Portrait collection

Heather811 · Dec 3, 2005

Here are some of my portraits. I have gotten good feedback from the people who I took them for and just wanted to hear some of yours. I am still a newbie with the digital camera and learning on a basic model. Any advice would be appreciated.

1. An old friend of mine. Very beautiful and easy to photograph.

2. Emma, my friends' daughter. It was her first trip to the zoo and the amazement on her face was wonderful.

3. Emma again. This time looking down at the pandas.

mentos_007 · Dec 3, 2005

wonderful portraits with Emma!

elsaspet · Dec 3, 2005

I love the second one.

bace · Dec 4, 2005

Doesn't really look like you're much of a beginner to me. At the very least you have a great eye for composition.

df3photo · Dec 4, 2005

some nice shots. the kid is great, and the girl in the first looks good too just looks like she has HUGE feet....

Heather811 · Dec 4, 2005

Thanks for the positive feedback! Makes me feel like I am moving in the right direction.

Tally Ho · Dec 6, 2005

On the first image, the highlights are completely blown out (overexposed) and the pixels lost in those areas cannot be recovered. With digital you MUST meter and expose for the highlights (the brightest part of the image) then bring the shadows up with a reflector or with a flash unit. If you expose for the highlights without bringing up the shadows you will have black shadows (not good)! Using sunshine as your main light source is very difficult as it is very specular with hard dark shadows. Note how soft and pleasing the window light is in your second image of the little girl looking out. The difference? Soft light. Soft light is very pleasing for portraiture. Back to the first image. Did we really need to see her legs? Do they add anything to the image? No (IMHO) so crop them out. When I am composing any portrait I decide on what will enhance the image while viewing the image in the viewfinder and I leave it in. If anything detracts the eye of the viewer, I crop it out.

TH