Heliar 50mm 2.0 with Ilford XP2

[Raid Amin]

I want your honest critique.

[wlewisiii]

I like the lighting - the shadowing of the left side is nicely done.  I think it might have been better, though, if you were slightly further left so that she wasn't looking straight at the camera.

Is the grain that noticible on the negs or is it a scanning artifact? It seems a bit much and more than I'm used to seeing in XP2. 

William

[joho35mm]

The lighting is good and the sharpness is excellent - however, the blinds in the background and the scanning artifacts are distracting. I would also suggest not putting the subject dead center in the frame, and not looking head on at the camera.

[radiophoto]

I'm also noticing a lot of grain here, but I also know that scanned film will produce artifacts that look like grain, much as William mentioned before.  If you want to lose some of that, try the "reduce noise" filter in photoshop.

Your daughter has beautiful big eyes, so looking directly at the camera in this instance is a good decision, IMO.  I agree with William and Joseph that an off-center composition would make it a little bit better, but it is still very nice the way you've composed it.

What others have not mentioned, and this may be just my own monitor: I'm seeing a weird, kind of opalescent, sheen to the image, and I've seen this in scans and prints of C-41 B&W that I've shot as well.  I would recommend opening this image in photoshop and selecting "desaturate" so you'll get a true black & white image.

[Raid Amin]

I tRied adjusting the scan by removing any color and getting greyscale. I also desaturated and used the noise despecklng. I hope that I have done this correctly here.

Your input is useful. I never stage my girls when I take photos of them, but I could take photos from an angle. The 1.4 aperture may have made me focus face on to make sure I capture sharpness across the face. The apparent grain can occur in scans from images exposed in artificial light, and depending on the type of light bulbs. Flourescent light can create some weird effects.

[Julio1fer]

First of all, this is a nice shot as it is. The light is right!

Critique is always a matter of taste, and I'm not sure what your goals were in this picture. So take whatever I say with a grain of salt.

For a stronger 3D effect it may be nice to have sharper focus in the whole of the head area, including hair. Focusing on the eye is OK, but I find that the rest of the head is a bit too soft. Left background is distracting.  You'd probably need to use a smaller aperture to get more even focus around the face and hair.

If you were looking for sharp focus just in the eye - then 1.4 may not be enough and you'd be better off with a longer lens.

Given that negative, I'd crop it to eliminate the distracting background on the left side.

I see a lot of grain/noise in the left half of the hair, which would indicate that more exposure is needed (or a problem in scanning).  Also, your image does not have blacks, even with some areas that should be black. This is a typical result from lab scanning. You might want to correct levels to see what happens.

[radiophoto]

Yup, what Julio said.  Raid, this is what I do when I want to improve the blacks, and you can play with this until you get exactly the look you want.

I rarely rely on the "Auto Contrast" in photoshop, instead I click on "Image" at the top, then I hit 'A' and 'C' on my keyboard to get the Brightness/Contrast adjustment application.  I decrease the brightness and increase the contrast by slight amounts until it looks right to me.  On average, I choose -7 in brightness and 9 in contrast, but as I mentioned before, it's what looks right to you.

Your image now has a soft focus that is very pleasing to me.  The grain is gone for the most part and your daughter's face comes out very nicely.  I would crop out the blinds in the background, perhaps making this a vertical portrait.

[Raid Amin]

This is a crop:

[LarryD]

I love the shot but the grain is caused by by under exposing this film... I have scanned a few rolls to know. It is not grain it is cloud dye as I see...

[Raid Amin]

There is a possibility of underexposure for this image. I used the Hexar AE system.

[LarryD]

I shoot it at 200 when I use it but the Kodak C-41 B&W likes 400 on the spot...

[Raid Amin]

I shoot it at 200 when I use it but the Kodak C-41 B&W likes 400 on the spot...

I set the ASA at 200 with XP2.
The photo looks grainy, but I like it. The rest of the filmlooked as having lower grain because it was not underexposed.

[LarryD]

Then if you like it that is all that matters my friend.

[radiophoto]

I like the crop, Raid, and the improved contrast.  Nice job, and I'm glad you like it, too.

[Raid Amin]

I appreciate all the feedback I got here. As a Dad photographer, I will always be biased to liking photos of my children, so getting extrenal feedback is very helpful.