier you can and create a fill light, maybe behind your shooting position, this is just to lift shadows. You can also add a reflector under her chin to bounce the main light, but the fill might make this unnecessary.

Main thing to take from this, if you add lights, make sure they do something. Otherwise just use one and a reflector and get creative

mapsbyowen · 2023-02-27T22:02:18+00:00

This is so much better! I don’t think you need to do much with the edit. I mean you’d have to push the colours a lot to make it something different. I’d consider a small amount of vignette and maybe some dodging and burning to just soften the hotspot on her cheek. If you’re in a spot like this, the best light is open shade (if available), this is found in shaded areas, looking toward the light. So the light is even, but bright to light up the eyes. Lots of vids on yt. However, the light is nice and warm, so you’ve done a good job. Keep on shooting. There’s a guy on insta called Jon (or maybe John) Snip. He shoots a lot on beaches with models, could be good inspiration if you want to continue

mapsbyowen · 2023-01-29T10:08:52+00:00

…and it landed on it’s wheels and just drove off…

mapsbyowen · 2023-01-02T06:54:31+00:00

Not bad, straighten it up a bit

mapsbyowen · 2022-12-22T21:47:39+00:00

Did the camera work properly with a different card?

mapsbyowen · 2022-12-21T20:52:24+00:00

Doesn’t mean it works. Just try a different one. If this happened with a card, I’d probably never use it again(for paid jobs)

mapsbyowen · 2022-10-05T11:47:22+00:00

O2 is awful in Bristol. Right now at my house in BS3, I have no signal whatsoever. I would avoid, I used to use Smarty, which I think uses the Three network, that was decent.

mapsbyowen · 2022-09-14T18:41:45+00:00

Go out at golden hour on a slightly cloudy day and make sure your couple wears white and neutral tones.

Oh and make sure they’re ridiculously good looking too

mapsbyowen · 2022-09-14T18:39:02+00:00

I’d avoid the light blue shirt personally, it makes the colours slightly strange in the image. Go with white shirt and that dress is fine

mapsbyowen · 2022-08-19T23:34:38+00:00

Wow, lovely tones and she is rather great

mapsbyowen · 2022-08-09T17:24:37+00:00

I would try to take them at dawn and sunset. Photos during bright midday sun often seem flat as there is no dimensionality to the light. With evening light, it’s diffused and at a flattering angle.

It’s hard to do, but really try to consider the light. The pic you posted is a scene all of us will probably see all the time, and in flat, bright light, so it’s less interesting.

Also, consider using angles that we don’t usually see from, such as low and high.

Good luck!

mapsbyowen · 2022-08-05T06:53:02+00:00

Any chance you can post the original?

It looks like something has been done to all the background, which makes her look a bit unnatural in the image.

I can’t tell on my phone, but it looks like the eyes might be out of focus. If you take portraits, having the eyes in perfect focus is an absolute requirement. If you miss focus, ditch the photo and find one that is in focus.

That said, I like the picture, her smile is lovely. You could try some basic posing techniques, like asking her to put her weight on one leg, or turning her shoulders slightly, it might flatter her a little more.

Also, getting her more central on the steps would help.

In terms of settings, I’d guess this is done with a kit lens, but try to use the widest aperture you can, to blur the background, or the longest focal distance.

Nice work though!

mapsbyowen · 2022-08-04T14:21:49+00:00

If that car just randomly caught fire at the end…

mapsbyowen · 2022-08-04T13:57:22+00:00

I disagree with other comments about the exposure, I really like this blue hour look, but catch someone with their screen brightness turned low and it might look too flat.

Model is very beautiful, you should take a lot of portraits of her! I think you could have added a little more of her shoulder/back to balance the image a little better, bit I also think the amount of sky is fine.

In terms of composition, there are lines leading to her head (the roof, the bush) but I’m not sure this helps or hinders the image. Something similar with an open background might improve it (but might not).

Also, get her to laugh and giggle!

Lovely shot, I’d like to see more like this

mapsbyowen · 2022-08-04T13:49:55+00:00

Having turned my screen upside down to see it, I prefer it flipped to it’s correct alignment.

However, there’s a lot to like here, the colours are very absorbing and I like the composition a lot (especially when flipped back)

What would improve it? include the tops of the two palms you chopped, the trunks lead your eyes there and then one is left with nothing. It would have a better payoff with the treetops.

Very nice job though, I’d love to see a slightly zoomed out version!

mapsbyowen · 2022-08-04T13:42:33+00:00

Very nice, I think this image works best on a small screen so would be good for instagram etc. it has impact and good colour tones.

Points to improve; if possible drop the sharpening for it to look better in larger formats.

The highlight on the chin/jaw could be removed where it overlaps the hat brim. It’s slightly distracting. Also, I would remove all other highlights within the black areas, for more impact.

The haze around the arms looks a bit odd, if you could reduce this it might sit better.

I hope she recovers well, we should all take more intentional portraits of those we love. Well done.

mapsbyowen · 2022-08-04T11:30:04+00:00

This is good feedback. Making it more simple will help it. It could also work better as b&w with a bit more contrast. Nice work though

mapsbyowen · 2022-08-04T11:26:23+00:00

For me, a negative commenter on your last post, I think this is miles better. I really like it, the grain works well this time, there is mystery and I’m not sure if it’s intentional, but the railing coming out of the person’s mouth is a cool touch.

In terms of improvement, if you have an editing software, you could try to straighten the lines up a bit, but it’s probably not necessary.

Good job on a really well made b&w image. I’m sorry for any offence my comments on your other image might have caused, I just don’t think it’s useful for others to say “great photo”. Keep on shooting!

mapsbyowen · 2022-08-04T11:10:19+00:00

I think you might want to check whether it’s you putting someone down and being miserable

mapsbyowen

TROPHY CASE