C and C please

[Nahin]

Firstly all image may captured from long distance. SO that it's not clear or girl is too tiny with her size. But not bad looking.
* In 1 & 2 Hair style isn't good enough. First one is perfect but in second one, pose awkward.
* Like third one, that's pretty cool !!!

 

[DGMPhotography]

These are a few that I took this weekend of a beautiful girl I met on MM. Please let me know what you think.

Lucky! Someone actually responded to you on MM... I can never seem to get such luck! Anyway, good start. Definitely use flash. I'm probably only a few steps ahead of you, having done shots like yours only a few shoots ago, but I've learned to use shade to my advantage and to better control lighting, and direct my model. It just takes time. You start off mentioning something like a loose hair, and next thing you know you're telling her where to put what and what angle her hip should be. It all rather fun once you get used to, and comfortablr with it! You've certainly got the right equipment (I wish I did...), so use it! Look forward to seeing more from you!

 

[Photographiend]

C&C per req:

Images are often degraded in the reduction process; what may started out as a 15 or 20 Mb RAW file is now a <250Kb .jpg; LOTS of data loss and quality reduction.

1. The whole image seems soft; I can't pull any EXIF data, so I'm not sure of the casue, but I can't find a point of sharp focus.

2. Her pose seems very awkward and fill light is desparately needed; if you're not kitted out for off-camera flash work yet, consider reflectors; even a big piece of white posterboard would have helped a lot here.

3. Not bad; I'd crop away a bunch of the left side to make her more prominent in the shot and again, the time of day was not your friend. Her face is shadowed and her skirt blown. A reflector or OCF would have helped a lot here.

Overall, not too bad; some exposure issues and posing & directing a model is not a skill learned overnight, but you're on your way. Hope to see more.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

Thank you for the tips. I actually have a sb700 and right before the shoot I purchased a piece of white poster board and didnt use either. Out of 100+ photos that I took I only liked about 12 of them. I used the view finder for the first time on this shoot and found that I missed focus on a lot of them. Is that common?

I haven't read the whole thread yet so I don't know if anyone has already answered this but when you first start manual focusing yes you will miss the focus a lot. It is a skill and you will fine tune it as you go. Occasionally you will still miss your focus but the margin you missed it by will become less and less as you learn to pay closer attention to the point you want to hit the precision focus on in the shot.

 

[tirediron]

C&C per req:

Images are often degraded in the reduction process; what may started out as a 15 or 20 Mb RAW file is now a <250Kb .jpg; LOTS of data loss and quality reduction.

1. The whole image seems soft; I can't pull any EXIF data, so I'm not sure of the casue, but I can't find a point of sharp focus.

2. Her pose seems very awkward and fill light is desparately needed; if you're not kitted out for off-camera flash work yet, consider reflectors; even a big piece of white posterboard would have helped a lot here.

3. Not bad; I'd crop away a bunch of the left side to make her more prominent in the shot and again, the time of day was not your friend. Her face is shadowed and her skirt blown. A reflector or OCF would have helped a lot here.

Overall, not too bad; some exposure issues and posing & directing a model is not a skill learned overnight, but you're on your way. Hope to see more.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

Thank you for the tips. I actually have a sb700 and right before the shoot I purchased a piece of white poster board and didnt use either. Out of 100+ photos that I took I only liked about 12 of them. I used the view finder for the first time on this shoot and found that I missed focus on a lot of them. Is that common?

I haven't read the whole thread yet so I don't know if anyone has already answered this but when you first start manual focusing yes you will miss the focus a lot. It is a skill and you will fine tune it as you go. Occasionally you will still miss your focus but the margin you missed it by will become less and less as you learn to pay closer attention to the point you want to hit the precision focus on in the shot.

Just to be clear, my understanding was that the OP was referring to using the camera in AF but composing via the rear LCD rather than with the pentaprism viewfinder. It's not uncommon to miss focus, no, but it's also very simple to get right. Almost always when shooting people & portraits, the eyes are the critical element. Therefore, choose single point AF and place that point over/between the eyes. DO NOT use focus and recompose, especially when shooting with larger apertures, longer focal lengths or short camera-to-subject distances; you're more likely than not to go wrong! Manual focus using the focusing ring on the lens barrel is not something I recommend unless you need to do it that (an older, MF lens) since todays cameras are NOT designed for manual focus. They lack the split-prism style focusing screen of their older film brethern and it can be difficult, especially with a pentamirror viewfinder and slow lens to get enough light to ensure critical focus.

 

[frommrstomommy]

Chiming in just to say I feel much better reading these keeper ratios. Lol I have certainly always kind of wondered that but never thought to look into it.

 

[ktan7]

The biggest problem I see is the sunlight casting shadows on her face.

 

[Photographiend]

Thank you for the tips. I actually have a sb700 and right before the shoot I purchased a piece of white poster board and didnt use either. Out of 100+ photos that I took I only liked about 12 of them. I used the view finder for the first time on this shoot and found that I missed focus on a lot of them. Is that common?

I haven't read the whole thread yet so I don't know if anyone has already answered this but when you first start manual focusing yes you will miss the focus a lot. It is a skill and you will fine tune it as you go. Occasionally you will still miss your focus but the margin you missed it by will become less and less as you learn to pay closer attention to the point you want to hit the precision focus on in the shot.

Just to be clear, my understanding was that the OP was referring to using the camera in AF but composing via the rear LCD rather than with the pentaprism viewfinder. It's not uncommon to miss focus, no, but it's also very simple to get right. Almost always when shooting people & portraits, the eyes are the critical element. Therefore, choose single point AF and place that point over/between the eyes. DO NOT use focus and recompose, especially when shooting with larger apertures, longer focal lengths or short camera-to-subject distances; you're more likely than not to go wrong! Manual focus using the focusing ring on the lens barrel is not something I recommend unless you need to do it that (an older, MF lens) since todays cameras are NOT designed for manual focus. They lack the split-prism style focusing screen of their older film brethern and it can be difficult, especially with a pentamirror viewfinder and slow lens to get enough light to ensure critical focus.

Thanks. It is possibly I misread what was posted sometimes I read fast with my brain only in first gear. It happens. That said, my cam can't AF for anything so I don't bother with it anymore. I think I do alright manually. The last time I used a Film SLR it didn't have a screen just a viewfinder so it isn't too different from what I recall. Unless I misunderstood that bit too. Which is also entirely possible.

 

[Nahin]

The biggest problem I see is the sunlight casting shadows on her face.

Oh yeah that's also the problem. In second one she is embarrassed also.