First Time Shooting Raw and Portraits. CC

[Geaux]

7/24/2010 **EDIT** Added 4 New Shots in later post.

It's been a little bit since I've been on here ... Well, here is my story: A friend of mine asked me to do their engagement shots for them since I'm starting to get into photography (..though I REALLY think it's because I'll be free lol), but before our "appointment" on Sunday, I wanted to get out and practice. Grabbed my wife up and said, "You're going to be my model for a day!" lol. Well, here is... My first attempt at shooting in Raw and Portraits.

1.

2.

3.

I still have a bunch of photos to touch up, but here are the first three. I wanted to get opinions on the shots or touchups before I moved on to the others. Thanks for looking

 

[Morpheuss]

They are some good photo's number 2 is my favorite. I'm not sure about the first one I would probably crop it somehow but I can't quite put my finger on it. I plaid with the first one a little and here's what I did.

 

[IceEateer]

1. Stylish girl. Weird composition. Tighter Crop.

2. Not bad. Maybe tilt a few more degrees clockwise to emphasize the diagonal.

3. Terrible. Looks like she's dropping a deuce.

 

[BekahAura]

1) I like the tighter crop posted, but I don't really like the expression on her face. It looks like you were caught with your camera by a stranger, kind of like "what are you doing?"

2) Beautiful, I really love this shot!

3) I liked it a lot before the "dropping a deuce" comment lol, maybe you can crop it just below her arms? Eh, leave it alone, I really like the dirty background and you wouldn't see the floor if you cropped.

Great job on these! I love your wife's style, specifically the red shoes and red lipstick.

 

[PerfectlyFlawed]

She looks like a Natural! I don't like the crop eliminating the lion statues head...but a crop *would* work for it...just not *that* much..imo. Nice pics, think you did very well.

 

[Geaux]

Thanks for the input! I kind of like #1 with the tighter crop (not the other one bc I'm unsure why you would crop out the Lion in the picture...) , but I also like the wider shot of the lion .. but thanks for making me look at it in a different perspective

As for #2, it was one of my favorite shots of the afternoon! Thanks for the input. IMO, there isn't much I would do differently on this shot.

#3 and the "deuce" comment .... I don't think it's "Terrible" nor the other comment you made. It's one of my wife's favorite shots b/c of the trashy look on the ground and graffiti on the walls, along with the pose. I like the contrast of trash vs glam kinda thing, so a crop below the elbows wouldn't really work for me.

Keep em coming! I'll put more on here as I finish editing them

 

[edouble]

Very nice! Did you use on camera flash or off camera flash?

 

[Robin Usagani]

Cutting the lion head is a good thing I think unless you want Beauty and the Beast theme LOL.

#2 is your best shot.
#3 if I work for a photo fashion company, I probably edit the shoe on the right to make it look more fit.

 

[Geaux]

Very nice! Did you use on camera flash or off camera flash?

Unfortunately, it was the on camera flash, but I was satisfied with it's fill flash capabilities. SB600 is in my future, but not at the moment lol.

Other info on the shoot: It was shot between 6:45-7:50PM. Would have liked to get out earlier for more daylight (...and less mosquitoes lol), but the wife took RIDICULOUSLY long to get ready lol.

#3 if I work for a photo fashion company, I probably edit the shoe on the right to make it look more fit.

AHHHHH, didn't even notice that!! I bet it's the way she's sitting that makes the shoes bow out like that.

 

[subscuck]

Unfortunately, it was the on camera flash, but I was satisfied with it's fill flash capabilities. SB600 is in my future, but not at the moment lol.

That's the only thing I've ever found on camera flash useful for. In the right situation, it works well.

but the wife took RIDICULOUSLY long to get ready lol.

That's a given

If you do this well for your friends, they will be most pleased. Good shots, I like them all.

 

[Geaux]

That's the only thing I've ever found on camera flash useful for. In the right situation, it works well.
-------------------------------------------
That's a given

If you do this well for your friends, they will be most pleased. Good shots, I like them all.

lol, Thanks. I'm hoping I can pull off the same for my friends, even I would be pleased lol

 

[NWK04]

I like them all. On the third shot you could maybe have her extend one leg out while she's down in that position.

Good job!

 

[Geaux]

That was probably my hardest thing of the "shoot" ... How to position her. Since I'm new to it, it was a little awkward at first, which explains a lot of the stiffness in her poses.

 

[Geaux]

Finished editing some more of the shots. What do ya'll think of these?

4.

5.

6.

7. I went a different route with the editing on this one, not sure if I LOVE it though.

 

[Derrel]

Photo 4: I like the way you have positioned her in the curve of that neat old tree. I wish this photo had been made with a 180 or 200mm Nikkor or the 70-200 Nikkor from farther back, so that the bare spot on the dirt would not show up so much. That patch of bare dirt and the sidewalk kind of spoil it for me...the hook is her curves in the curve of the tree trunk....kind of nice!

Photo 5: I dislike upside down poses almost all of the time. This one is better than most upside down looks at a lady.

Photo 6:The shot of the shoes in the foreground with her as an out of focus background "element" is a lovely use of the concept of bokeh as subject matter, or bokeh as scene-setting background. I do not think the lens is really,truly up to the task on that type of pure bokeh shot. The way the lens you used handles the out of focus highlights in the background is not as good as many telephoto lenses,and on her out of focus arms, you can see that the lens is starting to create a slight double-line out of focus where the arms are seen against the black pants, but minor quibbles aside, the shot is pretty good. I think the vorner vignetting looks a bit too dark,and her foot looks like it has had the expoisure recovered in post, and so the color there on the foot looks a bit wonky.

Last shot: Love the use of the found lettering on the sidewalk, that's a nice touch. i think the car in the ULC and the bright highlight at the top of the frame need to be cloned out...they are a bit distracting.

This woman is such a lovely subject that it's hard to pick out flaws in photos of her...pretty subjects tend to do that..they make flaws in technique or minor location quibbles almost disappear.