First Model Shoot - Please Give C+C

[Breaux]

Regarding using the sun:

When I did outdoor portraits, I got good results using the sun above and behind the subject, lighting the hair, and a flash set at 1-stop dimmer than the sun (slightly off-camera on a bracket). Expose for the flash, and let the sunny highlights on the hair be bright. If the background is in sunlight, it may be washed-out a little, but that isn't necessarily a problem for a portrait, particularly if the background is out-of-focus.

 

[rodnunley]

Wow. That edit does wonders with the picture. Maybe for now I should just hire someone to correct the photos that we select as the best.

No. Learn how to take images that look how you want. PP is not for turning bad photos into good ones. It's finishing or completing images that were good to start out.

Most of these images have a lot of trouble with overexposed backgrounds, underexposed subject, or just generally unpleasing lighting. Also, the first two have some unfortunate subject interaction with strong lines in the image. Strong lines will always act as leading lines, and you want to make them work for you, not against you. The human eye will almost always seek out faces/eyes first. But in the first two images, the eyes find the face, and then is immediately drawn to the strong upward left line which draws the eye right out of the image. Be careful of the way strong lines in you images interact with you subject and the way the control the flow of the image.

Like I said. I have a bunch more to learn and could for sure used someone to act as an assistant. So please give any tips you can.

What you need is someone that you can assist, not someone to assist you. I'm not trying to be harsh, but the problem with the majority of these images is clearly a lack of understanding about basic concepts like posing, lighting, exposure, composition, and subject interaction. And you're a beginner, so that's all fine. But neither an assistant nor photoshop will help any of those problems. What you need is more education and understanding. Assisting someone, preferably a pro, is one of the best ways to learn a lot of the things you're weak on.

Keep working on it!

Agreed completely. I meant I needed someone with more experience to learn from. I have actually talked to a photographer that I know about acting as an assistant for him on a shoot. This is a only hobby for me so a big part of the fun is getting out there and making mistakes and then learning from them. This was literally the very first time I had used any additional lighting equipment or a model. So part of the process (I knew) was going to be taking a lot of bad pictures so I could learn what mistakes I was going to make.

Working as an assistant with a photographer will be a great way to learn.

But I like taking pictures (even bad ones). One of the mistakes that I see people here doing far too often is telling people to learn before they shoot. Fundamentals are super important. And I am still (clearly) learning them. But if the only way I learned the fundamentals was to sit in a room and study I can tell you I wouldn't be interested in taking pictures.

I have the rest of my life to learn all this. And threads like this are a great example of what I'm talking about. If I came in and said ... "Hey guys, how do I take a good picture." I'd get a million different answers. But now I can post what I'm doing and learn directly from what I am doing what I need to work on. It's great.

Benson ... no offense is taken. I am a total beginner and looking for real feedback. That's what's going to help make me better at using the camera.

As an example. I think for the next time I go out I'm going to use no external lighting and only use the sun. Go out and work on using the available light. Focus on that and framing the picture to lead to the model and not the background.

Once I feel better about getting what's in the frame right I can go back and work on lighting what's in the frame with additional lighting.

Thanks again everyone for all the feedback. It's appreciated.

 

[AtuspidsGoddess]

Here is a little edit

#5 is actually the flash still too bright. You dont see detail on left arm and forehead

#6 you could have put the light with more angle (key light) so the shadow is not on the frame, then you could use another flash (on camera or off) with much less power (fill light). You wont see the fill light shadow because the key light will lit the shadow.

Love what you did with the shot here! Could you explain a bit about what you did as far as the skin goes?