The Exploited was the band on the shirt

Arron I’m curious, on the first image you critiqued, how many of those changes you made in photoshop would you have corrected in camera if you had taken the photograph? (gobo, black cards, reflector, or fill lights)

Thanks James, I appreciate all the feedback. When building my site I wanted to keep it clean and simple and let the images speak for themselves, so hopefully that comes across. I’ve actually put up more images then I would normally to get feedback in the next month or so giving me a better  idea of what people really like in terms of images to keep up and ones to take down. Eventually only keeping up the best of the best. Any feedback you have in terms of ones you think are the best I’d love to hear. I’ve thought about taking down the other categories recently and I think following this process I’ll do as you mentioned and take them to another site. Thanks for the feedback. All the best James. Cheers!

I just started watching the first critique on the first image but as soon as the episode started I started clicking around Fearman’s website (great last name btw haha) But the one thing that immediately jumped out at me is the model’s eyes. And maybe this is coming from watching Phlearn on a daily basis, but they’re entirely too white. I’m sure Aaron will go into it also but I just wanted to let you know just browsing the images, they immediately drew my attention, and not exactly in a good way.  

Night clubs have red lights!

Andrew and Aaron
Critique for artist in general is always a bit touchy.  As artist we have invested our effort, ideas, and exposed a bit of our inner self to the masses.  It hurts when the comments are negative and feels good when they are positive.  In my opinion both are nothing but a distraction.  My personal rules for critique are as follows.

1.  A proper critique is always about a thing, ( image, feature, composition, lighting, …) it is not about the person, general skills, or anything else in general.

2.  A critique is an opinion of a single person.  That person can be helpful, insightful, have different values, not get the concept, or just be wrong. 

3. The “Artist” has ask his/her self is there truth in this opinion or comment and is it relevant to me. IMHO the real value is to help you see the thing through another set of eyes. Does the work communicate what you intended with the intensity you intended?  Is it technically weak? …

4  What will I change if I decide to change anything based on the critique.  There is no state, federal, or natural law that says you have to change anything.  But it might be a good idea to be open minded.

Most of us myself included need to change, need to work at the craft, and need to improve (in my case a lot).  However, as an artist a mastery of the craft and it’s techniques is essential but it is primarily about the message we want to convey and can it be done better. 

Alternatively you may decide that you are so far ahead of your time that “they” don’t get it and you will keep doing it your way until they do because you have artistic integrity.  You can create a large body of work while living in poverty.  Die penniless. Only to be a rediscovered long after you are dead proclaimed a genus making some future relative rich beyond belief. Assuming they didn’t throw it in the dumpster at some point.  Hey,  it’s been done before.

Andrew and Aaron,  thank you both,
Douglas

Hello Andrew, here is my commentary/critique for this video:

I really like that you appreciate and respect an honest
opinion and critique.  As a photographer,
that is a really important state of mind to have and unfortunately some people
just don’t have it.  I’m glad to hear you
do.

For these images, I paused the video before Aaron went into
detail about what he thought about each image so I can write down my thoughts
before he gets me thinking about other aspects of the images.  Then, if I feel I need to express more of my
opinion while Aaron is explaining his thoughts, I write it in.

Image # 1: The location is a strong point in the image: you
don’t quite know where it was taken but at the same time it gives us an
abstract kind of feel.  It also really makes
the viewer focus on what’s most important and that’s obviously the model.  I love the pose of the model; it’s simple yet
sophisticated.

            Details:  The overall exposure of the image looks
pretty decent but I think hair gets lost in the dark background towards the
bottom of the image. I agree with Aaron about the background being filled
in.  It was one of the first things I
noticed while looking at the image.  I
also agree with Aaron with the girl’s skin being really, really soft.  It is a look of the fashion photography
industry, but it may be a bit too much. 
Also, I think her neck gets a little lost in the shadow under her chin.

Image # 2: This is a very sexualized image and it’s probably
intentional but I don’t know what message you are trying to tell your audience
and it’s kind of ambiguous.  I also think
it’s dark for a b&w image and details get lost in some places.  The pose of the models is also kind of
awkward.  I also agree with what Aaron
said about the white line.  Watch out for
distractions like that even if they are minor…my photo professor always points
out the little things that bother him in the crits in class and after you see
the distraction, you can’t ignore it.

Image # 3: I love this image.  I think it stands out from the typical
picture of a model because not only are we looking at a beautiful model, but
the landscape is beautiful as well.  I’m
also a fan of the composition, it’s off centered and I like to see that
especially with this landscape. 

            Details:  The exposure looks pretty darn good. & I
love the colors! The models arm pose also looks a bit awkward.  I don’t know if it’s me not being used to
fashion poses or just the way I prefer to look at models so don’t take it personally.   I also like the bathing suit she’s wearing;
it’s not too revealing and it also compliments well with the landscape.  & I like the way her feet are posed…it’s
a tiny detail but they look really relaxed and not stiff.

Image # 4:  The first
thing I noticed from this image is the hairstyle and the blue lips…that’s also
probably intentional.  They are basic
fashion studio shots with the plain white background.  They looked like they could be used to sell
the clothes she’s wearing.

            Details:
The exposures and colors are nice.  I
prefer the second image because of her pose (like her elegant  right hand) and simply the way she’s looking
at the camera.  I also agree with Aaron,
the lips look so much better when they’re not blue!

Image # 5: The first thing I noticed about this image is the
color.  I think the tones give it an
atmosphere that would have been lost of it was colored correctly.  The second thing I noticed was the image
seems a bit cluttered and busy but at the same time that busyness kind of
frames the image so I’m on the fence with that one.

            Details:
Her right eye is getting a bit lost in the shadows, I understand that that
might be part of the lighting and such so it might just be my personal
preference again.  Overall I don’t mind
this image, but I don’t love it.

Image #6:  I honestly
don’t know how I feel about this image. 
I agree with Aaron about it being really busy.  I’m kind of lost when I look at it because
there’s a lot of shapes and at times they kind of clash into each other.

Details:  There are
some spots in the image that are lost in black and we are losing detail.  The background is also really distracting and
it kind of looks like it was just placed there, maybe that needs some toning
down.  I also don’t like their
poses.  I feel like the girl would look
better on her own.  The guy’s pose
bothers me though…especially the way her hand is placed on her rib cage.

Overall, you know what you’re doing and you have a great
style developed.   Keep going! : ) You
seem really passionate about what you do and it shows in your work! I’ll watch
part two sometime within the next few days and give more feedback.  Sorry about the novel of a comment, I seem to
ramble a lot during critiques but I do hope it helped.

Thanks James, Im on the road right now but will definitely check out which images you liked when I get back home, Cheers!!

Hey Reem, thanks so much for the compliments on my work, truly appreciate it. I’ve always loved color and really try to use it to enhance my images. The ‘Girl on Rock’ image is actually from one of my most recent shoots and I think that is the direction most of my new work will go. The “Red Gels’ were used because I wanted to give it a nightclub feel having the disco ball etc in the image as well. Thanks again for the feedback, all the best!!

Hey Christopher,
I agree with you and Aaron the knocking back/out the sky helps to really draw your eye into the model. As for the black and white images, I was certainly calling on that audience for a certain time earlier in my career but I think you see in my current and future work its pushing much harder towards fashion. In terms of the seamless shot, I don’t think its worth compositing onto another background. I think the combination of the blue lips/hair speak loud enough and overall is really there to simply show I have the skill level to shoot crisp/clean shoots on seamless for lookbooks etc Thanks for all the feedback!

Hey Maria, I agree getting rid of the background between the tankers did help. Although the eyebrows were ok, I think they could have been done a bit better, maybe even bleached them out etc. The “Girl on Rocks’ I can see your point but I don’t think she’s fighting to much for the viewers attention and Im ok with the depth of field. However, I do think its something to definitely keep in mind for future shoots. Thanks for all your feedback!

Do a portfolio critique of David Olkarny!