Business Portrait (please critique)

[arich]

Trying to hone in on a style I like for shooting business portraits and wanted some thoughts on this image. There are several issues that I have with it that I will definitely be correcting next time I shoot.

My issues:
her head blocks part of the sign
the glare on the sign from one of my lights
the distortion of his hand on the counter

Any other thoughts besides those?

[KenJulio]

IMO -
his shirt is distracting due to the pattern
watch glare - would a CPL correct that?

Single light source? It might be me but there are some shadow/dark patterns @ left center.

The image appears sharp for the size, I suspect that it is in a larger scale, but wouldnt you be introducing risk of softness with shooting at 1/80th?

Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/80 second ===> 0.0125 second
Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 28/5 ===> ƒ/5.6

[arich]

Thanks Ken,

I agree about the shirt (this was a quick business profile for a newspaper, I still should have asked him to plan to wear something more neutral).

Yeah the watch glare really bothers me too. I would like to get a CPL because I run into lots of situations where glare is an issue and that would be the quickest and easiest fix. I also could have told them to take off the watches.

I had one light in an umbrellabox to camera right and another gridded lighting up the wall and logo to camera left. I could have put my reflector to the side to try and fill in those shadows.

Since I was lighting the shot I don't think softness would have been a problem since the flash froze the image (could be wrong). I was trying to let a little ambient bleed in but I probably could have pulled the shutter speed up to about 1/125.

[brad]

Please take this as a sincere offer to help.. I'm not trying to bash at all...

First and foremost - wardrobe selection.. there is nothing cohesive here. You should encourage them to dress in company colors (or uniform, if appropriate) so they coordinate a little better. Stick with solid colors without pinstripes to avoid that moire pattern on his shirt.

More wardrobe - Remove the watches.. they are big, bright circles that pull attention away.

More wardrobe - His shirt doesn't fit. The shoulder seams are 3 inches down his arms and the way he has it buttoned is showing off a bunch of black chest hair - not really attractive to the young, hip, yuppie/green customer (I assume since it appears to be an all natural dog food based on the logo) they want.

The first thing I thought when I saw this image was "OMG, that's GREEN" .. the green wall is all I see for the first several moments of looking at the image. If they insist on it, at least move them away from it some.. or angle it behind them so it isn't just a broad flat GREEN surface. Angling it also would reduce the reflection on that sign.

Body language - the smiles feel forced and the hands look like they just didn't know what to do with them while they posed. What does the company do? Would it make sense to put a prop in their hands?

More body language - she's slouched at the shoulders, looks uneasy and not confident.. the posture has also wrinkled her outfit dramatically.
More posing - both of them have backs of hands facing into the camera and the light.. this makes the hands look huge since that reflective surface is the same size as their faces. Angle hands away from the camera more.

Posing/Location - as I already said, they are too close to the wall, but also, that counter gives a body language impression of being unapproachable - they have a barrier between them and me (the viewer). If they idea is to portray a friendly business (as the smiles might suggest), why do they insist on putting a counter between us even in their photo?

Lighting - It is broad and flat lighting.. no drama at all and makes them both look 5-10 pounds heavier than they are in the face.

Post processing - It looks like maybe there are clone tracks down the green wall on camera left below the sign... three blotches of brighter green than the surrounding. It almost looks like the background is wrinkled "seamless" paper rather than a wall.


Remember, in corporate photography, we aren't just photographers.... we are image makers. You can be the most skilled photographer in the world, but without some wardrobe styling, posing, and prop selection, they won't look appealing to their target customer.

And again, please take this as an honest effort to help...

[PHOTO-DA]

Not sure how much space you have to work in for the shot but I would put them infront of that wood top counter then crop the shot at the top of the sign down to just below her bust line-their hands add nothing to the shot. Bringing them away from the wall will eliminate some of the dark shadows being cast on it- the wood counter/panel adds nothing to the shot.

I agree the wardrobe just doesn't do it, his shirt is distracting.

Lighting looks pretty even on them, maybe if they are on the other side of the counter you can light the sign separately with a spot with a gauze filter to knock down flair.

Also I would maybe have them turn a bit more, less face on to the camera.

If you have room to back up use a less wide angle lens, less distortion! and then close the lens down some to give you more depth of field. You may have to boost up your light level to do that.

[Photogdude]

listen to what brad said

and you might want to suggest putting the logo, in post. that way you can photo on a different BG

[bigjon0107]

Originally Posted by arich

this was a quick business profile for a newspaper

+

Originally Posted by Photogdude

and you might want to suggest putting the logo, in post. that way you can photo on a different BG

=

and not doing work for them again

[KenJulio]

Just a thought, what about a tighter crop, like a 3/4 body shot

[PLStout]

Wow,
I'm not the OP but thanks Brad for the thoughtful and detailed dissection. As I am a beginner, your post taught lots!

[arich]

All good stuff guys thanks.going to set up some actual shoots like this in the next month so I'll have more creative control over wardrobe and things like that.I would also like to get a 24-105 at some point so I can have more flexibility than my 16-35 allows and avoid the wide distortion

[KenJulio]

photorentalsource.com :)

I guess you didnt have enough room for the 70-200?

[Jim Boyd]

Brad,

That was was one of the most thorough and considerate critiques I've seen on this forum. I applaud you sir!

Jim

[Corrie]

The other critiques covered it but they are so sweet! That's where I buy my dogs food.

[Redneck]

It looks to me like you've used a tonal contrast or detail enhancer (Nik, Topaz etc) which accentuates veins and wrinkles.

[texkam]

Please take this as a sincere offer to help.. I'm not trying to bash at all...

+1

I know this is not a graphic design/marketing forum, but their overall branding falls totally short. Name, logo, website, store design are all well off target too. Image is far reaching.