First Photoshoot

[DrumsOfGrohl]

This was my first photo shoot. The model was a friend of mine, and we just wanted to add some photos to our portfolios.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

#1
Sarah_03-04-2016_(75of540).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#2
untitled_03-04-2016_(84of540).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#3
Sarah_03-04-2016_(58of540).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#4
Sarah_03-04-2016_(123of532).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#5
Sarah_03-04-2016_(94of152).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#6
Sarah_03-04-2016_(39of540).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#7
Sarah_03-04-2016_(137of532).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#8
Sarah_03-04-2016_(145of532).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#9
Sarah_03-04-2016_(305of532).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#10
Sarah_03-04-2016_(44of540).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

 

[tirediron]

Far too many for which to provide individual critique, however in general not bad at all. Too issues jump out however: There are some wildly varying white balances and almost all would have benefitted from at least some fill light.

 

[DrumsOfGrohl]

Far too many for which to provide individual critique, however in general not bad at all. Too issues jump out however: There are some wildly varying white balances and almost all would have benefitted from at least some fill light.

Thanks. I'm not particularly concerned with any one specific image, just the general direction.

In a set like this, does the white balance need to be the same in all the photos? Also, the sun kept playing peak-a-boo with the clouds the whole time, so the light did keep changing. We were shooting in different areas (of the same park), so maybe I could have at least made sure the white balance stayed consistent at each location?

I have not had the chance to purchase a flash, so I'm stuck with my on-camera flash. Still better to use that than nothing?

 

[tirediron]

The WB should be correct in all of them; whites should always be white. If you look at #7, she is very, very blue. As far as lighting; a piece of white foam-core makes a great reflector for getting that little extra bit of light into the subject's eyes; much better than any on-camera flash.

 

[DGMPhotography]

I'd say in-general, not bad for your first shoot. Definitely has a better art direction than my first shoot. Love the fashion choice - it's simple. And your model is lovely.

I'd agree with John that you need some lighting. You don't necessarily need a flash though. A reflector can work wonders. This is the one I have - works great, and cheaper than flashes. Though at some point it'd probably be worth your while to get some off-camera flashes. Yongnuos are cheap and very effective and it's what I've been using for the last 3 years. You probably don't want to use your on-camera flash. Basically all that's good for is if you see a flying saucer and absolutely need some light to capture the moment. Though in some circumstances it may work in a cinch. Once when my external flash ran out of batteries I used my pop up flash, but put my hand in front of it to direct the light upwards to bounce off the ceiling (which wouldn't really work outside). You could also get an on-camera flash diffuser, but they're really not that great.

As for white balance, I think to some degree it's a creative choice, but it's good practice to make sure it's balanced.

I'm curious what your set up was. What did you use, gear-wise, for this shoot?

 

[DrumsOfGrohl]

The WB should be correct in all of them; whites should always be white. If you look at #7, she is very, very blue. As far as lighting; a piece of white foam-core makes a great reflector for getting that little extra bit of light into the subject's eyes; much better than any on-camera flash.

I've never used foam core. I'll have to figure out how to hold that (or a reflector, for that matter) in one hand while I shoot with the other, I guess.

For the WB in #7, I was attempting to make it seem a little colder, considering the fact that she was posing with fur, but obviously I may have overdone that. Noted.

I'd say in-general, not bad for your first shoot. Definitely has a better art direction than my first shoot. Love the fashion choice - it's simple. And your model is lovely.

Thanks. I'll make sure to pass that compliment along.

As for white balance, I think to some degree it's a creative choice, but it's good practice to make sure it's balanced.

Maybe for now, as I learn a little more, I'll try to aim for accuracy rather than creativity, before I get too carried away.

I'm curious what your set up was. What did you use, gear-wise, for this shoot?

All I used for this shoot was my canon rebel T5 and a 50mm 1.8 prime. She made all the fashion choices. I picked the park.

 

[otherprof]

This was my first photo shoot. The model was a friend of mine, and we just wanted to add some photos to our portfolios.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

#1
Sarah_03-04-2016_(75of540).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#2
untitled_03-04-2016_(84of540).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#3
Sarah_03-04-2016_(58of540).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#4
Sarah_03-04-2016_(123of532).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#5
Sarah_03-04-2016_(94of152).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#6
Sarah_03-04-2016_(39of540).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#7
Sarah_03-04-2016_(137of532).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#8
Sarah_03-04-2016_(145of532).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#9
Sarah_03-04-2016_(305of532).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

#10
Sarah_03-04-2016_(44of540).jpg by Mike Rothschild, on Flickr

I agree with Tirediron. If you were going for "sexy/attractive" some of them are just too cold for my taste. Also, I think you've lost too much in the blown highlights in her lovely hair in #3.

 

[DrumsOfGrohl]

I agree with Tirediron. If you were going for "sexy/attractive" some of them are just too cold for my taste. Also, I think you've lost too much in the blown highlights in her lovely hair in #3.

Didn't even notice that. I guess I was trying too hard to make sure her face wasn't too dark.

 

[DGMPhotography]

OP, I commend you for taking criticism positively. So many others get defensive and it puts up a road block to improvement. With your attitude, and provided you keep shooting and learning, you will become a great photographer.

 

[DrumsOfGrohl]

OP, I commend you for taking criticism positively. So many others get defensive and it puts up a road block to improvement. With your attitude, and provided you keep shooting and learning, you will become a great photographer.

Thanks. I'm not trying to post my pictures here so that people will like them, I'm simply trying to learn.

I'm constantly faced with the feeling that I have no idea what I'm doing, so having people tell me that I need to fix X or work on X technique not only gives me a direction to head, but also lets me know I'm doing some things decently.

 

[DGMPhotography]

Yep. Just keep posting more and more pictures and ask for C&C. Ask friends to shoot with you. Ask random people. Use Model Mayhem, etc.

 

[MichaelHenson]

I agree with the previous posts regarding white balance and extremes in lighting. If you aren't ready to make the switch to off camera flash, just pay attention to highlights and shadows and don't be afraid to move around to get the lighting you need.

Also, take some time to either search for threads on posing or find some posing resources to check out. YouTube, CreativeLive, SLR Lounge, etc. Posing (just like every other area of photography) is one of those endless topics that you will never "know all there is to know." Some of the poses that you posted don't "make sense" or could be tweaked to improve them.

Thanks for posting! Keep shooting and improving!

 

[vintagesnaps]

My thought was that it looks like you need to get in more practice and learn how to get proper exposures/WB - these seem inconsistent. Maybe that's why you have a feeling that you have no idea what you're doing - you're still learning how to get proper exposures consistently. Get out with your camera and practice and learn how to do that.

If you want to learn portrait photography consider taking a class. In some of these she looks nice, but in some the pose is awkward (#1, 2, 8), the hair needed to be arranged (#8 in particular), her arms are cropped off (#9), etc.

If she wants to be photographed in all black (or whatever is being requested) then it's up to the photographer to figure out how to make that work. The pants depending on the light show all kinds of creases that are more noticeable with the shadows. With her fair skin, when she has her hands on the jacket it creates light and dark shapes that break up the composition (look at it as shapes instead of as a person for a minute, see the shapes of light [skin/hands, hair] against the black? it would be better to have lines and shapes that flow smoothly instead of making the picture look choppy).

To me these indicate a need to get in more practice and learning before putting a portfolio together.

 

[DrumsOfGrohl]

My thought was that it looks like you need to get in more practice and learn how to get proper exposures/WB - these seem inconsistent. Maybe that's why you have a feeling that you have no idea what you're doing - you're still learning how to get proper exposures consistently. Get out with your camera and practice and learn how to do that.

If you want to learn portrait photography consider taking a class. In some of these she looks nice, but in some the pose is awkward (#1, 2, 8), the hair needed to be arranged (#8 in particular), her arms are cropped off (#9), etc.

If she wants to be photographed in all black (or whatever is being requested) then it's up to the photographer to figure out how to make that work. The pants depending on the light show all kinds of creases that are more noticeable with the shadows. With her fair skin, when she has her hands on the jacket it creates light and dark shapes that break up the composition (look at it as shapes instead of as a person for a minute, see the shapes of light [skin/hands, hair] against the black? it would be better to have lines and shapes that flow smoothly instead of making the picture look choppy).

To me these indicate a need to get in more practice and learning before putting a portfolio together.

Lol for sure I need more practice. This was my way of practicing. I've only picked up my first camera 3 months ago. I'm not REALLY looking to put together a portfolio, but if a shot happens to turn out decent....

I think eventually I would like to take a class, but this was really the first time I've shot a person, and I'm still deciding which aspects of photography speak to me most.

I haven't done ANY research on poses (unless looking at photos on 500px counts ), so that's something I'm definitely gonna have to learn. I'm only barely at the point that I notice that her hair might look strange (#8), and I definitely don't know what to do to fix it (yet).

As far as the creases in the black pants, is it that they are TOO noticeable because of the shadows, or should there not be ANY creases? I'm not exactly sure what the issue is...

Lastly, the compositional issues with the jacket and hands is not something I even considered, and I can easily see that now that you've pointed it out to me. There's the light sky, then dark shadows on her hair and face, then light on her upper chest, then black top, then light hand and stomach, and then black pants. Its the opposite of "lines and shapes that flow smoothly." I'll be paying more attention to that in the future, so thanks.

 

[vintagesnaps]

3 months?? well for Pete's sake go learn how to use the camera first! lol then maybe portraits... Think about other hobbies, usually you learn how to use the tools and start with rather simple basic projects then work up from there.

To me the ones where the black looks blackest seem to minimize the lines/creases; where the sun was hitting it creating shadows it make the lines more noticeable. So if she wanted photos in black pants in that fit and fabric you'd need to figure out how to minimize having so many creases, to me that breaks her up horizontally (having some creases may give the look of leather so she may want some of that but too many could be too much of a good thing). That's just my thought on it, other opinions may vary.

I think learning exposure would be a good way to go. And I don't know if looking at much of anything on 500px will be much help, try looking up well known photographers to see what good photos look like. Keep practicing and learning however you can.