First portrait shoot

Unmanedpilot · May 4, 2009

Had a friend ask me if I could do some portraits for him, he wanted to do it as a gift for his mom for Mothers day.

so Ive never done it before but I though I would give it a try. We tried a few different poses but he decided on this one for the final print:

Comment? Criticism? All are welcome!

woojiebear · May 4, 2009

mom will love it!

SrBiscuit · May 4, 2009

nice pose and exposure, but his face looks rather OOF.

what was your focus point?

captainkimo · May 4, 2009

Nice job on the exposure.

But I agree with SrBiscuit. Your friend's face seems a little out of focus. In shooting portraits, you have to make sure that you focus on the face, specifically, the eyes of the subject.

Unmanedpilot · May 4, 2009

I'm fairly certain I had it focused on his face, but I have a fairly soft lens as it's only the kit lens. Then to add to that the conversion to a smaller image and the upload to photobucket has made the face even softer.

Thanks for the comments!

NateS · May 4, 2009

Doesn't look like missed focus as much as motion blur. I say this because I look at the scene and don't see anything that is very sharp/focused. Make sure you are holding the camera really steady.....and don't be so eager to blame the equipment...I've seen some absolutely amazing stuff on here with nothing more than a kit lens.

Other than focus/blur issues I think the lighting is really flat. If you are going to keep at this type of photography I'd suggest a strobe. Flash to the camera left would have really helped this shot.

cary · May 4, 2009

I was looking at the background thinking it looks like a park in my neighborhood. Well, I guess it is! I live in Mesa, AZ, too.

Unmanedpilot · May 5, 2009

NateS said:
Doesn't look like missed focus as much as motion blur. I say this because I look at the scene and don't see anything that is very sharp/focused. Make sure you are holding the camera really steady.....and don't be so eager to blame the equipment...I've seen some absolutely amazing stuff on here with nothing more than a kit lens.

Other than focus/blur issues I think the lighting is really flat. If you are going to keep at this type of photography I'd suggest a strobe. Flash to the camera left would have really helped this shot.

I doubt there's issue with motion blur, the shot was taken at 1/200 at a focal length of 38mm. The background was meant to be a bit blurred too. (f/5)

I suppose I should clarify and say that I don't just blame the lens (though the Canon 18-55 is pretty soft) but rather the combination of the lens and the upload to Photobucket. I did a side by side and the uploaded version is slightly blurred and has less contrast then the original, so I'm blaming most of the quality degrade on Photobucket

Once I'm off my college budget I may pick up a nice flash unit just in case another portrait opportunity pops up. I'm really more into landscapes but my friend asked me to do this and I figured why not

NateS · May 5, 2009

Unmanedpilot said:
I doubt there's issue with motion blur, the shot was taken at 1/200 at a focal length of 38mm. The background was meant to be a bit blurred too. (f/5)

I suppose I should clarify and say that I don't just blame the lens (though the Canon 18-55 is pretty soft) but rather the combination of the lens and the upload to Photobucket. I did a side by side and the uploaded version is slightly blurred and has less contrast then the original, so I'm blaming most of the quality degrade on Photobucket

Once I'm off my college budget I may pick up a nice flash unit just in case another portrait opportunity pops up. I'm really more into landscapes but my friend asked me to do this and I figured why not

Well it was something you did. The Canon Kit lens is no slouch and is not nearly as soft as what your picture shows. Are you maybe running a cheap UV filter on it? Whatever it is....it's not your equipment and not photobucket (I use photobucket a lot and never get stuff like above....I can post examples if needed).

Here's some examples off Flickr of the Canon 18-55 kit lens. Much, much sharper images than the one you posted.
on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Io on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

If you think those shots with the 18-55 kit lens are soft, you need glasses.

Example of photobucket

That is nowhere near as soft as your image shows either.

We are here trying to help you but you need to try and listen to the critiques and advice you are being given. One of 3 things happened here...

1. You missed focus
2. There is somehow motion blur (can happen at 1/200)
3. You have a cheap UV filter on the front of your lens

But it's not photobucket and it's not the kit lens as both of those produce great results if you have a great image.