First time shooting portraits c&c

[SHaller]

Im not new to photography, but this is my my first time ever shooting portraits. Im used to walking around in marshes with a telephoto lens shooting birds, so this is a little out of my comfort zone.

The first 2 are done without any sort of lighting equipment (didn't get a reflector until a few days ago), and the last 3 are from yesterday with the reflector. Let me know what you think. Dont mind the edits, they were a little rushed.

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

 

[Stanza]

Nice shots, well done. sometimes the sun was very hard, but very nice pics-

 

[SHaller]

Nice shots, well done. sometimes the sun was very hard, but very nice pics-

I can see what you are saying about the sun being hard, but how can i keep a balance between that and having the sun illuminate her hair?

 

[WesternGuy]

Nice start - obviously places to go...(cute model - nice smile and this (the smile) makes a lot of difference in these types of images)

#1 & 2. Sunlight is so harsh - unfortunately not too much you can do about it, unless you are going to do this for a living, then you would need all sorts of "equipment" - if you are going to do "headshots" like these, then it would probably be better if you repositioned yourself to only take the "head shot" - the OOF feet and legs sticking up in the background are very distracting and detract from the rest of the very nice overall image. In #2, the skin looks just a bit warm, but maybe that is the effect you were going for.

#3. This one just screams for a bit of fill flash to lighten up her front.

#4. Not too bad a conversion - how did you do it? Watch the crop - you cut off her feet - not the best thing to do IMO.

#5. I can tell that you used a reflector here - the skin is too warm - and I am not sure that this is the effect you were looking for. Also, what ever it is that is hanging on the fence beside her is very distracting...unfortunately you cannot crop it out without affecting the picture, but if you have Photoshop CS4 or CS5, you could use "Content Aware Fill" to get rid of it. You should also watch your backgrounds...in this one, even though it is OOF, the tops of the trees in the background are running just above where her head is and this is distracting - my opinion.

Hope this helps a bit...

Cheers,

WesternGuy

 

[SHaller]

Nice start - obviously places to go...(cute model - nice smile and this (the smile) makes a lot of difference in these types of images)

#1 & 2. Sunlight is so harsh - unfortunately not too much you can do about it, unless you are going to do this for a living, then you would need all sorts of "equipment" - if you are going to do "headshots" like these, then it would probably be better if you repositioned yourself to only take the "head shot" - the OOF feet and legs sticking up in the background are very distracting and detract from the rest of the very nice overall image. In #2, the skin looks just a bit warm, but maybe that is the effect you were going for.

#3. This one just screams for a bit of fill flash to lighten up her front.

#4. Not too bad a conversion - how did you do it? Watch the crop - you cut off her feet - not the best thing to do IMO.

#5. I can tell that you used a reflector here - the skin is too warm - and I am not sure that this is the effect you were looking for. Also, what ever it is that is hanging on the fence beside her is very distracting...unfortunately you cannot crop it out without affecting the picture, but if you have Photoshop CS4 or CS5, you could use "Content Aware Fill" to get rid of it. You should also watch your backgrounds...in this one, even though it is OOF, the tops of the trees in the background are running just above where her head is and this is distracting - my opinion.

Hope this helps a bit...

Cheers,

WesternGuy

I was trying to go for warmer skin tones throughout the shoot.
2) I agree that the legs are a little distracting but i still like them being a little oof. I can see it looking better a little wider and shot around f4
4) Its actually not cropped but i can see how it would be better a little bit wider.
5) How would i keep the skin from getting this warm with the reflector? The white side? And that wire hanging on the fence is electrical to keep horses in. It is distracting, but all I have is lightroom so there isnt a whole lot i can do about it.

 

[BlitzWerkz]

Im not new to photography, but this is my my first time ever shooting portraits. Im used to walking around in marshes with a telephoto lens shooting birds, so this is a little out of my comfort zone. The first 2 are done without any sort of lighting equipment (didn't get a reflector until a few days ago), and the last 3 are from yesterday with the reflector. Let me know what you think. Dont mind the edits, they were a little rushed.1)

Hi,The only concern on photo 1 is that you cropped off model's half of the body unnaturally! You should do a tighter shot if not a shot that shows all her body but still retaining the bokeh! Then in post processing crop off. You should 'feel' for the model on cropping, which we don't crop till the joints of human subjects. When using reflector, warm colors like gold (don't hold too close especially outdoor) or neutral color like white (to fill in dark areas) should do the job. Cool color reflector like silver is useful but too close to subject produces cool tones which I don't like under a sunny day! But other than that, your composing is fine, well balanced colors with good contrast. Also to mention, there are good shallow depth of field to focus on subject. Well done! Just my 2 cents opinion

 

[BlitzWerkz]

Im not new to photography, but this is my my first time ever shooting portraits. Im used to walking around in marshes with a telephoto lens shooting birds, so this is a little out of my comfort zone. The first 2 are done without any sort of lighting equipment (didn't get a reflector until a few days ago), and the last 3 are from yesterday with the reflector. Let me know what you think. Dont mind the edits, they were a little rushed.1)

Hi,The only concern on photo 1 is that you cropped off model's half of the body unnaturally! You should do a tighter shot if not a shot that shows all her body but still retaining the bokeh! Then in post processing crop off. You should 'feel' for the model on cropping, which we don't crop till the joints of human subjects. When using reflector, warm colors like gold (don't hold too close especially outdoor) or neutral color like white (to fill in dark areas) should do the job. Cool color reflector like silver is useful but too close to subject produces cool tones which I don't like under a sunny day! But other than that, your composing is fine, well balanced colors with good contrast. Also to mention, there are good shallow depth of field to focus on subject. Well done! Just my 2 cents opinion

Sorry it should be photo 1 not half the body, but the entire right leg shouldn't crop off. Apologies for the lump of words, don't know why?

 

[DiskoJoe]

when using natural light the position of the model is key. Try to get her to pose in directions that best use the sunlight. Then adjust the exposure and white balance as needed. Keep working with the reflector to bounce the light to where you want. If you have photoshop you might experiment with the post processing and the recovery settings. This will tone down some of the hot spots. Should be simple if you shoot in raw mode.