Shooting a Couple...

[Heather Koch]

So this is my first couple portraits, as I am new to portraits to begin with. I will be posting more, but here is a few for now.

Thoughts??


1.
DET_0151 by heather.koch43, on Flickr

2.
DET_0181 by heather.koch43, on Flickr

3.
DET_0201-2 by heather.koch43, on Flickr

4.
DET_0217 by heather.koch43, on Flickr

5.
DET_0217-3 by heather.koch43, on Flickr


And this one is my absolute favorite!!!

6.
DET_0182 by heather.koch43, on Flickr

7.
DET_0048 by heather.koch43, on Flickr


8.
DET_0052 by heather.koch43, on Flickr


9.
DET_0149 by heather.koch43, on Flickr

10.
DET_0049-3 by heather.koch43, on Flickr

11.
DET_0066-2 by heather.koch43, on Flickr

12.
DET_0100 by heather.koch43, on Flickr

13.
DET_0109-2 by heather.koch43, on Flickr

 

[frommrstomommy]

You will probably want to number these to make it easier for people to comment on them.

I think you did a nice job with some creative posing and keeping it fun. The biggest standouts to me are the varying white balances and all but the last could have benefited from a more shallow depth of field to separate your background more. The last is also my favorite but it appears to be very blue in color. Watch your backgrounds.. mainly #3.. where his head hits right at the door frame and the 2nd to last I would level some lines.

#1 I think could have been really nice if it had been shot wider and gotten them to loosen up their hands.. they appear very stiff.

 

[Heather Koch]

You will probably want to number these to make it easier for people to comment on them.

I think you did a nice job with some creative posing and keeping it fun. The biggest standouts to me are the varying white balances and all but the last could have benefited from a more shallow depth of field to separate your background more. The last is also my favorite but it appears to be very blue in color. Watch your backgrounds.. mainly #3.. where his head hits right at the door frame and the 2nd to last I would level some lines.

#1 I think could have been really nice if it had been shot wider and gotten them to loosen up their hands.. they appear very stiff.

Thank you! Very good advice. I numbered them as you suggested, which I forgot to do, so thanks!

With my shoots (so far) I make sure that the posses are natural for the "model" I am not a fan of pre-possed shots. I like the natural take to modeling or portraiture. As for the depth of field, I agree 100%. The lighting for this shoot was very, VERY harsh. Even though I used my reflector, it was hard to move around the light and use it to my advantage. For #3 I agree completely, it was their front porch and I loved their steps (brick) but the step ones didn't turn out to my liking and this was the only one that appealed to me, other than the background.

Hows this?

DET_01822 by heather.koch43, on Flickr

 

[tirediron]

In addition to the points noted by MTM, I'll add that the background in 3, 4, and 5 is less than ideal IMO. Vinyl siding is hardly attractive at the best of times...

 

[frommrstomommy]

That one still looks very cool to me.. you may need to look into calibrating your monitor if you plan to photograph people. I regret waiting as long as I did to do mine!

 

[Heather Koch]

I actually like this one much better...

Oh what you can see when playing around with colors for a bit...

I do like the cool tone to it, I don't have it in full color, I like that edit... To me reminds me of vintage feel. But that could just be me? But this one is a 50 times better than my first one.

DET_018222 by heather.koch43, on Flickr

 

[Heather Koch]

In addition to the points noted by MTM, I'll add that the background in 3, 4, and 5 is less than ideal IMO. Vinyl siding is hardly attractive at the best of times...

Vinyl siding is definitely not my ideal backdrop either, but its what we had to work with, at this location. This shoot was supposed to be with their grandkids but they were sick, so I just did a quick one with the couple. I have some nice wood backdrops coming on the way, just need to edit a couple.

 

[JustJazzie]

1,2&3 are the strongest here I think. I like the white balance on number 5 the best. On number 4&5 I just can't bring myself to like the pose. He looks very nice, but if you look only at her its a very unflattering angle. I see right up her nose, and her eyes look "off" to me. The volleyball net shot is pretty cute.

 

[Heather Koch]

1,2&3 are the strongest here I think. I like the white balance on number 5 the best. On number 4&5 I just can't bring myself to like the pose. He looks very nice, but if you look only at her its a very unflattering angle. I see right up her nose, and her eyes look "off" to me. The volleyball net shot is pretty cute.

AHHH I see what you are saying 100%! Now that you say that... Ew... I'll have to keep that in mind for sure! For those shots, I liked the wood steps. BUT the focus must be on the people, right?! lol

 

[Heather Koch]

Just added three more, I really, really like the old barn wood photos.

 

[tirediron]

Just added three more, I really, really like the old barn wood photos.

Agreed; the barn-board is MUCH better than the vinyl siding! These do look a tad under-exposed however.

 

[Heather Koch]

Just added three more, I really, really like the old barn wood photos.

Agreed; the barn-board is MUCH better than the vinyl siding! These do look a tad under-exposed however.

Gosh there is so much to look into a photo. I see the "under-exposed" you are referring too. Yes old barn wood > vinyl siding...

Thanks again!

 

[Heather Koch]

Just added the last few I took. Meeting with them tonight on what they want printed. All sizes range from 12x19 to 13x20. I doubt they'll want anything bigger than 11x14/16x20, but just in case... Would it be safe to go over the actual size?

 

[vintagesnaps]

These look like you need to go out and get some practice getting consistently proper exposures, etc. Without people - just you and your camera.

Also the framing needs improvement, you're getting a lot of edges of things (leaves, doorframes etc.) along the edge of the frame or in the corners. You don't seem to yet be always seeing that when you're framing shots - you don't want a leaf growing out of her nose and a tree trunk coming up out of the top of his head!).

Practice, practice, and get better at seeing what you're looking at and everything in your viewfinder. You seem to be getting some nice compositions and nice balance to your photos but the technical part isn't there yet to be professional quality work. These seem to need further adjustment and cropping, and I don't know that the quality is going to be good enough for a large prints.

 

[Heather Koch]

These look like you need to go out and get some practice getting consistently proper exposures, etc. Without people - just you and your camera.

Also the framing needs improvement, you're getting a lot of edges of things (leaves, doorframes etc.) along the edge of the frame or in the corners. You don't seem to yet be always seeing that when you're framing shots - you don't want a leaf growing out of her nose and a tree trunk coming up out of the top of his head!).

Practice, practice, and get better at seeing what you're looking at and everything in your viewfinder. You seem to be getting some nice compositions and nice balance to your photos but the technical part isn't there yet to be professional quality work. These seem to need further adjustment and cropping, and I don't know that the quality is going to be good enough for a large prints.

Yeah there is a lot that goes into portraits. Going from learning how to capture a landscape to now focusing on people, is quite a difference. I still try to find that cool landscape then put the people in front, but really I could put the people on the street and just capture them.

I thought of something, I don't know if people do this but... Since I am new and don't know all the posses would it be alright for my to print out a bunch of different posses and carry it around with me when doing sessions?