Critique for Richard A
These shots were taken by Richard at our recent "Location Nudes" workshop. Richard has taken advantage of our post-workshop critique - any attendee can submit images for a follow-up review.
Very nice use of the stairs, very close to symmetrical, nice position of Maggie in the frame and a good pose works well against the rigid framework of the stairs. Good control of tones in the black and white.
This image seems to have lost some of the sunshine that we were seeing and I'm not sure I understand why. I think a slightly different positioning of maggie or camera (or both) just to get some extra rim light on the right hand side of the body would have helped a lot to make this sparkle.
The rim light from the sunshine looks great and with the dark background behind the hair you've got a really nice point of contrast.
The mix of textures here is smashing, well held tones in both Maggie and the barn doors. The off-centre composition works very well. Smashing shot.
With the pose there are a number of small flaws, the toes are scrunched, the hands are bit flat to camera and there is a awkward shadow in the crutch. On the upside the neck area is lovely. Nice use of the banisters to provide a frame and even some well held detail in the window. The rim light from the window is really nice.
For me Maggie's expression is not quite right for the shot, it doesn't quite have the "moment" in it. Your camera height is probably a little high, this has led to an emphasis of the forward knee and a slight shortening in the legs - which is exaggerated by the drop on the white shawl. You could probably stretch the legs just a fraction to get over that.
Really like this one, strong sassy and sexy pose. Good strong line across the two arms (see how they are both at the same angle). The kick on the hip is great and the hands are well placed. The curl in the fingers in both hands is great.
Overall a good set, somewhere in your monochrome conversion I think you are losing a little impact. You should have a play with contrast, levels, clarity in various combinations and just see if you can get a little more "punch" out of them. I'm sure you can.
Good work with Maggie and I think shows some good collaboration between you both.
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