(The original message does not seem to have gotten through to the list. Maybe it was too long. Because of this I now resend it split into Pt1. and Pt2.)
(Sorry all, it got way longer than inteded. However, since I spend some time writing it I send it in full. Some comments are slightly tounge in cheek, and will only (to your amusement I hope) show what a poor sucker I am for female... well, anything, really.) Brendan, Thanks for posting the pictures. Unfortunately comments started on an unnecessary negative tone. You are wise in asking advice from others. I only hope you don't get discouraged by some harsh comments that have been offered. Anyway, I didn't fully understand the purpose of the shoot. (I don't know what you mean by "test shoot I did for the models redo". Will you shoot for some sort of an agency, web model site, or are you helping out in providing Luba with shots for her portofolio?) I am asking because when watching the pictures this is one recurring question that comes to mind.What is the purpose? What are her aspirations? I also wonder - have these pictures been scanned from prints on a flatbed scanner? I ask because there is a general lack-luster quality to them. If they are prints this may, at least partly, be due to a poor printing job or a bad scanner (software). By this I only want to say that the actual negs may enable you to have better prints made. Also, most of them can be improved on a lot just by cropping and some simple digital adjustments (which I btw had a go at (only in my image browser ACDSee - didn't bother to use Photoshop).) Since you pointed out that this is a series of test shots, and the purpose of showing them to us is seeking advice, anything that I point to is not intended as critizism, but simply comments from my "reading" of them. Ok? In general I agree with many points already made by other members, however I do disagree on one basic point that a few posters have commented on, and I find this very interesting. I have obviously had the completely opposite impression to those of a few other commentators. I'll use Shel's comments, not to make an argument, but just to show how different impressions/interpretations of pictures of people can be. "Apart from everything else, Luba's posing is atrocious" It's funny how I disagree completely. I find her very natural in front of the camera. Being photographed seems like a completely natural thing to her. In fact, to me she comes across as a natural talent for modeling. What shows though in some of the shots seems like a slight uncertainty about what the photographer is doing or expects of her. If not successful in this respect, it is mostly due to the photographer, or maybe some inexperience on her part. On these pictures alone I wouldn't hesitate to offer to shoot her. " - there's not an interesting, seductive, exciting, stimulating, or provocative pose in any of the images." Did we watch the same pictures? In a majority of the images I find Luba indeed interesting, very seductive, slightly exiting, very stimulating as well as friendly provocative... "In many shots she actually looks uncomfortable." Funny again. I haven't spotted a single instance of her being uncomfortable. To me it looks like she's enjoying being shot, all the way through. "There's nothing "natural" about her poses." Well, what's natural about "a pose" to begin with...? [end of Pt1.] Lasse - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
