First ever C&C request!

[h82]

Hi all,

Joined the forum a couple of days ago looking for tips for my first ever 'shoot' for a friend. Lots of help so thank you, here are a few of the pics, first rough edit so not quite finalised but thought I'd get your views before I keep going.

BRIEF:
Brief was in two parts, Brief one - pics for grandparents for christmas, in more traditional style.

Brief two - the little boy wanted some "funky cool shots of me for my room" which are the skateboarding pics. Hence the clear over editing to "funk" them up for him!!

Light was terrible really overcast with ocassional break in clouds, struggled working with it but otherwise seemed ok. Since going through all the pics have lods of should have done........ thoughts but hey all learning.

First attempt so please remember I'm a newbie though all will take on board all C&C!

OK Brief one pics:


final by lilH_82, on Flickr


Mum by lilH_82, on Flickr


Autumn by lilH_82, on Flickr







Brief two pics:


Considering by lilH_82, on Flickr


Skate Profile by lilH_82, on Flickr


skater by lilH_82, on Flickr


Thank you all for even looking at them!

H

 

[cpeay]

Nice series

 

[marmots]

overcast skies are actually good for many situations

with just a little pp you can give it a lot more depth

i just played with the curves, and saturation to make it look a lot better

the only complication was the bags under his eyes, for that i just copied the layer, masked out everything, but the eyes, and played around with curves and saturation until it looked better

 

[Starskream666]

I shoot alot of skate picture/ extreme sports so i'd be more entitled to give C&C on those i guess haha.
#1 is that a fish eye or did you just add that effect? not sure what the need for it is, if it is a fisheys then you should of got alot closer to him and maybe had him hold his board up.
#2 Nice shot i like the lighting and exposure seems good, not much action going on.
#3 Always make sure the skateboard is in the frame and the ground beneath him, unless you are getting a shot of someone in the air that would be the only time i think that you could get away with not showing the ground or the board.

 

[KmH]

Use portrait mode mostly when you shoot people. Don't copy all the other amateurs out there all making the same mistake of using the horizontal format to often for shooting people shots.

Ue careful your subjects don't have dark eye sockets (racoon eyes) like the first 2. The cure for that is supplimental lighting, either reflected or strobed.

Keep it down to only posting 1 or 2 at the most if you want detailed C&C.

+1 is composed in a less than dynamic way. It's to centered, and it's underexposed. The dark areas under his eye are somewhat distracting and the focus is a bit soft from using your 50 mm lens wide open at f/1.8. That lens wil be sharpest from about f/4 to f/11. Most prime lenses need to be stopped down 2 or more stops for tack sharp focus.

Poses that have the shoulders square, or perpendicular to the camera also lack dynamism.

 

[photo guy]

I like #3 the best. Perfect lighting, nice fall colors, nice comp. #1 has a little to much lighting in my opinion. Good work though for starting out. I agree no one can learn it overnight. I have been more into in for three years now since becoming a Fire Photographer and now wanting to branch out into other areas.