First portrait

[Yantropov]

Here is a first attempt with portraiture. Comments are welcome.

ISO 100 35mm F/2.0 Manual mode (1/8000 exposure)

 

[Edsport]

She's underexposed...

 

[IByte]

Definitely in need of a reflector, I'm still green under the gills with portraiture myself. While not set on stone, try using the vertical frame that way you can see most if not all of your subjectvand reduce disctracting backgrounds. Good camera keep practicing.

 

[Jaemie]

Yes - underexposed.

 

[Mach0]

I would flip to portrait mode next time and use a reflector or flash. I can't tell how far it's off on my phone but you can try to selectively raise the exposure on her In post production.

 

[tirediron]

There's a lot more here than simply an under-exposed subject. This isn't so much a portrait as an out-of-focus landscape shot with a person in the middle. The first "rule" of portraiture is that the image should be of the person, with minimal background distractions.

The first thing I would suggest is to consider the portrait (vertical) aspect when shooting a portrait. The next is move in on the subject. Way, way in. A little background is nice if it adds to the scene, but too much and it is no longer a portrait. Then, we move on to lighting. By the look of the light/shadow here you picked about the worst time of the day to shoot. No big deal, sometimes you have to shoot in adverse conditions. There are two choices; either spot-meter the subject for a correct exposure and blow out the background, or meter for the background and add fill-light to correctly expose the subject. Of the two, the latter is generally the better way to go.

My preferred method here would be to use a single speedlight on manual, with a diffuser, high and about 15-20 deg camera right. A large reflector 45 deg. subject left would have worked as well.

When composing, avoid things like the cropped wrist. Either a bit above or below (best choice) would be better.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

 

[DiskoJoe]

ISO 100 35mm F/2.0 Manual mode (1/8000 exposure)

This is your problem here. She is not a race car so you do not need to use the absolute fastest shutter speed. This is what caused your exposure to be so dark. 1/200 would have probably been fine. And you cropped the photo poorly. Try to not clip hands.

 

[tirediron]

ISO 100 35mm F/2.0 Manual mode (1/8000 exposure)

This is your problem here. She is not a race car so you do not need to use the absolute fastest shutter speed. This is what caused your exposure to be so dark. 1/200 would have probably been fine...

I'm not sure I follow your reasoning Joe; the main part of the image is reasonably well exposed. The problem, IMO, is that the photograph was taken with the sun high in the sky and slightly behind the subject (note the location of the specular highlights on her right shoulder and top of her head) creating a harsh shadow on her face. Had he metered for the subject, the background would have been blown.

 

[pickle788]

Need a reflector or fill flash to get her more exposed

 

[Trever1t]

I like geographic portraits but agree on 2 counts here, she's not the clear subject, she's too low in the frame, cut-off at an uncomfortable place, too much big sky for no reason. The reason for the high shutter speed Joe was the amount of light hitting the sensor with such a wide aperture I might have shot this same scene with her much larger in the frame, at a smaller aperture and used fill-flash.

 

[Vtec44]

Had he metered for the subject, the background would have been blown.

Given the choice w/o supplemental lighting, I'd meter for the face and blow out the background, but probably with a tighter crop. You can also use the Zone System to get a more a more neutral exposure and bring up the shadow in post. That's just me though Either way, high contrasting scene like this is tough w/o additional lighting.

 

[Yantropov]

Thank you very much for the input guys! I knew that the picture was under exposed but I think that it is the best way to learn. That and... shooting!

 

[Buckster]

Just playing with it a bit...

 

[Rosy]

There's a lot more here than simply an under-exposed subject. This isn't so much a portrait as an out-of-focus landscape shot with a person in the middle. The first "rule" of portraiture is that the image should be of the person, with minimal background distractions.

The first thing I would suggest is to consider the portrait (vertical) aspect when shooting a portrait. The next is move in on the subject. Way, way in. A little background is nice if it adds to the scene, but too much and it is no longer a portrait. Then, we move on to lighting. By the look of the light/shadow here you picked about the worst time of the day to shoot. No big deal, sometimes you have to shoot in adverse conditions. There are two choices; either spot-meter the subject for a correct exposure and blow out the background, or meter for the background and add fill-light to correctly expose the subject. Of the two, the latter is generally the better way to go.

My preferred method here would be to use a single speedlight on manual, with a diffuser, high and about 15-20 deg camera right. A large reflector 45 deg. subject left would have worked as well.

When composing, avoid things like the cropped wrist. Either a bit above or below (best choice) would be better.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

thank you for not only critiquing BUT explaining in detail how to make it better