What's wrong with this photo? One mistake can ruin it.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 04:36PM I love this photo. I hate this photo. There is one glaring flaw in it that ruins it for me. Have you had a photo like that? You get most of it right, but one tiny thing messes it up. I love this photograph because serves to remind me to look at my subjects more carefully and notice small details.
I'll tell you what it is that I don't like in a few days. Please feel free to beat me up and tell me how or why you think the photo is flawed.
Tom Sparks
I'm still learning the tools of the blog. I posted an answer a couple of days ago in the comments section. Didn't realize that I had a "follow up" option. So, Here is what I said:
Many of you guessed the light on the end of her nose and that is what I should have caught. Yes, there are other things like the cars in the background and the hair flying around. It would have been a simple thing to fix the bright light on the edge of her nose and also her ear, etc. I could have moved her slightly, or had someone hold up a diffuser panel to soften that. I wish I had noticed this when I was shooting. It would have been so easy to fix it on the spot. The idea here is to look at your photos later and see what you can learn and take that knowledge into the next shoot.
flaw, girl, great salt lake, mistake, model, photography, sky, teen, teenager in Photography 
Reader Comments (4)
I'll play. Hope this is not harsh criticism only how I would process in post or change the shot in hindsight. Which as we both know doesn't matter at all, only what you and your client likes is what matters.
1). Clone out those cars. Distracting.
2). Fix the little curly hair on her head.
3). Try and minimize the hot spot on her nose and line on her cheek with dodge & burn. (I'll bet this is one thing BTW.)
4). Ever so slight WB difference on her face. Her right cheek seems slightly cool for the warmth the scene is giving, but just a little. Like a
200-400k bump is all it would take.
5). In hindsight, maybe I have her lower her arm or rotate just a little until the shadows look good.
Cool stuff though Tom.
Corey
Honestly, the lighting on the side of her face, specifically on her nose is distracting. To me, her nose becomes the first focal point I see, rather than her beautiful eyes that you did so well capturing. The rest of the photo has such beautiful lighting, with an interesting contrast between the top and the bottom of the photo, that it almost glows. The stray lighting on her face throws it off. I will say, I don't mind the cars as much. I can't say they stood out to me until pointed out. In a way it gives the photo a little bit of background context. And I like the curl on the top. It's out of the way so it's not distracting, but you can tell that it's windy, which makes the viewer feel the photo a little more, rather than just seeing it.
Altogether, it's a beautiful photo, with as far as I'm concerned one minor flaw.
Corey, I don't feel like you are harsh. I invited comment after all. I'm glad you mentioned the color temp. Different light sources for each side of he face. It's a good point and I'll have to be thinking of that in the future.
Desi, thanks for your comment. I actually like the muss of the hair in this one, so I realize it is distracting for some, but I would keep it.
I'll post my thoughts on it on Friday.
Many of you guessed the light on the end of her nose and that is what I should have caught. Yes, there are other things like the cars in the background and the hair flying around. It would have been a simple thing to fix the bright light on the edge of her nose and also her ear, etc. I could have moved her slightly, or had someone hold up a diffuser panel to soften that. I wish I had noticed this when I was shooting. It would have been so easy to fix it on the spot. The idea here is to look at your photos later and see what you can learn and take that knowledge into the next shoot.