Portraits, Portraits and More Portraits: C&C!

[JackRabbit]

Ok, so I am saying this right up front, this is an incredibly unattractive picture of me, at least in my opinion. However, I was doing a shoot with myself (that is what boredom at 12:30AM gets you) and I really liked how the lighting turned out on this one. I want to hear from you guys on what you think!


Strobist Info:
Canon 430EZ shot through soft box, subject left, 1/8 power
Quantaray PZ-1 shot through bed sheet, subject right, 1/16 power
Triggered via optical

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2
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Got home and did my first shoot with my BRAND NEW USED 50mm AND my new homemade softbox! Woohoo! Oh my God that lens takes such awesome pictures. The quality just blew me away! Anyways, here is the one we chose from the shoot. I'm still actively working on trying to improve my posing techniques. I've been going through Vogue magazine and Marie Claire like all afternoon HAHA! No homo!

View On Black!

Tell me what you think!

Strobist Info:
Canon 430EZ shot through softbox, 1/16 power

Quantaray PZ-1 shot through trash can diffuser, 1/32 power

3
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Went and shot with the Devocean guys for a little bit before it started to rain and got this shot of James kickflipping down a 13-stair.

4
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Another self portrait and another incredibly unattractive picture of me. I'm not sure about this one. Let me know what you guys think of it.

DEFINITELY VIEW IN LARGE

Strobist:
Canon 430EZ shot through softbox camera right, 1/16 power.
Quantaray PZ-1 shot through bedsheet subject right, 1/32 power.

5
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This is pretty much straight out of the camera other than a little bit of sharpening and a bit of contrast in camera raw. How does it look?

Strobist:
Canon 430EZ shot through softbox camera right, 1/16 power.
Quantaray PZ-1 shot through bedsheet subject right, 1/32 power.

 

[burnws6]

I wanna cry.........they grow up so fast.....

Lol I'm on my phone so I don't wanna write anything out cuz I get tired. But when I get back on my CP I'll let you know. Awesome work man!

 

[Moe]

Beginner here, so take with a grain of salt.

1. Lighting looks good to me. I'm looking at this with an uncalibrated monitor, but the left side of your face looks a tad overexposed.

2. The lighting of the subject seems good, but she really disappears into the background. You could use one light as the main, and use a reflector for fill (I made one with a cardboard box and aluminum foil). Then use your second light from behind her to separate her from the background. (I only have one strobe, so I can't give any specific advice on that, just a suggestion.)

3. Holy sh..... Hope the flash didn't temporarily blind him and mess with his landing!

4. I like the catchlights. The nose shadow is a little harsh. Also the hair shadow is a little distracting for me.

5. is not showing up

Overall, nice job! Just some tweaks. I hope I didn't come across as harsh. I sure don't know what I'm doing, but I'm getting into the strobist thing so it helps me to look at photos and critique.

 

[IgsEMT]

Portrait Lighting

 

[Derrel]

I see a lot of improvement on the first shot of you and the second shot of your sister compared with the shots you were doing last week. Your homemade softbox has a fairly decent light quality. I see steady improvement over last week and the week before.

 

[transformed]

Hey Jack-

The catchlights in the first two are a bit odd. Two in the right eye and only one in the left. I touched up that right eye to show the difference.

Overall though I agree on huge improvement.

Ps- I think it's a great pic of you.

 

[The_Traveler]

I think you are underestimating how nice these are. The subjects really have connection with the camera and that makes the portraits pretty intense.

#1, I would certainly crop to get rid of a lot of the sweatshirt. It is bland and doesn't add anything while the face is really the center of interest. Altho the wb is pretty neutral, it makes the face pretty pale, I would warm it up a little to get some interest in the face tones. And darken the corners to keep the viewers' eyes in the image.



Number 2 - IMO, the face is a bit underexposed and the hair needs to be separated from the background. You've clipped the elbow off at the tip and the left arm at the joint - both not so good things - and the real center of interest, those great eyes, are too close to the top. Crop this so that the face is in the power position (thirds) and the clipping looks more intentional - a much tighter composition.

IMO, both really terrific and needing only some 'finishing'.