[Lunatique]

I'm a huge fan of Japanese style photography, and I've always wanted to incorporate that look into my own style, and this is me getting closer one step at a time. Having a "real" camera really makes a huge difference--no way in hell I could've gotten this look with the Oly C3030Z.

I had thought having a "super duper professional" camera would make shooting easier--but I was so wrong! If anything, it makes shooting much harder, because you have so much more control at your fingertips, and controlling the DOF is something I never had to worry about with a consumer P&S camera. Now, if I'm not careful, I misfocus on the wrong spot and get useless pictures. But the upside is, I'm taking a lot more pictures that need no post processing at all--and that is the best feeling--to get shots that are ready for print straight out of the camera.













The entire session is here: http://www.ethereality.info/ethereality_website/photography/1DMKII_portfolio/light_and_warmth/light_and_warmth.htm

[Misc]

Looks very professional! I especially like the first and last one.

[henrik]

The pictures are beautiful (if you didn't know already).

Looks like you're having fun with the new camera. I particularly like the last image, brilliant.
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[ProdigalSon]

very nice shots!

where in china are you? i'll be there soon, to live.

[skullmonkeys]

WOW! nice!
The second last one is my favorite.
Just out of curiosity, what camera are you using?

[Impaler]

Sort of funny that 20 years later after the height of the manual camera era, digital photographers are re-discovering the convenience of being able to just focus whereever you want without having to use a directional pad, or to set aperture with a twist instead of cycling to a specific camera mode, then adjusting one increment at a time.

Great photos. I'm partial to the first and last shots. They have the most distinct attitude and emotion, not to mention well-balanced composition.

It's good to see some color in that umbrella picture, too. :D
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QED, sort of.

[Lunatique]

Thanks for the comments.

ProdigalSon - I'm in Fuzhou, Fujian. Been here since 2001. Took a little detour to Malaysia for a bit, then came back to Fuzhou.

skullmonkeys - I just upgraded to a Canon 1D Mark II.

Impaler - I think SLRs in generally always had that level of control--it's the consumer point & shoot cameras that tried to be totally automatic--which is a real pain in the ass if you are into serious photography and need absolute control. That is why I upgraded to the best camera I could afford--for absolute control.

[gent]

Okay, first off I know you're definitely more into people than into products photography. That shows, those are definitely better.

Second, it's nice to see that you definitely have a certain style to your shots, concerning lighting and choice of subject.

Third... some crits nevertheless, because on crits you grow.

1-Too confusing for me. The hair gets in the way. Can be used as an own theme, but therefore it needs to be more obvious. Like it is now, the face is the subject (considering the whole composition and such). Light is very soft, like in many of your shots, why not try a bit more of a pointed light... you know, playing more with light and shadow. Of course that's a style question (and maybe even a culture question), too. I'll come back to it.

2-That's a really nice shot composition wise. I like the pose (even though it might not be the newest idea). What destroys the image in a way for me is the warm light on the one and the cold light on the other side. It takes away from the unity of the image, kinda splits it up. While that can be nice of course, it doesn't fit the muted and quiet style of the shot. This would make a great BW shot btw (i made a quick try in PS even).

3-Now that really is a nice one. This time, the colour scheme is clear and not confusing at all. Lighting still very soft, but it fits the muted colours. Dreeeeaaaamyyyyyy... One thing you might think about is using portrait format more often as all those are landscape format. Would make for some more interesting compositions with less dead space i think.

4-To say the truth, I don't like that one at all. The face, which is the subject after all, is overwhelmed by the two bright areas. The scarf is totally overexposed at the right (showing no details). The light on her face is flat. It lacks contrast. It just isn't interesting to me.

5-Nice one again. Good to see how you incorporate the background more. I also like that you use a bit more different lighting.

6-Clearly the best for me (and everyone else it seems). The umbrella and the background form a nice contrast, what makes the image more dynamic and interesting to look at than most of your other shots. Still it could use a tad more contrast, like almost all your shots it's a bit too flat (for my taste). Why not be a little bit more "in the face" more often? As mentioned before, that might be a culture question, too (the whole eastern/western thing blabla). Oh and the landscape format also fits better in here because of the umbrella.

Keep up, waiting for more of your stuff.

[Lunatique]

Thanks for the crits! Very detailed and helpful. There are some points I totally agree with, and some I don't necessarily feel the same way about. I think it's a matter of personal style/taste for those points.

I've shot higher contrast stuff in the past (if you take a stroll to my website, you'll see them in the Olympus C3030Z portfolio--or take a look here and scroll down: http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=318064. At the moment, I'm trying to master the Japanese style which is usually filled with soft light. If you look at official sample galleries by Japanese camera manufacturers (Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Casio, Sony, KonicaMinolta..etc)--that's the look I'm trying to master. I still need to purchase some decent studio lights in order to do it, but one step at a time. I've only been shooting for 3 years so far, and until last week, I only used a consumer point & shoot camera--so I'm quite a ways from being where I want to be.