14. My Portrait Critiques

I had to dodge the subject's face, but it's pretty obvious I did that, which isn't too good. I do like the door, though, and the chair. I made sure the subject wasn't smiling, because it made the picture more serious. Overall, it wasn't my best work, but it was passable.

13. 10 Portrait Images

 (Famous Photo) Love the eye color, ripped clothes, the expression, and the green background.

 I like the creativity and the texture of the hands.

 Love the eyes and the scarf.

 Like the clothes and hat.

 Love the detail

 Love the popping colors.

 Like hair flying

 Like the sad look, and the black colors.

 Like the detail, the angry look, and the hair.

Like the look in his eyes, the hair color, and the detail.

12. Lighting Discussion

To get silhouettes, underexposing is key. Your light meter is always trying to make everything even, to make everything the same tone. But for a DRAMATIC effect, you won't want the subject to be too light, but you might find them interesting when they are dark. With separate flashes, your shutter speed doesn't matter if it's less than around 1/300 of a second. APERTURE is the key because it affects how much light gets in.

11. What Makes a Great Portrait

A great portrait should not be fake, it should not have someone smiling when they're not happy. It should show great differing emotion. The subject does not always have to be looking at you, they could have their eyes closed, they could be looking out into the distance. What makes a great portrait is conveying truth and wisdom,  all through one still image.

10. National Geographic "The Photographers" Questions

I have always, for some reason, admired Sam Abell's style of photography. I like that he..

• Approaches photography in many different ways. Sometimes he waits for the picture to come find him, sometimes he ventures out to find the picture.
• Doesn't change anything in his photographs, he is strong on keeping things real and documentary-like. 
• Critiques. He never seems to brag or show off his work, but he describes it, and thinks about parts of the composition that he likes.
• He isn't afraid to get up close, or get in a weird position, because a photograph is more interesting when not looked at head-on.
• He makes photography a goal for him, not just a hobby. He takes it very seriously, but also makes time for other things.

Still, my favorite photograph was not from Sam Abell. It was the photograph taken by Alexandra Avakian of the person holding the eagle:

I love how it covers half of their face, because just the eyes give you a ton of emotion already.

These photographs definitely reinforced things Mr. Garland has talked about countless times:

• Look at the elements in the background of the picture.
• Don't always center.
• The closer, the better.
• Lighting is important, but it doesn't always have to come from the front, like on point and shoot cameras.

9. My "Positive and Negative" Critiques

I thought the concept was good, catching smoke flying across the viewfinder. What I didn't contemplate was the dark tones in the pictures. In a negative, they would show up extremely white. I think I could have made this assignment a little better with the lighting, but overall I'd say I like my positive and negative assignment.

8. My Framing Critiques

My framing roll isn't great. This photo could have been burned a little bit more, and was slightly out of focus. I liked the concept, because I was shooting geese through my porch design, and one of them was in flight in the center of the photograph. However, it could have been developed more professionally.