Informal Portrait Session 6.19.05

Corry · Jun 21, 2005

So...Sunday was my family reunion...I knew like 3 people there (ok, it was 5) out of like, 30 or so...and everyone there was either very old or very young...and my little cousin Nicole and I were EXTREMELY BORED. So, I decided to get some practice with my portraiture, and it was a perfect day to practice exposure in a difficult lighting situation (VERY bright and harsh light!). So...here is my cousin Nicole. And boys, watch what you say...she's only 15, and I'm having a hard enough time dealing with the fact that she's growing up! :lol:

This would have been my favorite had I gotten the focus right! :grumpy:

I think I may have put this at too much of an angle...let me know your thoughts. I told her to give me her serious look. I think she's pretty darn good at it!

Critique is welcomed and appreciated!!!!

Oh, and I'll probably be adding some more after bit....this is just a few of what I took. I took A LOT!

iSellJerseyShore · Jun 21, 2005

Awesome!! Very pretty cousin, she did the serious look pretty darn well.. I think your shots came out very well for that tough lighting situation, maybe something to reflect the sunlight and fill in the shadows would have completed the shots??

Nonetheless I still love the shots!! 2 & 3 are my favs of the batch..

-iSellJerseyShore

Corry · Jun 21, 2005

A couple more...this one was just us being silly (she lives on a farm, waaaay out in the boonies, and grew up a hillbilly kid)

kilifila66 · Jun 21, 2005

Nicely done for the first time around. The only suggestion I have is change your DOF to obscure the background and put as much focus on your subject as possible. Very good detail though. Keep it up.

Corry · Jun 21, 2005

kilifila66 said:
Nicely done for the first time around. The only suggestion I have is change your DOF to obscure the background and put as much focus on your subject as possible. Very good detail though. Keep it up.

Hmmm...very good point. I was so focused on trying to get the exposure right, I don't think I even thought about DOF that whole day.

And it's not my first time around, but I definatly can use a lot of practice, and I really want to get a portfolio going...so that's why we did the portrait session.

JonMikal · Jun 21, 2005

very nice work Corry and what a pretty girl. my suggestion would be the same; DOF.

iSellJerseyShore · Jun 21, 2005

Fence.jpg - Very Nice shot!!

-iSellJerseyShore

Alison · Jun 21, 2005

You've got some nice posing, my suggestion are the same as what has been mentioned, DOF and fill flash/reflector use for lighting like this. Have fun building your portfolio, it's really neat to be able to go back later and watch your work progress!

Mike Jordan · Jun 21, 2005

You have all that beautiful shadow lighting around you and you shot in the sun? Shame on you.

Some of the best lighitng for portraits is the the area between full sun and deep shadow. And if there is a building wall to reflect some light into the shadow area, all the better.

You didn't do a bad job being out in the sun like that, but the first picture her face is shaded with the sun shining on her body and the background. And in lighting, the eyes are attracted to the lightest area first. That's why in portraiture you will see that the photographer tries to make the face the lightest area of an image. This way the face gets the attention, as it should.

You did better with the 2nd, 3rd and 5th one. You got more side lighting than behind or in front. On thing to keep in mind when you have directional lighting like this... face the body away from the light and turn the face back towards the light. This will give you light on one side of the face and less light on the other. If you do it correctly you can get a decent lighting ratio between the lighted side and shadow side.

A shadow is an area that has no direct light falling on it. Unless you are going for a low key dramatic effect, you don't want a deep shadow. You want something 1 to 2 fstops different between the two sides. Your focus is off on several of them. It doesn't look like you were focusing on the eyes or else you had your focus locked (some cameras will lock focus if you hold the shutter button down half way) and she moved (as in the swing). A greater DOF (by going with a smaller appature) would have compensated a bit. While throwing the background out is usually a good idea, if you have trouble with your focus point, having a bigger DOF is better.

You have a great model to work with, so hopefully you will get a chance to practice more. I think #3 and #5 are pretty good and even better when you consider the light you were using.

Mike