First Model Shoot C&C welcome

cory1848

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Been reading a lot on the strobist blog and planetneil, learning everything that I can about lighting and such. This past Sunday night I had my first chance to test everything out. Went shooting with my friend, Katanapilot, Found a model that was looking to try modeling and asked her if she wanted to give it a go. Explained to her that we were new at this as well so I think that eased the expectations a bit. It was easy to see that she was really nervous and a little self conscience but I think she did really well. There were some rookie mistakes that I made like forgetting I could adjust the ISO...(I was nervous too). Definitely need help with posing as that was really strange to me. All in all I think we got some good workable results. I did a quick PP to these but before I dig into the more extension processing, I wanted to get some feedback from everyone here. Using my 30D, 430EX on bracket with homemade stofen type diffuser, 45" white umbrella with old Vivitar 2800-D flash wireless triggered. EXIF data for all images should be intact.

Full gallery can be viewed here: http://www.fixedfocus.us/images/kaela/

Thanks...

1.
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2.
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3.
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4.
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5.
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6.
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7.
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8.
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I'm not too experienced with ports so I'm sure others will be able to provide more detailed feedback but for what it's worth...

In general I think the pics look pretty good. The only things that really stand out to me as areas to improve are not cutting of some of her body if it can be helped (pics 4 and 5) and I think pic 5 could be improved with a shallower depth of field but that's easily corrected in PP. You also mentioned she was new to this as well but in some of the pics it looks like you were below her eye-line and she tilted her head down towards you. That's probably something to avoid or at least be aware of just so it doesn't create a double-chin.

I definitely think they look good though, especially when you consider it's your first attempt. 8 is probably my fav.

It also looks like she relaxed a bit through the series assuming they're in chronological order.
 
Very good. The model definitely doesn't look at ease, but that comes with experience. In addition to what rmh has already pointed out, I'll add that you have a couple (4, 5, 7) where the highlights on the face are a little brighter than I would like. Also, be careful of distracting elements like the fountain in the background of 1 and 2. Despite being softly focused, it really grabs the eye. Cutting limbs is one thing, but bisecting on the longitudal axis.. that's very bad. Really, really try and avoid that.
 
1&2 have the background looking a bit too dark. Bumping the shutter speed down a notch would have increased the ambient and not the strobe exposure and might have created a better over all picture. The back ground would have still been dark, but not too dark.

3&4 - Poses suck, but that's not what you're working on here, it looks like. You'll learn to be a director with experience. 3 is the worst of the two. She's melting into the background. Some times it's necessary to create seperation between the subject and the background. Unless that was the intended effect you were going for, but even then I don't think it works here. A good solution is a flash with a remote trigger on a stand being held up by an assistant and firing at it's widest setting from behind the subject. It would have created a rim light that would have helped seperate her from the water. Just make sure it's on tight. Loosing a flash in the water would suck.

5&6 aren't bad. The face is a little shiny.

7 has the main flash firing right at her. It makes the lighting flat and doesn't create any type of mode. Plus shooting from down below is giving your model a double chin.

8 has the legs more exposed than the face. If you're not going for a specialy shot or effect, the other was around is usually best.

Check out www.lighting-essentials.com for another great blog. Don Gianniti is the man and if he ever does a workshop by your city, Shelling out the $300 some dollars is so worth it. I've seen some people I know improve 100% after shooting with him.
 
I cant critique your photos, but 5 is a great shot. Aside from her fingers and legs getting cut off, I think its a great shot! The best one IMO...

I really dont think the fountains in 1 & 2 are a distraction, but I trust the judgement of tirediron...

Nice shots. Good luck!
 

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