A Few Shots From a Beach Photoshoot

[ncstater1919]

What up everyone,
A few friends and I decided to go to the beach for the day and then I decided to do a photoshoot of one of my friends. So just let me know what you think and C&C welcome!

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Thanks for looking!

 

[shortpballer]

I like #3... the others are meh... what lens are you using? kit lens?

 

[ncstater1919]

yep just my D40 18mm-55mm

i'm saving up for my 18mm-200mm VR lens.

I've never done anything on the beach before and i think a reflector would have helped...

 

[lmartinez614]

my gf of 4 years had a bikini like the first few shots. :-( Why bring back the memories?? lol..

Nice pic man. Cute chick too

 

[musicaleCA]

The third works well. The hard light in this case is alright, and actually compliments her features. Good vertical lines, blue sky. Cool.

The rest are...yeah, meh. They generally lack contrast and any amount of pop or punch. And her skin-tones look quite red and over-saturated where she's darker, which is probably a result of underexposing her. A reflector, or lots of flash (gelled appropriately) would do wonders.

 

[ncstater1919]

ugh yea i wish i had brought a reflector with me but i hadn't planned on doing a shoot on the beach. it was kind of a whim. in #1,2, and 4 the sun was behind her and it made it hard to edit because it made her look fake when i had to add light to her since it was so dark + my lack of experience editting...

basically what I was looking for was is the composition on? I'm still learning about portraits and I know normally making the subject centered often makes it dull but should you not do that when doing portraits?

 

[shortpballer]

You should invest your money in a flash before you get that lens. I made that mistake of buying cool lenses before and just recently bought a flash and the difference it makes is night and day!!

 

[Eyetattoo]

Number three is very nice. I like the poses in the rest but as others said she looks a little sunburned....

 

[BuZzZeRkEr]

Great shots!! The model actually has some talent, and of course the photographer likewise.

The first picture I could tell you brightened your subject in PP, however the layer brush you used gives off a slight halo around your subject but very slight, so my advise would be use a smaller brush. Her arm in the pose cast a big shadow on the face...which when brightening alost gives her face an unatural skin tone compared to the rest of her body. GREAT POSE! Your model is a little bit shorter, but this pose masks her height due to the position of her hips and her legs nice.

#2 great pose again! Subject needs more fill light, but shooting models in the middle of the day with harsh sun directly over head you really can't do much.

#3 better lighting but pose not very good. Her weight (hips) should be shifted more to up and to the left (from camera perspective) giving her right foot more of an angle making the legs look longer.

#4 more of the same from 1 &2 pretty good pose bad lighting.

#5 pretty good, but you need a much tighter crop on the subject

#6 good shot focus, lighting etc, but terrible pose. Just look at what it does to her legs, doesn't even look like the same model.

 

[ncstater1919]

Great shots!! The model actually has some talent, and of course the photographer likewise.

The first picture I could tell you brightened your subject in PP, however the layer brush you used gives off a slight halo around your subject but very slight, so my advise would be use a smaller brush. Her arm in the pose cast a big shadow on the face...which when brightening alost gives her face an unatural skin tone compared to the rest of her body. GREAT POSE! Your model is a little bit shorter, but this pose masks her height due to the position of her hips and her legs nice.

#2 great pose again! Subject needs more fill light, but shooting models in the middle of the day with harsh sun directly over head you really can't do much.

#3 better lighting but pose not very good. Her weight (hips) should be shifted more to up and to the left (from camera perspective) giving her right foot more of an angle making the legs look longer.

#4 more of the same from 1 &2 pretty good pose bad lighting.

#5 pretty good, but you need a much tighter crop on the subject

#6 good shot focus, lighting etc, but terrible pose. Just look at what it does to her legs, doesn't even look like the same model.

Wow thank you for that in depth review. i will definitely use that for the future. i can see now that lighting was a problem that can be fixed with the reflector i should have bought/the flash i need haha.

also i now notice what this did to her legs. i knew something looked different but i can really see that now and what a difference the angle can make.

Currently I am using iPhoto to edit my pictures since I don't think its smart to invest in photoshop when I would not know how to use any of the features. would you guys suggest photoshop elements or will I be able to use many of the same features in iPhoto? I still have so much to learn but I appreciate the criticism

 

[shortpballer]

Great shots!! The model actually has some talent, and of course the photographer likewise.

Personally I think she should try some shots with her hands not in her hair...
my 2 cents. Its fine every once and a while but if you look at every picture her hand is in her hair.

 

[BuZzZeRkEr]

No prob NC, just trying to help out. Don't worry I use reflectors and a simple reflector would'nt of help that much in the situation either. The sun is too bright to use either a silver or gold reflector would've blinded the model and over exposed the subject.

The way the pros would've done it if they absolutely HAD to shoot with those lighting conditions would've been at least a large scrim jim in the water hanging over the model to diffuse the the harsh sun, in addition probably a white 40X66 white diffuser used as a reflector off camera right bottom almost laying in the water to fill those harsh shadows. But then again the pros would never shoot in those lighting conditions....dusk or dawn.

learn photoshop it is the industry standard.

 

[ncstater1919]

Great shots!! The model actually has some talent, and of course the photographer likewise.

Personally I think she should try some shots with her hands not in her hair...
my 2 cents. Its fine every once and a while but if you look at every picture her hand is in her hair.

eh she had a good amount where she didn't have her hand in her face. idk why i didn't put them up. i guess i didn't think they were err..appropriate for it but i don't mind putting them up...

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#10 i don't like the ppl in the backround. we tried going to go to a private beach that one of my friends had a house on but some ppl were on it...

EDIT: hhahah just realized 10# doesn't prove my point at all. and the horizon is so slanted.. but i think thats from the beach.

 

[BuZzZeRkEr]

Great shots!! The model actually has some talent, and of course the photographer likewise.

Personally I think she should try some shots with her hands not in her hair...
my 2 cents. Its fine every once and a while but if you look at every picture her hand is in her hair.

Nothing wrong with that....she does this for a reason, it shapes her torso and gives complementing curves. When combined with proper hip placement it makes for a great picture. I'm sure the photographer has pictures without the hands in the hair but they did not look as good...that is the reason. He has a pretty good eye as a beginner photographer to select the poses he did out of the many that we're taken. I agree though there are different poses that she would look great in without her hands in her hair but I gotta give the photographers eye some props for a beginner.

 

[shortpballer]

That last picture you posted...in my opinion has the best composition of all the other so far!!!