First attempt at bridal portraits

[cherylynne1]

I've always wanted to try bridal portraits, and she needed to do a trial run for hair and make-up anyway, so it worked out well.

This is also my first real attempt with the Nikkor 105 2.5 and manual focusing. It definitely takes a little getting used to, and seemed to get more inaccurate with distance and when the light started fading. Is that normal? Any tips?

Comments and critiques are always welcome.

Thank you for looking!


DSC04342-2 by cherylynne1, on Flickr

DSC04389 by cherylynne1, on Flickr

DSC04413 by cherylynne1, on Flickr

 

[robbins.photo]

Ok, so I'll leave the actual c&c to the guys who normally shoot humans. Just curious though, for bridal shots how long does it take to Photoshop out the fangs and claws? Lol

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[cherylynne1]

Ok, so I'll leave the actual c&c to the guys who normally shoot humans. Just curious though, for bridal shots how long does it take to Photoshop out the fangs and claws? Lol

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Didn't you hear? There's an Instagram filter for that!

 

[tirediron]

For your first go, not bad at all! The lighting and posing is nicely done, 'though her expression comes off as a bit forced, I assume due to the stress and strife of being a bride to be. The third one I'm not such a fan of. Her expression, the extreme angle to which her head is turned and the fact that her eyes are forced all the way to one side really make me think she's annoyed and waiting for someone. The turned head is a nice look, but always try and position her sight line such that the iris isn't forced all the way over; ideally a bit of sclera on each side is preferable. I think too, I would have preferred her a bit to one side or the other of the tree given how close the tones in her hair are to the bark.

 

[cherylynne1]

For your first go, not bad at all! The lighting and posing is nicely done, 'though her expression comes off as a bit forced, I assume due to the stress and strife of being a bride to be. The third one I'm not such a fan of. Her expression, the extreme angle to which her head is turned and the fact that her eyes are forced all the way to one side really make me think she's annoyed and waiting for someone. The turned head is a nice look, but always try and position her sight line such that the iris isn't forced all the way over; ideally a bit of sclera on each side is preferable. I think too, I would have preferred her a bit to one side or the other of the tree given how close the tones in her hair are to the bark.

Thank you! Those were the exact things that I thought of while going through the pictures. I really struggled getting natural expressions from her...it wasn't until later that I thought that it might have been her shoes, and perhaps I should have had her sit more often. I agree on the eyes being too far to one side, but when I would try to get her to focus on something else her expression would just get bland. I liked the pose in that one, though, so I was hoping it didn't look as bad as I thought. I didn't think about the hair...something to remember for next time. I was wishing the whole time that I had a hair light, and that would also fix the problem, right?

Thank you so much for your feedback!

 

[tirediron]

I don't know that a hairlight would have helped a lot in this case; you have plenty of separation, it's just tonal similarity, and really, in the large version, it's not too bad.

 

[cherylynne1]

In that case, it's probably just a matter of a poor choice of location. I had a tiny window that I thought was perfect...one step to the right and I'd have been behind a giant tree, one step to the left and I'd be in the middle of a stream. As it was, I was balanced with my tripod on a boulder, and my "assistant's" (really just my teenage cousin) instructions were that if I topple over, save the camera. The park we were in has tons of photographers all the time (I saw an engagement session while I was there) and so I wanted a unique angle...but maybe there's a reason no one else was doing it!

 

[tirediron]

Don't sweat too much over it, that's a pretty minor nit-pick on my part.

 

[chuasam]

Why are you using Manual focus? They're horrid to use on a modern digital camera.
c&c. Leave more space around the bride or crop closer in. You're currently in the Luke warm in the middle zone. Work on the poses, don't bring the arm up like that, makes the limb look short and stumpy. Bride has a lazy eye, work the poses so that it isn't as obvious.

Watch for branches.

 

[cherylynne1]

Thank you for the critique, chuasam! I actually really love the lens, and between focus peaking and magnifying it doesn't seem too difficult in most situations, it's only the times that autofocus would also struggle that I have trouble. I was just wondering if there was something that I should be doing that I'm not.

I think I get what you're saying....I was trying to "fill the frame" while also getting her whole dress in, but I guess it put me at an awkward distance. Stepping back would also have given more of the surrounding foreground, which was the idea I was trying to include with the branches. I guess it didn't work, though.

I didn't think of it as stumpy, but I see now what you're saying. I'll have to revisit the poses I was copying and see what they did differently.

I never noticed the lazy eye...maybe that's the problem I was having with correcting where she was looking. How do you correct that with posing? Are there certain angles where the eyes would look correct? My very first portrait ever was of someone with a lazy eye, but back then I was still trying to figure out how to use the camera, so I never managed to fix it.

Thank you!

 

[chuasam]

I used to have the 105mm f/2.5. it is a great lens. Worked perfectly with my FE2.
If you manage to figure out how to solve lazy eye poses, let me know
My favourite lens for portraits is an 85mm on a fullframe.
Many photographers who shoot bridal often say to never raise the bride's hands above her waist.
You want her to elongate and look all elegant.

 

[robbins.photo]

Ok, so I'll leave the actual c&c to the guys who normally shoot humans. Just curious though, for bridal shots how long does it take to Photoshop out the fangs and claws? Lol

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Didn't you hear? There's an Instagram filter for that!

BRILLIANT! Lol

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[vintagesnaps]

To me it doesn't necessarily look like lazy eye; I've worked with kids so have seen that condition and done visual tracking as part of an assessment - but she isn't looking straight on to tell. I think it's the angle - she's looking way too far over. And with wearing eyeliner on the outer edges of the eyelids not the inner, in the first one there's a darker line surrounding the outer eyelid of her left eye. The sunlight is catching the white part of her inner right eye and that outer eyelid is in shade.

You probably need to learn how to get subjects to look where you need them to look, and/or adjust your vantage point. It might be worth taking a class on studio portraits to learn it because there seem to be too many videos that don't seem to be teaching good techniques.

I learned to go for a 'clean' composition, so would try to keep those ends of branches from sticking into the side of the photos. It can work to frame the subject with branches like the bottom photo but I'm not sure I love it here, maybe it obscures a little too much of the dress.

In the second one she looks lovely, but I'd make sure to be checking the hair every time a female subject moves/changes poses. There's a strand/hank of hair along the back of her neck that probably should have been brought to one side or the other. And if her hair's fine I wonder if a slight spritz of hair mist/spray might have come in handy to control some of the fine wispy hairs.

I focus manually all the time (just about!) but I think it's a matter of doing what works.

 

[cherylynne1]

Thank you, vintagesnaps! I've been thinking about taking some classes, I'll need to look into it. So many of them seem to be done by people who can't break into the market be selling their pictures, so instead they just scam other photographers. I've been studying the Roberto Valenzuela books, but it looks like maybe I need to go through them again.

I'm personally drawn to photos with interesting foreground elements, but maybe I need to learn how to get good "clean" compositions first. Learn the rules before you break them, right?

And her hair, yes...incredibly difficult. I had to do a ton of cloning to take care of flyaways. I didn't notice the strand on her back, but you're completely right, I should have moved it.

It all goes back to practice, practice, practice...hopefully soon the technical aspects will become so second nature that I'll be able to completely focus on these little details that make or break a photo.

Thank you again!!

 

[chuasam]

The feel is very evocative of the 90s. It has a static pose to it.
The current trend is to capture an emotion in the image. There's a certain fluidity that many good wedding photographers capture. High eye fluid images.

My friend KC is an amazing wedding photographer. Here is his site welcome to feelm
another friend has done really well in Vancouver with a different style Vancouver Wedding Photographer / Vasia Photography
Pre Wedding Photography Singapore | Best Wedding Photographers | Tips | Singapore Wedding Photographer here are some of the best out there

See what I mean about this lightness of spirit?
Your attempt isn't bad. Many of the photographers here still shoot like that. However, it's about as exciting as the stewed prunes (many of them eat).
If you think big hair, ripped denim, hypercolor tshirts are all the rage, then maybe those photos would work.
But if you can push yourself and really let go, you can really create images that people can't stop looking at.