"Senior Photo" opinions

Soraiden · Sep 23, 2005

This is the first time I have ever really tried to take photos other than silly vacation & pet snapshots. My boyfriend's mom thought she would try save money this year by taking his sister's senior photos herself. She sent a few test photos to me, but the camera/photo quality wasn't up to par. I have no idea what camera it is, but it takes 3.5" floppys.

I only have a Canon PowerShot A75, so I borrowed my parents Canon Rebel EOS & tried to take some. I figured at least we could win half of the battle and not have grainy photos.

Anywho...we took over 150 photos & had so much fun doing it

Between taking them and playing with them on PS CS2, I am addicted. I thought I'd have her name on the photos, rather than mine ~ as I have no right to advertise, lol. I had to send my parents camera back to them, but I think I will be getting the 20D for the holidays this year.

Their mom loves them now, but I want them improved more... here is one from the batch.

'Daniel' · Sep 23, 2005

What do you mean by more? If you're asking how can you take better pictures thats a pretty big question.

I'd say practice and study. Study how professional photographs are taken.

Soraiden · Sep 23, 2005

Daniel said:
What do you mean by more? If you're asking how can you take better pictures thats a pretty big question.

I'd say practice and study. Study how professional photographs are taken.

Just some opinions w/o the brutal critique gallery

BadRotation · Sep 25, 2005

Just a side note, Portraits are really easy to do once you get the hang of it. I have been doing them for nearly a year now, and my biggest hurdle was learning how to actually deal with the people (being a slightly shy person). Keep practicing and you will get the hang of it.

Soraiden · Sep 25, 2005

BadRotation said:
Just a side note, Portraits are really easy to do once you get the hang of it. I have been doing them for nearly a year now, and my biggest hurdle was learning how to actually deal with the people (being a slightly shy person). Keep practicing and you will get the hang of it.

Ahh.. ok... thanks for that

Taking photos of Jenny (this one) was really easy, cause she is practically my sister...so we probably had a little too much fun. Tee hee

Do you have any of your portraits posted somewhere?

BadRotation · Sep 25, 2005

Soraiden said:
Ahh.. ok... thanks for that

Taking photos of Jenny (this one) was really easy, cause she is practically my sister...so we probably had a little too much fun. Tee hee

Do you have any of your portraits posted somewhere?

Not right now, I am currently working on setting up a new server here at home, but once it is set up, I am sure I can post a few of my portraits.

LizM · Sep 25, 2005

Basically watch the lighting on the face (no eyes in shadow or blown out hair). Shoot from a slight side angle on standing shots (slimming), and pay attention to background.

You shot is very good but the shirt is much brighter than the face on the B&W. Also, what about making the main shot color and the others B&W? I love that effect by the way!

Soraiden · Sep 25, 2005

LizM said:
Basically watch the lighting on the face (no eyes in shadow or blown out hair). Shoot from a slight side angle on standing shots (slimming), and pay attention to background.

You shot is very good but the shirt is much brighter than the face on the B&W. Also, what about making the main shot color and the others B&W? I love that effect by the way!

Thanks for tips & ideas... I *really* appreciate it

I will try inversing the B&W areas... right now I have it all color & this version, I didn't even think to have it the 3rd way... that's great!

mentos_007 · Sep 26, 2005

I'm not a pro and my experience iwth portraits is rather poor, but remember to talk to the modelall the time... just say "ok... right... stop now... turn left " and so on. I was told that it makes the whole session easier

Soraiden · Sep 27, 2005

mentos_007 said:
I'm not a pro and my experience iwth portraits is rather poor, but remember to talk to the modelall the time... just say "ok... right... stop now... turn left " and so on. I was told that it makes the whole session easier

Oh, thanks! I am sure that will be really good for the future...not everyone will be as close as her & I.

Her mom was there, so I was babbling and we were both joking around. Her mom would fuss her hair one way, then her & I would put it back the way we liked it, lol. I got some really lovely photos when she was just laughing & looking off at her mom.

BLINN · Sep 29, 2005

how did you PS the first photo to get the flim strip?? These are great.

MB

Soraiden · Sep 29, 2005

BLINN said:
how did you PS the first photo to get the flim strip?? These are great.

MB

Thank you!

The filmstrip was very easy...the outline of the film strip is just a stock image. If you look closer you can see that the same "7" is used over & over... I had gotten lazy & didn't replace the photo numbers :blushing:

The strip was originally vertical, so I just copied my images into the strip, rotated it CCW & extracted it because I wanted the outer edges of the strip to be transparent. Added it as a layer to the main image.

Tally Ho · Sep 29, 2005

Actually BOTH imgaes are quite nice, not perfect, but quite nice.

Nit pick time. In portraiture NOTHING should be straight that can be bent. (The 'rule' is, 'if it bends, bend it', but keep it quiet, because there are LOTS of posters here that absolutely hate the word "rules" when talking about photography, so let's keep it a little secret between the two of us.) Ahem, "There are no rules" (if you don't want to sell your portraits.) But if you do, bend everything that will bend and you may wind up making some needed $$$ from your images! For instance, in the first image, her back leg is straight out. That is not a big deal, but it would look much more interesting if it were bent a little. The lighting on her face is also kinda so so. In the second image, she is square to the camera, and this is an extension of the bending rule, 'bending' means making something straight not straight! She is straight in front of the camera. Move either the camera over so she is not directly in front of it, or move her. If you would like to see some of my images, I have some in the gallery here at PF but you must jump through a baziillion hoops to find them. So good luck.

Tally Ho