First time taking pictures of people

[silve225]

Hi yesterday was my first time taking a picture of a person. Please let me know how i can improve. This was taking with a nikon d5100 with 18-55mm lens (since my 50mm lens wasnt able to capture the whole pic) and 1 speed light.

 

[Blackjack]

The background is distracting and does nothing to contribute to the photo. Try placing your model in front of something that relates to his suit and hat. Or, use a simple white background which would strongly contrast with the black suit.

 

[silve225]

yes i wanted to get a better background but this was a last minute thing and i just wanted to snap a picture before he left to go to his friends wedding. also on a shot like this where would you point the speed light. I pointed it at the wall behind me.

 

[LaFoto]

Well, you could have shut the doors, two seconds, and that alone would have helped the background a lot more! As is, it seriously competes with the model and is highly distracting.

 

[silve225]

that would of been a good idea. i wish i thought of that. Well there will always be a next time. I wasnt really looking into the background i mainly just focused on getting the subject to picture good

 

[gryffinwings]

Since we are talking about background, since you are where a very dark suit, you might want to have a background that is lighter and give you more contrast to what you are wearing. This way there is more focus on you as the subject.

 

[silve225]

Thanks you everyone. You all made very good points that i will be using my next time i take pictures. One question no one answered yet was where i should point my flash

 

[gryffinwings]

Thanks you everyone. You all made very good points that i will be using my next time i take pictures. One question no one answered yet was where i should point my flash

Typically, if your doing indoor photography, you are going to want to point an external flash up and sometimes at an angle, it really depends on the ceiling, so basically your left to experimenting a bit to get exactly what you want.

 

[silve225]

ok. what i did was i put the flash on a tripod and rasied it up and pointed it at the wall/ceiling behind me. i used a yongnuo 468ii at 1/2 power

 

[gryffinwings]

ok. what i did was i put the flash on a tripod and rasied it up and pointed it at the wall/ceiling behind me. i used a yongnuo 468ii at 1/2 power

Almost thought this was self portrait work. Anyways I have the Yongnuo 565EX and I have done something similar, but I leave the flash in TTL mode on the camera, the yongnuo flash works quite well at getting the right amount of flash out in TTL and that works out really well. When you leave the flash on the camera, angle it up a little, in this case you could also get a wireless remote to take the picture so your body doesn't interfere with the flash.

 

[silve225]

I do have a wireless remote so i will try that next time. Also i was worried about getting a glare on the glasses which looks like i only got a little bit of glare