"Winter Blues" Needs Critique Please

[Lisa_Butler]

I have finally got the courage to enter my first PPA Comp ... I have read all the rules but I need to know if I have the image placement right and accent line correct. I have seen people draw an X across to see if they have the image positioned right. Not sure what that means but I would love to learn. I just don't know what I am doing yet. Your critique is welcomed (I can take it! ). I just want to see if this image has potential. Thanks for your time.

[Holly_Howe]

Hi Lisa - I have marked your image to illustrate the placement guides I think you are refering to. The divisions horizontally and vertically divide the print into thirds. Traditionally for greatest impact, your center of interest should fall aproximently at the intersection of two of those lines. The diagonals illustrate the Golden triangle, also called the Bakker saddle. It is also a dynamic point to place your center of interest where those diagonals meet. As you can see it falls quite close to an intersection of thirds. None of these points are EXACT - just get in the close neighborhood. I think you could repstion this image on your background to line up a little closer to one of the points. Hope this helps

Holly

[Lisa_Butler]

Thank you holy that is exactly what I needed to know about the lines. Thanks again!

[Holly_Howe]

Lisa - With the title Winter Blues - I feel like she needs blue eyes. This was done on my lousy laptop and the color is fakey - but you get the idea. I also cropped the image to get rid of the messy hair and extra scarf on the right hand side. After looking at it some more I feel there should be a little more taken off the top from this crop. Get rid of the ribbed area on her hat - crop it so just the cable knit part of the hat shows.
Good Luck!

[Lisa_Butler]

I appreciate the time you are taking to help me. What do you think? I am not sure if I have it lined up or not. I don't think I am still doing it right.
I think I am making it harder than it is. If I what her eyes point of view than I would position her left eye where the Y intersects?

[Jeff_Dachowski]

Hi LisA,
Thank you for posting this. I love the image. in my experience it is probably in the above average category, soemwhere around a 76-79. I am not a judge, but I have seen a lot of images. So you might want to try to tilt the compostion to the left a little bit. This way her eyes woul not be as parrallel to the bottom, and might create a bit more tension. Also with a winter blues title, have you considered toning the blue in hersweater and hat down, or changing the color completley so that the blue eyes are more present?

Pleae post some more. Remember there are 5 judges when your work is viewed, and even if I don't think it will get to the merit category, does not mean it will not. So keep them coming.
Jeff

[Keith_A_Howe]

Lisa Lets keep it simple. Think of the main point of intrest, the face or the area of the eyes in this case. Just place this point of intrest in aprox the intersection of the thirds lines. These intersection points are most often (not always) the most dynamic areas in a composition. You can use these on the thirds of the orginal image and / or on the overall presentation.

Using the rule of thirds for a H&S portrait in camera, think of where a line 1/3 the way down from the top of the frame would be. Place the eyes near this line. Like Jeff said tilt the image or camera so the eyes are not parallel to the top or bottom of the image. Diagonals add motion and emotion to the image.
Hope this helps
Keith

[Dave_Higgins]

Lisa,

I am not qualified to express an opinion about your image so I won't. I wanted to let you know that Naomie Angel has a great Photoshop tutorial about eye enhancement in the Photoshop and Adobe Forum. I hope this helps.

I love the eyes.

Cheers,

[Carl_Bromberg]

Good to see you out here Lisa, seems like your getting some great advice, I don't really have anything to add that hasn't been said, just wanted to say Hi!

You have my email, feel free to ask anything anytime. I'm no expert but like I say I know what's worked for me and what hasn't and am more then willing to share.

Have a great day!

[Linda_Gregory]

Dave, the thread is still there but she's removed the tutorial part unfortunately. I went back to give the link to someone and there are only zzzzzzzzzzz's there.