First Attempt

[Neophyte Photographer]

I've been shooting for quite some time, but recently I figured I'd try my hand at progressing my skills with regards to portraiture. With this shoot I was mainly working on lighting, but please comment and critique everything else as well.

Thanks,

Mike

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

This shoot was done in my basement at 3 am about a month ago. The background is just a black sheet of fabric. The lighting consists of 3 small lamps, and 1 desk light. I did use my flash, and it was mounted to the camera facing backwards, up, and to the right. Yes the images are of me, noone else is around at 3am in my house. Hahaha

 

[Neophyte Photographer]

So good that they left everyone speechless...I have outdone myself...

 

[Early]

So good that they left everyone speechless...I have outdone myself...

Not quite! I think you need another light in back of the model to get some separation between him and the background. Also, the eyes are too soft. Poor focus?

 

[Neophyte Photographer]

Not quite! I think you need another light in back of the model to get some separation between him and the background. Also, the eyes are too soft. Poor focus?

Figured as much, haha.

Thanks for the tips. It was really hard to get the focus even as close as I did. These are self portraits, and I was the only one awake(3 am) so I was trying to place an object as close as i could to where I predicted my head to be. I actually wanted to place a light behind me, on the ground, facing up, but I ran out of usable lamps.

Thanks again!