first atempt at portraits, need constructive critisism

[Skyeg]

my school had me do cast portraits for a play...this is my first atempt at portraits and i really could use some feed back, thanks and dont be afraid to be cruel.

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[Dew]

the portraits look nice to me, at first sight, they're not bad

but to be nit-picky and make u better (if you'd like to continue to do portraits) ... i think your lighting could use some tricks *opening up bag of tricks*

looks like u used available light, which is good ... its the positioning of your light that can add or not add dimension to the subject .. right now, there are no "highlights" on their faces ... makes the face look flat ... lighting off to the side a little adds more dimension in my opinion ... maybe a reflector to the opposite side of the light is good

otherwise, they wont notice the difference, their nice and clean ... looks like the guy moved (or the camera shook) in the second one ... which could be a potential problem with available light because u cant get faster shutter speeds indoors, or u could use a higher iso film or a tripod ... not sure if you did or not

[Skyeg]

they changed the day they needed the prints without telling me, all i had was my digital and a tripod no lights or anything, so they were just sitting across from a window. they were taken at 1/60 F11 with an 85mm lens

what kind of lights should be used? would direct flood lights look too harsh? should it be difused or bounced or something?

[manda]

If they were done without any lighting, I think they are pretty darn good!

[Dew]

i think f11 is a bit high for a headshot indoors against a white background ... but that's just me ... i would think the max would be f8 depending on your available light ... if its indoors, most likely it wont be much ..

window light is good ... depending on where your subject is seated ... if they're seated directly in front of the window, it will make their faces appear flat ... no contrast ... this is how i would have done this ... there are different variations ... but to keep it simple

not exactly picasso, but u get the idea .. also, not too close to the window because the light can be too harsh .. depending on the time of day ... but u can look at their face to see if the light is too harsh, if so ... move them further away from the window ... also with a reflector, they dont have to be exactly in this position ... u can use the reflector to bounce the light to any part of the room ... u can also move them forward or backward to see where u want the light to land

[Skyeg]

i had them facing the window and i was a bit to the side, standing on a chair....im short.

thanks so much for the info

[Dew]

another thing .. since you're just venturing in the portrait photography .. dont photograph them with their back towards the window and u in front of them (facing the window) .. that could get a little tricky because most likely they will be underexposed and the window will be blown out (your highlights) .. unless you have spot metering in your camera (and i still wouldnt advise this for u) ... but a fill-in flash (flash) or reflector in front of them will almost always be necessary in a scenario like this ... unless u know how to trick your camera settings ... and this my friend, i have not yet fully mastered ... good-luck

[Skyeg]

i use spot metering most of the time. i really only do b/w, (color confuses me :? im very colorblind) so i just look for black or white meter off of it and go up or down 2 stops. although i used a grey card for these.

but i think in the future im going to try to use lights. would a flash work? or would it cast shadows on the background?

[Dew]

a flash would work, but i wouldnt use the camera flash (if will give it a "flashed" look) .. i would use an external flash :o