1 VIVITAR 285, 1 70-200, 1 umbrella,1 girlfriend

2WheelPhoto · Nov 5, 2011

Playing with the lens tonight with 1 light. These did not get photochopped. Critiques welcome, I need all the help I can get using my cam

1) Ok, two lights if you count the sun I was shooting directly into. And here's the proof in the sunglasses:

2) Sun going down

3) Sun gone

4) Relocated to the inside of my office building/dropped a training room screen:

5) (D*mmit what a $#%^ing black hole beside her until I moved a table over and propped it up)

2WheelPhoto · Nov 6, 2011

Anyone? Before my professor rips them apart anyway

kundalini · Nov 6, 2011

Are the tilts for the prof?

tirediron · Nov 6, 2011

Some random thoughts in no particular order. Lose the angles!!! You've got a very attractive model, but the only thing I see with these angles is "Facebook"!!! Get her further away from the background in the last couple to avoid the shadows and try a reflector opposite the light to reduce some of the shadows. You don't want to eliminate them, but just reduce them a bit.

joealcantar · Nov 6, 2011

#1 I would have lit the fill side of the face, you were already getting some light from the sun on one side of the face , maybe just hitting her with one stop or half stop less of light would have softened the lighting.
#2 etc. I believe the light was just right , just wish she would have been looking at you, someone mentioned a reflector and that would have been good. Agree on the tilts, watch them. Have her drop the chin a little and look at you. Once she looks at you and you have a decent shot, take the shot and ask her to hold the pose. YOU need to walk a little to left or to right and see if you have a different look that can work as well. Zoom back , in and take a few shots from her one pose.
The last image, she needs to look at you or turn her to look over the shoulder at you. Have you tried a posing stool? For head shots indoors I like a posing stool and table that way they can relax and it comes across in the photo.
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Shoot well, Joe

2WheelPhoto · Nov 6, 2011

Thank you very much, I appreciate it.

2WheelPhoto · Nov 6, 2011

kundalini said:
Are the tilts for the prof?

Yes sir, professor said don't bring any mundane "straight-up/perfect rule of thirds" pics into the studio class, and its ok to cut off a hand or leg in his class just not across the joints. But I agree with I went too much with them

Derrel · Nov 6, 2011

#3 is far and away the best. It will convert using Gradient Fill to a beautiful B&W image....I know, 'cause I just pulled it into PS and looked at it as a B&W. Looks good. THe lens and the lighting combine to make some biting sharpness on these shots! Loads of sharpness!

2WheelPhoto · Nov 7, 2011

Derrel said:
#3 is far and away the best. It will convert using Gradient Fill to a beautiful B&W image....I know, 'cause I just pulled it into PS and looked at it as a B&W. Looks good. THe lens and the lighting combine to make some biting sharpness on these shots! Loads of sharpness!

Thanks. That Nikon 70-200 "ALMOST" makes up for my newB shortcomings, but not quite as its impossible. I'll try and come around with better pics eventually

tevo · Nov 7, 2011

#1 Overexposed, some major hotspots along the top of her head
#2 Out of focus, at least around the eyes.
#3 Shadows are a bit harsh..
#4 Either show both eyes, or only show one. Dont show 1 1/2, it is awkward.

Enjoy this picture of a large reptile chasing after a small child

2WheelPhoto · Nov 7, 2011

jkzo · Nov 7, 2011

is there any protective shield to the right hind leg of the so called the big reptile?

Big Mike · Nov 7, 2011

Her eyes don't look sharp in all the photos. In #2 for example, the hair that is closer to us, looks much sharper. But it also looks like it's just the eyes that aren't so sharp...her face doesn't look as out of focus as her eye....so I'm not sure if it's a focus/DOF issue. It may just be that her iris doesn't have a hard edge. One of the techniques I sometimes use when editing portraits, is to add some contrast around the iris, to really make the eyes look sharp. That's probably not called for in this case, but you don't want to loose points because your images look softer than they are.

2WheelPhoto · Nov 7, 2011

Big Mike said:
Her eyes don't look sharp in all the photos. In #2 for example, the hair that is closer to us, looks much sharper. But it also looks like it's just the eyes that aren't so sharp...her face doesn't look as out of focus as her eye....so I'm not sure if it's a focus/DOF issue. It may just be that her iris doesn't have a hard edge. One of the techniques I sometimes use when editing portraits, is to add some contrast around the iris, to really make the eyes look sharp. That's probably not called for in this case, but you don't want to loose points because your images look softer than they are.

Thanks, I'm going to re-shoot these pics and try again and see if i can improve them. I suspect I may have made a huge newb mistake and not focused directly on the eyes. I had the shutter around 250th because of the sun and with aperture at around 5.6 and a little distance away with the lens on 200 I figured focusing anywhere on the face would be fine.

Big Mike · Nov 7, 2011

I thought perhaps you had focused on the eyes, but maybe had a front-focus problem.

But yes, when shooting a portrait, it's almost always imperative that the eye(s) be the sharpest point of focus.