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Photo Critiques Images 106 through 130

Lesson 58 from: 28 Days of Portrait Photography

Sue Bryce

Photo Critiques Images 106 through 130

Lesson 58 from: 28 Days of Portrait Photography

Sue Bryce

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Lesson Info

58. Photo Critiques Images 106 through 130

Lessons

Class Trailer

Day 1

1

First 2 Years: The Truth

1:23:37
2

Teaching 2 Photographers in 28 Days

1:10:45
3

Rate Your Business

1:05:08
4

Year One in Business

1:00:34

Day 2

5

28 Challenges

1:21:39
6

Fear

1:04:07
7

Price & Value

1:10:17
8

Checklist, Challenges, and Next Steps

26:35

Day 3

9

Day 1: The Natural Light Studio

38:09

Day 4

10

Day 2: Mapping Your Set and Outfits

1:54:32

Day 5

11

Day 3: One Composition - Five Poses

35:49

Day 6

12

Day 4: Flow Posing

49:31

Day 7

13

Day 5: Posing Couples

55:55

Day 8

14

Day 6: Capturing Beautiful Connection & Expression

40:47

Day 9

15

Day 7: The Rules - Chin, Shoulders, Hands

56:24

Day 10

16

First Weekly Q&A Session

1:00:15
17

Day 8: Rules - Hourglass, Body Language, Asymmetry, Connection

28:39

Day 11

18

Day 9: Styling & Wardrobe

40:50

Day 12

19

Day 10: Shooting Curves

48:40

Day 13

20

Day 11: Posing & Shooting - Groups of 2, 3, and 4

28:46

Day 14

21

Day 12: Posing & Shooting Families

28:36

Day 15

22

Day 13: Products & Price List

56:53

Day 16

23

Day 14: Marketing & Shooting the Before & After

41:20

Day 17

24

Day 15: Phone Coaching & Scripting

52:56

Day 18

25

Second Weekly Q&A Session

1:02:21
26

Day 16: Posing Young Teens

43:02

Day 19

27

Day 17: Marketing & Shooting - Family First Demographic

33:14

Day 20

28

Day 18: The Corporate Headshot

1:05:43

Day 21

29

Day 19: Glamour Shoot on Location & Shooting with Flare

53:56
30

Photoshop Video: Glamour Shoot on Location & Shooting with Flare

11:06

Day 22

31

Day 20: Photoshop - Warping & the Two Minute Rule

1:22:22

Day 23

32

Day 21: Posing Mothers & Daughters

42:22

Day 24

33

Third Weekly Q&A Session

1:31:41
34

Day 22: Marketing & Shooting - 50 & Fabulous Demographic

1:04:00

Day 25

35

Day 23: Shooting into the Backlight

58:22
36

Bonus: Shooting into the Backlight

06:52

Day 26

37

Day 24: Marketing & Shooting - Girl Power Demographic (18-30s)

39:17
38

Photoshop Video: Girl Power Demographic (18-30s)

1:07:21

Day 27

39

Day 25: The Beauty Shot

46:32
40

Bonus: Vintage Backdrop

04:54

Day 28

41

Day 26: Marketing & Shooting - Independent Women Demographic

49:40

Day 29

42

Day 27: Sales & Production

54:30

Day 30

43

Day 28: Posing Men

52:19

Day 31

44

Bonus: Pricing

42:32
45

Introduction

11:36
46

Photography, Style, Brand, and Price Part 1

1:06:49
47

Photography, Style, Brand, and Price Part 2

47:24
48

Marketing Part 1

38:01
49

Marketing Part 2

1:12:04
50

Money: What's Blocking You?

49:15
51

Bonus: The Folio Shoot

52:29

Day 32

52

Photo Critiques Images 1 through 10

23:11
53

Photo Critiques Images 11 through 27

25:01
54

Photo Critiques Images 28 through 45

30:19
55

Photo Critiques Images 47 through 67

36:47
56

Photo Critiques Images 68 through 84

23:22
57

Photo Critiques Images 85 through 105

36:01
58

Photo Critiques Images 106 through 130

34:49
59

Photo Critiques Images 131 through 141

13:45
60

Photo Critiques Images 142 through 167

25:27
61

Photo Critiques Images 168 through 197

29:13
62

Photo Critiques Images 198 through 216

25:51

Day 33

63

Identify Your Challenges

35:06
64

Identify Your Strengths

22:16
65

Getting Started Q&A

22:54
66

Rate Your Business

31:29
67

Marketing Vs Pricing

33:26
68

Facing Fear

23:45
69

The 28 Day Study Group

15:02
70

Selling Points

40:35
71

Interview with Susan Stripling

18:03
72

Emotional Honesty

29:09

Day 34

73

Sue's Evolution

18:36
74

28 Days Review

15:14
75

Student Pitches

11:28
76

28 Days Testimonial: Mapuana Reed

09:02
77

How to Pitch: Starting a Conversation

37:28
78

Your Block: Seeing is What You're Being

35:30
79

Your Block: Valuing and Receiving

37:09
80

Building Confidence: Your Own Stories

20:45
81

Building Confidence: Your Self Worth

36:05
82

Pitching An Experience

34:16
83

Pitching An Experience: Your Intentions

18:15
84

Pitching An Experience: Social Media

30:14
85

Final Thoughts

24:35

Lesson Info

Photo Critiques Images 106 through 130

Chin, showed her hands, hour glass. I love seeing older women photographed. And I love it when the older women have a little bit of kick and a little bit of spunk like this. So, this really works for me. I mean this is great. I wanna see more older women in all of your advertising. I feel like you could have softened the puppet line on her mouth, so the puppet line, so the beautiful lines that come down from the mouth. Making sure we remove the frown and the puppets a little wee bit or at least softening them. Because those are horrible aging lines. But everything else, crows feet, and all the other lines, they belong on her age group. I feel like you could have softened the highlight on her face a little bit more and flattered her a bit more. But what your winning for in here is you've done a young pose, she's working her shoulder. She's working her chin. She looks cute. She looks like she's got lots of energy. So, I just would have liked to have seen you flatter her a little bit more...

. And I don't know if she wears her makeup like this everyday but her eye makeup is quite heavy for her age group. So be careful if she wasn't, if that isn't her normal hair and makeup. Because I think a lot of women her age might be oh I'm very made up. But other than that, I really like it. You've got good drop away, good control, and good crop. Alright, I do crop close into the head like that. But I never ever crop into the chin. So, this is a crop that's just overcropped for me, if you pull back a little bit more. But I wanna see is more punch in this image. I wanna see more contrast. The guys don't need the reflector. But taking away the reflector, you definitely make the face look more masculine. But you also have made this line and this line here very dark. So, just be careful that you're creating a big dark circle under the eye. You can drop their face and make them look stronger. But just make sure it's not making the eye bag look dark. Question about men from Tough Toodle. You instruct men to smile with your eyes. I tried to do a shoot with my hubby yesterday and he is either big cheesy grin or mugshot. How do I get connection with men? Men have a very different expression through their body language. And I feel that with women is it's the smile with the eyes has a demure or a seductiveness that is very intriguing. So, when women smile with their eyes, it's more of our body language. So, what I'm trying to do is not get them to so much smile with their eyes, but I'm getting them to try and create a mood in the image that looks more like this. Okay. So, men don't do that look. But what they can do is they can do a slight smirk that's stronger, and they can do a big smile. But what I love about the straight expression with men when they don't have that expression, when they're just looking strong and they're straight onto the camera, and they do have that strong look, I think the look sexy. That's a very different vibe. But what you're doing is trying to create body language. Okay, this is a very well executed curvy girl shot. I would have thought you were brilliant if you pulled back one stop and just given me a little bit more space to the left. I'm more interested in slimming her down than having her purple shirt fill the frame. I feel like if you peeled back just a touch, then she would have gone out of frame to the right hand side and it would have given me more black on the left hand side which would have slimmed her down. Just be careful with the curvy girls. When you get in close, you're filling up this image here. The more space you can give me in between there and there, the slimmer she's gonna look. It is very center cropped for number one on the sides. So, if you'd pulled back to two or three, you would have got a little bit more space around her. Everything else is beautiful. There's the softness, she's got a good expression. Good chin working. You've dropped that front shoulder which opens up curves. So, that's really well executed. You've just filled the frame too much her body. She would have looked slimmer if you'd pulled her back just a touch. Chin is working, shoulder is working. Hands, claw. The claw, the claw. You've taken a beautiful girl and she's scratching her neck. Okay, you're getting a hundred out of a hundred for this amazing shot. And then I'm seeing two things that really bug the hell out of me. One is the claw. If you'd softened that hand or taken it down, I would love where you've gone with this. The hair flying is perfect. There's good drop away. I like her outfit. And that shadow on her boob line and that shadow on the wall tells me there was too much directional light in the room. So, whether that's coming from a soft box or a window, there's too much direction and not enough bounce. Remember, we are flattening out beauty images like a beauty dish. The idea is to flatter the face as best you can. Everything about that works, but that claw, naughty naughty. Alright, so this is a classic shot. This is so close to being beautiful. Sadly, I can see between her legs. And that's where I look. It's such a good shot and you're so close. All you had to do is shift your position or shift her leg, her foot across. I know you would have lost that fashion look, but even if you'd come up a little higher, all I'm focused now is being able to see between her legs. So, I don't wanna see the bottom of her thighs here. Because I wanna look between her legs. That's where I'm drawn down to. Everything else you've done here works. She is quite far away and I feel like she has softened the face, meaning retouch wise. But everything you've done just really works here. If she had sat up a little bit taller, and just touched the outside of hair, she would be a little bit less talking on the phone. She's a little bit like hey, just talking on the phone. So, just watch the hand close to the hair. Other than that, I love what you've done with the dress. And I just don't wanna see this inside thigh. If you had just brought this foot across a little bit or this one across, I wouldn't be looking up there. And unfortunately, when I look away from her face, it's no longer a portrait of her. Okay, it's then a portrait of a girl whose dress I'm looking up. Okay, this image here, I'm really loving this image. You killed it with the pose. Beautiful face, beautiful express, beautiful styling. I'm loving everything and then you've lift this leg open and I see crotch, okay. So, all I'm seeing is this leg. So, when you squeeze the front calf, you've then got leg of ham and the leg, instead of leg of ham and the arm. If you had extended this leg slightly and dropped that knee into the center and pushed it out, you would have nailed the shot. So close, just watch legs. You know if you crop to here, you miss out that beautiful bracelet. The hand is perfect. I just feel like this is chunky. What you can do is you can slim this part of her leg. 'Cause she's squeezing it. So, it makes her thigh look bigger. Slim this down in Photoshop and push it across a little bit. It will take away the distraction to look down. Remember, when you look at my images, you will be constantly drawn to one point. And the one point of my imagery is that you will always look at the face. Okay, two of the biggest focal points on this image are her breast and her legs. Now, she's got great breasts but people don't buy images of their breasts. Okay, people buy images of a beautiful face that just happen to have gorgeous breast in the shot. Not that that's your focal point. So, you're so close. You could have just pulled up in your crop, extended that leg, pushed it across, and push the chin forward and connected the eyes. Because at the moment, she's sitting back so her expression's not as engaged. Do you get me? I can feel when I believe it. Everything about her body line that you have achieved other than that is perfect. So, this is so close for me. It's unfortunately that leg gets really dominating for me. Sue. Yes? Sweet Sassy Diva in the chat room had talked about men, what men buy. And I know when men come in and they're buying images of their wife, do they buy images of breasts? Or they still want the image of the face? Well, guys love the boobs. And they're definitely gonna be more inclined to a body shot, and they're definitely going to enjoy a smile more than the beauty shot. But ultimately, a guy is gonna pick two or three images. But she's gonna pick the other 20. You know, and he might only want her to buy two or three, but she's gonna buy 23. And 20 of them are gonna be ones she picks. And very rarely in 25 years have I had a man override a woman's pictures. You know, ultimately women do what they have to do to get what they want. I love this image. It has an entirely different quality that's different from my work. But ultimately the connection in this image is outstanding. The assymetry in this image works. And the reason this crop works higher than her head is because she's got that (mumbles) to look about her as a person. So, if she was just your average housewife, that crop is sitting too high and it doesn't work. But this has a retro feel to it that suits the model. I feel like this author created an image that suits the girl. What I like in it is that expression is beautiful. The brick is really well placed, nice and even, and the assymetry of her shoulders makes this a gorgeous portrait. I would put this on the wall. I would put this on my website. I would put this on the front page of my brochure because it has a stillness to it. And what I like is that I'm speaking more to her mood than even the composition of this image. This author or this photographer has an incredible connection to human space because they've seen it and they've held it really beautifully. This is what I like about simplicity. Sometimes the simplicity of an image can be so striking, that I feel like I know this girl and I'm connected to her. And that's when the expression of an image overrides anything else you can put in front of me. Well done. This is a very close image but those symmetrical arms do not work. I would have put one arm down and crossed it over. You've got the shoulder, you've got the assymetry. I love how you've got that top with the arms showing. Everything is good. When I get close to it, that skin retouching is not good enough. Okay, nobody buys ratty skin. So, be really careful. You've got a beautiful connection in her eyes. Her mouth is relaxed. I like the hair. But watch symmetrical arms. Symmetrical arms don't look good. And the only time we bring them up is when we can lengthen the body and bring the hands down to the throat and cup. So, this is a classic beauty image, Gene, come in. This is a classic beauty image and it's something that we've done for many many years, I used to do this shot in the late 80s, 90s. If you kneel down and I want you to touch your elbows onto the table, onto the ottoman. And I want you to put your elbows together. That's it. Lift up as tall as you can. So, use your thighs. And just cup your face like a butterfly. That's it. That is a classic beauty image. That beauty image there is when you cup out your hands, good girl, there it is. That is the only time I see symmetry. The problem here is this girl here in this image is lower and her hands are here. Okay, so they're covering up too much of her neck. If you'd lifted her right up and put the hands out, and just cupped her face, chin up. And so you shoot that nice and low, and a little higher. That's it, relax her mouth. Then it's a real classic beauty image. This is so close but I feel like her forearms just really dominate. I would love to see if this photographer put the arms down and took any more images. 'Cause you nailed the face which is really important. But those arms are covering too much diamond. And they're not accentuating or framing. They're just bulky. And they kind of look wrong. So, more symmetry, more asymmetry in your posing. One arm down, one arm up. Thanks, Gene. I just wanna see a little bit more asymmetry, remember? You've done the asymmetrical pose. But I just feel like it's just too blocky in the forearms. Lifting up, pulling away. Remember, shoulders go up and over the elbows, will give you length. And these hands shouldn't be up and around here. They should be out here long, lift up nice and tall. Chin, shoulder, hands. You know, this is a really good shot. It's a really good shot that you'd just take outside but there's no finish to it. And I want it to look like different than what my sister could take of her kids with her normal camera. Okay, so it's a good chin to the shoulder, good little expression, and I like the flowers in the hair. But you could have turned straight into the sun clearer, and this image would have worked in a whole lot of different ways. Okay, if you're just starting out, and you were brave enough to put this critique in, I would have retouched out those pink flowers down the bottom, 'cause they look like lights and they're pulling my eye down. I would have turned straight into the flare exposed for her face and shot exactly the same shot. And a little bit more punch and the shoulder would have made that better. Really ruffle those keels up so they're nice and big and soft. Alright, chin is forward, shoulder is overworked. Okay, so we don't need to work the shoulder in a sideways position. So, let's talk about that. Remember, if you're gonna go sideways in your pose, so, if you're gonna put shape into the booty by moving it out, we don't tip. And when we tip, we don't move the shoulder forward because it equates to people doing this. So, unfortunately, we've lost the balance of this image. It's good that her booty's out but it's not that her shoulders are down. Because what's happening is she looks mechanical in this way instead of just moving this. So remember, it's about moving your feet and it's about moving your booty and kicking your booty out and putting as much shape in here as you can. But without tipping the shoulders sideways. I love the dress, I love the styling. There's too much retouching on the face from what I'm seeing because I can still see her tan line but I can see the softening on it. So, I just want to bring her hair forward maybe, just block this out a little bit more. You know, this shot nearly works but I just feel like if this was the best of the series you took and they weren't better than this, I would be disappointed. She is a tiny girl. I know how bodies translate in camera. This girl is tiny but you've made her look thick waisted because her hands are on the outside of her waist. Bring them in and just don't tip her off. This would have been beautiful straight up and down. And I typically don't blow straight the hair. Bring it forward and just cover it framing her face. So close, but I just watch that tip. It really ruined the shot. It ruined her body language for me. And that waist is really important. I never want a girl, particularly not a lean body like that to feel like she's thick through the center. Alright, this works for a lot of reasons. I like where you're going. I definitely would have turned her hips away a little bit wee more, just for more shape. But this is your classic, classic shot. The only thing I could really, the only thing I'd really do is it's not a crack up laugh which you do in lingerie and it's not a sexy face. It's kind of a casual portrait face but in underwear. So, just a suggestion. When you're in underwear, you kind of have to do the look I'm in underwear pose. Or you kind of have to do that cheeky laughing my boyfriend's gonna love this pose. But you don't kind of do the classic family portrait in jeans shot, you know what I mean? I'm feeling the pose, I'm believing her body. I believe her hands. You've done a good job, this hand's a bit blocky but I believe it, it's good. I love the hourglass, you've done a beautiful job with the chin forward. And then you've given her a classic momsy smile. It's like hey we're having a family portrait. I just happen to be in suspenders. Alright, so what I wanna believe is her body language and her expression. I want her body language and her expression to match how she's posing and what's she's wearing. And if it doesn't, I don't believe the shots. So, close, close in so many good points. Our chin is forward, our shoulder is worked. We've got a good body language. I love that backdrop, that dress is just killer for this girl's body. I mean it works for a hundred different reasons. I'm just gutted by the shadow that's coming in on this side of her face. You could have picked that up a little bit more up on Photoshop, but everything else you've nailed here. You're at a number five in the composition. Meaning you're at the top of the head, and right down to above the knee. That's as far as I go for a full body. Good job. But I just wanna see a little wee bit more light to her face. You've done a beautiful job of capturing the whole body and the whole image, but now I wanna see no shadow on her face. So, let's talk a little bit more about light. Maryanne Sabrera had asked can you talk about too much directional light? Some of my images have shadows and I'm not sure how to flatten the light. And I'd just like to say from working with you, I thought I needed so much more light than I ever needed. So, how do you flatten the light? Okay, so when you have directional light, to the only way you're gonna get a soft beautiful dish look either from a window or from even a soft box, is to have a countering reflector or a countering light on the side, which will flatten it down. So, what I'm not seeing here is her hair, there quite possibly could have been a really good reflector in here. Because there's lots of light on her arm that's away from the light. But because her hair is like cutting down, it's actually stopping the reflected light. You have two choices. You either pull her hair back a little wee bit, so, it's not locking into the face so much. And come here, you've got a perfect sweep today. So, I'll be able to show you. So, one of the things I do is if my light source is coming from this side and Nicki's got a sweep. And my reflector is here bouncing light back this side to even her out, I'm gonna get a big shadow because her sweep is in there. So what I do is I'll go up to my client, I put my hand up into here. I'll get the makeup artist to do it. I buffer up through here so I'm pulling the hair away from the face, and framing it, but not, but it's still sitting down like that. I'm just pulling it back a little bit to let more light in. If I sit it here, like this, it's gonna cause a shadow right down there. If I do get that shadow like this image, I would retouch that shadow up and out. So, I would have rather you retouch this face because I'm seeing that bid dark shadow over here eye now. And now, it's all you see when you look at it because I've pointed it out. And now you're like oh. Now, you're a photographer, so you're looking at the image and going, thanks Nicki. You're looking at the image and going oh I've done a good shot, and you have done a good shot. But what I'm saying is that girl whose gonna buy her shot looks like she's got a black eye. She's not gonna buy it if she thinks she's got a bag or a black eye. So, it's very important that you, you know, correct this. Alright, we've got chin, yes. We've got the shoulder connected, yes. And then we've got hands. I don't believe these hands. Okay, so two things. One of them is if her feet were elevated, then her hand would have been able to come up higher than just there. It's more of a thinking pose, this one. If you'd elevated her feet, then she could have stretched her elbow out. It's just a little bit too hand doesn't need to be in there. We've got a good working shoulder. Her hair and makeup. You've got a little bit of a discrepancy in hair and makeup. You've got a curl and you've got a straight. So, it's either an extension or it's not curled properly. So, that bothers me. You know, you're so close in this image. I get what you've done, it's very yellow. So, taking away from the yellow skin tones, remember just to add blue or go towards cyan drops the yellow and the red out of your images. Cools them down a little wee bit. It's shot a little bit too far down. I see a lot of posing where it's all bunched up. So, the elbows and hands are too in. I want you to lift up. I want you to pull back. And if you need to get this hand up or down, simply move the knee up and down. Remember when Nicki was, sorry, Gene was sitting here, I was sliding the apple box forward and back so that the knee would go up and down. When the knee goes up and down, it gives the place for the elbow to go. And then you've got more space to move. So that your hands aren't just sitting here like this. So, just close but bring it around. Okay, we've got ching, we've got shoulder. Both of them are working their chins and their body language is together at the hips. But they're not connected at the heads. I would have liked to have seen them just touching a little wee bit more. And just watch your highlights here because you need to bring down your highlights a little wee bit. And you know, you could have played with propping a little bit more here. But I think you could have gone a little bit tighter. I just would have liked to have seen them touching, okay. So, you've got good arms. She's working her front shoulder. You known, his shirt's quite bulky. So just watch that, because he could have held it with his back hand and really taken her shirt in. Just bring their body language together a little bit. They're just a little bit separate. So, touching, they're a couple. Let them touch physically. Okay, we've got our chin forward, we've got our shoulder. We've got our cover girl, we're leaning forward. Big genuine laugh, beautiful shot. Okay, very standard, good shot for the studio. I definitely would have put a colder or punchier filter in this just to drop it out a little wee bit. It's very very straight in terms of you know, it hasn't been finished any more than that. I love where you've gone with it, it's styling, it's pretty cool. I mean this is a great image. She would have bought this. She's got a beautiful big smile. I love her hair. You know, the wrap is really cool. I hope you did some really symmetrical stuff with that asymmetrical haircut. Because yeah, I'd like to see more of this image. But beautifully executed. If you can make your clients laugh like that and that's a genuine true laugh and you get it in focus and it looks sharp, and it works, and you nail it every time 'cause they buy that, that is a really true laugh. Well done. Alright, so this is a classic double hand. The classic double hand, you've got to be careful with the double hand because it bulks up one side. You know, you could have pulled out one of those hands and she would have been fine with one. What you've done is a really good job of capturing that cheer and that background which makes it just a little bit more interesting than a white background. Okay, she has a classic mouth that is very very hard to photographic. So, her natural mouth is open. So, anybody with teeth have that natural mouth that's open. My natural mouth is closed like this. But some people have a natural mouth that's open. So, if they hold too much expression in their mouth, they can look like they're doing this. So you just have to watch that mouth and either make her smile or bring it together. When you have a natural mouth like that, you've got to really relax them 'cause I can still see a bit of teeth in this mouth. But props for the way you've composed that. And just that double hand is too much. But really good for elbows in. See how it's tapering down through her waist. And I like that horizontal crop and I like the chair. Okay, classic cover girl with three naughty rules. One of them is that hands are not on cover girls. So you've given her a thicker waist that needs to be. So her hands need to come into cover girl. And number two is her chin is up when it should be forward and down. There's a light source coming from a hair light or a side light, but I wanna see a better reflector on this side to light her up. And I've got a very red chest here which nobody likes. You're gonna have to drop that out. You can either layer mask and drop down with a cold tone and de-saturate and add yellow which actually works in dropping the red out. And it just evens out. That's just a basic Photoshop move. What I do love about it is yeah, she's smiling and she's well connected. But that chin has got to come up. This curvy girl is beautiful and you've not given her a waist and you have not given her a chin. And you could have really just nailed this by simply bringing her hands into cover girl a little bit more pushing her chin forward, dropping it down, and then smiling. And the hair blow always works for me. Love that blowing hair. Alright, chin, shoulder, hands. The chin goes towards the shoulder. And her eyes are doing exactly what I love looking down her own body line. Her hand is very dominant in the front but it works because I really like the idea that it's buried in her hair. I love that earring, I love the bra. It all works for me. Just be a little bit careful that you're not shooting too front on because it makes her upper body look big and she's got a thigh poking out instead of her waistline. Or is that her waist and that's her underwear line? I actually feel like that might be her bra. I can't differentiate but it's okay. I actually really love this shot. It's a really more boudoir but it is a shot that I do. I do love the looking down the body line. I will say one thing. After many years in the studio, I had an image very similar to this on my wall for many years. And it was a girl in her lingerie doing the classic ottoman pose with her knee up and little cat. And she was stretched out in little cat pose. And she was chin down to her shoulder looking down her body line very much like this. And she was smiling like she was going, like yeah, I'm in my underwear. And it was a highly requested shot. It was one of the shots that just about everybody looked at and went I want a shot like that. Definitely works with big curly hair, so well done. Unfortunately, this is sitting right in between cropped too high, we're floating head here. We're a passport shot in horizontal. I wanna see a little bit more decolletage to balance this image out. Otherwise, you've nailed it in terms of expression. Okay, I like the flowers. You know, they are a little bit dominant because it's in flashlight, so the flowers are facing into the flashlight. Maybe you could have put them on the other side or moved your light to the other side. I feel like the flowers are definitely overriding her face. I love the red hair. I love the styling and the makeup. But you just gotta pull that crop back. We've been talking about it all day. It's just floating head, okay. Bring it back to the balance of just a little bit more decolletage to the top of the head. Okay, it's a mother and daughter shot and that's okay, this is why this is not gonna work for me. For starters, the girl is a floating head and she's down on the bottom half of the image. Mom could have been at the top of the image and she could have had a little bit more shoulder. I would have moved the girl up so that they were almost cheek to cheek. Or I would have had the daughter's eyes around nose level. But she's sitting in the nook of her breast which would be really good if she was four years old but she's a teenager if not older. So, she doesn't need to be on mom's boob. She's too low, it's cropped too high. But take this image and just lift the daughter up a little bit and crop mom at the top of the head, and let me see the direction of the arms. 'Cause right now she's armless and she's in the nook of her breasts. So, it just doesn't work for that reason. Also, I'm very drawn to the mother's breasts and the daughter's mouth very close to it. So, it's just a little bit too my three year old daughter close to my bosom, okay. Lift it up and make it a little bit more fashion. Don't shoot down on people. Shoot just below the eye line. You're shooting way down on the daughter and you're shooting down on the mom's eye line, I can see that. So, just coming down on your eye line, lifting mom up head up, straightening her out, putting her at the top of the frame, lifting the daughter up, pull back just a little bit more, show me where arms are going. Chin, shoulder, hands. Because it's a white image, I'm not sure if this is cropped square or horizontal. If it's horizontal, I'm gonna give you 20 points because I think it's fantastic crop. I love blondes on white and I love white on white. It is the cleanest thing for shooting blondes. And I will always do it if they bring in white. Beautiful shot, great connection, pretty girl. You've put her elbows in, you've made a white shirt that would traditionally look blocky look really beautiful. But it works because she's a beautiful girl. Okay, if she wasn't so gorgeous looking in her face and hair, that white shirt would have done nothing for a more average looking girl. So, just be careful there. But I do like the way you've worked her arms. And I love that horizontal crop. It really works for me. And I can see both arms on both sides. So, I'm assuming it's really horizontal if not square. I hope it is because I really like that. Well done, it's a beautiful image. It's what people in for. Alright, floating elbow. Just be careful with our floating elbow, okay. It's got to have a reason to do things. So, let's just take one moment to just have a look at something. So, Gene and Nicki, come in. I'm gonna do the three of us and I'm not gonna look at either of them. They're gonna look at the camera. So we can all look this way. But if you put your hands up into your hair, I want you just to put your right hand up into your hair and just touch your hair. Okay, so I want you to touch your hair. Okay, stop. Don't move. Alright, so did we all do the same thing? We all touched our hair. Okay, all of us have our elbow pointing forward. Okay, none of us have our elbow out to the side like this. Because that doesn't look real, the elbow out there. Okay, all of us went straight away touched our hair up, elbow towards the camera. So, if we're side on like this, everyone turn this way, and then look back at the camera, and then we touch our hair, our elbows, if our elbows are pointing right out like that, it doesn't work. We're all gonna bring our elbows in here. Okay, so touch it here and just touch it normally the way, yeah. Okay, so there it is. So, straight away as soon as you see it, you then need to get them to relax into it and then touch their hair. Okay, so if she sticks her elbow out like that which is what this is doing, then get her to put her hands up unto it here. And bring this elbow in. Because I just feel like when the elbow's out like this, it just looks like this. Okay, it just sits out there and it's barbie elbow and it's just kind of like my hands move like this. And that's how I touch my hair. So I love the shot. It's beautifully styled. There is no connection between her shoulder and her chin, and there's no connection between that hand and her hair. This is exposed beautifully, styled beautifully. It's a beautiful girl, and has even got quite a good connection but there's zero body language because nothing she's doing with her body looks real. Thanks ladies. You ladies were an all girl rock band there for a second. (laughing) Doing the sprinkler. (laughing) I don't even know how to do that, what is that? Sure you do. (laughing) Alright, so that to me is this. You've taken a beautiful shot and a beautiful girl and you've just given her a dead pose. And it's a shame because this is one of my favorite styled shots here. The color in it is magnificent. This girl is magnificent. But I don't believe you. I don't believe this pose. I wanna believe this pose. Do not pose girls for me like this. Okay, I want to believe that she's the most beautiful girl in the world and she feels fabulous and looks fabulous. And I wanna believe that she's doing it. I wanna believe it. I wanna believe that it's body language not our pose. Chin, shoulder, hands. Chin is perfect, shoulder is working. You've got this little gap. This is very interesting when you have a super lean body like this, she doesn't have to move far. There's a good gap between her arm and her waist line. I love the outfit. I love how it's shot. It looks quite directional on the screen but on the screen it looks good. This is great. I mean it's a beautiful shot. And I would love to have seen it in a sequence with other images. I would like to see a little bit more filtering just to push this into more of a pro looking shot. But I love it, I like what it does. I like what it sees and I think she looks cute. And I love the style, well done. Alright, I love this in terms of body shape, asymmetry. I love the way it's cropped. It is not sharp, and if it is sharp, I apologize but I cannot see any sharpness in this image. I like what she's wearing, doing. I like the outfit she's wearing, it looks cool. Her hairstyle, good, you could brush our these curls. This is a classic girl with extensions. Okay, the curls breakup. So, what you've got to do is keep brushing them nice and soft and nice and big. But I can't see one point of focus here. I feel like it has a softening on it or a diffuse glow, or maybe even Gaussian blur. Take it off, make your images sharp and gorgeous. You're working that pose. Anybody that can work their hips and body like, she's got asymmetry in her shoulders. She's got asymmetry for the pose. But for the print finishing, I'm gonna knock it right down because it's just too fluffy and too fuzzy, and it's just not quite there. But you are so close here. Just watch you're not over softening your images. It looks wrong and we don't like it. Oh, I love this. Okay. She's a beautiful girl and she's beautifully styled. So, I'm drawn to this image because it's magnificent in the styling sense. Not many of my clients come in with outfits like this or flowers like this. So, whoever's gone to this effort has either styled this or they've been styled so beautifully. But what is she leaning on? You're breaking my heart 'cause this would be one of those shots that if one of my photographers said to me, look what I shot, I would actually reach out and just open hand slap them across the face. 'Cause I feel like you've given me a hundred out of a hundred, and then you've given me a fake leaning pose. I love her hand on her face. I love that her elbow is cutting into her line. That you can just see the breast line. I love the colors and the print finishing. But what the hell is she doing out here like this? You're breaking my heart. Honestly, I wanna see more from the shoot. Beautifully, beautifully executed. But she shouldn't be leaning forward, okay. She should be standing upright in exactly the same pose with her hip kicked out this way. And you would have just blown me away. Nicki said note to self with the open hand slap comment. Yeah. So, note to self. (laughing) I'll remember that one. Shh (laughs). Gotta be quick around Sue. I will beat you. No, it's like that's how heartbroken I feel about this shot. I'm like could this shot get better? Yes it could. What the hell is she leaning forward for? You know, tell me something. I want you to think about a pose when you're posing somebody. There's a million different ways I could stand even in this outfit that would be magnificent. But never would I be talking to you at a bar out on nothing and be like this and going, "Hi, I'm incredibly beautiful right now, "and I've got purple flowers in my hair. "But you know." I'm standing like this by the way. I mean, it's wrong. And it's so right, and it's heartbreaking.

Class Materials

bonus material

Business Checklist
Keynote Part 1
Keynote Part 2
Posing Guide: Set Map and Outfit
Posing Guide: Flow Posing
Posing Guide: Couples Posing
Posing Guide: Curves
Posing Guide: Teen Posing
Posing Guide: Family Posing
Posing Guide: Over 50 Demographic
Posing Guide: Beauty Shot
Posing Guide: Posing Men
Workbook
How It Works
Styling and Wardrobe

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

I have purchased four of Sue's courses and love them all. I have learned so much. I found the lesson on connecting with people thru their eyes has made a huge difference in my photos already. Her before and after's made me cry. I want to be able to take these kinds of photos for my family and friends. I just love what she does. She is such a great teacher. I learn much better seeing things done, so this was the perfect choice for me to learn. I love Sue's humor, her honesty, her detailed teaching and sweet and wonderful personality. Her sessions will or should not disappoint anyone. It is the best money I have ever spent on self-help teaching. Thanks a million creative live. You GOTTA LOVE SUE!

katie
 

Pure gold. Sue Bryce is likable, talented, funny, and an amazing teacher. She calls you on your BS (your excuses for why you aren't succeeding), gives you business, posing, marketing, pricing and LIFE advice. The class is 58 hours long - and you spend the majority of it looking right over her shoulder, through her lens and watch her walk through many, many photoshoots. She verbally and clearly repeats several critical formulas for success so it's imprinted in your mind. Her advice is crystal clear and your photography will dramatically improve after this class. Before Creative Live, you'd NEVER have had the opportunity to shadow a photographer of her quality... hands down the best photography class I've ever taken.

JRomkee
 

I have just began this course and I am excited to see how following her model will help me to improve and get my business started. I have been through the first two days and there is lots of information to absorb and things to get in order before I begin the actual challenges. I am thankful that there are photographers out there who are will to reveal there secrets ad are truly invested in others improving themselves in all aspects of their life and not just their photography skills. Thanks Sue Bryce for your passion for empowering woman and your knowledge of creating and sustaining a business by being true to who you and commitment to the improvement of others! I am excited to grow myself and my business, I am confident this will be worth every penny! Were the templates for the email PDF included in this course

Student Work

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