My first paying shoot...

JOSHardson · Nov 21, 2009

This is the first photo I'm done editing, but I think it's turning out well. Hopefully I can get some word of mouth goin' from this one, and have more paid jobs come in.

iolair · Nov 22, 2009

Well done on starting to 'go pro'! How did you find your clients?

Personally, I would have wanted to keep that fence out of view, if I could. The woods are the more pleasing backdrop.

JOSHardson · Nov 22, 2009

The guy is a friend of mine. I tried my best to get that fence out of there, and in a few shots I did. The light from this angle really made the people pop to me, and that's the reason I overlooked the fence in this case. I'm gonna add some more to this thread as I finish them. Thanks for commenting.

JOSHardson · Nov 22, 2009

|)\/8 · Nov 22, 2009

The main problem I see here is that it looks like you were shooting in bright Sun light, looks like the Sun was high and camera right. There is some shadow on the female's head in the first photo, the bigger problem is that your friend is kind of squinting which does not make for a good photo.

Obviously for this swing shot they have to face the way they are, so you would have been better off to shoot at a different time of day. The other option would have been to have someone hold a large diffuser or gobo to block the bright Sun.

Chuck · Nov 22, 2009

agreed, facial expressions a bit too squinty

trees growing out of top of both their heads

you also might have asked him to pull down his shirt so the collar wasn't so far off the back of his neck

nice setting for the pic, and nice composition

shoot at a different time of day, or on a cloudy day

use a low f-stop to blur the background more, after making sure trees are positioned correctly

JOSHardson · Nov 22, 2009

All good suggestions upon further inspection. Thanks everyone.

curly · Nov 22, 2009

Hey OP, I see you are in Memphis. What part of the city are you in?

I recently moved downtown and have been wanting to get out and shoot more

IgsEMT · Nov 23, 2009

Is he squinting? I hope not.
To beat to give the rest of the feedback, but images seem to be ok - basic snapshots. Many folks don't like to use flashes b/c they seem to be afraid of them. Use your flash, accent the subjects, POINT OUT the details. This is where you'll go from snapshot to PORTRAITS.

JOSHardson · Nov 23, 2009

I live just south of Memphis in Horn Lake technically. But, I do drive through Memphis daily on my commute to West Memphis, AR.

I have went and looked closely at the rest of the pictures... Even when the sun is nowhere to be found his left eye is a little squinty. So, I don't guess there was anything I could have done about that.

I actually tried using some flash, but all it did was wash them out. So, I mostly just used the flash for bounce lighting. I'm definitely still in the early learning stages of portraiture. Hopefully the saying about practice making perfect is correct. Again, thanks for all of the feedback.

Chuck · Nov 24, 2009

JOSHardson said:
I live just south of Memphis in Horn Lake technically. But, I do drive through Memphis daily on my commute to West Memphis, AR.

I have went and looked closely at the rest of the pictures... Even when the sun is nowhere to be found his left eye is a little squinty. So, I don't guess there was anything I could have done about that.

I actually tried using some flash, but all it did was wash them out. So, I mostly just used the flash for bounce lighting. I'm definitely still in the early learning stages of portraiture. Hopefully the saying about practice making perfect is correct. Again, thanks for all of the feedback.

outside? what did the light bounce off?

(not giving you a hard time here - - trying to learn myself)

JOSHardson · Nov 24, 2009

My 430EX II flash is crazy strong. In these particular shots there was a white fence to the left which worked well. If you look hard enough there are plenty of things to bounce off of. In really dark outdoor shots I've even bounced off of tree limbs and leaves above my subject.

Chuck · Nov 24, 2009

JOSHardson said:
My 430EX II flash is crazy strong. In these particular shots there was a white fence to the left which worked well. If you look hard enough there are plenty of things to bounce off of. In really dark outdoor shots I've even bounced off of tree limbs and leaves above my subject.

thx