First portraits... any C&C?

EleanorW · Sep 7, 2009

So yesterday I went and attempted my first portraits. Had a friend volunteer to be my 'practice' family

Any feedback would be great. Got another friend and her family lined up to go next weekend for more practice.

1 - 1/80, f8, iso100

2 - 1/60, f8, iso100

3 - 1/60, f8, iso100

4 - 1/50, f8, iso100

JayClark79 · Sep 7, 2009

Great job, looks like the family had fun and it looks like a great location.

gopal · Sep 7, 2009

nice family shoot...the child is cute, the parents are proud and the photographer honoured.

kundalini · Sep 7, 2009

Good on you for going out and having your first shoot. You were probably out of your comfort zone and that's the painful part of growing in photography. The more it's done, the more your confidence will build.

Any feedback would be great.

Well, since you asked. Forgot to mention above, but C&C can be a bit painful as well.

Portraits? I don't really see these as portraits, much more snapshots of the family in the moment on a day out. You posted the settings (thank you) but some of my comments may be off by not knowing which lens and its maximum aperture. All these were shot at f/8 an I am curious as to why. My thoughts on portraits is to isolate the subject(s) and make them stand out from the background. Surely f/8 is the sharpest (+/-) for most lenses, but it also increases your depth of field and does not isolate subjects well unless the background is far away. I would hazard a guess that at f/4 to f/5.6 the out of focus background would have been better.

Speaking of backgrounds, you as the photographer need to be cognizant of the background as an intrigal part of the image. If it's too busy or distracting, then you need to find another location. All the backgrounds of these do not add value and actually detract from the image IMO.

#1 - Dad and baby are looking at the camera, but Mom looks nervous that baby is going to take a dip because Dad is in a precarious position. Baby's foot is cut off. Mom's bra is showing. Background bench backs are okay (a little distracting), but the block wall in Dad's back is definitely annoying.

#2 - Mom's eyes are shut. Top of block wall is running through their heads.

#3 - This one has a good feel to it. however, if they had moved to their right and you had moved to your right, the column may have been avoided. Another option would have stacked them Dad ,Mom & baby at the end of the deck. Shame about the Xmas lights.

#4 - You're too high in your PoV. It is more pleasing to see children shot from their own level. Some motion blur in her left hand.

That reminds me, all of these were shot with the shutter speed too slow. Think 1/125 and faster. This will cut down on motion blur, blinking and pulling faces at the wrong time.

I think you got the exposure down pretty good, so now all you have to do is adjust aperture and shutter speed to keep the same exposure. I hopt that wasn't too painful.

I normally say "just my 2¢" at the end, but this may be a nickels worth. Take anything I say with a grain of salt because someone else will think I'm wrong and will prove it.

Good luck on the next one.

manaheim · Sep 7, 2009

Couldn't possibly give you more than K did, but overall I think 3 was really the best. Nice shot. Could issues, sure... but very very cool.

manaheim · Sep 7, 2009

Elanor and I were chatting in the TPF chat room and I came up with this...

This is a different crop from the original (maintained aspect ratio). 25 point boost to contrast, 6 point boost to brightness... sharpness (unsharp mask... 100%, 1.2 radius, 3 threshhold)