Portrait Photography & Lighting Photo Critique with John Gress & Gary Hughes 

Thanks for having me on your channel!

Thanks for critiquing my images of the fabulously bearded Gary! Will keep the comments in kind for the next shoots I do with him! Great images from the rest of the submissions too!

I really like you guys together. Very different personalities and the occasional awkward moment ends up being really funny. Great info too!

Amazing professional critique. Elegant and informative. Thanks

My favorite kind of video. Having Gary was a great idea too. It's so interesting to hear different photographers comment on the same images and elaborate on what they would be looking for shooting or editing them. This is about skills, experience and taste. Real world photography. Great stuff, thanks for doing this. I hope you will make more videos like this in the future. Best regards and stay safe

Of all the photo critiques I’ve watched, this conversation was both informative and opened my mind to a different point of view. More conversations like this would be great!

more of these please - very informative

This is a nice format for showing the work of photographers of various skill levels (not just the ultra-pros like yourselves) and offering many useful, every day suggestions and tips that can be applied to all of our work/play. Thanks!

This is the video I've needed! So many tutorials tell you how to set up lighting to achieve a look. What is left out, is that the "look" is what the photographer wants at that moment and is not necessarily the look everyone needs to duplicate. Around the 13:30 mark, you teach that good photography is about intent and that, based on John's conversation with the "author", the intent is achieved with the hot rim light on the image you were critiquing at the time. I've caught myself several times becoming dissatisfied with one of my portraits after watching a tutorial on how I "should have" lit it. But when I lit it, I had an idea in mind and captured the mood I wanted at the time. I understand that there are certain standards when doing commercial/corporate work, but it is a nice reminder that those standards should not restrict all of our vision.

Loved this video and conversation. Rather informative.

That was a critique from another level that I am used to watch. Great next level insights!

Fantastic video of critiques. I learned a lot of new things, and I really appreciate that the images weren't just young, beautiful models with perfect features. I learn more when the subjects are more everyday people because that's who I shoot. And the variety of images was good too. Thank you!

I'm a bit late to the party, what a great video. There are lot of photographers on RU-vid, but few professionals. Great stuff!

Love this video idea 👍🏽

Just discovered your channel and work John, fantastic work, love your presentation style !

Thanks

great content, this is really helpful, keep up the good work!

9:50 yeah, pretty much never go over f/11 because that is generally where diffraction sets in reducing the sharpness of the lens. In most cases f/8 is going to be the sharpest aperture.

definetly worth repeating ;-)

I know these videos are a few years old at this point but I appreciate the content and feedback that you guys gave for portraits that were submitted at the time. I found your co-hosts video 1st and then watched yours. I question though, if in your opinion that its possible to be so technically perfect that it kills the character of the photo? I have seen very technical "perfect " pictures that are just boring and then others that may not be lit or posed perfectly that are just striking . What matters more in the end?

Grate video! are you going to do another critique video? and if so where can I submit one of my pictures...

A good talk overall. I am surprised nobody asked the 2nd image-lady-to tilt a little more down. I think that would have helped with her face shape. Just my opinion and what I would have asked for on set.

Thanks guys! Do let us know if you would ever open up for submissions for you to critique in the future!