First attempt and photography...C&C

[USMC]

So, my girlfriend went and met a photographer a few weeks ago for her very first photo shoot. After seeing the pictures this photographer took and of course seeing how much it cost for us to keep only 7 of the pictures, I decided that it didn't look all that difficult and that I would give it a shot. We walked down to the water and I played with the camera until I figured out how to take a photo with a blurry background. Here are a few of the pictures that we took. It seems to me that we might have taken them at the wrong part of the day because of the shadow on her face. Other than that, can anyone give me some pointers or ideas on how to take some good photos with her. Maybe poses, or different backgrounds, camera settings, etc... I know many of the people here have a good eye for this sort of thing, being my first time I just don't know what to look for..... :cheers:

 

[Steph]

First I would suggest a different background. IMHO the industrial background does not suit the subject very well. Also, I would try to make sure that the horizon is horizontal. I would also try to avoid cutting limbs. On pictures 1 and 4 her right elbow is out of the frame and that disturbs me.

To avoid the deep shadows on her face you could shoot at a different time of day (as you mentioned) or use a reflector or flash to fill in those shadows.

That's my $0.02. I am by no means a portrait expert, but that is what came to mind when I look at your pictures

 

[El2]

I agree about the different background. That air stack is very distracting, leads my eyes to it every time.

 

[USMC]

First I would suggest a different background. IMHO the industrial background does not suit the subject very well. Also, I would try to make sure that the horizon is horizontal. I would also try to avoid cutting limbs. On pictures 1 and 4 her right elbow is out of the frame and that disturbs me.

To avoid the deep shadows on her face you could shoot at a different time of day (as you mentioned) or use a reflector or flash to fill in those shadows.

That's my $0.02. I am by no means a portrait expert, but that is what came to mind when I look at your pictures

Thanks for the advice, I noticed the background was not the greatest once we took the photos....lol. There are many really pretty parts of the harbor, we will try to find a better back ground next time. :mrgreen:

 

[christm]

IMO all of the background are tool busy. Its a distraction.

Try different times of the day, explore, play around and see what you get

 

[Thru_These_Eyes]

A couple closeups would look lovely with the color of her eyes I think...the last one would have been perfect for a closeup IMO because her hands at her face would have added a cool and unique dimension, maybe? The background is definitely distracting but that water is a gorgeous color so i would definitely use that again. I think she's beautiful and the pics are very nice aside from the problems mentioned. Having someone photogenic like that always makes portraits a teensy bit easier =)

 

[Braomius]

I agree about the different background. That air stack is very distracting, leads my eyes to it every time.

same for me every picture for some reason I'd look at that stack first even though your lady is very pretty

 

[gsgary]

Definately use a different background, but try it again when it is overcast you will have nice defussed light with less shadow, never shoot portraits with the sun high, try shooting into the sun also

 

[SlimPaul]

If I were you, and had the whole day to myself, I'd wait for the sky to turn dark blue/purple. This would add some atmosphere to the photo. Also, as Steph mentioned before, you could use a flash.
Let me ask you, is your girl German?

 

[USMC]

A couple closeups would look lovely with the color of her eyes I think...the last one would have been perfect for a closeup IMO because her hands at her face would have added a cool and unique dimension, maybe? The background is definitely distracting but that water is a gorgeous color so i would definitely use that again. I think she's beautiful and the pics are very nice aside from the problems mentioned. Having someone photogenic like that always makes portraits a teensy bit easier =)

There were some sailboats and other junk around so we tried some pictures with that in the background but it still looks like the shadows on her face are making the picture look funny. The water was really nice! I tried to get some with the water only in the background.... here are a few of them.

 

[USMC]

If I were you, and had the whole day to myself, I'd wait for the sky to turn dark blue/purple. This would add some atmosphere to the photo. Also, as Steph mentioned before, you could use a flash.
Let me ask you, is your girl German?

Of course she is! She is the reason I moved from California to Germany!!
So, when you say use a flash.... does that mean shoot into the sun? Shooting into the sun sounds difficult to me. Would I have to have the camera on a special setting to shoot into the sun?? Thanks!

 

[Lyncca]

Besides the previously mentioned items, what lens are you using? Something with a fast lens is going to have the capability to blur your backgrounds a lot more. A 50mm f1.8 is a great investment, and it makes a very sharp portrait

 

[fightin14]

If you must cut limbs dont cut them at joints especially main ones that define shape like the elbow.

 

[USMC]

Besides the previously mentioned items, what lens are you using? Something with a fast lens is going to have the capability to blur your backgrounds a lot more. A 50mm f1.8 is a great investment, and it makes a very sharp portrait

I guess this is where I'm completely lost... I'm not sure what those things are that you mentioned for the lens. It's an Olympus and on the lens it reads:
4.6 - 92mm 1: 2.8 - 4.5
Is that any help at all? To blur the background on the pics above I just selected the portrait mode and zoomed in until the background was blurry. I'm sure if I manually selected the settings I could get better results, I'm just not sure what to select.....

 

[USMC]

If you must cut limbs dont cut them at joints especially main ones that define shape like the elbow.

Thanks for the pointer. I didn't need to cut the limbs out...I guess I didn't even notice it until someone mentioned it. This was helpful, thank you!