First Day with my DSLR - Senior Pictures - C&C please!

[McCoy]

Hey everyone. My name's Chris and my wife has a D70s. Today, I finally decided to bite the bullet and get my own camera since I keep stealing hers everytime we go anywhere . I bought a Nikon D5100.

We used it today to take some pictures of my sister-in-law who is graduating from high-school. Some of these will be used for her senior pictures.

I would love any comments or critiques you have!


There are 10 photos and I haven't done any editing.

Let me know what you think!

 

[KevinPutman]

Love the 9th and 10th, (although they need work, I'll let someone more experienced than me tell you what though =p)
the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th need some adjustments to the brightness.

Is this your first time taking senior pics?

also,
might want to try posting less pictures,
you'll receive more feedback that way.

 

[McCoy]

Love the 9th and 10th, (although they need work, I'll let someone more experienced than me tell you what though =p)
the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th need some adjustments to the brightness.

Is this your first time taking senior pics?

also,
might want to try posting less pictures,
you'll receive more feedback that way.

Thanks for the feedback. I agree that some of them need work on the brightness, and I look forward to hearing from others how I can improve those like 9 and 10.

This is my first time taking senior pics, and I'm relatively new to photography at all. However, this is my second time taking pictures of Angela (we did prom pictures yesterday). I'm still learning how to use my camera.

What photo editing programs do you suggest? Right now all I have is picassa.

 

[Auriflanos]

Nice picture.. and Sister-in-law...

But, I really enjoyed the 9th and 10th... Nature is always good to have as abackground (my opinion).But I can't give you more technical suggestion, since I am also new on this world...
Will follow to heard what others can suggest to you and learn

Good luck!

 

[McCoy]

Nice picture.. and Sister-in-law...

But, I really enjoyed the 9th and 10th... Nature is always good to have as abackground (my opinion).But I can't give you more technical suggestion, since I am also new on this world...
Will follow to heard what others can suggest to you and learn

Good luck!

Thanks very much! She's a lot of fun to take pictures of. I told her she should think about becoming a model.

 

[Auriflanos]

Well, she is beautiful and have a sincere face! I think she could give a try!

 

[KevinPutman]

Well for your first senior picture shots, I'd say you did very well.

As for editing, I would suggest Photoshop (CS2 and up), Adobe Lightroom (Not sure which version, I've never used the product).
And if you can't afford either of the two, I would suggest Gimp (freeware), or even Adobe Elements 7.

 

[McCoy]

Well for your first senior picture shots, I'd say you did very well.

As for editing, I would suggest Photoshop (CS2 and up), Adobe Lightroom (Not sure which version, I've never used the product).
And if you can't afford either of the two, I would suggest Gimp (freeware), or even Adobe Elements 7.

Thanks, I had a lot of fun doing the shoot. We did it all in about 45 minutes. It was hilarious because she had 4 different outfits so would have to run off and hide somewhere to change. Then come back for like 4 pictures, then do it all over again.

I have used GIMP before so I'll probably try that until we can afford the Adobe products.

Thanks

 

[McCoy]

How's this for a quick edit on what I think was the picture that needed it the most.

 

[KevinPutman]

How's this for a quick edit on what I think was the picture that needed it the most.

To be technical, the sky is way overexposed, (it was in the first version as well, I just failed to point it out =p)
and the girl is slightly underexposed.

So try brightening her up a bit more,
same with most of the other pictures.

As for the massive over-exposure in the sky and various other places,
it's due to the fact you took the pictures when the sun was high in the sky.
I would suggest a Neutral Density filter, to help with that.

Also, with the sun being behind her, naturally she's going to be darker than the background, keep that in mind =p

 

[McCoy]

How's this for a quick edit on what I think was the picture that needed it the most.

To be technical, the sky is way overexposed, (it was in the first version as well, I just failed to point it out =p)
and the girl is slightly underexposed.

So try brightening her up a bit more,
same with most of the other pictures.

As for the massive over-exposure in the sky and various other places,
it's due to the fact you took the pictures when the sun was high in the sky.
I would suggest a Neutral Density filter, to help with that.

Also, with the sun being behind her, naturally she's going to be darker than the background, keep that in mind =p

I see what you mean now. Would shooting in HDR have made a difference for that photo. And is there any way to get good pictures shooting into the sun without overexposing/underexposing and without a neutral density filter? Or is that really the only way. I don't remember what my f-stop and shutter were for that pic, I may look it up and post it later.

 

[KevinPutman]

I no absolutely nothing about HDR, lol sorry! I'm a newbiee to all this as well.

You were at:
F 22
1/25
ISO 100


And as far as I know, and have tried, no. You can always try the lower aperture, and all that jazz, but there's no real promise it will help, as far as I know.

As for the ND filters,
I just purchased a 3 piece set for my camera,
only 11 bucks ^-^
I'm sure the seller would have similar sizes that would fit your camera as well if you were interested in buying.


Oh, also for the lighting on her when the suns behind her,
some reflectors placed in front of her should help out a bit.
I know nothing about them,
but reading around here, I'm sure they'd help =p

 

[enzodm]

I see what you mean now. Would shooting in HDR have made a difference for that photo. And is there any way to get good pictures shooting into the sun without overexposing/underexposing and without a neutral density filter? Or is that really the only way. I don't remember what my f-stop and shutter were for that pic, I may look it up and post it later.

You shot 1/25s, f/22. Too slow and too small aperture (but no other setting would have saved you against the sun).
ND is not the solution here, since it acts also on the subject. Fill-in flash is the way to do this kind of pictures. However this one and also the other against sun exhibit some problems due to shooting against sun (flare, glare, I never remember the right word in english, but both can be seen in both pictures). The other one also has a unpleasant composition, with her looking outside the frame.
While I know these are first attempts, I wish to point you a main issue you may want to take care of in the next attempts.
Many pictures are too centered and can be enhanced by some crop; look at rule of thirds and other composition rules (e.g., 10 Top Photography Composition Rules ). Since she has beautiful eyes, I would try to think at them as a subject and put them in one of the thirds, for example.
Anyway, having such a good subject willing to spend time in photo experiments will help you in learning .
Last: if you number pictures, is easier to comment on.

 

[RaynaMcGinnis]

are you using a flash unit of any type (other than the one attached to the camera)?

Because you were shooting into the sun on # 6, you're subject is going to be dark. A flash can help here but no guarantees.

I can't help but think a flash (or reflector) would have saved #'s 2 and 3. You can probably brighten them up enough to save them in photoshop or lightroom but you've lost a lot of detail. Her skin tone also seems off in these, I'm guessing from the bright sun.

In # 2, she also has a bush growing out of her head :-/

 

[KevinPutman]

In # 2, she also has a bush growing out of her head :-/

Nothing some bush-trimmers (or an axe) can't fix!