Advice? Portrait Photos

[BrieKayee]

Hey,

my name is Brie and I am an aspiring photographer. I would totally appreciate it if anyone could give me some advice on how to improve these two photos thanks xx

 

[jowensphoto]

Photos for critique should be posted in the galleries, you'll get more feedback there A mod will probably come along and move this for you so no need to repost there.

There's a lot of facial distortion in the first. I'm going to guess that you were at your widest zoom on a zoom lens or using a wider prime lens very close to her face. If you can't stand further away and zoom in with your lens without distortion, you can crop to an extent in post to get the shot you want.

The second one, I'll be blunt... my eyes go right to her breasts, because they are the brightest part. Be aware of the available light and the effect it will have on the final product. The rest of the photo seems to be underexposed. There are many resources for learning about exposure. Bryan Petersen (author) is a recommended source.

 

[BrieKayee]

Thanks
I was actually using my point and shoot Olympus camera when these were taken, so some things are need to be improved. Plus with the second photo, my friend just had the wrong dress for it, so it showed a lot of clevelege.

 

[domu221]

Thanks
I was actually using my point and shoot Olympus camera when these were taken, so some things are need to be improved. Plus with the second photo, my friend just had the wrong dress for it, so it showed a lot of clevelege.

It may not necessarily be because of exposed skin but because that's the area of your subject with the highest luminance. You may want to add some light to your subject by using a flash (with a diffuser dome) but dont make it too bright that the subject turns white; there should be some highlights and shadows, and the skin shouldn't be flushed with white b/c of the flash. The idea is that the subject should stand out.

You could then also do a lot of post processing with this image to show kinda a gothic or vampire scene by adjusting the white balance to a cooler setting, desaturating the background with a gray/blue-gray/midnight-blue hue, and also add in a vignette around the edges.

*comments for the 2nd pic.

 

[Judobreaker]

Hey, guys, guys! Why the long faces?

I think you should use a slightly longer focal length because her face in the first photo looks a bit too stretched up to me.
If you use a compact camera: just zoom in a bit and take some steps back to get about the same frame with less stretching.

 

[domu221]

Hey, guys, guys! Why the long faces?

I think you should use a slightly longer focal length because her face in the first photo looks a bit too stretched up to me.
If you use a compact camera: just zoom in a bit and take some steps back to get about the same frame with less stretching.

a focal length of 24 or 35mm would be super!

oh wait sorry, compact camera... disregard.

 

[Derrel]

Some pretty darned good advice has been given already. I will just say, "welcome to TPF!"

 

[jowensphoto]

Hey, guys, guys! Why the long faces?

I think you should use a slightly longer focal length because her face in the first photo looks a bit too stretched up to me.
If you use a compact camera: just zoom in a bit and take some steps back to get about the same frame with less stretching.

a focal length of 24 or 35mm would be super!

oh wait sorry, compact camera... disregard.

No. The Ideal Focal Length for Portraiture: A Photographer's Experiment

 

[cgipson1]

Hey, guys, guys! Why the long faces?

I think you should use a slightly longer focal length because her face in the first photo looks a bit too stretched up to me.
If you use a compact camera: just zoom in a bit and take some steps back to get about the same frame with less stretching.

a focal length of 24 or 35mm would be super!

oh wait sorry, compact camera... disregard.

Wrong! Anything under 50mm can have significant distortion (regardless of sensor size), and if used for portraiture... should be far enough away to minimize the distortion. Even a 50mm will do it if too close.

 

[jowensphoto]

^Yep. The link I posted has examples.

 

[MWC2]

Can I make a suggestion?

I noticed all the images you have posted have been themed shots, while fun I would suggest taking a step back and work with simple portraits (simple here is used kind of tonque and cheek). You are putting so much effort into staging these session where you should be putting that effort into watching how the light is falling, making sure you are getting your focus spot on, white balance, etc. I would recommend, have your friends be themselves, work on the fundamentals and THEN try themed sessions.

 

[rexbobcat]

They have a green tint on my screen. Her skin looks sickly.

The second photo is also significantly underexposed with the background being brighter than the subject. I think you might have metered your camera on the wrong area.

Keep shooting!

 

[MLeeK]

I see you are now shooting with a DSLR and in your other posts it seems you are trying to create something, but it's not coming out how it is in your head.
Start HERE with the tutorial about exposure and read all of them While you are reading them work on the things it's about using your camera.
You have to learn the exposure and creative controls of the camera first and foremost.

 

[Solarflare]

Wrong! Anything under 50mm can have significant distortion (regardless of sensor size), and if used for portraiture... should be far enough away to minimize the distortion. Even a 50mm will do it if too close.

Focal length has nothing to do with this.

You can transform a picture taken by a 35mm, 28mm, 24mm etc into a picture of a 50mm or any longer focal length by just cropping.

The more you crop, the more loss of resolution - however, assuming a perfect lens, there is no distortions introduced or removed. At all !

Even a 14mm (or less, but 14mm is kind of the limit of what still makes sense) will still have perfectly straight lines except for lens errors or if its a fisheye.

The issue is PERSPECTIVE, not lens distortion.

To make a portrait, you want to keep a distance of about 5 meters from the subject. A bit less might still work, and a lot more still causes little problems (people will look somewhat flat though). This limits the range of good focal lengths for portrait to 50mm to 135mm, for full body to face only, and all relative to full frame.

The famous 85mm f/1.2 Canon portrait lens, for example, is right in the middle of this.

Nikon also has famous portrait lenses, the AF 105 or 135mm f/2 DC lenses, which are thus a bit more specialized for face portraiture.

 

[cgipson1]

Wrong! Anything under 50mm can have significant distortion (regardless of sensor size), and if used for portraiture... should be far enough away to minimize the distortion. Even a 50mm will do it if too close.

Focal length has nothing to do with this.

You can transform a picture taken by a 35mm, 28mm, 24mm etc into a picture of a 50mm or any longer focal length by just cropping.

Wrong! You can approximate the FOV.. but you cannot change the distortion by doing so!

The more you crop, the more loss of resolution - however, assuming a perfect lens, there is no distortions introduced or removed. At all !

yes on the loss of resolution! There is no PERFECT lens.. and anything under 50mm will have visible distortion at some distances)

Even a 14mm (or less, but 14mm is kind of the limit of what still makes sense) will still have perfectly straight lines except for lens errors or if its a fisheye.

The issue is PERSPECTIVE, not lens distortion.

It is called Barrel Distortion.. and it is not a perspective issue....

To make a portrait, you want to keep a distance of about 5 meters from the subject. A bit less might still work, and a lot more still causes little problems (people will look somewhat flat though). This limits the range of good focal lengths for portrait to 50mm to 135mm, for full body to face only, and all relative to full frame.

5 meters??? maybe with my 85mm or my 70-200... unless you are talking full body portraits. But you are right that at 5 meters.. the distortion will be minimized on lenses below 50mm.. but then, so will the subject!

The famous 85mm f/1.2 Canon portrait lens, for example, is right in the middle of this.

Nikon also has famous portrait lenses, the AF 105 or 135mm f/2 DC lenses, which are thus a bit more specialized for face portraiture.

Yes.. funny how most acknowledged portrait lenses are 50mm and up.. not 50mm and below!