2 portraits, c&c please

[kfin22]

what am i doing right & wrong

1.)

2.)

 

[LCARSx32]

Great poses, great model. First is blown on the pavement behind her head. Watch your background. Most portraits don't have blacktop in the background, lol.

Crop 'em closer.

 

[DanFinePhotography]

White balance looks a tad bit off in #1 and distracting BG as stated above. #2 might have been nicer if the subject was smiling

 

[LCARSx32]

On second inspection, something is really bugging me about her nose in the first shot. Did you do something to it in post? It looks wider than the second shot and there appears to be blur marks across the nostril area. Am I seeing things?

 

[kfin22]

i agree about the road, i dont know what i was thnking placing the chair there ... i feel like these are lacking something, they don't pop the way i would like them too.

i have a question about aperture if anyone can answer ... i set my fstop to the lowest possible on my camera, which is 3.5, but whenever i zoom in with my lens its goes up to 5 ... why does it do that? im having such a hard time getting my backgrounds blurred out, i dno why im not getting it.

 

[LCARSx32]

It's common for lenses to change maximum aperture values when zoomed. Honestly, I'm not sure why. I think the f/# is a division of the diameter of the aperture vs. the focal length, but don't quote me on that.

Instead of zooming, why don't you physically move the camera closer? Being closer to the subject will blur the background more anyway.

BTW: I rather like your second shot. Good location. A little fill light to get rid of those bright spots wouldn't hurt, though.

Now, about that nose...

 

[k10387]

i have a question about aperture if anyone can answer ... i set my fstop to the lowest possible on my camera, which is 3.5, but whenever i zoom in with my lens its goes up to 5 ... why does it do that? im having such a hard time getting my backgrounds blurred out, i dno why im not getting it.

I think the way it works is the lens your using is an f/3.5-5.6 which means that the aperture will change as you increase the focal length. If it is important to you, it maybe something to consider on your next lens purchase to consider one with a constant aperture. Example of 2 lenses:
Sigma 28-105mm f/2.8-3.5. Will stay at 2.8 till around 70mm then the aperture will start to increase to 3.5
Tamron 28-105mm f/2.8 Will stay at 2.8 thru out the entire range from 28-105
Constant aperture lenses usually cost a bit more too